>>How do I verify that I am
in fact getting the real 24 bits from the MOTU ( instead of the 16-posing-as-24 due to the requested previously unsupported packed/unpacked format) ?
<<
If you are using ASIO there is no issue.
If you are using Wave Classic this has been fixed.

To veryify, record something in Vegas and then load that file into Forge. Zoom in and you will see whether you have 24 bits or not.

Peter

intersting post, an excellent answer to a question of mine in another post. i just don't get why my performance sucks soooo bad compared to everyone else around here. my computer is BRAND new from Dell...2.4P4 processor, 768MBRAM, 7200rpmIDE disk, M-Audio delta 410 sound...i've followed all of the rules. yet, for some reason, my current mix of 12 tracks, with 2-3 effects on each, takes my cpu up to 60-70% on average. and after it plays for about 2 minutes non-stop it gets allll static-y and the processor hits 100% until I stop playback. some people say "maybe you should optimize your os if it is xp", which is really specific. optimize what?? sorry, just venting. i'm just tired of trying to figure this out....

Check out :
http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
http://www.musicxp.net/installing_tips.htm
http://www.nemesysmusic.com/support/W2k_XP_Optimize.pdf
http://www.musicxp.net/installing_tips.htm


geoff

Cosmo: what plugins are you using, and at what latency?

Lower latency means higher CPU overhead, and certain plugins are just simply CPU hogs. I.E. multiband compression etc...

Cosmo,
Are these tracks you are playing back ones that you recorded with Vegas 4.0? The reason I ask is because I had a similar problem with my new computer (Carillon AC-1, P4 2.4 Ghz, 512Meg ram, etc.)when I tried to play back sessions recorded in Vegas Audio 2.0 in Vegas 4.0. The cpu usage pattern was the same - started at about 15% then as the session played on it climbed to 45%, then 100%, then static and near crash finally settling out at about 85% to finish playback. The good news is that it was a plug-in issue. I only had SF plug-ins on the tracks. I decided to remove the all of plug-ins from the tracks (remove, not hit the bypass plug-ins button) and try playback. It was fine with cpu usage at about 7% !!!! Now here is the really good news. When I put all of the plug-ins back on each track, the session played with cpu usage between 13-15% all the way through. This told me that there is some issue with Vegas 4 and plug-ins from sessions done in older versions of Vegas.

Just as a trial, I recorded 32 stereo tracks with 5 basic plug-ins on each track at 16 bit, 44.1Khz in monitor mode. The plug-ins were basic: compressor, eq, 3 delays. This is essentially 64 tracks and the cpu usage never went above 20%. I am using a Digi001 card with the ASIO driver at a buffer seting of 128.

So, I'm sure your cpu is good enough, I don't know if your MOBO and sound card/drivers are compatible. But, if your sessions are recorded in an older version of Vegas, try deleting the plug-ins and then reselecting them.

Hope this helps,
Greg

Here's a 'yardstick' for yas.

Celery 1G1, 512MB, 7200 rpm, XP Home, ASIO (buffers 256 = 5ms)
(Originally) Vegas 3 project with 27 mono and 1 stereo trax. Standard plugins plus lots of volume and some pan envelopes.

Play trax 45%
Play trax and rec 1, with input mon, 48%

No pops or clicks with normal mouse and wheel zooming activity. Occasionally a pop with buffer=128, but not sure if only PB or would be recorded (next time ...)

Also, record 8 mono trax with input mon on each, 65%.

geoff

With 4.0 I could not launch with the 324 ASIO drivers. I went to the 424 drivers and have been running pretty well, except I don't have a cuemix.

Are you running the public 324 ASIO drivers with 4.0b?

Yep.

g.

I am using the Motu 896 firewire. I am using the WDM drivers and thus far have no problems. But how do I enable ASIO drivers. The Motu web site says that it should support ASIO, but the Audio console does not have a setting to select ASIO and Vegas does not allow me to select them from the audio properties menu either. Any clues on where I'm going wrong here?

With the PCI drivers you have to select the ASIO drivers at installation. Try reinstalling your drivers and make sure ASIO is selected.

Don't really know if this is how it works for the 896 - just guessing.

zemlin, you are on the right track for me. When I reinstalled the motu drivers using the setup program, it allowed the option to check "Cubase ASIO drivers", which I did, allong with WDM. But when I run the "firewire audio console", it does not mention ASIO anywhere but it still has check boxes for MME and wave sync. Alas, I go into Vegas' audio properties and there is a new driver option "Motu Firewire Audio" along with the mapper and WDM. It does not say anything about ASIO, but I think that this is ASIO. Do you? Playback latency is now dimmed and cannot be changed. Does this sound like the behavior from ASIO drivers?

Thanks, Mike

As a side item and off topic a bit, I tried running Sonar 2.2XL after updating the driver and it would not run. After a few reboots and an update to the audio console, it did work again, but Sonar does not allow me to select either WDM or ASIO. So I have no idea what driver I am using with Sonar but I suspect WDM. The 2.2 release was supposed to have added ASIO for certain hardware.

The other interesting comparison between Sonar and Vegas is that Vegas uses 10% of my cpu to simply play 6 audio channels and rout them to the sound card as well as displaying video to my NTSC monitor. Using the same exact files, Sonar uses 50% cpu to play and there is no video being played. There are no effects turned on with either, just trim settings.

Yes, this is the normal behavior. Some vendors lable their drivers as ASIO, others don't.

To control the latency/buffering for ASIO in Vegas (or ACID), after you have selected the ASIO driver, click Apply. The "Advanced" button will become enabled. Click on this and you will be shown the ASIO advanced page. Clicking the "Configure" button will present you with the driver supplied ASIO control pannel. For the MOTU Firewire hardware this is where you can configure the driver settings for ASIO mode.

Peter

Seems OK so far.