I recently purchased a new laptop. The GS60 Ghost 3k Pro 2PE from MSI. This computer is a beast and is packed with a crap-load of power while maintaining an Ultrabook profile.
Intel i7 with 16 GB of RAM and a 3GB nVidia 870m GPU, 256 GB SSD and 1TB HDD.
The only problem is, it has Windows 8.
Windows 8 is apparently horrible at running Traktor. I can’t seem to get rid of the scratchy audio buildup every time I use Traktor. I’ve played around with Latency and the options but it continues to mess with the audio. Oddly enough, every time I click the settings window, the scratchy sounds go away for a bit. I have tried refreshing the OS and updating the drivers but it makes no differences. The problem doesnt occur on my older Dell Inspiron laptop with Windows 7.
I have an Akai APC40 and an AKAI EIE Pro that I am trying to connect to my 2.1 Harmon Kardon speakers. They have a regular 3.5mm jack but using the computers jack distorts the sound. I’m going to buy a dual 1/4 inch to 3.5mm Y cable to route the audio straight from the EIE pro to the speakers.
Any suggestions on how to fix this? Thank you all!
How have you set up the audio?
If you’re plugging the speakers into the laptop then you’re not using the EIE, so that means you’re using the onboard soundcard, which is probably the reason.
Lots of people on here use Windows 8 - doubt that’s the problem.
Its nothing to do with Windows8. You talk about windows 8 as if its famous for being bad, and this certainly isnt true within the IT industry. In fact its a good way of outing opinionated amateurs, as its obvious their opinion isnt based on actual deployment experience with the OS.
Win8 performs better on the same hardware as Win7 in almost all cases. Its rock solid.
If you arent connecting your soundcard directly to your speakers, then you arent even hearing the output from your soundcard, just from your computer. No wonder it sounds terrible.
You should start with the basics of the connection and quickstart guides for traktor.
You either need to get some proper speakers that will take a 1/4 inch connector, or you are probably best of running a splitter from your soundcards headphone jack to your speakers. The problem is that you are taking a signal thats already been amplified by the headphone amp, then you are feeding it into another amp on your computer speakers. This is why it gets distorted.
The problem has nothing to do with Windows 8. If you have a proper PC with a UEFI BIOS, it’s the best Windows OS to date. Judging by those specs, you probably do. Downgrading to 7 will hurt the overall performance and responsiveness of the system since 8 was specifically designed for UEFI & SSDs, while 7 wasn’t.
The real problem is that you’re trying to use your laptop’s audio outputs. Use your mixer’s/controller’s sound card instead and your problems will go away.
Routing the audio through the Soundcard produces the same results
I’ve played around with latency and processing options but only get different variations of the same distorted sound.
The same setup works perfectly with my old laptop, that is running Windows 7. It also works just as well even without the soundcard plugged in at all. The controller is hooked up via USB and the speakers are plugged into the headphone jack. they work flawlessly. No latency, no glitching or distortion.
Thank you all!
