Upgrade from XP to Win t 64 bit - ASIO dropouts

[krizrox]

Not sure if this is just the usual growing pains type problem or something more serious. I see a few other threads related to OS upgrades...

Installed Win 7 Home 64 on my desktop DAW. Actually everything seemed to install just fine including the new 120 GB SSD drive. However I'm getting lots of ASIO dropouts in Samplitude. Not sure if it's the drivers, the OS, whatever. I'm using the old PCI Scope boards and Win 7 recognized the drivers just fine. But when I play back even a modest project it's pops/clicks and dropouts galore. I was wondering if there are OS audio tweaks needed like we used to have to do for XP and prior. I have an Intel mobo and a Core 2 Duo processor with 4 GB of RAM. No problem under XP so I assume it's a Win 7 issue or my mobo is just not up to snuff or the PCI slots or who knows.

Any ideas?

[garyb]

http://forums.planetz.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=31345

[krizrox]

Thanks Gary - great thread/topic - I read through the entire thread. My Intel mobo doesn't have many of the BIOS settings you detailed. I've been inside my BIOS many times but there's just not a lot of options related to all that. I didn't have a problem with the Win XP OS and settings. Everything was very stable and nice. I would just stick with XP but Samplitude and various other things are not going to support XP anymore so I need to do something. I would jump on the Xite bandwagon in a heartbeat if I had the moola lol

Anyway, I'll follow up through the Magix people and see if they have any ideas.

[siriusbliss]

In Samplitude, try throttling your buffer settings and/or switching engine modes a few times, setting them at different positions, etc. - restarting Samplitude each time.

This process doesn't really mean anything, but it seemed to help 'seat' Samplitude/Sequoia on my (now several-year-old) Win 7 system.

The presumed buffer settings and/or engine mode that you are used to in WinXP seems to change behavior in Win 7.

Welcome to the 21st Century

Greg

p.s. FWIW I'm still running Samplitude in my Xite on my 5-year old Win7 laptop with no dropped ASIOs, and my 15+ year old Scope PCI cards are running in Win 8.1. with no issues whatsoever.

[garyb]

^ i agree with what Greg said.

your motherboard probably does have several of those settings. the names may vary slightly.

XP has nothing to do with things in win7. win7 should be every bit as stable, win8 even more so.
double check irqs. these have certainly changed with win7.

[siriusbliss]

With the external printers and wireless mouse you mentioned on the Samplitude forum, you might want to check for USB ports that may be sharing IRQ's with the PCI cards.

Crazy Windows will keep pinging ports looking for I/O activity.

Greg

[garyb]

that's not really a windows thing, as much as a usb thing...usb is very chatty. that's part of it's hotswap nature.

[krizrox]

Thanks guys - I'll look into the USB/IRQ sharing tip. I had forgotten about that. I experimented (a bit) with the buffer settings in Samplitude but when that didn't produce immediate happiness I started looking elsewhere for improvement but I'll spend a little more time with that too. Thanks again!

[krizrox]

I had some success - I searched out all the Win 7 audio tweaks and applied them and things improved dramatically. So I see all this can work. Unfortunately I ran into issues with some of my more important VST plugs so I'll have to start about the expensive task of upgrading all that before I can continue. I may want to get more RAM. It never ends lol. But I was pleased to see that I can still use my Scope PCI cards. I'm hoping I can milk that for a while yet. Maybe another year until I can upgrade to Xite.

Kinda wondering if USB 3 (and 3.1) and Thunderbolt connectivity will mean some changes to the Xite hardware?

[garyb]

no.

what is the big deal with USB3 and thunderbolt? well, USB3 is still USB and that makes it a bad choice for mission critical work. thunderbolt is really just PCIe, but semi-hotswappable. an XITE will already work with thunderbolt(so customers have reported) if a Sonnet thunderbolt to expresscard adaptor is used. other than connectivity advantages, there is nothing to be gained from either connection.

[jksuperstar]

I always come back to this tool. I've been rebuilding my laptop (adding a second boot specific to audio work), and retuning, yet again.

I ALWAYS come back to the free version of this tool:
http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

and how to use it:
http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon_using

In my latest install, I have shut down unused services and resources, and now have a very solid <0.10 ms latency, and can set my ULLI to the lowest setting even when using 32 ASIO channels. Make sure Background Services get priority (this means ASIO has a higher priority than your DAW...so audio moves when it needs to).

I also use AlacrityPC to shutdown other apps, services, and such on my normal boot, so I can switch into DAW friendly mode that doesn't have tons of internet protocols and security enabled while I'm off the internet.

Another BIG help is shutting down Explorer (not internet explorer, just your normal file manager/windows explorer). After starting your DAW, start the task manager, and kill "explorer" under Processes. You'll loose your start menu, any open explorers, and your background. You'll gain a computer not looking for new printers on the internet, other computers sharing files, PNP music servers, etc. Those interrupts ruin audio response times.

[krizrox]

thanks for the tip JKSuperstar. I will take a look at that program.

and to Gary - I thought USB 3 and thunderbolt offered vastly faster throughput rates compared to V2. Doesnt that mean something to USB configured audio interfaces? or is it all just marketing hype?

[garyb]

thunderbolt is just a hot-swap PCIe. it's almost exactly the same as expresscard. it's a more convienient connector. yes, it offers a high data transfer rate. it's PCIe.

usb3 is certainly light years faster than usb2. it has the same issues as usb2 does, however. throuput isn't the only factor that would affect it's usefulness. there are issues of timing and reliability with usb. it is at a software level above the OS, as opposed to PCIe which is communication at hardware level, below the OS. if there is a hiccup, which is more likely to have it's stream interrupted or disabled altogether? anyone who has used usb or firewire(which is a similar type of connection) knows that there are weird problems that can only be fixed with a reboot from time to time. if you're recording a one time moment, wouldn't you prefer an internal drive over a usb drive just for this reason alone? the same goes for the interface. the advantage to usb is that it's easy. drivers are easy, connection and setup is easy. for data transfer between temporary connections, i'd want to use usb3 anyday over usb2, if i had to transfer large files. this is what usb was made for.

yes, there is a lot of sales hype involved. yes, these connections are useful for many, many things. how many times, once your PCI cards were setup and working properly, have you lost the connection between the card and the computer? with hotswap interfaces, this is a common, although not a regular thing.