If it starts crackling and jerking I think it would be your computer's processor, not really the sound card.

I have never had a sound card do that.. not even bad ones like the one I've got in my laptop.

one or more of the following should help.

toggle hardware buffer on and off to see if anything changes. mess with the latency. use ASIO drivers if you don't have any already (helped me tons) (http://michael.tippach.bei.t-online.de/asio4all/).

Good luck. be sure to remember your settings in case you have to revert back to them.

This comes down to raw processing power. I'd recommend the above^ for a short term solution and a DSP chip or a faster processor in the future.

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If you've got the $, buy a DSP solution like the Powercore, or better yet, the Muse Receptor. There are ways of getting around this, without getting more dsp power. Render down leads andd basslines - and loop them instead. You save alot of dsp this way. I have to render down 90% of my track this way due to my lack of cpu power. (2ghz - 256mb ram P4 laptop). I've got some crazy plugins that kill my comp (Timeworks reverb, and Waves compressors). Even when I have all parts of my track bounced down, I still have probs will monitoring my mix.

yep, its a cpu thing. a new soundcard wont solve this. as suggested, broadly there are a few things you can do starting with the most expensive first:

1) DSP. dsp cards and plugins will cost you an arm and a leg if you go down this route but you will get hardware quality synths + effects (many require licenses to be purchases separately). all of the DSP specific effects and synths you use run off the DSP card so you dont take a CPU hit. you can keep working on your track without having to worry so much about your PC struggling under 100% CPU load. using VSTi plugins will still incur a CPU hit since only DSP plugins can run off the DSP card. most DSP effects are generally alot better than most VSTi effects anyway.

2) as stated above - muse receptor. this thing is sort of like DSP for VSTis. it doesnt support all VSTis but most of the big ones do have support like vanguard, zeta, albino, FM7 etc. its like a special dedicated processor that is designed to run these softsynths to take the strain off your CPU. apparantly its quite good - you can get a stack of 10 FM7s and strike an 11 chord with reverb and delay on it and it'll actually survive whereas most PCs would crash under the strain. also, it doesnt really pop and crackle when you do hit its limits, it just doesnt play the extra notes. the unit itself costs a fat wad of cash. but i assume you already have the softsynths you wanna run on it.

3) a faster cpu. much cheaper than the above but you are limited by your motherboard so you may have to upgrade that as well. and hey, if you are gonna get a big CPU upgrade you will wanna get another 512mb fast RAM to go with it, otherwise you'll bottleneck it if you plan on using it for other intensive apps outside of music making (i.e. games). a new PC will only get you so far though and you will find you wont be able to add very many more zetas before the CPU load gets unbearable again which leads me to the cheapest and best option available...

4) streamline your working practice. use the sends for common effects like reverb and delay. work in multiple flp files. i.e. build your drums in one flp. your pads and leads in another. your kicks and bass in another. then render everything to wav loops and reassemble. this takes time and it can be annoying when floops doesnt loop stuff properly but with a little bit of sound forgery you can get your tracks reassembled in wavs with no hit to your CPU. this is the most efficient way to work. and tbh even if you got any of the above, you would just burn all that free CPU because you've got it to burn - theres no imperative to be efficient in your production.

Under what cpu load do you get crackles and at what latency?

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Take a look at EMU's 0404. I'm having the same problem you are. I didn't want to spend too much on a sound card for an inexpensive computer. Other solutions were geard towards home theater and gaming. This one may solve your problem and give some added effects all running off of the card and giving the CPU a much needed break.

Don't run out and buy it yet. It goes for about $100 USD. I should have it installed by the end of next week & I'll let you know. By the way, I own the 0404's bigger, meaner brother the 1820m which went into a more agressive DAW I built. After comparing the specs to others, it made my choice easier.

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Last edited by el.maestro on Jan-22-2005 at 01:12

Nice explanation Derivative thx. Well i'm kinda skint atm so i think for now, i may aswell leave it until i find work again. I did manage to install the latest ASIO drivers and change from my original ones to these in FL settings. That helped a great deal. I had no crackling where there was crackling before.

Timothy, my cpu at the moment is AMD Athlon 1700xp. Not too great, but my mobo only takes upto equivalent to 2.4 GHz. So i'm thinking i may aswell wait till i can afford to upgrade both CPU Mobo together. Then i'll just stick another 512Mb. I need to upgrade computer for gaming too, cos i have a Radeon 9800 Pro, and it my CPU just doesn't match the power, so on games like Doom 3 and HL2 it does bottleneck unless its on low graphics.

What does DSP stand for, is it Digital Signal Processing?

This sounds like the kinda thing i want in the future so i'm gonna just have a look at whats on the market. How much do average DSP units go for these days?

I'll keep in mind the EMU Sound card you recommended el.maestro cos sound card is something i need in time.

DSP stands for digital signal processor. hardware synths are basically DSP chips in a box with an operating system written for it. for example, the access virus b has 1 dsp chip in it. the oscillator waeforms, the oscillators themselves, the vocoder, filters, LFOs and effects, everything are all coded into the OS to run using the DSP. so a DSP card for your PC is basically a bunch of DSP chips with no preloaded instructions. you buy the licenses separately. a virus plugin is available for the powercore DSP range. it sounds pretty much identical to the hardware virus b. but the license costs quite alot i think. not much less than a real second hand virus b in either case. but with DSP cards you can use them for other things - you can get licenses for other DSP synths and effects (all are fairly expensive i think) but most of them are hardware quality.

DSP card prices range dramatically depending on the number of independant DSP chips on the cards and they vary between manufacturers. i dont have a DSP card but theres some peeps here that have TC powercores so they will probably be able to give you a better explanation than i can. ive seen them go on the internet for between £400 and £2000 retail though.

quote:

Originally posted by el.maestro Take a look at EMU's 0404. I'm having the same problem you are. I didn't want to spend too much on a sound card for an inexpensive computer. Other solutions were geard towards home theater and gaming. This one may solve your problem and give some added effects all running off of the card and giving the CPU a much needed break. Don't run out and buy it yet. It goes for about $100 USD. I should have it installed by the end of next week & I'll let you know. By the way, I own the 0404's bigger, meaner brother the 1820m which went into a more agressive DAW I built. After comparing the specs to others, it made my choice easier.

I've installed the card. Well, my processor still gets pounded running certain VSTs, but I now have much more control over latency. The ASIO driver includes a popup app that lets you adjust the latency in real time. While I was hoping for more relief on the processor, I'm still happy with it.

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The greatest hoax was convincing the world that money was of more value than time.

Last edited by el.maestro on Jan-22-2005 at 01:12