Mobile Pre USB Card- Andy Chap Are U there ? I need help !!

The place for Cakewalk beginners to discuss everything Cakewalk.
GretscGuy
Posts: 434
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2003 1:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts USA

Post by GretscGuy » Thu Dec 04, 2003 11:49 pm

Dino,
Don't be too quick to discount USB 2.0. The specs are very impressive.

USB 1.1 speed was about 12 Mbps
USB 2.0 speed is 120-240 Mbps

The actual speed would depend on the device in question and how well the drivers are written, but 2.0 looks very promising.

Personally, I would opt for Firewire simply becasue it has been around audio and video for a while and there are some great reliable products that use it (Motu's 828. 2408, etc...).

The spec you use is only as good as the device and drivers you are using.

Good Luck!


Dino

Post by Dino » Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:14 am

OK. Thanks for the sound advice (PUN INTENDED) ! :) I hear a lot of good things about USB 2.0 and have seen the transfer rate speed with my own eyes. It is incredible compared to USB 1.0 I even went so far as to try and update my PC and got a USB 2.0 Turbo PCI card. It was an ADS card and just froze up my machine, so I took it back.

GretscGuy
Posts: 434
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2003 1:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts USA

Post by GretscGuy » Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:24 am

Dino,
I would love to know the specs of your machine and what configuration it is (desktop, Laptop??, OS? Speed???)
Thanks!

Dino

Post by Dino » Fri Dec 05, 2003 1:42 pm

Here are my not so hot specs. Don't laugh ! It's an old dog but it runs great and I just can't give it up for the life of me. I'm too attached. I love my Computer. :)

Dell Optiplex GX-1 600L+ (Low Profile Style)
Pentium 3
348 MB RAM
6 GIG Hard Drive
120 GIG WD External USB Hard Drive
Windows ME (recently upgraded from 98 SE)
Crystal 4236b Audio
Bios: Version A10 (Latest)
Direct X 8.0
Sonar 1.0

Are you laughing ? :)

GretscGuy
Posts: 434
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2003 1:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts USA

Post by GretscGuy » Fri Dec 05, 2003 2:54 pm

Dino, I didn't realize you had Windows ME. Did the probelems start after the "Upgade" to ME? It's a lot buggier than 98SE

Dino

Post by Dino » Sat Dec 06, 2003 3:14 am

Here's a new problem and question entirely. I just upgraded to USB 2.0 and am using my WD USB 2.0 External Hard Drive to store my Cakewalk (Sonar) files. When I go to record something New, The metronome is recording onto the track. And I do not have Metronome on during Playback. It's actually recording the Metronome clicks onto the track. I know this is just a setting but I went into Metronome, Port, Audio Settings and can't figure out why this is happening. Thanks. I don't know what I'd do without this forum. Please excuse the new guy. He does want to learn.

GretscGuy
Posts: 434
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2003 1:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts USA

Post by GretscGuy » Sat Dec 06, 2003 1:07 pm

Dino wrote:When I go to record something New, The metronome is recording onto the track. And I do not have Metronome on during Playback. It's actually recording the Metronome clicks onto the track.
Dino,
Very simple. You want to go to your metronome settings:
Options
Project
Metronome

untick all 'Playback'
untick 'record'
untick 'accent first beat'

Put a 'countin' value of 1 or 2

You are recording your metronome becasue even though you are not using it in 'Playback' you ARE using it in 'Record'. Your playback setting is not really relevant here as you are 'recording something new'. It would be the 'Recording' setting you should be looking at.

Good Luck!

Dino

Post by Dino » Sat Dec 06, 2003 2:20 pm

I wish it was that simple. I tried what you asked. No Dice. Let me explain. I always want to use the click when recording so I can keep time. But I don't want it to record the Click onto the Track and that is what it is doing. I tried your suggestion and have been in Metronome settings before but that is not the problem. Maybe this will help. I'm getting Track leakage from one track to another also. When I start and record a brand new track, I playback and hit Solo, I hear another track within that same track. Track leakage is the only word I guess for it. And perhaps that is the key reason my Metronome is actually recording onto the track as if it were an instrument and not a reference. I hope I explained this well enough. So basically, the Metronome is recording as if it were an instrument. When it records and I playback, the Clips view has Wave files made by the metronome. This is the first of this problem. I'm dumbfounded. I didn't change any settings. The only thing I did was change my Cakwalk Project folder to my 120 GB External Drive. But I'm sure that is not my problem. The drive seems to handle it well now that I upgraded to USB 2.0 Thanks again. I'm going Crazy !! :(

Dino

Post by Dino » Sat Dec 06, 2003 2:24 pm

and to answer your ME question. No, I had problems with 98 SE as well. If anything I would say ME is running more stable than 98 SE.

GretscGuy
Posts: 434
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2003 1:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts USA

Post by GretscGuy » Sun Dec 07, 2003 2:11 pm

Dino,
Are you talking about a midi click getting recorded or an audio click?

If we are talking about an audio clcik, you could set your sound module to rout the 'clcik track' to a seperate output.

If you can't do that, try panning the click track to the oposite side you are recording on.
Example - using SoundcardPort_L to record, pan the click all the way to the right.

It sounds more like a routing problem in your setup than it does a Cakewalk problem.

GretscGuy
Posts: 434
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2003 1:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts USA

Post by GretscGuy » Sun Dec 07, 2003 2:21 pm

Lets look at your audio configuration.

You have:

Shure SM-57
Tascam Cassete Multitrack
PC
Some sort of Midi device (cick track)


- Run a stereo rca to 1/8" mini (stereo) to LINE IN on your soundcard

- Plug your SM-57 into input 1 and your midi (keyboard?) audio out into input 2

- Pan your SM-57's channel hard left
- Pan your keyboard's hard right

Try recording an audio track and see if you get the click on there.

Dino

Post by Dino » Mon Dec 08, 2003 4:10 am

Thanks. I reinstalled the Sound Card and that seemed to fix it. I did that before I got your reply. So it's all working now. I did discover something cool that I did not realize I could do. I upgraded to USB 2.0 and have an External WD 120GB Hard Drive and was able to switch my folder in Sonar to the External HD and save all my files and Audio onto the larger HD, keeping my small "C" Internal drive empty & clean. It would not work when I had USB 1.0. I Kept getting Dropouts just while playing back. Guess the transfer rate was too slow with USB 1.0 Just thought maybe, you or someone else might be interested in this observation. Thanks for all of your help.

GretscGuy
Posts: 434
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2003 1:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts USA

Post by GretscGuy » Mon Dec 08, 2003 2:47 pm

No problem. Glad to see everything went well for you!

Dino

Post by Dino » Tue Dec 09, 2003 1:15 am

One more question, puuuuuuuuleeeeeeze ? When I go to Global in settings in Sonar, should I change the drive files, (you know, the whole list) to my external Hard Drive. Now Sonar was installed on my Internal drive, but I want all the saved stuff on my External drive. Should I change all to "E" (external drive) instead of "C" (internal drive) ? I hope you can understand my lame explanation ! If you go to Global and Folders, U should know what I'm talking about.

GretscGuy
Posts: 434
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2003 1:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts USA

Post by GretscGuy » Tue Dec 09, 2003 1:53 am

Dino,
These point to where Sonar would look first. I am thinking your internal drive is a bit faster for this. Is it giving you a problem the way it is now? If it's not, I wouldn't mess with anything.

If it is, then write down all your settings (I have notebooks filled with this stuff!) and experiment!

Good Luck!

PS- What does it say about this in the manual?

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