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anonymous 31 July 2007

I need help with Cubase. I have uploaded a bunch of tracks that we recorded on an 8-track onto Cubase (about 35 tracks so far). My problem is that the now when I listen back for mixing the music stutters like a scratched CD. What are all of the things that could be causing this (i.e. not enough CPU power, not enough RAM, etc.)? And what are the ways to fix it.

I am using a laptop with 3.2 GHz CPU, a gig and a half of Ram, and whatever soundcard came with it. My main concern is that it might be the soundcard, but I don't think I can change that in my laptop.

Thanks in advance for the help,
Adam

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EricWatkins Thu, 08/02/2007 - 06:02

If you are trying to playback with a stock and integrated soundcard, that probably is your problem. THe good news is that you can add a USB type soundcard. Although the latency can suck with USB, for what you are doing, it probably wont matter. I am assuming that your ports are USB2.0 because you wouldnt want to use a 1.0 port for audio. If you had a firewire port, that would be better yet. Hope this helps.

Eric

EricWatkins Thu, 08/02/2007 - 19:19

Yeah, the hard drive might be a problem on a laptop as they are considerably slower on average. However, my first concern would probably be replacing the sound card. As far as a good USB sound card, I used the Tascam US-428 for a few years and it treated me really well. The only thing that I didnt like about it is that the latecy was like 26 ms and I was using it to play virtual instruments like GPO, Gold, etc. I could really feel 26 ms latency when trying to play a piano or percussion patch. However, for what you are doing, which is primarily tracking and mixing, I dont know where you'd ever notice the latency. I dont think that the US-428 is still available new but I'm sure you could find one used or a similiar model. Hope this helps.

Eric

sidewaysfish Fri, 08/03/2007 - 11:31

Download the latest ASIO4ALL driver from this website: (it's free)

http://www.asio4all.com/

That should help a bit. Make sure you select it in your device setup in Cubase.

I use a Yamaha GO46 firewire audio interface, too. It's kept me happy so far. However, you should get a 7200rpm hard drive for your laptop as soon as finances allow. It makes a big difference. You may need some extra ram as well for big projects. Most of mine have been less than 20 tracks and 1 gig has been fine so far.

Also, if you're using a lot of plug-ins with cubase you may want to freeze those tracks to make it a little easier on your CPU.

dementedchord Fri, 08/03/2007 - 15:44

i realize that we are all constrained by budgets... however i wouldsaty away from the soundblatters or any card designed for "gaming"... we have entirely different needs... interestingly enough soundblaster owns (for some time now) EMU... and lotts people have luck with htem... personnaly (for reference) my interface is a tascam...

EricWatkins Fri, 08/03/2007 - 17:09

Go to http://www.musiciansfriend.com , then go to the recording section, computer audio interfaces, then USB. There's a bunch of them there. I had good luck with my Tascam and it sounds like demented has too. Yes, this will replace your internal sound card. All you have to do is install the software that comes with it and then plug it in with a (probably provided) USB cable. Then you assign the drivers for that new device in Cubase. Then you are in business. Always use the "asio" drivers for that device and possibly even check for an update of the drivers on the new sound card companies website as soon as you get it. I recorded and mixed my band's cd a couple years ago with my Dell Dimension with a single 2.4 Pentium 4 and 1 gig of ram. My track count probably easily topped 20 tracks on some songs with lots of plugins and virtual instruments running with no problem. You definitely need a sound card and probably a hard drive too. I know that this isnt what you want to hear but it's true. Hope this helps.

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