Audio Interface Question
Hello.
I have a Traktor S4 but the built-in soundcard is not Windows compatible (latency issues and yes I’ve tried all the tweaks), that is why I’m looking at an external sound card or audio interface (same thing?).
What do you recommend and advise?
I’ve heard the Maya 44 USB isn’t that great, and there is a Native Instruments thing for basically the same price but I’m worried it is the same as the S4’s built-in soundcard.
What else is there?
Thanks!
There must be an issue with the machine you are running traktor on as the s4 certainly is Windows compatable. What version of Windows are u using?
No - a lot of users have latency issues. Despite trying all the fixes for this not everyone succeeds.
I think it’s much more likely that you’re having Windows issues, and the latency you’re seeing would appear regardless of which interface you use. The S4 and the interface it contains are 100% Windows compatible.
That is correct i was a windows users because i couldn’t justify spending $800-$1600 on a laptop with lower specs than my current laptop just because it looked cool and all the other dj’s were using it. Well I’ve always had latency crackle and crashes. one day a buddy was like just get a mac and get it over with. Don’t let a crappy windows laptop ruin your Dj career. We’ll i did it and all problems gone. I have it set to the lowest latency and it runs like a champ. Real world experience and people don’t listen because it’s too expensive.
That’s ummm.. not what I meant at all. Traktor, and NI audio interfaces work perfectly well with Windows. I’m running a Komplete Audio 6 on a not-particularly-fast Dell laptop, and I have zero issues. What I was saying is, instead of the OP dumping the S4’s internal interface and buying something new, it’d behoove him to check out what the underlying issues might be that are causing the problem.
I’ve already spent months checking out what the issues may be and then trying to solve it - I thought I made this fact abundantly clear.
What I really would like to know if anyone else who had latency issues managed to solve this problem by getting an external sound-card/interface.
Because if that doesn’t work then I’ll have to buy a Mac which I don’t want too, and it’s expensive!
My NI S4 worked completely fine with my Windows.
That said, you can pretty much use any sound card you want. The much cheaper solution is to just figure out what’s causing your latnecy issue though.
Easier said than done. I’ve spent months trying to figure it out and done all the tweaks and changes others have had success with.
The next step is to try a different sound-card and then if that fails to buy a new laptop (which I don’t need except for beautiful music!).
How about you describe what you’ve tried?
Grab an Old white macbook with a CORE2DUO make sure its this processor!!! add 4 gb of Ram and a SSD
the most important is the SSD the ram is second to that u can run fine on 1 or 2gb of ram and a ssd with osx and traktor
Firstly, my laptop does exceed the minimum specs and I’ve tried all the tweaks/edits (described at length in various posts on this forum and elsewhere on the net with regards to audio and Windows) - on both Windows XP and a fresh install of Windows 7.
And even with running the minimum of processes, services, etc and other tweaks I still get audio glitches.
Maybe it’s the laptop itself but it does exceed the minimum specs.
So after doing all known tweaks, the other thing that remains is to try a different external sound-card/interface (one guy used a cheap soundblaster and got it to work), and then if that fails to buy a Mac (which I don’t need except for the S4).
Hi,
I have an S4 and it works just fine on multiple windows machines and Apple laptops.
If the problem is your laptop, then logic would suggest the problem would continue to exist even if you got another external sound card.
Just saying before you spend a lot of money on another interface.
New -
13.3" MACBOOK PRO MD101
2.5 GHz Dual Core i5 processor
4 GB DDR3 RAM
500 GB Hard Drive
Price $1345 incl. courier.
Would rather spend this money on other things…
Really weird problem you’re having. Have you tried it with another computer? Maybe your S4 is a dud.
That said, the Traktor USB sound cards are always a solid bet if you want to give NI another chance. The last time I had lag issues was on an Audio 4, but I’ve used an Audio 2, 6, and 8 without issues. All these were ran on an ASUS UX31A (min specs).
I have an Audio 6 in the Buy & Sell for sale if you’re interested.
Does your Laptop have USB3 or USB2? If USB3 make sure you have NI’s latest drivers as there have been issues with USB3. Also, I heard some people mention that some AMD processors don’t play nice with NI interfaces.
I’m guessing youre still using the AMD Turion TL-66? It seems to benchmark similarly to a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo, a 1.7Ghz Core 1 Duo, and a 1.8Ghz Celeron, all of which are below spec.
Geez…I guess everyone forgets that when the S4 came out pretty much everyone w/ windows had issues. Some were able to fix it fairly easy, some fixed it w/ fairly complicated and involved solutions, some bought Macs, some bought newer faster laptops. NI never truly fixed the issue w/ the drivers/soundcard, made some attempts on drivers that worked a little better, but I think they’re ultimate solution was to just wait it out, cause people are bound to purchase a newer faster laptop in the near future and with that they’re problem will go away by itself…so i’m guessing you have a fairly old laptop? Prob one that exceeds or meets the suggested specs, but slow compared to whats out there today.
What are the specs on your current computer?
Guessing it’s still this one:
The processor in it is fairly weak.