SX will put me in a mental clinic!...

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Thu Jun 19, 2003 7:20 pm

Hello to all!

More problems!...

For some time I could run SX and GigaStudio on my DAW flawlessly and be able to record the output of Giga (16 stereo tracks) at 24bit/96KHz @ 2ms latency in SX. With no clicks, pops etc...
Now, I am not able to record not even a single stereo track with no pops and clicks in SX. The facts are the following:
- I can listen to the output of Giga with no pops at all (which means that there is no problem with my Hard disk)
- I can even open another program [Wavelab] and record the output of Giga in there with no pops (which means that there is no CPU overload)
- The VST Performance meter in SX reads about 5%
- If I use the lowest ULLI setting I am able to record with no pops
- I have done all the necessary XP tweaks! (remember that I was able to do a lot more than what I am trying to do right now!)

So, everything leads to SX being the "guilty". Now, are there any settings or any tweaks I could do in order for things to be as they were before?
Could this problem be related to the other problem I am experiencing?

Marc de Ruiter · Post by **Marc de Ruiter** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 5:33 am

Did you try different priorities for both SX and SFP(bellow normal)? Disable anything you don't need for this operation in the devicemanager like network adaptors, serial ports, paralel ports etc.
Hope this will help.

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 5:59 pm

I have tried these but no improvement...

dehuszar · Post by **dehuszar** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 10:59 pm

Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is many people on this forum (including myself) use SX and SFP harmoniously with low ULLI settings (I'm a 4ms man myself--depending on what other non-SX/SFP) software needs loading for the project and the # of tracks), so it can be done. The bad news is, that doesn't immediately help you.

However, can you post some computer specs, primarily re: your mobo, high pci-bandwidth utilizing PCI (RAID, SCSI, USB/Firewire, SATA, etc.), amount, type, and manufacturer of RAM, any plugins you may have installed, how recently you have ScanDisk'd & defragged your audio drive (I know someone posted that defragging doesn't matter much in todays world, but I've seen noticable improvements in crackle land from a quick maintenence sweep).

As I'm sure you're well aware, it is an unfortunate reality that given the natural constraints of consumer computer technology and the resource hungry nature of our beloved prosumer audio cards, that computer management requires the utmost care, patience, and persistence to really push everything to their limits.

Hopefully, a little more info will help us nip your problem in the proverbial bud.

Peace,
Sam

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Sat Jun 21, 2003 5:48 am

Hello there!

Specs of my DAW:
- Windows XP tweaked
- P4 2.4GHz 533FSUB
- ASUS P4T533C Intel 850i chipset
- 1MB RDRAM Kingston PC800
- 2 IBM 120GXP hard disks (120GB and 40GB)
- Pulsar 2 & Pulsar XTC
- Matrox G550 Dual Head
- No other PCI cards, Firware, RAID, SCSI etc

What makes me angry, is that for no apparent reason my DAW doesnt perform as good as it used to some time ago...
The VST meter in SX reads 5% (with some strange 50% load spikes sometimes). The sounds coming from Giga are perfect (no pops, or clicks) as I monitor them, but then when I try to record in SX, it is full of pops and clicks!...

dehuszar · Post by **dehuszar** » Sat Jun 21, 2003 8:26 am

What's you're ULLI set to? Have you tried to just crank your latency all the way back? If your latency is at 13ms or higher and you get pops & crackles, then I'd try moving your card to different slots, and maybe undo some of those tweaks. I've found that not all those XP tweaks are cross platform as the varying architectures of AMD and Intel mobos and chips utilize things differently.

Also, ACPI or standard pc? I had an ACPI setup that seemingly blew up as well. ACPI is very dynamic and new or updated software can make it change it's configuration. Remember that SX has hardware installed as well (the USB dongle).

Hope that helps,
SAm

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 10:20 am

I love the gigastudio. Presently I can play and record the Gigastudio in Cubase as long as I am using the lowest latency in SFP and as long as I have no other tracks in cubase.

I am building a second computer and the first computer will be a DGW (dedicated gigastudio workstation) linked via MIDI.

The MAudio Omni Studio Omni I/O and Delta 66 Package has a GSIF driver and seems to be a better bargain than the Luna.

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 12:04 pm

Look closer...

Better bargain in price, but forget about having 32 giga output... Forget routing it via asio to cubase, forget realtime effects...

You'll see, it is not just a coincidence that that Mr.Zimmer use cw card for his giga stations...They're unique, even for giga stuff.

One luna can handle without any problems all 32 output of giga and route them to asio for recording in any asio seq. No other card does it, period.

Anyway, it's your choice

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 12:46 pm

I didn't know all that.

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 5:49 pm

@braincell: I think it is best to route your Giga tracks to the STM mixers and mix with them using the CW effects (and not the crappy Nemesys ones!).

Thanks to all for replying and giving me ideas and suggestions!

I ll do some tests tomorrow and see at which state is my DAW...

Could anyone point me to some info on the ASIO/VST protocol? I would like to know how the VST Performance meter works as well. What really puzzles me is WHY I get pops and clicks on the recorded track when recording, when:
a) The VST CPU meter only shows 5%
b) The VST Disk meter shows 0%
c) I hear no pops/clicks when monitoring
Furthermore, what kind of things could be causing CPU spikes (I get occasional sudden 50% load spikes) when:
a) I dont have any VST or DX plug-ins enabled
b) No VSTis
c) No any Anti-Virus program

Thank you

dehuszar · Post by **dehuszar** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 8:28 pm

Ultra DMA mode not being checked on your HDs could do it.

Sam

Post by **garyb** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 10:29 pm

definitely

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 4:00 am

It is definatley not the case. I am running Intel Application Accelerator and both my HDs are operating at UDMA-5 mode, with no limit and not Power Management or Acoustic Management. Furthermore, the spikes I get are on the CPU meter. The HD meter reads 0% almost always (the buffers in SX are set 8 * 96K).
Any other ideas? Is there any XP services that could be causing it? The processes that run in the background on my XP installation are:
SFP.exe, ctfmon.exe, Msg32.exe (it is not the MS Messenger, this is needed for Gigastudio to run!), pdesk.exe, explorer.exe (in those my Username appears next to them).
The ones that are of the "system" are:
mgabg.exe, svchost.exe (this appears twice), lsass.exe, services.exe, winlogon.exe, crss.exe, smss.exe, System and System Idle Process.
Any Ideas?

Post by **garyb** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 12:28 pm

SOMETHING has changed.is sfp the clock master?is cubase synced to sfp?hmmm.....there's always the stand-by.when this kind of thing happens and i can't figure out what changed,i'd reinstall.

first,i'd reinstall over the old installs and use a regcleaner(not regclean,it removes asio settings).then if that failed,i'd unistall,use a regcleaner and reinstall.if that failed,nuke the hd and start over.

if it worked well for a while and then had problems,i would suspect corrupt files.

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 4:04 pm

What about temperature? I'm not saying it's the cause,but it's worth checking.

Did you maybe reinstall graphic drivers with functions like bus mastering re-enabled authomatically?

Just more elements.

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 4:15 pm

Hello!

Thank you for giving me ideas!

...The temperature is certainly OK (CPU about 38C and MB about 35C)...

Mmm, now that you mention it...I have flashed a new BIOS update.... I ll try to revert the old one and see if the problem goes (performance improves)...

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 4:17 pm

On 2003-06-23 13:28, garyb wrote:
is sfp the clock master?

...that is another problem I was experiencing...

Kenf · Post by **Kenf** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 2:27 am

Hi
I had problems with SX yesterday. I was using the Optimaster on one stereo track, asio out of cubase through the Optimaster then asio back into cubase and recording. It has worked for months OK. Yesterday loads of drop outs, clicks and pops. I tried the largest latency this made no difference. Played around in SX with the buffer size and preload and it got better. In the end I selected the default settings button, so I was back to my original settings and it worked fine. Who knows why? I don't care! It works again.
To rodos1979, it maybe worth going back to the default settings in SX and working from there again.

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 7:52 am

I'm thinking all this is mute if I use two computers with VST System Link because all those features will be available on my CW equiped computer.

I checked the gigastudio sight. The Delta series are multiclient which means you can have more than one stereo pair and Terratec cards are according to Nemesys are:

"MultiClient:

Can run GSIF and ASIO clients simultaneously

This would appear to fly in the face of some comments that marcuspocus made. I absolutely refuse to by another CW card until they compete 1 to 1 with the price of other high end quality cards. If anyone in this forum has any first hand experience with other cards that are gigastudio compatible please post here. Rumors and hearsay are totally not acceptable.

On 2003-06-22 13:04, marcuspocus wrote:
Look closer...

Better bargain in price, but forget about having 32 giga output... Forget routing it via asio to cubase, forget realtime effects...

You'll see, it is not just a coincidence that that Mr.Zimmer use cw card for his giga stations...They're unique, even for giga stuff.

One luna can handle without any problems all 32 output of giga and route them to asio for recording in any asio seq. No other card does it, period.

Anyway, it's your choice

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: braincell on 2003-06-24 12:16 ]</font>

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 12:52 pm

@braincell: If you plan to buy a second PC dedicated just to GigaStudio, then equipe it with a cheap soundcard that has good GSIF drivers and ADAT outs (so you can route its output into your CW cards for further mixing/processing).... What Marcus said, however, is not rumours and no bull***t! If you dont believe us...then ask Mr. Zimmer!

(back to topic): Today, my PC was running most of the time fine as in the past! And I have not changed anything... Sometimes, I had some problems though and I realized something... all the times that I had problems, when I changed the samplerate in the Samplerate Settings, Cubase was not warning me that the samplerate has changed! Which means that SX was not synced to SFP!... Have you ever experienced such a thing? (i.e. you change the samplerate, but SX does not realize the change) Maybe, my SX problems have to do with the clockrate problem I am/was experiencing...