Your problems could have many causes. I would suspect any kind of crackling etc is the result of an overloaded bus on your computer. Chances are high that your Duo simply cannot keep up with Acid (or the other way around) due to a hardware conflict or some other cause.

Should have invested in a PCI card based solution instead of USB. USB is simply too slow for data throughput (despite what everyone claims).

Specs would be nice...like what OS you are running...your IRQ device allocation would really help here...and what are these "other thing" you have plugged in as well?

Cuzin B

I'll chime in here as I've tried a USB unit for this type of of application before and I agree with CunizB, not enough throughput. Same thing that happens to you happened to me.

If you can reccomend a pci solution I am ready to do anything to get my projects done...

As for the pc I am running XP Pro, a 2.4 processor, 1 gig ram, big hard drives.
Not 100% sure about :
1. Sound card. What came on the system is what I am using...
I have been more concerned about video editing up until this point.
2. IRQ allocations
3. Other things plugged in are a Wacom tablet and a wirless mouse.

If you can tell me anything specific I will be glad to look it up on the PC.

Thanks,
Patrick

If you can find an M-Audio Delta 410 PCI Card, that's what I have and like. Lots of success in this forum with M-Audio Delta 1010 as well. Cheaper still is the M-Audio Audiophile 24/96, it only has 2 outputs though. If you want to do 5.1 mixing you'll need a card with 6 outs.

Also, I've not looked in a while but there was a Turtle Creek card called the Santa Cruz that people were using successfully.

Click here for Musiciansfriend.com listens Just stay away from USB.

I can record to Vegas perfectly using just one track...
When I try to record with more than that is when it gets choppy...

Anway, one thing I have to have is phantom power for my mic.
Will any of the pci or the Delta do this??

Patrick

I have a USBpre sound card by sound devices. I can record 2 tracks at a time with it with no problems, using USB 2.0. With this sound card, I can only have this connected to the USB port and nothing else, otherwise there isn't enough power to make it function properly. USB, has a very limited power supply to power external devices, especially if you have phantom power turned on. The solution is to only have the sound card connected to the USB port, or you can purchase a seperate USB Hub, which will have a seperate power supply making it possible to connect all the devices to the same USB port on your PC.

Red, I thought you were running dual Echo Ginas? What's the point of this USB stuff in your rig?

Patrick:

Firstly try remove everything else off USB and use a separate USB port to any other device - then see if it works.

I would recommend a PCI solution (or perhaps firewire / MLAN if you require this), and can personally recommend Echo products being way above and beyond M-Audio from presonal experience.

You'd be amazed at how a mere soundcard and it's drivers can affect your overall stability!

Jason

"If you can reccomend a pci solution I am ready to do anything to get my projects done..."

Stay right with M-Audio for the Delta 44, Delta 66 or Delta 1010 (which is what I use)...some larger dough but killer for recording! No cracklin' and poppin' over here....other good choices are from RME ($$$ but very high quality)...Echo makes good stuff...just STAY CLEAR or any USB recording.

As for the pc I am running XP Pro, a 2.4 processor, 1 gig ram, big hard drives.
Not 100% sure about :
1. Sound card. What came on the system is what I am using...
I have been more concerned about video editing up until this point.

See above. Do not ever expect to get any decent results from a built in card (Soundblaster, Turtle Beach etc etc).

2. IRQ allocations

In Windows XP - Right click on My Computer and choose Manage. On the tree on the left choose Device Manager. Then from the View menu - choose Resources By Connection. Expand the Interrupt Request (IRQ) item by clicking on it's plus sign. In here you can determine if your devices share an IRQ or not. Generally - for digital audio recording, it's very important to strive to have your audio recording device on it's own IRQ - which is essentially like it's own dedicated pipeline to the PCI bus. You will see your USB devices in here as well. Chances are your Duo is sharing some action with something else - hence the popping and crackling. Note for later - if you end up buying a new PCI based recording card - you should experiment carefully with which slot you place the card into - again - strive to get that card onto it's own IRQ and your good recording time should shoot up considerably.

3. Other things plugged in are a Wacom tablet and a wirless mouse.

No other way to explain this except to say - you may have to make a hard decision about what is most important to you. If you really want to have a successful recording experience - then you need to make this box just that - a recording box - with no other doodads (or software) present. Most of us have two boxes...one for recording and one for office type stuff. If that is not possible - then be prepared to spend much more time troubleshooting your recordings and less time enjoying that experience. The more stuff you pile onto the box that is not related to your recording lineup will eventually work it's way into the fray almost always in a bad way.

Getting a decent card tho - should clear things up pretty fast.

Cuzin B

While you can try your luck with the Deltas, my advice would be to stay as far away from that company as you possibly can.

Sony, and many others including myself can recommend Echo's products for use with Vegas. Stable and great sounding. Why risk M-Audio again as you're already having problems with one of their products. be it USB or whatever, it should work but it doesn't.

I had a bad bad experience with M-Audio Delta 1010s and I wouldn't want anyone else to go through that. Regardless of what luck some people heave with M-audio, do a search for problems with soundcards on the forums. They're only faring a little better than Sound Blasters...

Jason

I've got the M-Audio Firewire 410, mainly becuase it was all that I could find that'd do what I needed. Apart from issues with early drivers and SPDIF in, so far it's flawless with Vegas. I wont comment on how the mic pres are as I don't have the experience to judge them. What I do like is getting the low level audio out of the PC enclosure though, the thought of switch mode power supplies and mic circuits in the one box gave me the willies, so having an external box solved not only that concern but means I can also use it with my laptop.
I'm far from an audio geek, so please take my advice with a grain of salt but if you're after a reasonable bit of gear that'll fill your needs this might fill the bill.
One other thing I picked up on, I know M-Audio are supposed to be more Mac friendly than PC centric, well so far it's taken them about three times the number of goes to iron the wrinkles out of this box on OSX than with Win2K/XP.

Hi jason,

You're kind of foolish aren't ya?

Bye Jason.


So anyway, the maudio cards available today are great. Better sounding cards, better driver support, and great hardware support.
Echo's 24-bit cards are nice too, although the drivers aren't as robust as Maudio's at this point, they're 24bit cards are nice too.

I've recently heard cases where others have fried there maudio cards after messing with a power supply (or using 220v receptacles)...and maudio repaired their product for FREE. Unheard of support after blatent user error such as this, but it was no problem for maudio.

I also like Aardvark (sorry, another overlooked and solid company as well), and RME of course. I mention maudio as they offer a wider range in choices and features right now for users with set budgets.
RME makes some solid systems (you are in a different pricerange, but outstanding cards and support as).

jd

Jason,

A very well thought out and comprehensive response. Wow - I think you have convinced me to completely change my main studios due to your expert influence.

Hi Joe,

You're kind of a d*ck aren't you?

Bye Joe.


Patrick - take all this advice from everyone and do what works for you. If you can buy your sound card from a store that you can return it to if it doesn't satisfy - all the better. EVERY PC IS DIFFERENT. While Jason has had no luck with the M-Audio stuff, others around here have had great success. At the same time - some of the M-Audio users haven't been able to get the Echo stuff to work on their machines. IT'S ALL RELATIVE and you never know what's gonna happen til you drop that new card in. So get get one, drop it in your box and let us know what happens.

"Red, I thought you were running dual Echo Ginas? What's the point of this USB stuff in your rig?"

I also have a laptop, where It is setup to do onsight recording stuff. The USB connection, makes it very portable along with the laptop. I work for JBL and Mark Levinson and for vehicles, that have one of our premium audio system in it, before hand before the vehicle is sold, we work with the car company and tune/eq the vehicle working on a prototype build. I will use a laptop with a microphone array in the vehicle, and look at the spectral characteristics of the vehicle. The amp is then custom EQed for that vehicle. So we will use the same amp in many different vehicles, but the amp can be customed EQed to match that particular model vehicle.

**********While you can try your luck with the Deltas, my advice would be to stay as far away from that company as you possibly can.

Sony, and many others including myself can recommend Echo's products for use with Vegas. Stable and great sounding. Why risk M-Audio again as you're already having problems with one of their products. be it USB or whatever, it should work but it doesn't.

I had a bad bad experience with M-Audio Delta 1010s and I wouldn't want anyone else to go through that. Regardless of what luck some people heave with M-audio, do a search for problems with soundcards on the forums. They're only faring a little better than Sound Blasters...***********

Yes Jason, this may be true here at the Vegas forum and with your sad and unique experience....

But let me point something out to you....

I've been using Delta cards for years and currently have them in 6 different workstations here at my studio...

They work very well, I use Vegas every single day and I've never experienced "sound card" based issues.

Using USB for audio throughput is a joke and I'm only sorry to see that option is actully available, when users think they can run a sound card with their scanner and their printer and USB mouse all at the same time.

I also have used the echo products and gave my Layla away because it sounded no better than an SB and was very glitchy with my use of Sonar Rewired to Giga 160 full pass voicing (that's equivelant to 320 mono tracks at 24 bit).... where I can run my Deltas ALL DAY LONG like this and never have a single problem, ever.

I still have a MIA that I use and it's ok.... not alot to brag about....

But I can put you in touch with several pro level users here in Nashville that do nothing but make records all day long that use Delta cards and never have problems...

If you check other application's forums and run your search there for problems....

You'll find that Echo missed the boat really bad concerning GSIF and their support of it and most users of other applications like Giga, Sonar, Nuendo and such, are using the Deltas without any problems.

like I said... you can try your luck...for some people it works, for others it doesn't.

TMR, you are lucky that for you these very cheap cards work - but there is much proof on these forums, and others that Echo's products are more reliable for more people.

It also depends what you use your machine for. The best you can do is study what other people are doing with their systems and what is working for a similar requirement to your own.

As for the sound, use your ears. TMR, you've expressed your personal delight with the A/D D/A in the Delta, and I'm pleased for you. For others it doesn't cut the mustard in comparision to other (higher end Apogee / Prism / etc) units.

Jason