My first noticeable X1c problem - dropouts - but not the kind you think.

<update 9/12/11> It seems that the culprit is Firewire on my mobo. With the FW-1884 turned on DPC Latency is near thru the roof. With it off, DPC Latency is very normal. They (Gigabyte) did have 3 newer Bios option, one being a Beta version. The latest two of the three were about as bad as the original. The oldest one is better. Looks like it's time to change the mobo. 

<update 9/3/11> Well it happened again in SOANR yesterday. But it also happened in WMP (or whaterver it's called in W7) without SONAR loaded. I did catch that the FW-1884 meters were still functioning. I was unable to see the master bus meters, but other bus meters seemed to be functioning and since I believe the FW-1884 meters are tied to SONAR's master buss I assume they were functioning as well.


OK now here's the weird/suspect part. I was listening thru the headphone out of the FW-1884.

When listening to a project I occasionally have a few seconds of silence while the now marker continues to move and when the audio kick backs in, it is right at the now marker point.

a) anyone experience this?
ii) any idea why it might happen?

My DAW specifications
Windows 7 64-bit
Intel I7 2600K processor
Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3P-B3 Z68 mobo
GEForce 8600 GT Fanless Video
16Gb PC1600 Muskin Memory
500gb Seagate - Program Drive
1TB Seagate - Sample Drive
1TB Seagate - Project Drive
Dell 30" Monitor Tascam FW-1884 Firewire Audio Interface/Mixing Console
Dual UAD-2 Quad cards

Maybe this is caused by W7's new feature that allows alternate audio streams to kick in simultaneously, such as allowing your Skype "phone" to ring while you're listening to music? Maybe another process is elbowing in on the audio stream?

Any thoughts on my video card being underpowered? It's an older 256mb card. I remember reading somewhere here that W7 needs more video power.

Very much more. 1 gig is now what most are recommending. For full Aero support I believe one needs 512MB. With dual monitors you need the extra memory of 1 gig now.

bapu


Billy, 

It does not happen in the same place on the one song. I think it did happen on another. I'll try out a few.


Bit,

I admit that I leave the internet connected on this dedicated DAW (and never had problems on the old 32bit XP). So maybe it's time to disconnect even though I *believe* no other audio applications could be elbowing in. This is a dedicated DAW. No Skype, Yahoo Messenger et. al.

Any thoughts on my video card being underpowered? It's an older 256mb card. I remember reading somewhere here that W7 needs more video power.

Bapu,

If it happens on other projects then it's probably not an errant plugin.   That would suggest a setting in Sonar or something to do with the audio driver as a next guess.

Also - if you have a wireless connection, you might try disabling that just to see if that's your culprit.

ba_midi

bapu


Billy, 

It does not happen in the same place on the one song. I think it did happen on another. I'll try out a few.


Bit,

I admit that I leave the internet connected on this dedicated DAW (and never had problems on the old 32bit XP). So maybe it's time to disconnect even though I *believe* no other audio applications could be elbowing in. This is a dedicated DAW. No Skype, Yahoo Messenger et. al.

Any thoughts on my video card being underpowered? It's an older 256mb card. I remember reading somewhere here that W7 needs more video power.

Bapu,

If it happens on other projects then it's probably not an errant plugin.   That would suggest a setting in Sonar or something to do with the audio driver as a next guess.

Also - if you have a wireless connection, you might try disabling that just to see if that's your culprit.

Nope, no wireless connection available on this mobo, nor is one externally installed.

ba_midi

bapu


John,

Any recommended 1gig fanless video cards with Aero support?

Speaking of video -- I do agree 256mb is really light.

But - were things working OK until recently?  If so, what changed?

What changed is my building a new W7 machine (using my old video card). So the only "before" is my 32bit XP. 

brundlefly

I occasionally have a few seconds of silence

a) From recorded audio tracks, or all soft synth output? If it's all soft synths, it's probably ye olde MIDI Prepare Using buffer issue.


b) If the project contains audio, do the meters keep indicating output? If so, it sounds like some kind of driver or O/S issue. SONAR thinks the port is open, but it's not.


c) Or maybe a hardware problem in your monitoring system?

a) all audio
b) I believe so, I'll keep my eyes open
c) pretty sure this is not the case unless my Tascam FW-1884 is going bad.

Bub. Nope. And this is ALL audio (including soft synths, i.e. EZDrummer in this case).

Before X1C I had sort of the opposite problem now and again where the cursor would stop dead in it's tracks and the wave forms would freeze but the song kept on playing and I couldn't shut it off.  Hasn't happened in X1C yet...but I haven't kicked hell out of it yet either.  So, we'll see.

.

.

mike_mccue

FastBikerBoy

Any thoughts on my video card being underpowered? It's an older 256mb card. I remember reading somewhere here that W7 needs more video power

A better video card won't do any harm but don't expect miracles. I've literally just upgraded from a Radeon card with 256 MB video memory to a 5450 with 1 gig.

There honestly isn't a huge difference that I've noticed. The only thing that I have noticed is I can no longer get the transport to stop when changing screensets no matter how much abuse I give it.

With the 256 card if I swapped screensets really quickly, and I mean 4 times in as many seconds, the audio would drop out. Also if it was working okay previously, it's unlikely to be hardware related.

Real life info from a real person.

Thanks FBB!!!

The video card pushers are starting to give me the creeps.


It's like some weird preoccupation with stuff they read about some one reading about some where.



best regards,
mike

Mike, I just call it as I find it.

TBH I was a little disappointed, but it's not like it cost a lot. I bought it mainly so I already had the card when I can afford to upgrade the rest of my system but I was hoping to see more of a difference on this old system than I have.

Of course a more powerful system may see different results but that might be me wishful thinking.

bapuGEForce 8600 GT Fanless Video

I have the fan-cooled version of this card with 512MB running under Win7. No major issues with any of the several different driver updates pushed by Windows Update or with the original one that came with Win7 out of the box.


The only thing I see with this card that some others have reported (other than screenset issues already mentioned) is that velocity tails in the controllers pane do not smoothly follow drag-editing of velocities in the notes pane.

brundlefly

Bub
I found a sample in Session Drummer 3 that shows output, the meters are moving, but it is silent, and is repeatable, are you using SD3 by chance?

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I'm curious... which sample?

You tryin' to get me killed? LOL! J/K

'Insert from track template'
'Soft synth track templates'
'Session Drummer 3'
'T909 Produced Multi Out'
Open up the mixer in Session Drummer 3 and click on the 'Snare' or Try to play a pattern in the Drum Kit screen.

Meters move, no sound.

It's not a Session Drummer problem. It's the PX-64 Shaper bug. Disable the Shaper section (or adjust the Attack) in the PX64 on the Snare output track, and you'll hear the sample.

bapu: im 8600 GT here asus silent 512.. 20/05/11...7533 driver
just out ...i dont see what you see there !!