Clipping Audio
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Posted on Jun 24, 2005 11:05 pm
Sirrus
Prince of Cat Ears
Member Since: Jun 17, 2004
Hey everyone.
I recently acquired a MOTU 896 HD to take the place of my M-Audio Firewire 410. I've encountered a very odd problem in normal audio playback that maybe one of you can help me isolate and eliminate.
My comp is running an AMD 2800 with 512 megs of ram, so we're not talking small potatoes here - but what I find is that if I'm typing while running Winamp (rapidly...like top speed for me) for normal MP3 playback, I get cutouts and clipping in the audio, similar to the sound of a CD skipping.
This never occurred with the old M-Audio software and I'm at a loss as to how the keyboard would interfere with the firewire audio interface, especially with more high powered external hardware at work.
Any help you could offer would be appreciated!
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TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Jun 25, 2005 01:26 am I've had similar problems in the past and I've been able to overcome it. Try this:
-right-click on the desktop and select properties
- go to the "settings" tab
- click on the "advanced" button
- click on the "troubleshoot" tab
- experiment with different settings for the hardware acceleration slider for your video card and see if any of the settings make the keyboard interference go away.
there should be a similar slider somewhere for hardware acceleration for your sound card also...maybe that'll have some effect if the video acceleration doesn't make any difference.
I can't promise anything, but at least it's something to try. good luck!
Jun 25, 2005 01:14 pm define running winamp rapidly....i'm not sure whatcha mean.
TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Jun 25, 2005 01:26 pm I think he means he's typing rapidly while using Winamp.
...either that or he likes to listen to low sample rate music at high sample rates :-D
Jun 25, 2005 01:28 pm oh haha
SirrusPrince of Cat EarsMember
Since: Jun 17, 2004
Jun 28, 2005 12:36 pm Well there was this time I mixed time travel with audio playback... Dinosaurs were never the same afterwards...
I did actually find one factor that lessened the effect - I turned off the optical in and out of the MOTU 896, which was listed in the manual as being a way to reduce bandwidth within the firewire port.
At this point, I'm questioning first how it is that such a high powered device is choking due to the type of interface it uses with the PC (which, I understood was fairly high powered itself) and, secondly, how it is possible that my standard-issue, non-USB, Microsoft Ergonomically Correct keyboard is interfering with the communication via the firewire port.
It's all kinds of madness, I tell's ya!
jmailjimmie neutronMember
Since: Feb 14, 2005
Jun 28, 2005 08:35 pm You're probably PCI bandwidth challenged, or IRQ challenged. Check in Device Manager or run msinfo32 and see what your IRQ table looks like. Get yourself a PCI bandwidth tool (Double Dawg or the like) and check your video card and other "intensive" devices for high numbers on the PCI bus. The MOTU line is extremely picky when it comes to PC resources (so is my EMU...) and likes an unshared IRQ on the firewire and sole possession of the PC. If you have certain implementations of SATA, or a VIA chipset, you possibly have more challenges. Edit: just thought of another possibility: check for ground loops. 'Course, they only cause noise, not an actually drop in the recording...
SirrusPrince of Cat EarsMember
Since: Jun 17, 2004
Jun 29, 2005 12:51 pm I'm almost ashamed to say I've yet to attempt recording with it. I'm half afraid to lose a good performance if it can't even handle playing back MP3s.
I'll check out some of those suggestions, even if I must confess to ignorance as to what a lot of those conventions actually mean.
As for the IRQ issue, what are possible fixes for that issue? My video card is AGP and I don't believe I'm running a great many PCI cards or anything of the like. Then again, my understanding of signal routing on a motherboard and in the system at large is spotty at best. Are there any good resources I could turn to, whether in book form or on the interweb that would help me improve my knowledge of the workings and how to optimize them?
jmailjimmie neutronMember
Since: Feb 14, 2005
Jun 29, 2005 05:26 pm Your USB, Firewire & AGP all use interrupts, sometimes 2 and 3 each (USB). Your serial & parallel ports do too, and if you don't use 'em, disable 'em.
support.microsoft.com/
and "Search the Knowledge Base" is full of info. You could search on "ACPI", "IRQ assignment", etc. As for the bandwidth issue,
www.soundonsound.com/sos/...les/pcnotes.htm
is a place to start... Do a google on "PCI bandwidth" or "PCI latency" (or anything you're looking for along these lines). There's a website dedicated to WinXP optimizing for audio (I've mis-placed the link myself).
There's info on this site. Do a search here. All kinds of stuff... More than you ever knew you wanted to know...
SirrusPrince of Cat EarsMember
Since: Jun 17, 2004
Jul 05, 2005 12:24 pm I was able to reduce a fair amount of the distortion that was presenting itself through the MOTU when I initially installed it (an app called "Latency Config" did wonders and loads on startup - not bad for freeware).
What I'm left with now is the possibility of a full reformat to completely eliminate the old drivers for the Firewire 410 (when I switched from an SB Audigy to the Firewire in the first place it caused volume control to work "properly" with the 410), and also the choice between acquiring a Firewire port board (PCI) or continuing to use the ports on the motherboard.
I was told that a card would introduce less latency than the motherboard's ports. Is there any truth to this assertion?
jmailjimmie neutronMember
Since: Feb 14, 2005
Jul 05, 2005 07:02 pm Depends on the controller chip, or so they say. I've got firewire on only one computer, so I have nothing to go by, but it's an Adaptec card with TI chips, which is supposed to be the way to go... Like I say, tho, to us mere mortals, who knows?
