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ohiwantoscratch

ohiwantoscratch

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Ok my current soundcard is an onboard.

i'm using Windows Vista and FL Studio.


1st problem --> Crackling sound

Which i believe is probably due to too many VSTs playing at once.

2nd problem --> Latency problem

Recording a sequence using my midi controller usually is quite a problem due to the latency.


Which brings me to my question....

Question 1 --> So is it true that by getting a better soundcard, these problems will be solved? I will have lower latency and no more crackling?

Question 2 --> I've seen certain soundcards have midi & digital input/output.. however i'm jus using a USB midi keyboard. I do not have to somehow connect it to the new soundcard to have an improvement right?
 
Are you using a notebook or desktop? Before jumping into getting a new soundcard, download ASIOforall driver. If that doesn't work, then consider a new soundcard.

USB midi is more than sufficient. Midi ports integrated into soundcard doesn't necessary means they are faster. Midi packages are generally small.

What are the specs of your PC/notebook? What VST are you using?
 
Appreciate the reply.

I'm using a desktop, just got it assembled 3 months ago.

Specs:
  • Vista
  • 2.3Ghz
  • 2GB RAM

I've tried downloading ASIO4ALL, but the problem still persist.

I wanna get a very low latency cos i'm currently working with 58ms and everytime the crackling starts, i gotta increase the buffer, which isn't really helpful. Is there any soundcard which I can get like 5ms?

And is it true that getting a better soundcard produces a better sound quality?
 
Last edited:
You probably need to dump vista.

And while you're at it, try to kill all apps that try to phone home, access your drive,etc. still i don't think 5ms is quite a realistic number, more like 8msec-15. YMMV.
 
You have to have a dedicated boot partition just for DAW alone. As ac said, no other software including IE. Agree with the others that 5ms is unrealistic.

Sounds like you do need a soundcard. With a dedicated boot partition and a soundcard, you may not have to go the XP route. I doubt that will actually improve things too much, although it will eat up more RAM and CPU resources and hence decrease the number of VST you can load in one instance.
 
ohiwanttoscratch : hi, this is ohiwanttorecord speaking, i know almost nuts about midi, but just a highlight when in "Computer/Sound" section of SOFT, when the really experienced softies like "ac" / "guttaralpiss" and "cheez" post in the same thread and all 3 says about the same thing : dump vista + dump unnecessary software ... THEY MEAN IT hahah.

i can't say much for midi, but in terms of computers, vista really blows besides for the "eye candy". even for myself running on XP , i put up the "win98" look just to minimize all the ram usage.
and also remember to defrag your PC often, use a disk imaging software like acronis/norton ghost or a freebie (pretty stable) one like Drive Image XML . follow like what cheez suggests, install another partition just strictly for DAW.

currently part of my method is "www.portableapps.com"

that means no matter what my PC / laptop / mini laptop will always be ready for "DAW" mode. and all my email usage / office usage / cd burning / internet surfing (firefox) runs on a mobile based setup. which won't take up windows's registry/harddisk etc thingy (it doesn't install into windows, just run straight off). and maintain stability. except of course, there're times i can't bring my laptop everywhere I go, I also made my DAW mobile on USB stick heheh and my recording tracks on another 8GB usb stick. give it a shot. works for me, will work for you.

20cents worth.
 
try dual booting to xp on a different partition

my FL studio crackles all the time, more than a bucket of popcorn in a microwave. i think i've gotten desensitized to it actually.
 
eh it's not that bad i think.
just get a better soundcard which should suppress the crackling to an extent. and if you're just recording sequences, then the latency shouldn't be much of a problem, since you can always edit the notes afterwards in the piano roll anyway
 
Yes, installing XP means wiping out your HD. Only way is to use software like Partition Magic and dual boot.

But my suggestion is to backup all your data. Then dual boot. Clean install. Dual boot is not that bad. If you can't find XP, it's still OK. Just make sure you DAW partition has nothing. Also, there's a free software called vlite (Vista version of nlite, which is for XP) which basically strips off all the unecessary stuff from your Vista.

Anybody doing serious audio work will never use their DAW for anything else except DAW applications. Particularly for you, who use lots of VST plugins. And the cheapest way is to dual boot. More expensive way is, of course, to buy a new PC just for DAW...
 
Appreciate the reply guys.

Goes to show that there are people in this forum who actually give a SH**!

Thanks a milli a milli a milli.
 
many people in this forum whether is it sound/computer/guitar/key/bass/vocals/drums each section have their own helpful regulars heheh do tell your friends who're not in soft forum to join in.
 
I was able to tweak my old Dell pentium M 1.6GHz laptop and get a latency of 5ms using asio4all alone!
But when I use my Presonus firebox I was able to get a latency of 2.5-3ms depending on what sound samples I'm loading.
 
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