Soundcard Help
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Thread: Soundcard Help

  1. #1
    Tech Convert
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    Default Soundcard Help

    Hi, Im new to this forum but have been an avid reader of the DJTT blog for over a year now and have finally decided to join up

    Onto my problem - Im having abit of a nightmare with soundcards in general and wondered if anyone could give me some help.

    I had previously used a Behringer BCD3000 controller with integrated soundcard which worked PERFECTLY, however when i upgraded my pc to a laptop this also meant that my OS changed from XP to Vista and this is where the problems started... my BCD3000 wasn't really Vista compatible, so i decided to sell it and look for an alternative solution.

    I then bought a Numark total control with a Maya44YSB soundcard. The soundcard worked great.. when it decided it wanted to play, however the drivers were unreliable (despite downloading the latest Vista compatible ones). Sometimes they would completely disappear when i would restart, other times they just wouldn't work and would require several re-installs before they would start working again.. so, in short as great as the soundcard was when it worked - it was unreliable. So back to the shop it went.

    I then decided to buy a Numark DJIO thinking, its Numark, the controller's Numark, so hopefully it'll work together nicely... however this wasn't the case. When i installed the soundcard it would "pop" intermitently down the left channel, at increasing or decreasing intervals depending upon the latency setting....... At the lowest latency setting (3.9ms-4.9ms) it would "pop" approximately every 4-5 seconds; at the highest latency setting it would only "pop" every 4-5 minutes.

    So - again - I sent it back..... however I have just received a replacement DJIO and it does exactly the same thing, down (bizzarely) only the left channel again! Im running out of ideas as to whats causing thhis, as its maybe not the soundcard.

    Any help would be MASSIVELY appreciated as im quickly loosing my patience with Digital DJing because of the problems im having simply trying to get sound out

    My setup is as follows: Numark Total control, Dell Studio 1535 with 32bit Vista, Traktor 3, Numark DJIO, Cambridge Audio A300 Integrated amp, Mordaunt Short MS902 speakers.
    Last edited by bR3AkBeAt_aDiE; 03-14-2009 at 08:45 AM.

  2. #2
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    Default OS

    Dude,

    If XP worked so well before then install in on the new laptop, Most makes support XP, drivers being on their website.

    Xp home Oem is like £60 and can hopefully sort your problems out.

  3. #3
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    installing XP would solve allot of the problems i've been having... the only problem is that by installing a different OS it invalidates my laptops warranty so I want to try exhaust every option with crappy vista before i resort to that...

    I'm, getting a ground loop isolator today to plug into my rca's to see if this cures the popping, and also a cheap Behringer UCA somthing or other soundcard to try out.

    Fingers crossed one of them will get me pumping the tunes out again

  4. #4
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    Default xp

    If you have the original restore disks for vista, then it would be fine, i ran a shop for 5 years doing IT and repair install etc, so as long as you have the restore disks/partitions then nothing to stop you.

  5. #5
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    its possible this is an artefact caused by the latency spike issues reported on some dell laptops. i dont have any personal experience but have read about it. search the forums as there are definitely posts about them.

    what i can recommend (as i rememeber someone else saying so) is to download the dpc latency checker program (http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml) which will run in windows and report graphicaly on your systems latency. this tool has been used to identify that dell issue before.

  6. #6
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    Thanks Si-B.. i'd been hoping that it wasn't the laptop as i've been down this route before and had (maybe foolishly) thought that i'd ruled it out as the cause.

    I know that Dell Studio laptops are prone to sound problems stemming from a faulty motherboard in the earlier models (such as mine) as i'd suspected this might be the problem what i first started to suffer from crackly sound. This resolved itself once i re-installed the soundcard drivers... however i know of other Dell Studio owners that have had to send their laptops back to Dell to get a new mobo in order to resolve the sound issues.

    This would make more sense then two DJIO's suffering a faulty left channel which "Pops" in direct correlation with the freq of the latency setting on the SC..

    I'll run the DPC Checker and post back up with the results.

    Argh Computers!!

  7. #7
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    The big red bar is when one of the pops/spikes occured... :eek: On the whole the performance doesnt look great anyway though

  8. #8
    Retired DJTT Moderator DvlsAdvct's Avatar
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    Have you gone through the process of optimizing Vista (turning off Aero, and other unnecessary processes?) That spike could be Vista doing things in the background.
    It's the FAQ. Read it.

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  9. #9
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    DvlsAdvct - Optimising Vista was one of the first things i did when i got the laptop after hearing how much difference doing so can make.

    I've gone through my device manager disabling/enabling all of the devices that DPC suggests and also a few which i thought may be causing it to no avail...

    To verify what im already thinking - does this sound like it could infact be the MoBo at fault?

  10. #10
    Dr. Bento BentoSan's Avatar
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    right cick my computer, then go into your device manager - then turn off all the drivers that you dont need for a performance one by one.

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