Issues with this computer for recording

[bopeuph]

I tried to record my electric bass the other day the moment I got my FocusRite Scarlett 8i6, and I had problems. Because of latency, I had monitoring directly out of the FocusRite before going to the computer, so I didn't hear problems with recording. Sonar played back the track in a way that you wouldn't recognize it as anything other than being static from the radio. Acid did a little better, but I feel that the sound was being altered too much. Recording through Acid sounded fine if I was playing traditionally, but tapping made it sound overloaded, even though the signal was barely there. Are there reasons why each program records at different fidelities?

I've spent the last few days cleaning up my PC. The last time I ran defrag was at least six months ago, and I'm inclined to guess even longer than that, because the scan took around 30 hours to complete. I've cleaned up the registry and temp files with CCleaner and Auslogics tools, and am just running a few virus scanners, just in case, though I'm pretty sure they will pick up little to none. The last thing to run is CHKDSK...though I tried this a while ago, and 20 hours later it was frozen. I'd actually like to do it when I know I'm not going to need my laptop for a long, long time. Someone mentioned that if CHKDSK takes that long that my HD might be failing, but I've been reading that if the computer has never had CHKDSK run, that it's bound to take that long.

I'm running a Dell Vostro 1700 with XP SP3.

Eventually, I'm going to grab up a dedicated PC to do this work, but I would like this computer to be able to do some light recording--as in maybe 2-3 tracks at once. This is my main computer, as in I use it to surf the web (only safe sites and has NoScript, Flashblock and AdBlock installed), and to do music copywork.

One funny issue with the Scarlett--If I try to use it to play back sound on the computer, it may do fine for a few minutes. Then, out of nowhere, the sound, and video if that's where the sound is coming from, slow down dramatically. The sound distorts and will even come in and out intermittently. If I change the latency, even if I go from 20 to 1, it will right itself for a few minutes. Changing the latency in the mix console fixes the issue. So what's the reason for that?

[bopeuph]

Crap, and I already posted a new post in the wrong area. Sorry about that.

[JayGee]

You might want to disable your wireless adapter, and retry.

Wireless is notorious for causing conflicts with audio drivers. Lots of static, and dropouts are common on laptops exhibiting this problem.

[bopeuph]

When I'm home, I usually switch off the wireless card from the switch on the side, as the wireless signal isn't strong enough, so I just connect via ethernet. Does switching it off that way count, or do I need to turn off the service?

[JayGee]

When I'm home, I usually switch off the wireless card from the switch on the side, as the wireless signal isn't strong enough, so I just connect via ethernet. Does switching it off that way count, or do I need to turn off the service?

I'm not sure, but I would think that would disable the wireless adapter.
Maybe someone else will chime in...

[bopeuph]

First of all, Brandon, can you put this post in the right place so I don't keep in the wrong forum?

So, I cleaned out my computer, optimized it, defragged it, closed any services I don't need, and this thing is fast. Damn fast. But the buffer issue is still there. It's taking much, much longer to notice now, but if I do anything that spikes the CPU, it will happen. Even just with playback of music on playlists or browsers. Am I missing something simple, or is it time to contact the manufacturer?

[LazyE]

have you got any plug ins that were demo`s that have expired? i know a lot of the demos i have had when they time out, they stil play, but just cause the audio to cut in and out like when the processer is struggling. just a thought

[bopeuph]

I'm running virtually nothing. This is just with my media player playing and Scarlett Mix Control open. 25 processes running altogether. I left it playing and took a shower and after about ten minutes, the buffer issue came back. I had my screen saver set, so that might have been the cause that time. But running a simple set of programs shouldn't affect playback so badly. If playback is this bad, I can only imagine what recording would do.

[stonear17]

I'm not much of a computer person and don't know a whole lot about them, but I had similar issues with my laptop and recording. I have an HP and a Tascam interface and I couldn't record much, if anything at all, before I'd get dropouts and the program (Cubase) would freeze up all together. I think the issue I had was that the processor in my laptop, Intel Core i3 with 2.1 GHz, isnt powerful enough to run everything. At least this was the best i could come up with. Soon after realizing the issue with my laptop I bought a desktop solely for recording. It's a refurbished HP, but the AMD processor in it has about 2.8 GHz. I've never had a problem with recording witht he desktop, so therefore, I assumed it was the processor.

A little long-winded maybe, but the moral of the story is you might want to look at your processor to see what kind of power there is. That, and maybe the soundcard, are the only things that I can think of that would affect recording. Hope this helps.

Andy

[bopeuph]

I have an Intel Core2 Duo at 2.0 GHz. I'm pretty much running absolutely nothing while recording. I am thinking that this laptop was doomed from the start. The on board sound card never sounded good; it almost always distorted.

[bopeuph]

I just tried another take. Acid sounded great, until the buffer dropped out. It's funny when the buffer stops like that, everything slows down, including my metronome.

There was a definite improvement on Sonar, but it was still distorted and unacceptable for recording.

If I could only fix this buffer issue, I'd be in business.

[stonear17]

When I initially tried recording on my laptop, I never had anything running other than Cubase and still had issues. Maybe one of the more experienced recording people on here can say otherwise, but I think it's the processor. My laptop has never worked no matter what I tried. It's not even that good for just mixing on. My system can't seem to handle that much better.

[bopeuph]

You're probably right. I do want a dedicated desktop for my home recordings, but, about a few months ago, a group I was playing in needed some down and dirty tunes recorded to grab up a well-paying gig. I brought my minidisc recorder and we used that. That was probably the beginning of my desire to be able to record halfway decent tracks.

I want to record my own self, tracking each instrument of mine on top of the other, making a stupid video, putting it on YouTube and seeing what I get. If nothing else, it would make me a better musician. I also want to be able to bring this computer to a rehearsal hall and be able to knock out a few decent demo recordings with two mics and a few takes. That's eventually want I want out of this. And who knows--when I got my Scarlett, I decided I needed a desktop. The more I get, the more I probably want to do with this.

[acidfrost]

open up msconfig (search it in the start menu search) and close everything you don't need. Reboot. Turn off you're wifi. Go in device manager and turn off in the BATTERY section ACPI or ACHI something. Try it. Really important: Turn back on the ACPI/ACHI thing before turning off your computer or you won't be able to reboot it after. That's what I do for my firewire interface to work with my laptop (I have the crappy Ricoh chipset). Try this and see if it works! Antivirus and Firewall are really CPU hungry so take them out in msconfig. Turn off all the other audio drivers except your sound card in device manager also!

[bopeuph]

msconfig is as clean as it can get. I had no clue about the battery. I forgot to turn off the firewall, so I'll try that in a bit.