snap crackle pop: firewire 410

[call me montag]

ok so i bought a 410 on ebay. hooked it up to my computer and monitors. specs are adequate and i have the latest drivers.


when my computer is working hard, a "white noise" will come out of my monitors.

the m-audio control software instantly freezes when i try to use something

when i try and record guitar through Live its fine for like 40 secs and then goes "beeeeeeeeeeee..."

sometimes it just decides to start crackling.


whats up?

[jmail]

When you say "beeeeeeee...", are you sure it's not more of a "Screeeeeeee!"? Sorry... won't happen again. But seriously, the noise, is it a high-pitched squeel, and is it loud or soft, and does it come up unexpectedly, or can you induce it the same way everytime? The crackling you hear, is it a sound, like a "sh-hoo-oo-ff-ff" wind blowing, with "thunder" crackles that are intermittent, at any time, whether you're doing audio or not (and will moving any of the controls make it change), or is it more of snaps, crackles and/or pops as you're trying to do audio, and only then? Do you hear a low "clicking" sound when doing audio?

Are you using a high-quality firewire cable, and do you know what chipset your firewire interface is using? Check your IRQ table and see if there's anything conflicting with the firewire, like the video card or a USB port, or onboard audio, etc... Be sure you're running "lean" and don't have un-necessary software running, especially if your computer is on the lighter side of "weak", like mine is... Have you checked the m-audio web site? They've got all sorts of FAQs over there. Sorry 'bout the hundred questions routine...

[call me montag]

well if i had to guess its about around 550Hz and kinda "buzzy". Yea it happens at the same places. I think it starts if it clips, but even just barely. So its either really low volume with a chance of that sound, or this buzzing that wont go away. I dunno if you know live, but when i click the arm button to check levels, thats what turns it on/off once it starts happening.

the white noise im talking about is more of a soft thing. Ever used an older desktop and have it make noises when you do stuff on it? although im on a newer laptop and i dont think thats it, The noises appear in the same places. And also when i put my ear right up to the monitor speaker it makes low static noises and the tweeter makes high static noises. these arent noticeable further away though. is that normal??

I'm using the firewire cable it came with, the 4 to 6 one though.

or is it more of snaps, crackles and/or pops as you're trying to do audio, and only then

-yup

your IRQ table and see if there's anything conflicting with the firewire, like the video card or a USB port, or onboard audio, etc

--well im not exactly sure how to do that, but it sounds helpful..

yea i've been all over the website, but nothing. Especially about the software freezing up, i dont know what the deal with that is, ive never seen anybody ever mention it

[jmail]

Wheelp, you might be experiencing "feedback" when you get the obnoxious sound. You can't have an open speaker and mic sharing the same "data", shall we say. The mic is picking up what the speaker is outputting, which is what the mic is picking up, which is what the speaker is outputting, which is what the speaker is outputting - wait, I'm in a feedback loop... The IRQ table (in WinXP) is accessible through "Start", "Control Panel", "System", then the "Hardware" tab, "Device Manager" button, "View" menu item, "Resources by type" menu item, and then the little IC symbol "Interrupt Request (IRQ). You'll might find that the firewire is sharing an IRQ with something, hopefully not the video.

A light "hissing" is normal to be heard up close on amplifier/speakers. Our old band had a PV PA amp that sounded like a hurricaine... If you're in cans, and directly off the 410, you shouldn't hear hardly anything, unless you've got audio going, or a "live" mic open (well, guitars plugged in, or a keyboard, all could make noise too...). The "snap, crackle, pop" you hear while tracking can be from an IRQ conflict and/or the latency setting in the recording software and/or the computer's strength/weakness, aka "system specs". Playing into that, is the "quality" of the firewire chipset itself.

As for software "freezing"... yikes. There's a lot that can influence that. Some hacked software will do that, just because of the stuff that gets cut-out when the hacker does the "labotomy" on the memory dump. But also, legitimate software that isn't set-up correctly will that, or if the computer isn't "optimized" for audio (which can also influence your "snap crackle pop" situation). Go to www.musicxp.net and glean some info from there. Not all suggestions would be applicable for you, and there are some not mentioned there. Several folks on this site have dug into the subject rather extensively, so doing a "Search" here on the subject should yield some very useful info. Search on "computer AND optimize" or "OS AND optimize" (or is that "optimise"?...) lol

The main thing, especially if your computer is weak, is to optimize the OS for audio. You might have to eliminate internet access to accomplish that, maybe you won't. You'll almost certainly have to eliminate AV scanning. The next thing is to have a 2nd high performance hard drive (7200rpm min) to record to, to facilitate audio streaming. An ATA100, firewire, USB2, SATA II, etc., among others... and the 3rd thing is user education. Read all you can of your owner's manuals for everything. Do any and all tutorials you can find that might have been included in the documentation.

Take your time, don't get in a hurry... and remember, it's *FUN*!!!