Help! Computer acting up

C

crosstalk

Member
Oct 14, 2007
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Ok, so I'm basically at my wits end. While playing/recording audio, my computer will randomly 'pause' for a split second like it has way too much of a load going on. This is especially terrible while trying to track drums and is being a hassle while trying to reamp. If it was just during mixing, I could deal with it, but ruining a great drum take is too much.

The thing is, it doesn't matter if I'm recording 8 tracks of drums played along to an already recorded guitar part or 2 and a click, or if I have 100 plugins running on 40 tracks. It still does it. Sometimes it will do it after 30 seconds, sometimes it will happen after 5 minutes, other times it'll happen repeatedly or basically grinds to a halt.

I've checked the CPU usage and with all tracks and plugins running it only hits 52% at the most, usually it's more like 40%.

Here's my system specs:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ 3.01 gHz
3.50 GB of G.Skill Ram (actually 4 GB)
Western Digital 250 GB SATA drive (main)
Samsung 500 GB SATA drive (audio)
ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB video card

Windows XP Home
Adobe Audition 3.0
Adobe Audition 1.5

(2) Presonus Firepods Chained for up to 16 channels
PodXT connected via USB

ASIO4ALL

Anything else important to mention?


What's going on here? Does anyone have any suggestions? (Other than go Mac. I'm considering, but there's no way I can afford one right now and what I have should work)

Any help will be GREATLY appreciated.:notworthy

Dustin
 
kev said:
When did this start happening? My first port of call would be a system restore mate. That pc is great, there is no need for a mac on top really.
Click to expand...

I can't really tell when. Seems as if it always has done it. Every time I think it's working the way it should, it side swipes me again.

I'm thinking about reformatting and starting all over. But I hate the thought of backing up so many thing and installing the software and plugins and yada yada. Especially since I'm in the middle of mixing a project for someone.

I also don't want to go through all of the formatting stuff if it is either unnecessary or if it wouldn't even solve the problem.
 
AudioGeekZine said:
Try doing a windows repair (not reinstall) first.
Have you done a virus scan? Are your drives fragmented? Does it happen without the Firepods?
Click to expand...

I have done the virus scan and I've defragmented. I don't know if it happens without the Firepods since they are my audio interface. I may try a windows repair.


Matula said:
Why don't you try and tweak your system to make it DAW ready?

ftp://sneapforum:sn3apf0rum@sneapforum.kazrog.com/sneapforum.kazrog.com/Matula/Windows XP DAW Optimization Guide.doc

Here's a .doc document with a good guide on how to do that.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that document, I'll see what I can get done with it!

Thanks guys!
 
Most computers have a soundmax or realtec AC97 soundcard built in, if you do then you could check for the pauses with that, then you will know if its something wrong with the Firepods.
Maybe try just one firepod, then try the other one, change the order they are connected in, shorter/different firewire cables.
Are you running the AMD Dual core optimizer?


I agree with most of those things in the Doc.
 
AudioGeekZine said:
Most computers have a soundmax or realtec AC97 soundcard built in, if you do then you could check for the pauses with that, then you will know if its something wrong with the Firepods.
Maybe try just one firepod, then try the other one, change the order they are connected in, shorter/different firewire cables.
Are you running the AMD Dual core optimizer?


I agree with most of those things in the Doc.
Click to expand...

I am running the AMD Dual core optimizer. Well, actually I'm not sure about that. I downloaded and installed it, but reading its 'read me' it seems there should an icon with some options for it in the taskbar and after installing and reinstalling it, there isn't. Am I missing something here?

Thanks for the suggestions!
 
"Dude, get a mac". Just kidding, but god damn the number of times I've heard some variation of that....

Sounds to me like one of your HD's might be on it's way out. We had similar problems with our studio DAW prior to its upgrade and we suspect it was actually the system disk at fault rather than the audio storage (SATA) drive. Hard drives do have a shelf life, especially when subjected to the heavy usage they get with audio work.
 
I don't know if you do this but I do because it lessens the strain on the computer. Also check your buffers and don't set them to high. I don't know why but if they are set to high I get the same issue (and I am on mac).

When I track drums it's usually first and latency really isn't a concern because everything is going in at the same latency and I monitor direct from the firepod(s). So I crank that sucker all the way down I think it's 2048 samples buffer size (in VST audiobay under devices-setup device). At this point my latency is huge somewhere around 49-52ms (unplayable if your monitoring via the recording program) but it doesn't matter my drum track and my pod scratch is going in at the same latency.

Now in the advanced tab I had at one point (cause I thought it was better) my audio priority set way high and my preload amount maxed. It was a bad idea, cpu spikes everywhere. I put the preload amount down to 4 seconds and the audio priority to normal and it fixed the problem. Another thing I uncheck when recording a shitload of chanells at one time is the "Ajust for record latency" box as this is again something your computer is having to do at the same time as recording.

The only problem is once you go to do overdubs these settings suck and you have to change them back. But I am confident that I could record 16 ch of audio this way on my laptop (powerbook g4 solo 1.5ghz).

Try it see if it works out.
 
crosstalk said:
Ok, so I'm basically at my wits end. While playing/recording audio, my computer will randomly 'pause' for a split second like it has way too much of a load going on. This is especially terrible while trying to track drums and is being a hassle while trying to reamp. If it was just during mixing, I could deal with it, but ruining a great drum take is too much.

The thing is, it doesn't matter if I'm recording 8 tracks of drums played along to an already recorded guitar part or 2 and a click, or if I have 100 plugins running on 40 tracks. It still does it. Sometimes it will do it after 30 seconds, sometimes it will happen after 5 minutes, other times it'll happen repeatedly or basically grinds to a halt.

I've checked the CPU usage and with all tracks and plugins running it only hits 52% at the most, usually it's more like 40%.
Here's my system specs:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ 3.01 gHz
3.50 GB of G.Skill Ram (actually 4 GB)
Western Digital 250 GB SATA drive (main)
Samsung 500 GB SATA drive (audio)
ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB video card

Windows XP Home
Adobe Audition 3.0
Adobe Audition 1.5

(2) Presonus Firepods Chained for up to 16 channels
PodXT connected via USB

ASIO4ALL

Anything else important to mention?


What's going on here? Does anyone have any suggestions? (Other than go Mac. I'm considering, but there's no way I can afford one right now and what I have should work)

Any help will be GREATLY appreciated.:notworthy

Dustin
Click to expand...

hmm? - why asio4all? presonus should have a proper driver?!
don't know the firepod, but a false asio driver could be your problem.


best,

alex
 
I had the same problem when i was using adobe audition and pod xt(i used xt's own asio driver) The problem came when i had more than few tracks, it was annoying.

Then I switched to Cubase Sx3 and never had problems like that again..
 
This is a long shot, but i have a freeze up on my PC as well, it's not the overload kinda freeze up, but it just stops doing anything for 3-5 seconds.
What i discovered is that if my DVD tray is not filled with a CD or DVD, it does freeze up!

So if it's empty, it freezes.. if i let the DVD player load and read a disc, it's fine... computers eh?

just saying, it might be something silly like that... don't go re-installing programs and reformatting too soon okay? good luck!
 
Black neon bob said:
This is a long shot, but i have a freeze up on my PC as well, it's not the overload kinda freeze up, but it just stops doing anything for 3-5 seconds.
What i discovered is that if my DVD tray is not filled with a CD or DVD, it does freeze up!

So if it's empty, it freezes.. if i let the DVD player load and read a disc, it's fine... computers eh?

just saying, it might be something silly like that... don't go re-installing programs and reformatting too soon okay? good luck!
Click to expand...

thats bloody weird bob !
 
PhilR said:
"Dude, get a mac". Just kidding, but god damn the number of times I've heard some variation of that....

Sounds to me like one of your HD's might be on it's way out. We had similar problems with our studio DAW prior to its upgrade and we suspect it was actually the system disk at fault rather than the audio storage (SATA) drive. Hard drives do have a shelf life, especially when subjected to the heavy usage they get with audio work.
Click to expand...

Hmm, this was one of my suspicions, but something I really don't want to be the problem.

alexrookie said:
hmm? - why asio4all? presonus should have a proper driver?!
don't know the firepod, but a false asio driver could be your problem.


best,

alex
Click to expand...

I would prefer to use Presonus' drivers, but in order to use the PodXT as a DI at the same time, I have to use ASIO4ALL which was recommended by the Adobe people. I guess that's another route I need to explore.

sedit1 said:
I had the same problem when i was using adobe audition and pod xt(i used xt's own asio driver) The problem came when i had more than few tracks, it was annoying.

Then I switched to Cubase Sx3 and never had problems like that again..
Click to expand...

Maybe it's the Pod giving me the headache. :u-huh:


I use to have a P4 with 2 GB, one firepod and Audition 1.5. It would only give me a similar effect if I had effects going on several tracks while doing something like vocals.

Thank you again for all the replys! This whole thing couldn't have come at a worse time. I'm in the middle of mixing a project and have 2 more scheduled to record like a week from now. :ill:
 
kev said:
you can check your hard drive health with 'speedfan'. download it for free. Im 90% certain that wont be the problem, but would never rule it out. Your system is still young :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for that tip! I hate the thought of replacing the wrong one. Doh!

Gustavo_Loureiro said:
Try not using ASIO4ALL
Click to expand...

I'm going to try that, would be nice if the fix is that simple.


So this is kinda off topic, but say that ASIO4ALL is the problem. That would mean that I can no longer use the PodXT as a means of DI. I would have to use a real DI. My question is, how can I record a DI and the scratch guitar sound at the same time and not hear the DI while monitoring through the firepod? I don't think it's possible. The only thing I can think of is monitoring through the DAW, but that provides way too much latency and playing along to other tracks is a real mess.

Also, can anyone tell me if there should be an icon in the system tray for the AMD optimizer?

Major thanks!
 
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