usb sound cards???

[MaGiCdAvE]

hello folks

I wonder if anyone has any solutions to this problem of mine. I replaced my mini disk recorder with a Creative exrternal usb sound card to record mixes.

:confused: :confused: :confused:

A couple of problems i have are:

(i) I cannot enable DMA for cpu independent recording. The properties of the USB card have no 'resources' to select and configure, neither in the BIOS set up. It records Ok, excpet it 'jumps' occasionally due to processor action i guess....

(ii) With the mixer output set to 0 dB, the record level is at O db (in CoolEdit, when the Creative input level is set quite low (@ 21 % of max level).

Any ideas on this or cheap upgrades to get some good high (studio/CD) quality recording?

Big Thanks DaVe

 

[Rorymonster]

Get more RAM? What sound card is it?

 

[moonbeam1]

Is there anything else plugged into the root-hub of your usb-bus, if so unplug it! Rmemember the bus shares its bandwidth between all attached devices. I presume it is USB2 ? You shouldn't have any probs with RAM or CPU if it is over about 650Mhz : )

 

[MaGiCdAvE]

nothing else plugged in and 512 MB DDR RAM, question is how do u enable DMA??

 

[moonbeam1]

If the card supports it then it will be enabled by the driver, DMA *WILL* be enabled on your machine, most other drivers will be using it eg -USB, TCP, IDE to name but a few ( thats actually UDMA) etc. DMA is the standard method for drivers to communicate, and any HW written written in 'good practice' should u8se it where possible.

However remember that it is the USb subsystem that is controlling the xfer to the CPU, and that is what you need to be DMA'ing, so Im not sure if your sound card would ever be able to DMA in itself - it only has the usb bus to communicate with, and that is controlled by the PC,and its DMA engine, pretty unlikely that the sound card will have DMA engine of its own.

Try the card on another system and see if it is crap on that one as well, if so you've probs bought yourself a shitter

 

[MaGiCdAvE]

I will have to check this out, but the sound card booklet says "enable dma" -suggesting sound card supports this? hmmmm?

dave

 

[moonbeam1]

Whats this thing called ? Does the manual say how you 'enable DMA' ? maybe I can download a copy of the manual and have a look....

 

[MaGiCdAvE]

this is what f#~ks me off, as that is all it says!!

i will try and find a download link tonite and post it

dave

 

[trancetheory]

Open up device manager in control panel>System>Hardware and find the soundcard (you cant enable DMA on the actual USB hub), and change the Transfer Mode to DMA if available in the Advanced settings tab


....assuming your in wondoze.....

 

[MaGiCdAvE]

i will try all this when i get home , thanks so far.......

 

[trancetheory]

should work no problem good luk

 

[MaGiCdAvE]

cannot find any options to do this either, the product in question is:

http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=207&product=154

any more ideas????

thanking u all again, dave

 

[Speakafreaka]

what version of windows are you running?

 

[MaGiCdAvE]

xp pro, i have enabled dma now, will disable broadband when recording too, plus i have increased record buffer size in cool edit pro.

may mix soon and see

thanks again

smiles

dave

 

[trancetheory]

KoolBeanz gj