Welcome to the wonderful world of inefficient code.

One of the ways we can solve the world's energy problems is to harness the power produced by all of the hot air that DocHillingswirth and SteveScrumpyUK generate. Remember, it's NOT your soundcard, its the software.

You can get the software to work, (at least marginally,) by doing the following. You can even get results from an AC97.
1) install ASIO4ALL
2) defragment your hard drive.
3) never use the real time audio effects (apply them later.)
4) rename the aud.ini file and restart GT3 to regenerate the cakewalk settings.
5) update the VST program and rescan in the VSTs.
6) turn off your network card.
7) shut down all the unneeded windows services and other crap.
8) If you dare to live dangerously, turn off all of your virus and spy checkers while disconnected to the network, but make sure you turn them back on.
9) close all other programs.
10) don't use a USB drive for your cakewalk work files.
11) apply the latest GT3 patches.

By doing these simple things. you can run GT3 on just about ANY SOUNDCARD and yes even the famous AC97.
Some additional things are to not run on Vista which ain't supported. Downgrade from Vista to XP. Also, if you want to use real time effects, a line6 toneport or something similar, will do the trick. (However it will not fix the realtime monitor issues with latency.)

ORIGINAL: roryman

hmmmm well there isnt anything that says dropout on the window, however there is a red rectangle at bottom right? (seems irrelevant but worth mentioning :P) apart form that no "dropout" being mentioned however this might be what was said in that box tha came up i mentioned earlier, but no it doesnt say anything on the actual screen about a dropout :( any other ideas?

Rory I would venture to guess that you may want to optimize your PC for recording. The little red rectangle at the bottom may indicate a drop out condition It usually says dropout in the box). The best guide for optimization can be found here.

It would also be curious to know what the pop up had as a message as well.

Just a quick note here regarding Celeron processors. They will do the job but are really stripped down when it comes to background processing. In any case check out the optimization guide and this should help you get going. If not let us know.

all rite iv done all the optimisation. im just a little confused about the stuff pete suggested. I'm nto yet completley geeked out on computers and was just wondering what the hell the aud.ini file and CST programmes are. just a quick explanation would probs suffice. I downloaded that driver :)

VST*

Any DAW setup requires some level of computer proficiency. If you are unsure as to what you are doing it would be best to call Cakewalk customer support and let them guide you through it. If you are confused to as what a VST program is, I would highly suggest calling Cakewalk support.

To answer your question, the aud.ini file is used by GT3 to keep it's settings. Sometimes that gets messed up and if you rename it, when GT3 starts up it will create a new clean version. You could delete it, but i like to just rename it just to be safe in case you need to look at it later.

ORIGINAL: roryman

all rite iv done all the optimisation. im just a little confused about the stuff pete suggested. I'm nto yet completley geeked out on computers and was just wondering what the hell the aud.ini file and CST programmes are. just a quick explanation would probs suffice. I downloaded that driver :)

There is no need to alter you audio initialization files. However good housekeeping is always a good idea. Defragmenting a hard drive puts all of the programmes in the same general physical area on a hard drive and helps the computer be more efficient in the way it moves data on and off of the hard drive. This can be a time consuming process depending upon the size of drive you have.

It is a good idea to do this about once every few months just to keep things tidy. It is not however a necessity.

VST stands for Virtual Studio Technology and was originally developed by Steinberg. These are small little programmes that model their hardware counterparts like reverb, compressors, delays and that sort. These software equivalents can be utilized to alter the signal in a non destructive way providing you with an altered output.

Also you may want to increase the buffer size under the Options, Audio. What may be occuring is a buffer overrun condition where the data is coming in so fast that the buffer overflows and drops out. Sort of like filling a half pint glass with a pint of Guinness all at once.

Like I said, you may want to call cakewalk support roryman.

I have Windows 7 and my sound card is a RealTek High Definition. Guitar Pro 3 loaded up perfectly, however, I can't get a track to arm for recording. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!!!  Thank you!

 
Hello there Jacob, welcome to the forum.
 
The first thing to try is to see if Guitar Tracks 3 'knows' to record from, and playback to, your soundcard. Open GT3 and select Options > Audio and click on the General tab. Your soundcard should appear in both the Playback Timing Master and Record Timing Master fields. If it's not visible in either, try clicking on the drop-down arrow at the right of each field and see if it's listed. If it is, click on it to select it in both fields. You may have to close and re-open GT3 to effect the change.
 
Here's how your soundcard should be displayed (my audio interface is a Line 6 TonePort):
 

 
 
If it's not there, you may have to run the Wave Profiler again. It basically lets Guitar Tracks know what audio interface/soundcard your computer has installed or is connected to.
 
First, select Options > Audio and click on the Advanced tab. In the Driver Mode field, see which driver is listed. It will most likely either be WDM/KS or MME (32bit):
 

 
If either WDM/KS or MME (32bit) is listed:

• Click on the General tab again
• Click on the Wave Profiler button at the bottom of the screen
• Click Yes on the pane that opens to start the Profiler
• You may need to close and re-open GT3 for the changes to take effect

 
If performing the Profile on your current driver still doesn't allow you to arm a track, try changing the driver mode:

• Click on the Advanced tab
  • If WDM/KS is listed, use the drop-down arrow to view the options and select MME (32bit)
  • If MME (32bit) is listed, use the drop-down arrow to view the options and select WDM/KS
• Click on OK - you will see a message saying that the changes will not take effect until you restart GT3. Click OK and then close and re-open GT3.
• When you restart GT3, click on Yes to let the Profiler run

If you have previously (and inadvertently) selected ASIO as the driver mode, this won't work with your current soundcard. If this is the case, first try changing it to WDM/KS - if this still doesn't allow you to arm a track, change to MME (32bit) as per above.
 
See if any of that helps Jacob, if not, we may have to explore other options.
 
Steve

Steve, thank you for your quick response! Indeed, in the "Record Timing Master" my soundcard is NOT listed, so I tried the Wave Profiler, however, after I clicked YES nothing happened.  It took me right back to the General Tab in Audio, and the drop down menu for Record was still empty.  My soundcard IS listed in the Playback, but not in the record. 

Jacob