firepod

I havent heard of any issues like that with the firepod so far(3 of my bandmates are audio salesmen).

I think you should check out your system itself. With 256mbs of ram......it takes xp about 200 to run. If you have a billion icons in the bottom right hand corner of your screen......those are probally taking the rest of the ram. I would turn off everything possible, check the disk for errors, defragment and all that good stuff.

It really sounds like no so much an interface problem as a throughput problem into the system. Are you using the onboard firewire, or a add on pcmcia firewire card? SOmetimes those pcmcia add on cards can be really bad quality. All card are not created equal.

Go thorugh your system, check for errors, defragment, reboot, turn off anything you dont need, then try again. That might help out alot.
There are alot of good list of tweaks out there to apply to DAW's to get xp to run a little smoother. There are probally some on this board even.

macombaland wrote: so i just got a firepod today and so far its frustrating.

Its running on my laptop with XP 256mb RAM blah blah blah

It was playing back like crap at first. then i finally got it playing clearly in sonar by messing with the latency. Great huh? NO

One second later when I try to test another song i had recorded and the audio sounds like garbage. All settings were the same..I checked.

Also to test playback I tried some mp3s in Media Player. I played a song halfway through( worked fine) then switched to another song...no sound. I went back to the song that worked....no sound.(it wasnt muted and I had the firepod set as default playback device)

I plan on calling tech support (not so sure theyll be much help) but theyre closed and i thought maybe I could get some thoughts on here since it would probably be quicker.

macombaland,

hey Firepods are great!

What service pack are you using?

If you are using SVP2 the download the Firewire patch for SVP2 from the link below.

http://www.sonicalabs.com/support.html

Also, what are your processor speed and latency settings?

My best,

Guy Cefalu
Sonica Audio Labs

Im using SP1. My processor speed is 1Ghz.

Presonus tech support led me through every optimization possible and it still played back horribly. He said it was probably a defective unit. I sent it back yesterday so hopefully I will have better luck with the next one.

I tried every latency setting possible.

I dont think its a ram problem. Simple playback shouldnt take up that much.

First, the Firepod is excellent. Quality A/D's and decent pre's.

On a decent recording laptop 1.8 GHz+ with USB or Firewire 7200+ RPM external drive and 512 MB RAM, you'll have no problem doing 16 channels at 96kHz and 24 bit.

But on a barebones setup (or one with viruses and spyware) you'll have trouble if you go over 1 channel of 44.1kHz at 16 bit.

Make sure you don't have spyware or viruses!!
F-secure is a great Anti-Virus program.
"Owners Manual"
Microsoft's BETA Anti-spyware at http://www.microsoft.com/antispyware
and the Malware Removal Tool at
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx
are a must!

First you need to right click on My Computer and select properties.
Select the Advanced tab.
Click the Settings button in the Performance section.
Click the Advanced tab.
Select Background Services in Processor Scheduling.
The Memory usage should be set on Programs.
Click OK button.Click OK button.

This is a must for good performance.

What external hard drive are you using for caching and recording?

If you are attempting to record to a latop internal hard drive you're going to have trouble no matter what you are recording through.

Most laptops come stock with only 5400 RPM drives... not fast enough! You need 7200 RPM external drives to record to.
Keep in mind it's a laptop!

256 MB RAM is also not enough. XP eats most of it for itself. You need 512.

Check your Control Panel (classic view) administrative tools, services:

All you need running is the basics:

Com+ Event System
Cryptographic Services
DCOM Server Process Launcher
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Event Log
Plug and Play
Protected Storage
Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
Security Accounts Manager
Shell Hardware Detection
System Event Notification
System Restore Service
Themes
Windows Audio
Windows Instrumentation Management
Workstation
(make sure any hardware specific services are also Started -
NVIDIA helpers etc..)

Depending on your exact setup most or all of
Everything else can be Stopped!

KJ
----------------
Kyro Studios

Well i dont plan on recording with all 8 channels. I only need a couple for now but I plan on upgrading to a better computer sometime.

256 mb RAM isnt the best. Still it is plenty to AT LEAST handle playback.

USB or Firewire 7200+ RPM external drive

Even a 7200 rpm usb 2.0 drive wont be as fast as a 5400rpm hard mounted drive. The transfer rates dont compare.

If you are attempting to record to a latop internal hard drive you're going to have trouble no matter what you are recording through.

I had a crappy tascam us-122 before i bought a firepod.
only 2 tracks but i had no problems with recording or playback.

macombaland wrote: Well i dont plan on recording with all 8 channels. I only need a couple for now but I plan on upgrading to a better computer sometime.

256 mb RAM isnt the best. Still it is plenty to AT LEAST handle playback.

256 is MS's required minimum for XP.
Depending on what programs and services you have running, it should be enough for playback (that's unless you've got an almost undetectable spyware program like some versions of "CWS", "SPECTOR" or "MAGIC LANTERN" running on your computer - Got Warez? - you might have SPECTOR! )

macombaland wrote: Even a 7200 rpm usb 2.0 drive wont be as fast as a 5400rpm hard mounted drive. The transfer rates dont compare.

Believe me or don't! Hands down an external USB or FW >=7200 is faster than a mini internal IDE/ATA 5400 !
There are free drive testing tools available for you to PROVE it to yourself.
Just google for:
hard drive throughput test
or
hard drive benchmarking test

macombaland wrote: I had a crappy tascam us-122 before i bought a firepod. only 2 tracks but i had no problems with recording or playback.

Did you uninstall the Tascam drivers?

Run regedit and search the registry for "US-122" and "us122"

You might also want to check your laptop manufacturer's support site for any upgrades to BIOS or drivers.

KJ
-----------------
Kyro Studios

No I didnt uninstall the tascam drivers. That could be a problem.

I have no spyware/viruses. I keep up on that.

I have an external USB 2.0 ATA-100 7200 rpm western digital HD.
I only use it for backup because transfer rates are noticably slower.