I hear(read) all this great stuff about 24+ track counts and many plugins and stuff, and I say to myself, that's what I want.
But I haven't been able to get it.
I have loaded the trial demo of Sonar onto my computer (300mhz AMD, 256k ram) and I can only play back eight tracks at a time. and trying to record a ninth track is an impossibility.
Now I built this system way back in '98, with a gigabyte mother board, I believe it uses a Sis-logic chipset, could that be the problem?
Could it be the trial version of sonar? I really dooubt that, as I have normally used Homestudio with the same problem.
But I am wanting to upgrade, to do some engineering/proucing for friends and stuff and what I have now ain't gonna cut it.
I really like AMD (affordability issues) and I have already bought a 900mhz Athlon and mother board. Pretty soon, I will be putting it together and running Sonar on it to see if it get's any better.
In the meantime, I was wondering if anyone would have an idea about what I could be doing wrong, let me know.
Comments
The question I have is: "Does the system allow you to add more
The question I have is:
"Does the system allow you to add more than 8 tracks, and then your computer won't play them back well after adding more tracks, or does the software just not let you add the 9th track?"
If you can't even add the 9th track, then it is probably a "demo" issue. If the software allows you to add the 9th track, but just has problems playing it back without problems, it is probably a computer horsepower issue, or a computer configuration issue.
You say you have the same problem with Home Studio 2002? Is that a demo version too? Most programs let you set up a "maximum" number of channels to allow. Check the software setup too.
DH
First, let me re-explain my problem. The version of Home Studi
First, let me re-explain my problem.
The version of Home Studio that I have, and Clubtracks, are both full versions. The version of Sonar is not. In any of these three programs, when I arm eight tracks for recording, the cpu meter reads between 70% and 80%, before I hit record or play.
Now if I have already recorded eight tracks, and try to record to the ninth, playback is to jumpy to actually record to.
I remember reading in the few publications that I knew about three years ago how people where using their computers to produce cd quality results. And three years ago 300mhz was pretty near the top.
I have never been able to play back as many as eight tracks and add plugin effects with good results.
It really has never been a problem for me, because I am only a hobyist, and used it just to record and play back practice materia(i am really a Guitarist want-to be with a computer).
But now the bug has struck me with wanting to do recordings for myself and friends, to put out sort-of indie type cds.
My computer is a 300mhz AMD K6-2, I have 256MB of sdram. I use a 8 gig hard drive(I do believe it is 5400rpm) and I use a soundblaster soundcard.
Everything is getting ugraded shortly, my future pc is in about five different trucks somewhere in this country right now, making a bee-line to my front door. This includes a 900mhz AMd Athlon and gigabyte mobo. And a 40gb(7200rpm) Western Digital Hard drive. I am still trying to decide what type of audio interface I'll be using (I just might end up getting one of Roland's VS machines).
I am considering the Roland, because it struck me that I should have been getting better performance out of the system I have now, and I can't afford a Mac. But then if the problem is me and not my PC, then it probably wouldn't matter.
Since I am putting together this new machine, I thought I would ask about what I could have been doing wrong with my current one, so I could avoid the problem with the new one. That DMA thing is something worth checking out, I don't really know the answer to that off hand, but I will check when I get home. However I was wondering mainly about the load showing on my cpu before I hit play/record. Maybe that is just my cpu working to get audio data into system memory????
Anyhoo, thankyou for your reply's and I'll aprecciate any additional effort.
Well...8GB hard drive at 5400 rpm...not much going to happen the
Well...8GB hard drive at 5400 rpm...not much going to happen there bub!!! The fact that you only have one drive and the possibility of no DMA turned on is the killer there. How many plugins are you trying to turn on? try it without plugins..also, on this new system..get a second hard drive just for the audio data..you wont regret it. It will help with the audio pull and system performance.
Opus
Well...you arent giving us much to help you on. If this is an ol
Well...you arent giving us much to help you on. If this is an older system your hard drives may be out dated and too slow..your memory might be lacking..your system may not be configured correctly..etc etc
Generally a Demo version definately doesnt go the full mile..that very well could be an issue..also if you are overloading the system with plugins that can cause it as well.
If this is an AMD 300 K6 2? then that could be a factor but most likely its system configuration issues. is DMA turned on for your hard drives? how many hard drives? how much memory? PCI or AGP video card? Yes, Sis chipsets are no good at all basically..also what audio hardware are you using? A soundblaster type card? That isnt going to help you in any way either..it really cant handle huge amounts of buffered audio information like that. It bogs down.
Give us more info and we can further help you along
Opus