Pleading for EMERGENCY HELP (OT, sort of)

PeterXI wrote on 5/3/2005, 8:24 PM
I posted this in the SF Forum but I guess it is a bit late for anyone to be reading it.

I am truly in a pickle and if I cannot resolve this problem I guess I'll have to record all of tomorrow's audio onto DVCAM 184s at DV speed....

Subject: Help - EMERGENCY - SF7b/M-Audio Transit/1394 external drive screw up
Posted by: PeterXI
Date: 5/3/2005 7:54:26 PM

I am doing a recording session for a very important first time client with potential for regular repeat business.

The PC quits recoirding after about 90 minutes. This wasn't a problem for the first set of sessions because the facilitator stopped for breaks at 1 hour 20 minute intervals.

Thankfully I have an audio cassette recorder for back up. The quality isn't the best but maybe I can tweak the missing minutes and the client will not notice. Or dumb down all the other files....

TAPE OUT from audio mixer going into Toshiba Satellite Celeron 1.8 ghz/256 meg RAM via M-Audio USB Transit. Sound Forge 7b for recording. Recording stereo 16 Bit 44hz (they insisted)

Hard drive is external IEEE 1394 (firewire). New drive, tested extensively before use. 100 gigabytes free.

Defragged Laptop program drive last night after uninstalling SF8.

SF 6 is still installed, if that makes any difference.

Could the failure be due to the audio input being USB and the output to hard drive 1394?

Is it possible SF8 has f***d up my laptop. If so, how do I eradicate it and revert to a clean copy of SF7 or even SF6?

I will keep the frum page open and check for advice every fifteen mintes. ALL suggestions welcomed.

thank you all in advance!

Peter Burn

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 5/3/2005, 8:39 PM
First, don't even consider using cassette for backup, run to the local drugstore and buy an MD or other digital recording device. Even a cheap Olympus digital dictation machine would be better.

Next...I doubt SF8 nailed your machine. I've had a few VST issues with it, but outside of that, it's great. Why not use 6? Do you have time to run a test? You can always dump the test audio tomorrow.

The USB may be an issue. If your laptop has a cooling fan that shares the USB resource, it could shut down the USB port when it goes to cool. This comes up on the DMN rather often.
Is the final destination for the audio going to DV, or to CD? If it's DV, why did they insist on 44.1? That card defaults to 44.1, but it does 48 just great.
My recommendation....see if the fan and USB are sharing resource. If you have no other options, find break points and dump the audio to a new folder at each one.
Hard drive is NTFS, not FAT 32, right?
John_Cline wrote on 5/3/2005, 8:47 PM
OK, I'm just thinking out loud here...

It could be a filesize issue, but I believe that .wav files can be up to 2 gig in size. If that's true then at 44k 16 bit stereo, you wouldn't hit the 2 gig limit until you had recorded 189 minutes. However, if you have Sound Forge set to use floating point temporary files which are 32 bits instead of 16, then you would hit the 2 gig limit at 94:30. Check and see if SF8 is set to use floating point temp files. It's under "Option" > "Preferences" on the "General" tab near the bottom.

Just a shot in the dark...

John
PeterXI wrote on 5/3/2005, 8:48 PM
*Even a cheap Olympus digital dictation machine would be better.
-- this is Fort McMurray in Northern Alberta. No stores open late on Tueday. They want audio cassettes as well as CDs, luckily..

Why not use 6? Do you have time to run a test?
-- I will use 6. I am running a test with 7b but am going to try 6 if it quits at 90 minutes again.

The USB may be an issue. If your laptop has a cooling fan that shares the USB resource, it could shut down the USB port when it goes to cool.
-- but why at 90 minutes? Was there an issue with SF8 quitting at 90 minutes? Can't remember

Is the final destination for the audio going to DV, or to CD?
-- Audio CD, MP3 and audio cassettes for some old fashioned transcription device the client still likes to use.

My recommendation....see if the fan and USB are sharing resource.
-- How can I find this out? I'm a bit of a Luddite when it comes to understanding IRQs et al.

If you have no other options, find break points and dump the audio to a new folder at each one.
-- Yeah, it saves instantly so maybe I'll have to do that when he pauses to change overhead transparencies.

Hard drive is NTFS, not FAT 32, right?
-- brand new Maxtor USB2/IEEE1994 external formatted as NTFS.

Thanks!
Former user wrote on 5/3/2005, 8:49 PM
Could be a heating issue. Put your laptop on 'blocks.' Which is to say, even four dice (one on each corner) will keep it off the surface and aid in cooling. With newer laptops (especially ones with fans on the bottom (WHY they put fans on the resting surface beats me...but whatever)) heating can be a serious show-stopper.

Also, ALWAYS use a mini-disc (MD) or DAT as a backup. Buy a little Mackie or Behringer mixer to split the audio to the different sources if necessary.

There isn't any particular reason that SF8 (even though I've gone back to 7) should cause a hang or just quit.

Always have some form of digital backup, and keep your system cool - laptops are infamous for heating issues (I just bought a Mac iMac stand for my HP - works great).
Spot|DSE wrote on 5/3/2005, 8:56 PM
I dunno....putting your laptop on dice seems like a real gamble.

John probably has it, I'd forgotten that this option is in there. That's the first place I'd look.
The problem with cassette is the wow and flutter. Trying to match it to tape is virtually impossible without doing a lot of cutting. In a pitch, it will work, but it's a bear to do.

Are you running the hd via USB or via Firewire?
PeterXI wrote on 5/3/2005, 9:06 PM
firewire through a plug in 1394 card. The M-Audio Transit is USB 1.1 only. I went for the firewire because someone once posted that firewire supports mutliple streams but USB has finite bandwidthand splits it between devices.

thanks,

Peter
Jay Gladwell wrote on 5/4/2005, 4:52 AM

Douglas said, "I dunno....putting your laptop on dice seems like a real gamble."

<GROAN> That made in incisions hurt!

;o)


Jay Gladwell wrote on 5/4/2005, 4:53 AM

So tell us, Peter, what was the outcome?