How?
I read a former thread on pops and clicks on play back which is the battle I have been dealing with since I got my new laptop. Someone suggested enabling DMA and I would like to know how to do this.
Ever since I went 24 bit and started using asio drivers playback has been irritating to say the least.Forget the buffers. They do not seem to make a difference where they are set.
Play back with the integrated sound card is fine but not an option with my alesis firewire mixer. Just for kicks I have fooled with N track,Cubase and reaper which all do the same thing so I am wondering if it is a processor thing. Any help would be appreciated for this computer challenged individual.
The DMA issue may - or may not - be the trouble on your system. If your PC isn’t optimised for recording, the switch to 24 bit may cause some pain. Luckily, there are remedies for this.
The DMA settings first: Select windows Start - Settings - Control Panel - Hardware tab - Device Manager - IDE/ATAPI Controllers - Primary IDE Channel - Properties - Advanced Settings - Transfer Mode should be set to “DMA If Available” on all drives if it isn’t already.
For a thorough optimization of your machine for use with audio, go to The MusicXP.net site, read the tuning tips, and follow them closely. Unless your machine is more than four to five years old, it shouldn’t be a “processor thing”, and yours is a new laptop, so I am pretty sure you just need to tweak it a bit to make it run smoothly.
regards, Nils
check at the Alesis website that your unit is compatable with the firewire chips in your laptop -
Dr J
DMA is enabled.I cannot find any info what chips alesis firewire is compatable with. And how do I know what mine is?Why does clicking start around 15 or 20 secs and vary ?
thanks
from Alesis support page - “16. Try using another Firewire card, preferably one with another Firewire chipset.” -
While Alesis has tested a wide variety of cards from various different manufacturers, there are significant differences in how Firewire interfacing is implemented by different vendors. See if another card solves your problems -
which is like saying, if it dont work tough we cant be bothered to help you -
go here for full alesis firewire problems
http://www.alesis.com/support.php?cat=MultiMix%20FireWire%20Mixers#360 -
look for “my system is unstable” (bottom of listing)
also Alesis firewire units run at 400 mbits a second (which is slow) they do not support the new and faster 800 mbits system -
beware of XP media centre edition - if you have that OS you may have to dump it for PROPER XP -
early versions of XP fixed the firewire communication rate to the slowest possible (if your alesis sets it to 400 mbits, XP will ignore it and run at 100 mbits or whatever it is fixed to), there is a patch available a M $oft to cure this and there are a few free firewire chip detecting applications on the net you will have to Google for them yourself -
Dr J
Dr. J
Thanks for your continuing input.You are lucky you do not live next door to me or you would be my n track tech on call.
Yes I have media center edition but changing is not something I really want to do unless things get really bad .
Dr. J
Thanks for your continuing input.You are lucky you do not live next door to me or you would be my n track tech on call.
Yes I have media center edition but changing is not something I really want to do unless things get really bad .I have like 3 yrs of tech help that would go by by if I start fooling with operating systems.My wife thought she was doing good and was mislead.
I talked to Alesis today and they informed me that my laptop FW chip should be running at 400 mbits but highly recomended that a 6 pin to 4 pin FW hookup is not good and I should put a express card FW card in to help with transfer.
I wish it was simple as adjusting buffers but seems to be alitle complex.
What is wrong with media center ED for n track usage?
i think this says it all - Alesis firewire/usb IS NOT supported
http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/ts/detail.php?Index=30163
Dr J
Say no more. I think that is the proverbial nail on the head.