Playback is crackly and poppy and terrible

What driver protocol are you using? use asio or wdm if possible. I have heard waspi isn't bad either. If you change it and still have trouble try raising the buffer up some. Hope that helps.

Question: Are you using this HP Pavillion Laptop only for SONAR X1?

The problem with consumer level systems is they come preloaded with lots and lots of crapola that steals a lot of processing power.  And on top of this there is a lot of Windows 7 64-bit stuff running.  You must do a lot of tweaking to get the system running lean.  But if you plan on dual-purposing the system like using Office, checking email, surfing, online shopping, etc. then don't expect the DAW to work very efficiently all the time.  It might do well with 2 or 4 tracks max but start adding in soft synths, FX, MIDI tracks, etc. and it most likely will have some kind of issue.

Tweaking the system for audio will help a lot with DAW performance.  Check out my post that talks about using DPC Latency Checker and tweaks I did to my system.

as crappy as soundblaster is I would imagine it is still better than onboard sound.  If your just playing stuff back raise your buffers real high and you should be ok.

Just raise the audio buffers, esp. for playback.  If you are recording that would make a difference, but for your listening pleasure a few ms ain't going to be noticed.

JSkeen


i had trouble until I used this, http://support.presonus.com/entries/203607-studio-one-optimizing-windows-vista-7-power-settings-for-studio-one
seriously sonar was unusable on my machine, motorboating and glitchy playback.

There seems to be a lot of mixed results with this PreSonus optimization.  While the settings are good to apply PreSonus has not stated where exactly these settings are made other than "in BIOS" and has instead provided a CMD file to make the settings.  I would be very leary of using a CMD file to blindly make system changes.  I would prefer to know where the settings are and set each one individually manually.  This makes it easier to test and back out a change if it does bad things - which some have stated it does.
 
Re-reading the PreSonus KB article and I am noticing PreSonus assumed a lot in the technical ability of users.

Check out my post that talks about using DPC Latency Checker and tweaks I did to my system

 
 
Can you help me understand your tweaks, in particular any that might affect security or general browsing. I am using windows classic, best performance, themes off, but I am not sure about disabling IPv6 or changing the Drive tweak from C to F orsomething. This is an i5 laptop with a 500mb 7200 RPM internal HD but I have a USB external drive for both backup, projects,  loops, and samples. I also have an e-SATA port and am thinking about getting a SS drive for running current X1 projects on...
 
Anyway if any of the tweaks have a downside for surfing and regular use I'd like to know, I don't need any sort of in depth info I'm just not sure if there is a downside to any of them considering I use this computer for other things too. I also disabled some Apple stuffI saw in services. With XP, I knew what to disable to make it run pretty good with S-7...
I really.. really appreciate you taking the time to do what you have already done and if you have time to explain any of the tweaks (just a little, and only if there is any possible downside.. I do not care about having a pretty Windows desktop, I just care about performance and and my programs working as best they can.
edit: DPC Latency Checker runs right around 120us on my laptop, sometimes it wil drop into the 70s and sometimes up to the 150s and about one a minute or so Iget a 605... I will keep at it until I get rid of the 605... this was with Norton running and the wireless combo and the HP stuff running. I know how to suspend Norton for a period of time, no problem there like it was with McAfee... I never could stop McAfee from running. I could set it to manual, stop it and in minutes it would re-start itself.... I am glad to be rid of it.. but I digress, I just want to know what I might be doing with some of the tweaks I don't understand, re: other (regular) use. I plan to get a Studicat box early next year, until then I dread the very thought of hitting a bottleneck.
My computer is a Pavilion dm4 i-5 with the faster HD. Got the Octa-Capture but have not had time to try it out (I own and operate a small Exterminating business...22 years this month!! I am busy and just about tired of it, thank God I have a great employee... but again I digress).
My wifehas to report Monday morning for federal jury duty... so I will be free of any "honey do" stuff I think... next week I want to get started and I REALLY do not want to hit any bottlenecks. I also bought an Alesis Control Pad and I got all my mics out, a cheap AKG, an MXL 2001, MXL 604, a Shure SM-57, and an old bullet mic.. an Astatic JT-30, shuld be fun... also got some KRK Rokit-8s and my old Yamaha PSR-2100... pickedup a Monster power conditioner and a good quality mic cable... I think I am ready but am scared to death I will set up and it won't work right...(been there, done that... didn't like it)...
 
Anyway... folks like you, who take the time to work things out and then take the time to share with us are what make this and other forums such great places. (sorry so verbose but feeling good today).
 
Thanks a bunch!
 
Julien

Thanks John... I intend to get her up and running 1st of the week. I wish I had the option of a dedicated DAW computer right now but I don't, not with X1. I have a Dell 5150 but it is maxed out at 1g of RAM but it is a P-4 runningat 2.8ghz. I have a desktop with similar specs but my wife uses it a lot for online business. I have an Audiophile 24/96 in it that I will pull when I get a SC computer (as soon as I can). It will be a dedicated X1 computer and I am probbably going to get a UAD Quad when I get it... I really like what I hear and read about the Studer A-800 plug and from what I can tell it would probably fill al my plugin needs with no strain on the computer... a decent Studiocat with a UAD Quad should leave me with nothing to think about but better mics, room treatment, better monitors, headphones, amps, guitars... you know... not much, laff.

Thanks for the help. I will disable that IPv6 and try everything out with Norton sleeping and see what I get. I really think I m goingto be fine. I will probably be between 8 and 16 tracks but mostly audio. I expect to have a couple of synth tracks like piano or organ... maybe a little pads and 4-5 drum tracks in SD-3. I won't add effects on the master track while recording plan to use direct monitoring whenever I can. Of course I could be completely fooling myself but we will see.
I'm sure I will be having some questions.
Thanks,
Julien

cossa

 
...I realize that I am using an inferior onboard soundcard, and I am going to buy another USB soundcard for recording, but I would at least like to use the onboard soundard for playback when I travel and demo projects to other musicians...

Cossa - You have your own answer in your post - I've never been able to get any kind of tolerable sound out of a built-in sound card.  For two years I was using an HP Pavillion laptop similar to yours - first thing I did was get an interface for it.  You simply have to get a real audio interface sooner than you'd planned.  Really - it's as simple as that.

Randy B.