Help! Cubase SX3 & Audiophile 2496 Problem

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-- Help! Cubase SX3 & Audiophile 2496 Problem

Posted by Aled Mann on Mar-29-2006 13:08:

Help! Cubase SX3 & Audiophile 2496 Problem

Right, I've had a look through past posts and I can't see anything relating to the problem I am having...so I hope you can help!

On Monday I upgraded my soundcard to an Audiophile 2496 and after installation of the card and drivers I set up the soundcard properties in the control panel and hooked it up to my M-Audio BX5a's and tested it with an MP3. Perfect. No playback problems.

Then I loaded up a Cubase project.

When the time line hits any audio or midi section on the tracks it grinds to a horrible halt (the sound grinds away as if a really slooooow time stretch effect has been applied to the whole project). Latency stands at 6ms.

The ASIO in the Cubase settings is set to M-Audio Delta ASIO so I am truly stumped! Has anyone got any idea as to why this is happening? I am really scratching my head now!

PC Specs are AMD 2Ghz, 1Gb DDRAM so it should handle it comfortably.

Hope you can help!

Many thanks.

Posted by Quinders on Mar-29-2006 14:16:

Increase the latency until it runs properly.

Posted by Aled Mann on Mar-30-2006 09:15:

Cheers mate but I've already tried that one. Even at max latency setting (2000+ samples) in the cards control panel it still grinds away then crashes cubase. I've also tried a different PCI slot but its still the same.

I'm well and truly stumped!

Posted by Stuart Silver on Mar-30-2006 13:09:

quote:
Originally posted by Aled Mann
Cheers mate but I've already tried that one. Even at max latency setting (2000+ samples) in the cards control panel it still grinds away then crashes cubase. I've also tried a different PCI slot but its still the same.

I'm well and truly stumped!

It may be because the ASIO driver isn't selected in Cubase. Goto Devices->Device Setup->Vst MultiTrack. Select and ASIO driver from the drop down list. There may be a few and you probably want the one that mentions ASIO and the AudioPhile card. (You sometimes get ASIO drivers listed for those crappy built-in cards)

PS: Great tracks by the way

Posted by farris on Mar-30-2006 15:53:

Re: Help! Cubase SX3 & Audiophile 2496 Problem

quote:
Originally posted by Aled Mann
...

The ASIO in the Cubase settings is set to M-Audio Delta ASIO so I am truly stumped!

...

He already selected that one Stuart Silver.

- farris

Posted by Snakebyte on Mar-31-2006 04:07:

is your cpu an intel?
I've been having this problem when trying to work on an intel-cpu. Switching to AMD has helped me twice in this matter.

Posted by wrzonance on Mar-31-2006 07:00:

quote:
Originally posted by Snakebyte
is your cpu an intel?

quote:
Originally posted by Aled Mann
PC Specs are AMD 2Ghz

Sheesh. Read the whole post people! Anyway...

The next thing I would check Aled is to basically kill everything. And I mean everything. Get into the task manager and hack-away. I'd kill explorer as well (when I'm in a hard-core session with not a lot of bounced audio, and too many VSTs running I commonly take an ax to all the non-essential processes in taskmanager to free up some ram.)

Not sure how much you know about the inner-workings of your computer, but DON'T kill:

svchost.exe
systemidleprocess
OR anything else you don't understand.

Try killing wdfmgr.exe (not sure if that's exactly what it's called, but something like that) if it's running.

Some other process could be robbing your Audiophile of the resources it has.

Also. Go into the Windows Sound-Manager, and change your default sound device to your on-board sound. That way Cubase can be hog your 2496 all to it's own.

If all else fails, you could try going into your BIOS at start up, and making sure there's no weird settings for the BUS speeds of your PCI BUS.

Email tech support if you have to.

Good luck sir.

---Adam

Posted by Aled Mann on Mar-31-2006 08:30:

Thank you all for your help folks, but unfortunately the problem still remains. I'm quite computer savvy (well, more than my mum anyway! ) so I've checked everything that I possibly can (most of which you have helpfully mentioned above Adam) such as re-Installing the hardware in different PCI slots, set performance services to background, checked all bios settings, disabled all hogging applications, set different IRQ address to the card etc etc. But it looks like the card really hates something in my PC! I'll keep you all posted on progress, so thank you again for your help.

p.s. Cheers Stuart! Much appreciated mate!

Posted by bagguley on Mar-31-2006 20:05:

quote:
Originally posted by Aled Mann
Thank you all for your help folks, but unfortunately the problem still remains. I'm quite computer savvy (well, more than my mum anyway! ) so I've checked everything that I possibly can (most of which you have helpfully mentioned above Adam) such as re-Installing the hardware in different PCI slots, set performance services to background, checked all bios settings, disabled all hogging applications, set different IRQ address to the card etc etc. But it looks like the card really hates something in my PC! I'll keep you all posted on progress, so thank you again for your help.

p.s. Cheers Stuart! Much appreciated mate!

Hmmm... i know.. use Logic!!!

Come on Aled.. need this remix.. get ya finger out!!!

Seriously, hope you get it sorted pal.. nothing worse than a computer that won't play fairly!!!

Posted by Magnus on Mar-31-2006 22:56:

Aled I have close to the same setup as you, using Cubase SX3 and the 2496. I've never had any issues like what your having there. I wish I could offer more advice. Maybe try asking on the Cubase.net forums? Good luck!

Posted by Bedlam-UK on Apr-01-2006 01:52:

Hi, I use similar setup and had 2496 in use for a few years now without any problems.

First Download latest drivers from M-Audio here:
M-Audio Drivers

From the Cards Control Panel:

Patchbay/Router all set to Monitor Mixer.

Master Clock set to Internal Xtal (use SPDIF In if using Digital).
I usually have the cards Sample Rate set to 48Khz (make sure it isn' locked) Only use locked if you use the Digital Outputs.

DMA Buffer Size (Latency): 512 samples

ASIO options should be checked (Disable app use of Monitor Mixer)

Cubase configuration as follows:

Device Setup....VST device set to M-Audio Delta ASIO with Direct Monitoring enabled and Expert.....Lower Latency checked. (Also check the other options in Expert...)

VST Inputs and Outputs should be created for each of the cards Audio IO. (If you don't use digital then remove the SPDIF IN/OUT's)

That's all there is really.....if you still have problems then you could try rebooting in safe mode and removing all devices and re-installing the drivers.

Goodluck my friend.