Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
Posted to rec.audio.pro
|
|||
|
|||
Overflow/underrun problem with Audiofire8
Every one to three minutes or so, I get a little glitch
in audio playback, accompanied by an increment of the overflow/underrun count in the firewire analyzer. I can't seem to stamp this out, and it makes this unit about as useful as a doorstop. I'm running Windows 7 64bit on a 4 core phenom box with 8 gig of ram. I'm been emailing tech support for many days. He had my buy two different firewire cards, which I installed both with legacy and regular drivers, to no effect. I tried a fresh install of windows, installing only the Audiofire8 drivers and Reaper and Cubase. The problem is the same under either program. I've been through the Echo windows 7 tuning faq, and taken all of the suggestions. I've been listening to a Tascam US-144mkII now for the last half hour or so, and I have no problem. ASIO buffer settings seem to have no effect, other than the expected adjustment in latency. In fact, I get extraordinary latency figures, save that phantom glitch that happens now and then. I'm only asking that Reaper play back a single 24/96000 stereo track at this point. It doesn't feel like a resource issue at all. Any extra tips welcome, although I've tried much more than I've listed here. Also, I've tried two different mother boards, the first one sporting a Core II Duo. This is the fourth firewire card, the latest being recommended by Echo tech support, which has a Via chipset. Anyone else had, and overcome this problem? There are certainly enough complaints about the same thing on forums. Anyone trust the Audiofire8 completely, and never miss a sample? Thanks, Tobiah |
#2
Posted to rec.audio.pro
|
|||
|
|||
Overflow/underrun problem with Audiofire8
On 8/4/2011 3:33 PM, Soundhaspriority wrote:
I had a more severe problem that cropped up with multicore processors, which was resolved by increasing the ASIO buffer size. This has been quite a while, so it may not be a problem with current drivers. You mentioned that you futzed with the ASIO buffers. But have you tested with them set to maximum? Yeah, there is no difference in the frequency of the glitches until I get down to about 3ms latency, when it can no longer keep up. The largest buffer size I'm allowed is 2096 samples, or 20 something ms latency, and sure, I tried that - no difference. There is a utility, DPC Latency Checker, http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml , that graphs latency in real time. Have you used it? Is there any correlation between the glitch and the latency? Yeah, I ran that. I'm always in the green - never over. When the glitch happens, there is no spike in the latency checker. If the above indicates no correlation with latency, it might be a transmission error: bad cable or input receiver on the Audiofire. I suppose it could be the Audiofire. I bought it used. It does have two firewire inputs, and I've tried them both. As for the cable, I only have one, but it's not moving around. I suppose I'll have to get another one to be sure. Bob Morein (310) 237-6511 "Tobiah" wrote in message ... Every one to three minutes or so, I get a little glitch in audio playback, accompanied by an increment of the overflow/underrun count in the firewire analyzer. I can't seem to stamp this out, and it makes this unit about as useful as a doorstop. I'm running Windows 7 64bit on a 4 core phenom box with 8 gig of ram. I'm been emailing tech support for many days. He had my buy two different firewire cards, which I installed both with legacy and regular drivers, to no effect. I tried a fresh install of windows, installing only the Audiofire8 drivers and Reaper and Cubase. The problem is the same under either program. I've been through the Echo windows 7 tuning faq, and taken all of the suggestions. I've been listening to a Tascam US-144mkII now for the last half hour or so, and I have no problem. ASIO buffer settings seem to have no effect, other than the expected adjustment in latency. In fact, I get extraordinary latency figures, save that phantom glitch that happens now and then. I'm only asking that Reaper play back a single 24/96000 stereo track at this point. It doesn't feel like a resource issue at all. Any extra tips welcome, although I've tried much more than I've listed here. Also, I've tried two different mother boards, the first one sporting a Core II Duo. This is the fourth firewire card, the latest being recommended by Echo tech support, which has a Via chipset. Anyone else had, and overcome this problem? There are certainly enough complaints about the same thing on forums. Anyone trust the Audiofire8 completely, and never miss a sample? Thanks, Tobiah |
#3
Posted to rec.audio.pro
|
|||
|
|||
Overflow/underrun problem with Audiofire8
I suppose it could be the Audiofire. I bought it used. It does have two firewire inputs, and I've tried them both. As for the cable, I only have one, but it's not moving around. I suppose I'll have to get another one to be sure. I found another cable, and that was not the problem. I've been working on this with their tech support for three weeks. I'm ready to try another device. I have a US-144mkII that works sample perfect every time. I simply has other shortcomings that I'd rather not live with. The output is low, and full of USB noise, and to make matters worth, they botched up the output section by combining computer and input monitoring into one knob. The computer output goes way down as you try to fade in the monitor. The US-122 had it right. Anyway, I have no PCI slot, and I need to try something similar to the Audiofire8 that is either USB2.0, or firewire. Tascam has some new USB units out. The lower end ones suffer from the "monitor mix" knob that I can't abide by. I'm not sure about eh us-800. Maybe the US-1800 is my starting point. The US-400 says it's 4-out, but it looks like they're counting digital, as is common with many units. The 1800 and above actually seem to have 4 analog outs, along with digital, but they still call it 4 out. I just wonder if the USB hum is present in these, as it was with the US-122 and US-144mk. It's not striking mind you, but It guess worse with the monitor mix knob in the middle, and it's definitely audible after a track plays at a decent level. The Audiofire8 is stone quiet with the volume turned way up. Other units in the couple-three-hundred-dollars-used price range? Or, if there are any other ideas to get the audiofire8 working, I'd be grateful. The unit suits my needs very well. Thanks, Tobiah |
#4
Posted to rec.audio.pro
|
|||
|
|||
Overflow/underrun problem with Audiofire8
Tobiah wrote:
Every one to three minutes or so, I get a little glitch in audio playback, accompanied by an increment of the overflow/underrun count in the firewire analyzer. I can't seem to stamp this out, and it makes this unit about as useful as a doorstop. I'm running Windows 7 64bit on a 4 core phenom box with 8 gig of ram. I had a similar problem while digitizing videos. The cause of the problem was twofold: 1st of all: Energy management. I got improvements by switching off Speed Step http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_step 2nd cause: Multithreading. I need to bind the program to one core. HTH Norbert |
#5
Posted to rec.audio.pro
|
|||
|
|||
Overflow/underrun problem with Audiofire8
On 8/4/11 10:33 AM, Tobiah wrote:
Anyone trust the Audiofire8 completely, and never miss a sample? I do, but I'm using an iMac... Nice thing about the Mac and firewire-based interfaces is that NO 3rd party "drivers" are necessary. The actual drivers are built into the Mac OS (called "CORE Audio"). - John |
#6
Posted to rec.audio.pro
|
|||
|
|||
Overflow/underrun problem with Audiofire8
On 08/05/2011 09:03 PM, John Albert wrote:
On 8/4/11 10:33 AM, Tobiah wrote: Anyone trust the Audiofire8 completely, and never miss a sample? I do, but I'm using an iMac... Nice thing about the Mac and firewire-based interfaces is that NO 3rd party "drivers" are necessary. The actual drivers are built into the Mac OS (called "CORE Audio"). I'm going to look seriously into getting a Mac. "Core Audio" seems to be a real design advantage. I'm also a programmer, and I will really appreciate having a native Unix shell environment available. I don't intend to start a Windows/Mac war, but assuming that I will switch to Mac, what can I look for in, and expect to pay for, a machine that will comfortably accommodate my Firewire8? I assume I'm going to want to run on Intel hardware at least? Thanks, Tobiah |
#7
Posted to rec.audio.pro
|
|||
|
|||
Overflow/underrun problem with Audiofire8
Tobiah wrote:
I'm going to look seriously into getting a Mac. "Core Audio" seems to be a real design advantage. I'm also a programmer, and I will really appreciate having a native Unix shell environment available. Core Audio isn't conceptually a bad thing, and the firewire support is excellent. However, it has a tendency to change dramatically from one release of OSX to the next, which is annoying. Having the shell available is absolutely wonderful. However, if you are on a PC, you can get some of the same functionality with the Cygnus kit. The problem is that Cygnus is a little different than typical Unices, just enough to be really confusing. I don't intend to start a Windows/Mac war, but assuming that I will switch to Mac, what can I look for in, and expect to pay for, a machine that will comfortably accommodate my Firewire8? I assume I'm going to want to run on Intel hardware at least? You want to run Intel hardware, and you don't want any OS later than 10.5, I think. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
#8
Posted to rec.audio.pro
|
|||
|
|||
Overflow/underrun problem with Audiofire8
You want to run Intel hardware, and you don't want any OS later than 10.5, I think. --scott What do you think of this used tower? I think I can get it for around $800, maybe a bit more. Model Name: Mac Pro Model Identifier: MacPro1,1 Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz Number of Processors: 2 Total Number of Cores: 4 L2 Cache (per Processor): 4 MB Memory: 10 GB Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz three video cards installed: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT: Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT Type: GPU Bus: PCIe Slot: Slot-2 PCIe Lane Width: x8 VRAM (Total): 256 MB |
#9
Posted to rec.audio.pro
|
|||
|
|||
Overflow/underrun problem with Audiofire8
"I don't intend to start a Windows/Mac war, but assuming that I will switch to Mac, what can I look for in, and expect to pay for, a machine that will comfortably accommodate my Firewire8? I assume I'm going to want to run on Intel hardware at least?" All Macs sold are Intel-based. For music, you'd probably do just fine on a 27" iMac. Lots of screen space for the DAW app. If you happen to consider the Mac "Mini", I'd suggest the "server" model with 4gb of RAM and 2 internal hard drives (and a quad-core CPU). I believe all the new Macs that have firewire now come with a firewire 800 port (no more firewire 400). That's not a problem -- just get a 9-pin to 6-pin cable and you're fine. That's what I use on my own iMac, connected to my Audiofire8 via the firewire 800 port. BTW, the Audiofire8 works fine under Lion (both the hardware and the software mixer app). - John |
#10
Posted to rec.audio.pro
|
|||
|
|||
Overflow/underrun problem with Audiofire8
On 8/8/11 6:34 PM, Tobiah wrote:
What do you think of this used tower? I think I can get it for around $800, maybe a bit more. Model Name: Mac Pro Model Identifier: MacPro1,1 Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz That would be fine. I'm not sure if it will run Lion. I know that Lion requires at least a "Core 2 duo" processor and those that are only "Core 2" won't work. HOWEVER, I _think_ there is an exception for the Xeon CPU chip, and Lion may install and run fine on it. In any case, you could run OS 10.6 "Snow Leopard" without problems. - John |
Reply |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
church overflow speaker solution | Tech | |||
Infinity speaker problem or wiring problem | Car Audio | |||
Viper Alarm problem and install problem @ Best Buy | Car Audio | |||
Buffer Underrun Problem | Pro Audio | |||
Buffer underrun and DAO audio discs | Pro Audio |