Hmmm... sounds like you have already done a lot to track this down.

If you zoom in on a recorded waveform, can you "see" the crackling? In other words, can you tell if it is an issue with recording or just playback?

Along the same lines, can you play back other (pre-recorded) sounds, and/or CD's cleanly?

Hi. Thanks for the reply.

It's definitely noise on the recording, not during playback. It's not hugely visible on the waveform but it is there, and the crackly noises are identical each time I play it back.

I can play back other tracks, CDs and so on fine - it's only stuff I record on this PC that is affected.

3:30am... been trying to resolve this for 12 hours so I'm going to bed! Hope someone has a bright idea I can borrow tomorrow. :)

It also crackles when you record via the onboard audio input?

Very strange.

Assuming it's on, is there a way to turn this noise filter thing off (from the Asus website)?

Noise Filter
Eliminate background noise while recording
This feature detects repetitive and stationary noises like computer fans, air conditioners, and other background noises then eliminates it in the incoming audio stream while recording.

Texas Instruments firewire chipset is the recommended way to go. M-audio said it, and many will support it here and at other stops on the 'net.

I personally have had issues with Via board chipsets over the years so I already hold a grudge :).

Hang on Space,

The problem is also prevalent in the onboard audio input (which being onboard, is not FW)!

Chipset shouldn't matter in this instance - the computer should be able to record audio into software via the onboard hardware regardless.

I've never had such problems with chipsets, including Via, outside of IRQ conflicts - which in and of themselves do not correlate to chipset issues - move card to a new slot, problem solved...

The noise filter feature specifically states that it works "while recording".
His issue only happens "while recording".

Perhaps he'll have more info when he wakes up...?

Are you overclocking anything?
MIC and MIC cable been changed?

I noticed that the inputs are marked line/inst but there is no "instrument" setting. There is only a switch for mic/line. Is it at all possible that you are plugging direct but need some sort of DI box before the input?

Edit: nevermind. I see that the mic preamps double as Direct Injection inputs.

bent wrote: Hang on Space,

The problem is also prevalent in the onboard audio input (which being onboard, is not FW)!

Chipset shouldn't matter in this instance - the computer should be able to record audio into software via the onboard hardware regardless.

I've never had such problems with chipsets, including Via, outside of IRQ conflicts - which in and of themselves do not correlate to chipset issues - move card to a new slot, problem solved...

The noise filter feature specifically states that it works "while recording".
His issue only happens "while recording".

Perhaps he'll have more info when he wakes up...?

Via has had issues in the past few years, it is well documented.

Now when the audio was being recorded using the onboard audio port, was the firewire port being used as well, plugged in? It matters.

So the manufacture of >his< card, M-Audio, recommended a TI...I would pay attention to that. It only means that the M-audio will most likely not be able to talk properly with the
Via chipset.

They just don't play well together. Hell mack, whats a new card, 5, 6 bucks? Small price to pay.

Have a good day.

bent wrote: Assuming it's on, is there a way to turn this noise filter thing off (from the Asus website)?

Noise Filter ...

Ooh, nice find, but I've just trawled the BIOS settings and read my motherboard manual cover to cover and can't find any mention of it! There's nothing in the BIOS, no option in the SoundMAX panel, nothing I can find in Windows to switch it off. I will persevere with it though.

EricUndead wrote: Are you overclocking anything?
MIC and MIC cable been changed?

I've never overclocked anything. I was using an instrument, not a mic, but yeah I've tried different cables and instruments.

Space wrote: [quote=bent]Hang on Space,

The problem is also prevalent in the onboard audio input (which being onboard, is not FW)! ...

Via has had issues in the past few years, it is well documented.

Now when the audio was being recorded using the onboard audio port, was the firewire port being used as well, plugged in? It matters.

Hmm. I tried again and I've found that the noise through the onboard inputs is different - more like a constant hum. I hadn't noticed that before. The noise through the FW box on the other hand almost sounds like a very subtle bit crusher effect that just crackles in at random.

If I can find a FW card for sale in York today with a TI chipset I'll buy it, but I hate that vacant look you get on the faces of sales assistants when you ask them questions like that...

"What's firewire?" they say.

I went into Maplin Electronics (note to Google: Maplin Electronics are overpriced and clueless) and asked if they had any "powered speakers". The guy didn't seem very clear on what a powered speaker might be and referred me to the catalogue.
God knows what would've happened if I'd said "active speakers".

Well York came up empty - looks like an internet job.

Will report back in a few days. Thanks for the advice so far everybody.

I would first try to test recording without any instruments attached
And recording with only a cable attached

Way back I had a problem with an usb-modem being the cause of a similar problem.

The trick in finding the problem is to remove / disable everything and add stuff one at a time

Cheers

Sadly I already stripped the damn thing and couldn't get rid of the crackles. New FW card should be here in the post tomorrow anyway, hopefully that will sort it out. According to M-Audio:

If you are experiencing problems with your M-Audio FireWire device such as pops, clicks, dropouts, buzzing, or distortion; or if you are having problems installing your M-Audio FireWire device, we suggesting connecting your M-Audio device to a FireWire expansion card with a Texas Instruments chipset. This generally remedies most problems experienced with built-in FireWire ports or with FireWire expansion cards using a different chipset

I've ordered a model that they specifically recommend, so if that doesn't work it might be new motherboard time.

I'm having a problem just like what you describe but with different gear, a Diamond Xtreme sound card with SPDF Input and Cubase Le. I can record fine if the sound source is coming from an internal file or internet source such as youtube, but the sound card input produces a track with the sound source along with crackling and distortion etc... I'm suspecting there is some hidden setting buried somewhere in Windows (XP Pro) that I need to keep hunting for as I am getting the same effect if I use a different soundcard (Creativ Extigy)

OK, the M-Audio recommended PCI Firewire card arrived today and...

Totally fixed my problem. Can't believe I spent a whole day scratching my head like a stubborn idiot before I thought about spending £13 on a PCI card.

Thanks everybody for your advice and support. I'll update the first post with the solution to make it easier for any future readers.

Hooray!

Yeah I bought a firewire card for my FP10 that had TI chip and was a combo. I had to eat the return 15% restock fee and buy a TI FW400 only card. was cheaper also so with the restock it pretty much washed so at least the new card worked.

Thanks for letting us know, I might be having the same problem, which model M audio card did you get? thanks!

quadrivium,
Which one of the two cards you referred to in a previous post require firewire?

space

the creativ extigy is an older usb outboard, the diamond xtreme is a pci card. I have narrowed the problem down to the clock settings between the korg mixer and the pci card... the line in on the pci card will record good quality audio from the monitor outs on the mixer, but the spdif out from the mixer to the card produced strange results. I am going to try to determine what the exact spdif settings need to be etc...

my point exactly...neither is firewire so this is not the same concern :)

This is the firewire card that ultimately worked for me:

PYRO PCI 64R2

I have 64bit so it was one of the only ones I could find.

Eric, thanks for the info on the card, a lot less expensive than others I was looking at.

Space wrote: my point exactly...neither is firewire so this is not the same concern :)

Space I'm not sure what exactly your point is about this, the thread is about noisy sound cards, what's your point?

My point must be, pointless.

I think the point Space was shuffling around is that you have two sound interfaces: a cheap pci gaming card and a cheap usb gaming card. Neither of which will benefit from a firewire card because neither of them can plug into a firewire card. You don't think that it's strange that you are so concerned about a firewire card that up to this point, you can't use anyway? If you do intend to buy a firewire interface to plug into that firewire card, you did not make that clear.

I'm assuming it was a simple miscommunication.

the spdif out from the mixer to the card produced strange results

What exactly were the results you got?

hueseph wrote: I think the point Space was shuffling around is that you have two sound interfaces: a cheap pci gaming card and a cheap usb gaming card. Neither of which will benefit from a firewire card because neither of them can plug into a firewire card. You don't think that it's strange that you are so concerned about a firewire card that up to this point, you can't use anyway? If you do intend to buy a firewire interface to plug into that firewire card, you did not make that clear.

I'm assuming it was a simple miscommunication.

the spdif out from the mixer to the card produced strange results

What exactly were the results you got?

a cheap pci and a cheap usb? the card that solved the problem was $26

Now that I think about it, I was pretty direct...I didn't shuffle :)

Space, I apologize for my earlier post.

It appears you were right on, kudos to you!

quadrivium wrote: a cheap pci and a cheap usb? the card that solved the problem was $26

Right you are but a firewire card is not the same as an audio interface is it? You go on ahead and use that card. Let us know if you get either of your audio cards to work with it. That will be a miracle indeed! And, once you have it all running post a song so we can all marvel at your genius.

I was trying to be nice about things but you obviously (as Jack would say) "can't handle the truth".

Space, I apologize for my earlier post.

It appears you were right on, kudos to you!

_________________
-BeN(t)

it wasn't a contest my brother ;) The wonder is that, when these forums move right, it is a great exchange of ideas from people giving up time, energy and experience to help out. So, right back
at ya!

quadrivium wrote:
Space I'm not sure what exactly your point is about this, the thread is about noisy sound cards, what's your point?

Question? Do you run both of these cards at the same time on the same computer? I would recommend one or the other. And because usb is what it is, the pci would be my choice, if I had to choose one.

Space wrote: [quote=quadrivium]
Space I'm not sure what exactly your point is about this, the thread is about noisy sound cards, what's your point?

Question? Do you run both of these cards at the same time on the same computer? I would recommend one or the other. And because usb is what it is, the pci would be my choice, if I had to choose one.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I was in here looking for an alternative low cost interface that would not be as noisy as what I had tried in the past. My question was answered by the original poster. thanks for your help

It still isn't clear. You plan on getting a firewire interface then as well as the firewire card that was suggested?

ProjectMix IO Also has this issue

Hello, I have this same issue as described above but with a projectmix io. This was not an issue till I upgraded the computer. Till now the sound has been fine in a recording.

After doing some digging I have noticed one main factor that I believe may be causing the issue: IRQ. On the old system the IEEE 1394 or firewire was on IRQ channel 19 and was the only device using that IRQ channel. However on the new system the FW is on IRQ 16. This channel is also used by the following system devices - IDE, PCIE & USB.

As I’m sure you all know, a main devices for your system really needs its own IRQ to work the best it can without interruptions.

It would be interesting to see if anyone else has the same IRQ issues with onboard FW.

You are right, It would be intresti9ng to see if anyone else has the same IRQ issues with onboard FW.

Re: ProjectMix IO Also has this issue

piano_wizz wrote: Hello, I have this same issue as described above but with a projectmix io. This was not an issue till I upgraded the computer. Till now the sound has been fine in a recording.

After doing some digging I have noticed one main factor that I believe may be causing the issue: IRQ. On the old system the IEEE 1394 or firewire was on IRQ channel 19 and was the only device using that IRQ channel. However on the new system the FW is on IRQ 16. This channel is also used by the following system devices - IDE, PCIE & USB.

As I’m sure you all know, a main devices for your system really needs its own IRQ to work the best it can without interruptions.

It would be interesting to see if anyone else has the same IRQ issues with onboard FW.

Are you running Windows XP? IRQ conflicts were more common with Win98 and earlier when there were only 16 available (there are 24 in XP)... popping and clicking can result from this regardless of whether it is a firewire or usb device... have you looked in Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager/View by type/IRQ to see that your system is using all 24?

IRQ Issue

quadrivium : All irq's are not in use on the system

Re: IRQ Issue

piano_wizz wrote: quadrivium : All irq's are not in use on the system

You may be able to get XP to assign your FW card a unique IRQ by moving it to a different slot (then reboot and look at the device list by type/IRQ again). You may also want to boot into the BIOS (usually F2 Key while system is powered up), some BIOS's have the option to list out the PCI slots and see what the default IRQ is. If this doesn't do the trick then you can disable the devices that are using the shared IRQ that you don't need (floppy drive?). Last resort (and not generally recommended) is to set the Computer Driver to 'Standard PC' and assign the IRQ numbers manually, this is not great if you plan on adding new devices later...

Thanks

Thanks for the advice, I have been doing taht sort of thing all day. I got a new firewire pci card today but its faulty, on 2 pcs the speakers make a heart beat sound from the second the system is powerd up and windows shows the device is faulty on 2 seperate computers. Looks like i will be taking it back and getting a replacement tomorrow.

About the changing PCI slot. this was originaly an Onboard IEEE 1394 and i could not change the irq, i have found a slot for pci that is not in use by any other device and will try plugging in a differnt card when i get a replacement.

NOTE: there is no option to change the irqs from the bios as strange as it may seem. its all auto config and there is no sign of IRQ config anyware on the setup screen.