Is it possible to get my money back?
I saw this program just browsing online thru music programs and thought after 10mins into demo that this was what I wanted, but its honestly a pain for me right now because I cant configure my microphone correctly with the program. My music is more focused on rap, so I try to put a verse in and when I talk into the mic during “Live” version, I hear it delayed, its not instant. I attempted a verse over a already made beat as well and it was the same way plus it cut out some of it as well. Ive read a lot about soundcards and sampling frequency, I did get it to the point where it picked up my voice faster, but still not instant. I just dont know what to do now so I’m hoping I can get my money back in anyway, or if not, can anyone really knowledgeable of a Compaq Presario Laptop with Windows Vista help me get together the right setup for it. I also am using a MXL Studio Condenser Mic. Thank you for any help and info, seriously.
We’ll get you up and tweaked. If no one jumps in, I’ll be back in a couple hours.
The “Live” button is probably the problem. You do not need (or want) it depressed when you are doing sound on sound ( voice over) tracks. The purpose of the “Live” button is when someone wants to use effects and hear the resulted “doctored” sound as they record. The Live button will cause and echo or delay when used if there are effects on the playback - unless the computer is very fast and the effect is super efficient and even then you may get some echo. Turn the live button off, you will still hear the recorded tracks, but the delay/echo should be gone.
Hope this helps.
Let us know,
Bax
Ive tried that already because I didn’t like hearing my vocals echoing while I was recording, but the result would always end up delayed and random parts of it chopped out. It was like the mic couldnt pick up all my words some how, when I was clearly loud speaking into it. Thats when I came on here and started messing with the sampling frequency and that helped when I moved it up to 190000, but that was when I tested it on Live. When it came back to recording, still chopped out random parts, and delayed compared to the instrumental file I was rapping with.
Leave your sampling at 44100 - that’s not the problem.
It’s most likely a buffering/live button/driver latency issue.
You just need to find the buffering combination that works for you computer. I’m not familiar enough with the Compaq Presario to know if it can be a decent recording computer or not. Does it have enough memory to handle recording processing? That could be an issue to.
So reset the sampling rate to 44100 and lets work from there.
Here’s the manual on Buffering:
4.10. Buffering settings
Playback buffers: number and size of buffers used during playback and for live processing output. Decrease the buffering to decrease the time between an action operated on the mixer and its hearable result (output latency). Low values of this parameter will make the program more resource consuming: if you can hear jumps in the playback, try to increase this parameter.
Preload buffers: a value higher than 1 allows the program to load buffers from the hard disk while at the same time processing another buffer
Disk loading buffers bigger… sets how many times the buffers used for loading data from disk are bigger than the buffers used for accessing the soundcard. Since big disk loading buffers lead to a more efficient use of the hard disk and small buffers used for accessing the soundcard lead to a lower latency, a relatively high value for this parameter can allow to use the hard disk efficiently while maintaining a small output latency.
Recording buffers: number and size of buffers used during recording and for live processing input during recording
Disk buf. Size: sets the size of the blocks the program uses to save data to disk. Bigger blocks make the access to the hard disk more efficient, but too big blocks may cause small drop-outs in both the recording and the playback during recording.
Press the apply button to use the new values. If playback, recording or live input processing are active, they will be stopped and restarted with the new buffering settings.
Default values appear rotating the knobs, but any other value for both the buffer size and number can be manually entered typing the number in the text boxes.
Always start from the default values, then try to increment the buffers if you need more reliable playback and decrement them if you want lower latency.
When using Asio drivers, the buffers size and numbers are dictated by the Asio driver, so the program will complain if the settings are different from those requested by the driver.
___
It’s very rare for anyone to just plug in a microphone and record - trust me this is going to require you to learn a few basics. Try not to get discouraged, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Also go hereand download asio 4 all English version. Since I presume you are plugging directly into your computer and have no asio drivers. You may need them.
For what it’s worth, you’re going to have most of these same setup issues with any other DAW software and computer based recording. You have to knuckle down, do your homework, figure things out a little at time and progress… or just buy a tape deck.
You didn’t mention an audio/midi interface. Are you trying to use the onboard sound card?
D
The model of that Compaq laptop would be nice to know too, as a Presario w/Vista laptop can cover a wide range of model#'s and could go as far back as a Celeron. Integrated audio could be a 3D SB-Pro, or maybe Crystal or Conexant.
Quote: (technoid @ Aug. 26 2009, 9:18 PM)
The model of that Compaq laptop would be nice to know too, as a Presario w/Vista laptop can cover a wide range of model#'s and could go as far back as a Celeron. Integrated audio could be a 3D SB-Pro, or maybe Crystal or Conexant.
Please Lord... don't let it be the Conexant audio chip...
I HAVE one! Compaq Presario VM2508. Onboard audio is just about TOTALLY useless. So hears hopin'...
D
Quote:
Please Lord... don't let it be the Conexant audio chip...
I second, third, and fourth that.
Did your Presario come with VISTA or did you install VISTSA on an older Presario?
The reason I ask is because if it’s the later, there can be issues with VISTA and some WDM drivers - i.e. not all functions are supported.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa906227.aspx
However, assuming that’s not a problem, the most likely problem is latency.
Select your driver under SETTINGS / AUDIO DEVICES
If you want to try WDM drivers, you can change the buffering - under the SETTINGS
tab. Under Buffering Settings, select ‘more options’ and you should see some
dials to fiddle with, (you can always go back and set the pre-set to normal).
But try adjusting both dials counter-clockwise to achieve a reading of something
under 20msec (in the response time line) and keep 2 buffers.
This should be sufficient to record and monitor.
The other option is to use ASIO4ALL which is a wrapper for WDM that bypasses the
windows mixer on the way to your hardware. The default buffering is not changeable under Buffering Settings, but you can change it by selecting
ctrl+alt+F4 and selecting the ASIO SETTINGS/ASIO CONTROL PANEL
Mine default at about 11msec, but you can adjust accordingly.
Now about the condenser mic - how are you attatching it to the input? They need
phantom power (48V) - so you are going through a mixer first? Should not be
a problem as long as you have a useable level at the Presario mic input.
First things first… you are using a preamp with that mic? No preamp, no phantom power, no sound. Ya dig?
where’d he go?
Quote: (TonyR @ Aug. 28 2009, 6:07 PM)
where'd he go?
Best Buy? To get a tape deck?
D
Thanks everyone for your info, but I dont have time to play with the system to get it to work and in all honesty my laptop might not have the abilities to run this program. It would randomly lag and crash so I think it was too much memory for me. My laptop is Compaq Presario CQ60 Notebook PC.
There is one last kick at the cat you can try, this will deal with your lag and possibly other issues that are causing the skipping.
What kind of hard drive is in it in your labtop? If it’s 5400 RPM drive consider getting a 7200 RPM drive. You can pick one for about $100 CND
You can also, if your system supports USB 2.0 you can record directly to a USB flash drive, in some cases this might be faster than the hard drive especially if you get a real fast USB flash stick, say an 8 gig stick would be enough. That is if the hard drive is the item slowing you down. There cheap too, $20,00- $35 for a fast one.
Finally, there is program that can shut down everything, it’s called END IT ALL 2. It will try to shut down (Which I Use) every running background application on your system, it’s free and also gives you the control to end programs or should I say force those ones that initially don’t respond to being closed. I end up with only 8 back ground items out of the 31 that start up on my system, makes a world of difference. You can find it here:
http://www.docsdownloads.com/enditall-1.htm
Also with most labtops including mine, I must disable the Wi-FI and Lan in the device manager or I get lag and have to increase buffers to compensate. You can also disable anything else in the device manager (use caution and know what your disabling) you not going to use during your session. I Run WinXP Pro but it shouldn’t matter what OS one way or the other.
Hope this helps,
PACO
Quote: (xxRwiLLxx @ Sep. 02 2009, 6:36 PM)
My laptop is Compaq Presario CQ60 Notebook PC.
Well, that's a good start for giving us the model#.
Unfortunately, the CQ60 is a "series" of laptops, not just one model, so we would need the identification suffix.
Lookie here:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf....=&cc=us
Give yourself more time, don't give up just yet! Work hard at it and the end result will pay off.
run msconfig; under the system tab; uncheck superfetch, click ok and restart.
You’ll see immediate improvement then.
Superfetch is a windows vista feature that has to be shut down in order to run audio programs like nTrack correctly.