Need some urgent help…
So I bought an RME Multiface today. I leave tomorrow night for a recording session. I bought the RME so I could record drums nicely.
I have hooked it all up and installed the drivers. However, when I try to play anything in n-track, I get lots of crackles. I have turned down my buffers to Very Low… and I still get lots of crackles.
I really don’t know much about all this buffering and whatnot… and i’m not sure what to do. any ideas?
are you using ASIO drivers?
yes… i am using the ASIO drivers. it actually seems like it might be a plug-in problem. I muted the turned off the effects and the crackles went away. maybe i need to take off all my plug-in’s and put them all back on? is this common when switching sound cards?
is there anything else i need to do?
If you are using WDM or MME drivers, the buffering settings are adjusted in n-Track. If using ASIO, you will need to adjust them via the RME’s driver console application. ASIO should work well for you unless your system is a real dog.
TG
hm… im having a hard time finding Buffer settings with RME’s console. however… it seems like n-track is working fine now. so far the only big issue i have now… is the sounds windows makes… the alerts and all… they sound really funny. Slightly distorted and off… like they have some weird BitCrusher plug-in on them. everything else seems to sound fine… what in the world?!
If I were you, I’d disable the Windoze sounds or map them through another soundcard. The setting in the RME console might be called “Latency” and be adjusted in milliseconds instead of “Buffering”. I know my EMU card is set via latency in millisecond steps. This just calculates the buffer size for you. ASIO just works that way I reckon…
TG
does the funny windows sounds sound like a common problem?
I have come across it before, but I can’t remember what, if anything, I did to change it.
Great interface from what I have read about it. Have fun!
Most Windoze sounds were recorded at a funky sample rate/ bit depth of 22khz at 4 bits. IF your audio driver does not automatically resample these files on the fly, they will sound funky. Go to your Windows directory and look for a sub folder called Media. In there you will find Start.wav, Tada.wav etc… Right click on one and examine the properties page. You’ll see what I mean. A pro soundcard like that RME will not waste resources resampling those oddball files for you. It’s probably a good “feature”. 
TG
haha interesting. good to know!
so far i really like the RME. it is sounding superb!
What OS? We had some similar problems with a c-port one time - just couldn’t get it working properly under XP w/xp drivers, went back to 98 w/98 drivers, worked fine.
System details?
im running WindowsXP on a Dell 8400, 3.6gHz, 1 gig RAM, etc.
so i am having a few issues…
so all the sudden in n-Track… I get this loud high pitched blare randomly. the play cursor and time are still moving as it blares… but all the meters are showing the loud noise.
also… i tried playing a couple computer games that worked fine with my SoundBlaster Audigy2. but now with the Multiface… there is a good half second lag in all the sound. I would just use my Soundblaster for gaming… but unfortunately i dont have any free PCI slots. i had to take the Audigy out for the Multiface…
what should i do?
Bought a new Multiface! I’ve been wanting to get ride of mine for a while now that I’ve upgraded to a Digiface. Both the Multiface and Digiface have performed well using nTrack.
you upgraded from a multiface to a digiface? i’m confused…
ok so i’m still getting pops and crackles… even with my Buffer Size turned up. i’m not sure what to do…
GFM,
You will find there are literally dozens of things you need to tweak to get flawless audio performance out of a system like yours. A bunch of us have “been there, done that”. First thing I would do is go HERE and follow the tips for optimizing your PC for digital audio. From there…
1) Is your RME card installed in a PCI slot whose IRQ is shared with other peripherals?
2) Do you have only one hard disk? A dual drive system with one drive dedicated for your audio files will drastically improve performance.
3) I think this one is at the link I posted but…Is DMA enabled for your hard drive(s)?
4) How bad are your hard drive(s) fragmented? Run defrag on 'em.
Search the forum for more improvement tips. One more comment though. How many PCI slots does your system have? What else is installed besides your RME card? I’m afraid using your DAW PC for a “do it all” box will severely limit performance for DAW work. My system is much less “powerful” than yours but I have it optimized for DAW use only and it works great!
TG
Yup… have an extra drive just for audio.
DMA is enabled.
No need for defrag.
However… it is sharing its IRQ with what I am guessing is a USB port. Is there a way to change IRQ ports?
Different IRQs are assigned to different PCI slots. You can try moving your card around to other slots to see if it helps…
Tony
You’ll have to do some digging on the IRQ thing. What you see in Windoze is a little misleading. What I did was check the manual for my motherboard and found the PCI slot (Slot 3 on my mobo) that sits on its very own, unshared HARDWARE interupt line. Windows Xp usually installs in ACPI mode which lets Windows handle your interupts and usually does a pretty fair job. However, placing the PCI card in an unshared slot garauntees Windoze will keep it unshared. Do a Google on tweaking PC’s and changing IRQ’s and stuff. Buttloads of information on the web.
TG
EDIT** Yeah, what Scantee said. 