Brandto
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Multiple questions for you pros out there!
Hi! I joined this forum a few months ago after purchasing a Samson USB mic and MC5. I have recently just updated my mic to an sE200 condenser, along with a Focusrite Saffire 6 USB interface. I've also since updated my Dell Studio laptop to Windows 7 64bit and upgraded my Ram to 4GB. I have a 7200rpm 250GB hard drive and a Intel Core 2 Duo @2.26ghz. (Hopefully that covers all the tech specs?) Anyway, on to the issues/questions...
1) I've been getting little dropout sounds during playback of my recordings. Now I have checked the articles on here about how to prevent dropouts; turn off internet/ant-virus/updates etc, but they're still happening. So my main question is does my setup sound capable of handling everything? All I do is record through the mic, even my acoustic guitar, only looking for about 6-8 tracks with effects per project.
2) Following on from that, is it possible/a good idea to create a seperate user account on my laptop where I can set graphics etc down to give me the best performane? If anyone has done this I'd be keen to know what the best options are to change!?
3) I recorded some stuff the other day and was using the Amplitube X-gear software for my guitar tracks, and it was all working great (apart from the before mentioned mini dropouts) But then yesterday I tried to use it, and every now and then I would just randomly get a static crackle blast (forgive lack of jargon, haha) which would last for a couple of seconds. I don't think I did anything differently, any ideas?
Anyway, many thanks in advance, I really appreciate you guys who dedicate so much time helping out clueless newbies like myself :)
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Guitarhacker
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Re:Multiple questions for you pros out there!
2011/07/20 12:36:36
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Sounds like a buffers issue...
I would recommend doing a disk defrag to get all the files in the "same area" on the disk. I get drops when it has to look all over the disk to find the files. INcreasing the buffers might also allow it to load more stuff before having to play it.
The specs on the laptop look good. My lappy, probably like yours, comes will all sorts of stuff that loads into memory on start up. You might want to look at the services that start automatically and shut the ones off that are not used all the time. The drops are an indication of seek issues and also that would come from not having enough usable RAM memory available. It also has to do with the CPU having it's hands full doing other things so yeah... shut off the internet, turn off the AV stuff, and all the other unneeded stuff and see if that solves it.
Good to hear you ditched the USB mic.
I have found the the guitar simulators are generally pretty CPU intense. Even on my new DAW build, the sims will give me a barely noticeable latency and the CPU numbers in the bottom of the MC screen will jump quite a bit.
BTW: those numbers are very important. They will let you know the percentage of disk seeking activity and the CPU percentage demanded by MC.... I get drops and other issues if I'm at 60% and up.... which is really hard to do on my new machine but not so hard to do on the lappy.
It generally runs rock solid up to about 50%, and can handle the occasional spike over that but give it 80% consistently and it chokes.
My website & music: www.herbhartley.com MC4/5/6/X1e.c, on a Custom DAW Focusrite Firewire Saffire Interface BMI/NSAI "Just as the blade chooses the warrior, so too, the song chooses the writer "
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57Gregy
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Re:Multiple questions for you pros out there!
2011/07/20 14:08:27
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What driver mode are you using?
Have you registered Amplitube? The version that comes with MC 5 needs to be registered or after a short amount of time it will begin making the noise you describe.
Turn off some of the effects and see if the dropouts continue to occur. If so, you may want to freeze the effected tracks or Process>Apply Audio Effects. Freezing is a temporary application of the effects to the audio; Process>Apply Effects is permanent if you save the project after applying the effects.
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Guitarhacker
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Re:Multiple questions for you pros out there!
2011/07/20 16:31:33
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Greg is correct.... freezing the FX and synths will reduce the CPU load I was speaking of...rendering everything to audio.
You should be using ASIO drivers with the Focusrite, so be sure you have it set up properly.
yep... he's also right on the registration of the guitar sim as well.
My website & music: www.herbhartley.com MC4/5/6/X1e.c, on a Custom DAW Focusrite Firewire Saffire Interface BMI/NSAI "Just as the blade chooses the warrior, so too, the song chooses the writer "
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Brandto
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Re:Multiple questions for you pros out there!
2011/07/21 12:02:33
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Thanks guys, you've been extremely helpful, as always!
Firstly, I wasn't even using the ASIO drivers, so now I've changed that I will just play around with the latency until it all works well. The lowest it goes to is 1ms, but this is obviously too low, is there a magic number that is accepted as being low enough to not tell any difference??
And I'll register the Amplitube - doh! :)
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Beagle
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Re:Multiple questions for you pros out there!
2011/07/21 13:16:49
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the "magic number" is different for each system. typically, tho, 5.8msec is a good starting point to try. usually a lot of systems won't handle lower than that, but some can. either way, 5.8msec (INPUT latency, not round trip) is usually low enough most people don't have problems with it. it's like being about 10 feet from your monitor.
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Guitarhacker
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Re:Multiple questions for you pros out there!
2011/07/21 21:27:44
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Under 10 ms is good and not noticeable.
My website & music: www.herbhartley.com MC4/5/6/X1e.c, on a Custom DAW Focusrite Firewire Saffire Interface BMI/NSAI "Just as the blade chooses the warrior, so too, the song chooses the writer "
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