snap crackle pop

[bushrod]

Hi,

I've just bought a PodXTLive and downloaded the Line6 Edition of Riffworks V2.

I'm getting an insane amount of pops and crackles and noise anytime I try to record anything.

I've played around with the ASIO settings for buffer size and bit depth as well as the USB Audio Streaming buffer size to no avail.

I've rebooted as well as unplugged and replugged the USB Cable. I've also tried plugging the USB cable into another USB input.

I'm using a pair of headphones plugged into the PodXTLive. I'm using a relatively new, pretty fast laptop running Windows XP Pro.

Can't think of anything else to mention... any ideas???

Thanks,
CJ

[hbursk]

Right click on the start menu and select properties. Select classic start menu and click ok.

Start>Settings>control panel>power options

Change this to "Always On". Laptops are known for stealing cpu cycles from usb audio devices if their power settings are not set to always on.

Disable your wireless network card. Right click on my computer, select manage, and then click on device manager. You can disable your wireless network card under network adapters and re-enable it when you need to use the internet.

Right-click on my computer, select properties, and click on the advanced tab. Select Performance settings and make sure you have adjust for best performance selected.

Right-click on my computer and select manage, then select device manager. Expand the IDE controllers tab and double click on Primary IDE controller. Click on the advanced tab. Make sure everything is set to DMA mode if available, not PIO only.
Repeat this for the secondary IDE controller.

Make sure you are running service pack 2 on windows xp. Right-click on my computer and select properties. Under the general tab, under system, it should say service pack 2 at the bottom. If you do not have service pack 2, it is a free download from the microsoft website.

[bushrod]

Thanks very much for the detailed response.

I did all of the things you suggested but the problem was still there. Actually, it was worse after I made all the changes...

I'm stumped... I've had similar issues before, on another machine, with Cubase and doing the things you've suggested along with adjusting buffer sizes solved my problems... that doesn't seem to be the case here though...

Thanks again for the response

[hbursk]

Is this an Athalon machine? What kind of laptop is it? How much ram? Processor speed?

[bushrod]

It's a Dell Inspiron E1505. Dual Core Intel processors at 2.0GHz. 2GB of RAM.

From what I've read elsewhere in the forum here and from what Riffworks recommends it seems like it should be powerful enough.

Thanks

[hbursk]

I'm using a very similar system. I have the Intel Core 2 though, but that should not make a difference. Do you have any other usb devices plugged in? Is your laptop plugged into the wall or are you running on battery power? Are you using a usb hub?

Make sure you've disabled the wireless network card from the device manager, not just from the taskbar on the bottom of the desktop. I was getting dropouts in my audio, and the wireless card turned out to be the culprit.

What version of Gearbox are you running? If you haven't downloaded gearbox, do you have the most up to date driver for your podxt live?

This may be something we always tend to overlook, but maybe you should try a new usb cable. I've seen a bad usb cable do some pretty nasty snap crackle and pops.

[bushrod]

I tried some more of your suggestions & still had no luck...

I have a total of 4 USB ports - 2 on the side and 2 in the back. I've tried the PodXTLive into each of the ones on the back and have typically had a USB mouse plugged into one of the ones on the side. I don't use a hub.

I've been trying all this stuff while running on AC power.

In the past I've been disabling the wireless from the system tray.

So this morning I went on battery power, unplugged the USB mouse, and disabled the wireless from Device Manager but still had all of the same sound issues at the same levels from what I could tell.

I don't use Gearbox - I do have up to date drivers for the PodXTLive according to my pal the Monkey.

I'm going to grab a new cable today and see if that helps. I've seen that mentioned in the forum before as well. It seems to work fine for using Line6 Edit to transfer tones to the PodXTLive but maybe that's not as susceptible to problems as it's not an audio signal going live through the cable.

Thanks again for your help

[hbursk]

In order to isolate the problem, let's try only one thing at a time.

You disabled the network card from the device manager, but you did that on battery power. You most definitely want to be plugged in and you want to have your power options set to always on. When you go onto battery power, it changes your power options. So if you hadn't set those battery powered options to always on, then you were in some kind of power saving mode and would have problems.

So, plug into the wall. Make sure you have the power options set to always on. And disable the wireless from the device manager.

You're right about transferring tones versus audio. The tone transfer uses error checking to get all the data across. You could have an intermittent cable and transfer tones just fine. But doing real time audio processing could cause problems.

Did you check the mode of your IDE controllers? They should be set to DMA.

Run Line 6 monkey, select the compatibility tab, and run the Gear box check. You should get all green check marks. If something is wrong there, you may have problems.

[camaro24gold]

Hi Bushrod

I haven't read all the responses here but am seeing that you are still having this problem.
I read your post initially but kind of wanted to see how it worked out for you and it seems it's not.........SO....I will tell you this from my experience with RW1.1 on a lap-top.

I was running version 1.1 on a Dell Pentium 4 at 2.4 (2.39) GHz with 1 gig ram.

I CONSTANTLY HAD TO DO DEFRAG!!! For one thing.
Much, much, much more than on a tower.
Almost every 3 layers I would defrag just in practice.
(I ran/run Disk-Keeper which is an improved/faster interface for defrags over the strictly Windows XP Interface IMO.)
EVEN...doing this I would still run into problems that would have to be dealt with "slowly".
(BTW...this is not just RiffWorks but any DAW. Multiple tracks of digital audio really strains resources)

I finally went to a hardware store and bought a small clip-on fan (do not clip it onto the computer !!!) and would have it blow down on the keyboard area of the lap-top; thus moving massive amounts of air compared to the computer's internal fan). (This was done only during line recordings and not on Mic recordings.)

What I am getting at here Bushrod is that a lap-top computer has a much higher heat build up in it than that of a tower. The fan in a lap-top in combination with the "no space" thing causes the CPU to encounter some extreme heat problems compared to that of a tower computer, which has much more internal volume plus a better fan over the lap-top.

I hope this somewhat helps you….at least food for thought……check your lap-top for heat.

Good Luck ?

[jamienelson]

It sounds like your Computer is pleanty beefy. Have you tried setting the Processor Scheduling to Background Services instead of Programs, under advanced system properties?

Also, Most laptops come stock with 4,500 RPM hard drives. Toshiba's usually come with 5,400 RPM hard drives. You can buy after market hard drives that are faster. This could also be causing some problems. I also prop my laptop up on something to let air flow go underneith it when I use it for recording to help with the heat issues. I haven't tried it with RiffWorks yet though. I've been waiting for 2.1 to be released. It has worked fine with other DAWs though. It is an older Dell laptop. That was using my PreSonus FireWire Inspire interface too though. The USB may make a difference.

I thought I read somewhere that 2.1 was going to be released this week. If it is I'll load it up and see what it does with both my PreSonus and my GuitarPort.

[bushrod]

Thanks for the suggestions folks... I'm going to pick up a new USB cable tonight and spend some more time getting to the bottom of all this... I'll let you know what happens... I really appreciate all the input...

[randy]

Also, when you get a chance can you report back with the exact settings that are displayed in AUDIO SETUP within RiffWorks?

Thanks!

[bushrod]

Hey folks...

OK... did some stuff... no love however... I'll try to break it down step by step so it makes sense...

I'm plugged into the wall... power options are set to "Always On"... got a new (gold plated... oooooh) USB cable... IDE controllers - both set to DMA... and my wireless was disabled from the Control Panel...

Everything within the Line6 Monkey is up to date... I don't have Gearbox... and I don't really want it and I don't think I really need it... I should be able to use the PodXTLive and RiffWorks without Gearbox right?... apart from not having Gearbox there's all green checkmarks from my pal the Monkey... everything's up-to-date...

I've set processor scheduling to background services...

I've propped up my laptop to maximize airflow... I did all this stuff tonight from a cold start so it certainly wasn't overheated for the time that I was playing around looking for RiffWorks success... I'd rather not need or think that i need an external fan to make this work...

I haven't defragged my drive either... I'll do that before I go to bed tonight and see if it helps but I hope constant defragging isn't the solution as that takes a bit of time...

I'd also rather not think that I need to buy a new hard drive...

I think there's probably a pretty simple solution to all this stuff... I really appreciate everyone's input... I run the low-end version of Cubase on this machine (SE)and I haven't had any issues... I know it's not the same thing and I'm not comparing but it's the same (generally) sorta program so I know that Riffworks should work... I'm not way behind the times technology-wise in this laptop and from what I've seen so far so I don't think that's the issue... Riffworks seems quite cool and I think I could do some cool stuff with it...

Randy - here's the settings...

ASIO Device - ASIO PODxt Live
Output Channel - Output 1+Output 2
(those I can't change)
Line6 Device - Line6PodXTLive
(can't be changed)
ASIO Settings
Default Buffer Size - 512
Default Bit Depth - 16bit
(I think these were the defaults - I've tried them all over the place)
USB Audio Streaming - halfway between Extra Small and Medium
(Again, I' think this is the default - I've had this everywhere)
Input Source Select - Instrument
(Can't be changed)
PodXT Routing - Send Processed Guitar
(Default - have tried other settings)
Monitor Level - 0db
(Default - have tried other settings)


Again - thanks for everyone's input - I really want this to work...

[dug]

Could you tell me what USB chipset is in your laptop:

1. Right lick on My Computer
2. Click on Hardware Tab
3. Click on Device Manager button
4. Double click on Universal Serial Bus controllers

Let me know what it says eg.
Intel 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller

It might say it multiple times, I just want to know one of them.

thanks,
dug

[bushrod]

Hi dug,


I'm sportin' the

Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller



... and just to be thorough..


Device Manager lists 4 of those plus one

Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 Enhanced Host Controller

plus 5 entries of

USB Root Hub

plus one listing of

Dell Wireless350 Bluetooth Internal Card




Thanks very much,
CJ