Advise, please ...

[PastorT]

Greetings. This is only my second post, but I have enjoyed reading others as I'm trying to learn to record.
This is my question:
I am trying to record using Cubase SX3 and Alesis Multimix 12 USB
My speakers are MAudio BX 8a
My computer is XP Pro, 200GB SATA HDD, AMD Athlon 3.22GHz, 1GB RAM

The only program on the machine is Cubase and various plugins. No internet, email, office, etc.

But I can't hardly get through one 4-minute song with 1 guitar without it starting to "click" or "chatter."

I would think that I should be able to do 8 or 10 layered tracks with my machine. I know it's not a nice quad-core w/4Gig of Ram, but then I'm not recording multiple instruments all at once with tons of plug-ins.

Am I really expecting too much? Am I missing some settings? what's the problem? Please help!

Thanks in advance!
- T

[tatteredstudios]

If you haven't downloaded the latest drivers from Alesis, do so. Then if you still have trouble, up your sample rate to about 256...try that out, it should take care of your problem...good luck !

[PastorT]

OK, downloaded the latest USB drivers, but they won't install. It gets as far as "uninstalling old drivers, plug in your device..." then fails to install because of a "timed out" error (after about 5 minutes).

Besides that, my mixer didn't come with any drivers that I know of, and the installation instruction just says "plug it in, XP will automatically install the driver." And a USB audio driver is present in the Device Manager.

Some other thoughts, please?
- T

[Electriclight]

Yeah, this is a recurrent theme: Devices that say "just plug and Play" that don't.

I would stay clear of any device that relies on Windows drivers. My advie is to go to hardware manager and disable and delete any drivers that you find there. Then try reinstalling.

BTW your computer can handle alot more than 8 or 10 tracks. The limiting factor here is your mixer. If it's not too late I would consider returning it. Why did you feel you needed a mixer? An audio interface with several inputs and ASIO drivers may be more suitable for what you are trying to do.

[PastorT]

EL-
Thanks for the input. That was my biggest concern - the ability of my computer. The mixer was an eBay deal ($75), and I got it because sometimes there might be 2 or 3 of us working on a song draft. Otherwise 1 at a time (mostly me), but I also want the ability to do midi from an old M1.

BTW, I downloaded and installed the Alesis drivers and my computer crashed. Now we'll see what I can recover!

Any more suggestions on equipment, setup, etc, will be well-appreciated! I really do like this forum!

- T

[Electriclight]

An audio interface with 4 inputs would accomodate your needs and you can mix in software. The mixer I think, requires you to mix before software. I guess you're stuck with it - now to get it up and running!

[magno]

Do you have a 2nd hard drive to record to?
I don't think any DAW software would recommend recording on to your hard drive that has the operating system on it.
Have you tried switching USB ports?

[PastorT]

Thanks some more!
Yes, I do have a 2nd HDD. The 200gig is for recording. The OS is on a 40gig.

One response that I've gotten suggested "upping" my buffer size to 256. I think this may be part of the mixer problem too. When I first turn everything on, the buffer size is 2048, with a latency of 350ms. I can lower the buffer size to 1024, and the latency goes down correspondingly. If I drop the buffer size to 512, the latency does go down to about 40ms, but I can get no sound to record, not even a metronome click. ASIO4All loads up, no prob, but does not record at all.

Looking forward to more input.
Thanks!
- T

[magno]

ASIO4ALL? I think you should be sticking with the Alesis drivers.
What sample rate(Hz) are you using?

[PastorT]

Thanks, Magno. Yes, I simply mentioned ASIO4all as an option that I could select, but its default setting of 512 doesn't work either. Sample rate is 4400 (or whatever that setting is).

I really would like to get the Alesis to work, but it does seem as though that is the problem in the link.

More thoughts appreciated,
- T