Bristol_Jonesey


Sort your attitude if you want any help - bragging about what you've done doesn't endear you to anyone else, possibly with the exception of your immediate family members.

The issue has been stated quite plainly - you've got a smoking hot pc, probably in excess of a couple of grands worth and you expect it to run on a 20 cent chip?

What did you spend all your royalties on?

I can't believe I just read that, really.
 
titetrax, Mike is on it.  I ran my rig on a Realtek card for the best part of 18 months without issue (aside from the fact that recording anything external was a no, no.)
 
There is some good advice here already, but sweaty attitudes like the one above that have nothing to do with the question seem to be all to common on this forum I'm afraid.
 
I've got a big mouth normally when it comes to having an opinion about STUFF, but seeing some of the responses aimed at YOU on this thread, I'm actually appalled. 

For what it's worth, I'm running on the built-in Realtek and not having any problems. I need to point out that I'm not recording where I need to monitor right now - mostly midi playback. Playback works fine - my tricks are to tweak the buffers up to 30ms, and to the sample rate down at 44.1. It's no problem to change the sample rate on export.

My goal (I'm low on fundage too..) is to get an audio interface that has a built-in DSP mix with effects (MOTU?,Presonus 22vsl?) so that, basically, a headphone mix during recording won't delay at all on the DAW:  latency just won't be an issue with anything.

titetrax


Ever since I built my computer in January, I've had audio dropouts from the Realtek ALC892 8-channel high definition audio codec that came on my motherboard. These dropouts occur on all 3 of my bootable drives. I'm wondering if one of the driver files is checking for updates or something and THAT'S what's causing the dropouts. Do any of you have any experience with stopping these dropouts? Also, if I install the Creative SB X-FI XtremeGamer sound card I have laying around, will that REPLACE the Realtek driver and give me some peace? Thanks in advance for any advice, y'all!  
 
 
 
FWIW concerning the SoundBlaster card:
  
 
I'm using a similar SoundBlaster soundcard (X-Fi Platinum) in my Windows 7-64 machine, and it works just fine with Sonar X1 & X2 with the updated drivers from Creative!  Granted, mine is a "home studio" setup, and I doubt if I'll need to do any pro-level recording, but so far, so good!  I completely disabled the onboard sound card within Windows Device Manager, to eliminate a possible source of conflicts & problems.
 
Before using the card with Sonar, you'll probably want to use the Creative control panel to turn off the additional default effects Creative provides.  Also, you might need to tinker with the Creative mixer input/output settings so Sonar is given full control of the signal path (easier to understand hands-on than talking about it on a forum).
 
Everything you need to get the card working is included in the Creative drivers package, so if you go this route UNINSTALL any add-on "generic" drivers like ASIO4ALL before installing the Creative software suite.
 
Maye take a bit of tinkering with the initial Creative setup, but I'm happy to say I have had NO soundcard-related issues using mine with Sonar that couldn't be fixed by some minor tweaks in the Creative or Sonar preferences.

 I had an X-fi when they first came out; at the time it was the first CL blaster to have its own ASIO driver.  It worked better for me than ASIO 4 all if I recall, it only did 44100 and 4800 but that X-fi should have native asio driver support. Also if the nvidia card has one of those HD audio chips on it, it may be giving you issues, you may want to disable it in the device mgr. if you don't use HDMI out.

To Bristol_Jonesey and Linear Phase - I only mentioned some of my accomplishments because Robert B came at me like I was some ghetto kid squirreling around with a MPC and FruityLoops. He edited his comment after he actually READ the whole post.


To Jim Roseberry - Not a fan of Miles Davis yet? Keep listening. I wasn't at first either. His tone was too harsh and brittle for me. But after I kept listening, my ears became acclimated to his "voice" and now he's my fav Jazz trumpeter!! Of course Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and Donald Byrd are great too. :)


To Azslow3 - Great info and advice. The ASUS mobo I have comes with a bunch of BIOS related software(some related to overclocking) and thanks to you, I now realize THAT could also be the problem. I'm not currently overclocking, but I'll check out that ASUS software. Thanks for your time and expertise!  :)


To Daryl1968 - So do I. It's a great health tonic!!  :)


To Mike_McCue - Great info and advice as well. I only mentioned the drives to illustrate that the problem is related to the BIOS or OS and not some random software that I may have installed. You successfully answered my question about whether or not another sound card would actually replace the Realtek or just be another option. If I DO decide to install the X-Fi, I'll remember to disable the Realtek in the Device Manager. And I agree that simply buying another sound I/O device probably WON'T stop the dropouts. Thanks for your time and expertise!  :)


Thanks to all of you for stopping by(even the Meanies!!). Hopefully, we've ALL learned something here!!! :)

To Jonbouy - Yeah, that little ego flex was kinda shocking to me too!!

To SuperG - Good luck on getting that new gear (or some money!!)for Christmas!! :)

To Rivers88 - Thanks for the info regarding the X-FI and ASIO4All!!

To Ohgrant - Thanks for the info about the Nvidia HD driver. I read that it's been a problem with others too.  :)

To titetrax - sorry my friend, never meant to cause offence. That was a little out of character.

need.....to.....chill.......

To Bristol_Jonesey - I accept your apology. We ALL have been guilty of saying something that we didn't really mean because we were in a bad mood or something. You're still my bud! :)

titetrax,
We got a little crossed up. I was actually responding to your earlier post (#7).
I don't type very fast. In the meantime, you had posted again (#12).
Unfortunately, I didn't see that until after I had posted.
You are quite right, my initial post was rather harsh, and I said so at the time. 
The part I deleted was kind of inappropriate, and I probably shouldn't have written it in the first place. I am sorry about that.
However, post #12 introduced new information which drastically changed the complexion of the problem. Hence my edit.
This new information led Mike and others to look in a different direction, and I do agree with them. You have a system issue that needs to be addressed before a better sound card will be of any benefit. It would appear that you are well on the way to pinning that down.
And you are also quite right about my not having any notable accolades relating to music production.
Just a handful of songs posted on the internet, and a seven year legacy of helping others find their way around Cakewalk. Many of them have done very well, and their success serves as my accolades.
I really do hope you get your problem fixed, but for now I am going to shut the f*** up.

A further two pennies FWIW.
 
We've established that getting two audio options working is a no no from the outset.
 
So I'd say to start with drop the SB card especially if it is PCI (nor PCIe) because you may be running into the non-native bridged PCI problems on your particular board, so I'd suggest starting out with the Realtek chip.
 
If you're on Windows Vista or later uninstall any Realtek driver package you may have installed and let Windows install the generic HD Audio driver instead, there's less fluff on that to get in the way to start with.
 
Once you've got that up and running then try and get it working under WDM/KS mode in Sonar, if that doesn't work too well THEN try ASIO4ALL and select it as the ASIO driver in Sonar.
 
If you can get it working nicely at this stage then forget about the SB.
 
If not disable the OnBoard audio in your bios and on first boot uninstall ASIO4ALL and any Realtek/HD Audio driver that might still be visible under Add/Remove Programs.
 
Then try fitting the SB card again, at least you wont be battling against any conflicts with the SB and Realtek and stand more chance of success with it.  As I said though if it is PCI combined with some motherboards that use bridged PCI you may never get it working properly.
 
At least if you work through your options methodically as above you will give yourself the best chance of getting something going to a fair degree.
 
Best of luck.