Motherfucking Hell!!!!

[AlexHall74]

OK, somehow Service Pack 3 totally fucked up my DAW. I could not get to the Internet, I could not access my network files. I only installed a USB wireless g card two days prior and it worked like a charm.

Thanks God I have spent the last two days consolidating all my PC files into one, uniform library, whcih is now backed up to a 500 GB external USB hard drive.

Plus, my Delta 1010LT (brand new) has a defective input (Input 3 = no signal), so I've had to retrun it to the place I bought it from.

Now I'm contemplating springing the extra money for a firewire audio interface (M-Audio 1814, or their new ProFire 26/26 or whatever the hell it is called) because the 1010LT was giving me slight pops and crackles even with the buffer size turned up to 5.9 ms latency.

I WAS SUPPOSED TO BR JAMMING THIS WEEKEND!!! FUCK!!!!

[Doc Jones]

any way to roll your computer back to a state it was in before SP3?

[AlexHall74]

Tried that, my friend, and to no avail. I Googled around and although I did not verify the technical info I came across, some of it said that SP3 was a one way upgrade.

So, it's all said and done at this point, FDISK, format, Windows XP + SP3 brand new again, just loaded up Tracktion 2, Battery 3, Albino 3, Guru 1.5, and will spend most of tomorrow loading Wusikstation and all of its sound libraries. What a royal pain in the arse!

Also, my Delta 1010LT is not playing nicely with this system, any recommendations on a firewire interface, Doc?

NOTE: Post-Op. Shoulder Pain + Alcohol + Demerol = Blurred Vision + Greatly Reduced Post-Op. Shoulder Pain (thank heavens!)

-Alex

[Doc Jones]

that sucks alex. perhaps some of that pain med will help take away some of the pain dealing with your computer ;)

It's been a while siince I have looked at audio interfaces, but when I was researching firewire solutions the RME Fireface 800 kept rising to the top of my list. Probably overkill and (in my eyes) way too expensive.

I am kind of surprised that you are getting audio glitches from your m-audio card. How many physical ins and outs do you use?

[cubedecibel]

Get a Mac :P

[Doc Jones]

by the way Alex, I am a huge fan of Echo soundcards. I have had my layla 24 for over 10 years and it is still going very strong at 24/44.1 !

here is their firewire line - http://echoaudio.com/Products/FireWire/index.php

[AlexHall74]

that sucks alex. perhaps some of that pain med will help take away some of the pain dealing with your computer ;)

It's been a while siince I have looked at audio interfaces, but when I was researching firewire solutions the RME Fireface 800 kept rising to the top of my list. Probably overkill and (in my eyes) way too expensive.

I am kind of surprised that you are getting audio glitches from your m-audio card. How many physical ins and outs do you use?
Doc, I maxed out the physical inputs of the Delta 1010LT.

I bought 2 XLR(male)->TRS crossover cables to turn the mic inputs (input 1 and input 2) of the 1010LT into a pair of balanced line ins. Inputs 3 and 4 were for my Virus KC, inputs 5 and 6 were for my Nord Lead 2, and inputs 7 and 8 were for my JV 1080. I was using the SPDIF IN for my Motif ES Rack.

I worked through the M-Audio tech support system, whcih I think is very good. The same technical specialist answered all three of my reported incidents and gave solid advice that was easy to implement. We were in the process of increasing the buffer size to determine if that was causing the cracks/pops but in the middle of it I realized that input 3 was dead as it did not indicate any signal when connected to the outputs of any of my synths. So, we quit trying to resolve the latency issues as the card was faulty.

I really wanted the 1010LT, it seemed so easy to go mixerless. I'm tempted to go with the M-Audio Firewire 18/14 as it is $100 less than the Delta 1010 with the breakout box. Their new ProFire 26/26 (or whatever its called) would be bad ass too, as it has huge room for expansion.

I will look at your Echo interface though as you and OVM both have had really good luck with them. Thank you for pointing that out!

The PC is all back to normal again, everything loaded and optimized. Now it's time to make a backup with Norton Ghost!

;)

-Alex

[AlexHall74]

Get a Mac :P
Ha! I had a PowerMac dual G4 years ago, it was a great computer. I would love to have a loaded Mac with Logic Pro on it! Maybe in a few years...

[AlexHall74]

by the way Alex, I am a huge fan of Echo soundcards. I have had my layla 24 for over 10 years and it is still going very strong at 24/44.1 !

here is their firewire line - http://echoaudio.com/Products/FireWire/index.php
Doc, you are a gentleman and a scholar. The Echo AudioFire8 is only $449!

http://www.gigasonic.com/echo-audiofire-8-firewire.html

The M-Audio 1814 is $499.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MAudio-FireWire-1814-Computer-Recording-Interface?sku=709201

I'm going to go with the Echo!

:)

[Doc Jones]

good deal Alex. Echo's converters have always been highly regarded. I like how they have two universal inputs with phantom power on the Audio Fire units. Nice not having to have to pick up a pre amp.

[XLR8A]

Ha! I had a PowerMac dual G4 years ago, it was a great computer. I would love to have a loaded Mac with Logic Pro on it! Maybe in a few years...I'm running OSX with Logic Pro 8 on my Quad Core PC, runs smooth as silk and fast as a ballistic missile.

[LivePsy]

I'm running OSX with Logic Pro 8 on my Quad Core PC, runs smooth as silk and fast as a ballistic missile.

How is Logic these days? I last used it before Emagic dropped PC support. Kind of tempted to get Logic Studio 8, but I hear there is still older code in it, such as the sample edit window. Did you use older versions of Logic? What do you think of it now?

Cheers,
B

[XLR8A]

I'm a Logic n00b tbh, finally decided to give it a try after years of Cubase. It thinks different, i'm still under the impression of how different it thinks...

[LivePsy]

Well, that speaks volumes! As good as it was, Emagic's product had inconsistent dialog boxes, fonts and tools from window to window. Some things were obviously older than others. Hopefully Apple have unified everything. But I suspect that the studio bundle with soundtracks pro and loops is just a bundling without any attempt to integrate things.

Cheers,
B