What hardware should I get?

[Thomas Regin]

Hello!

I\'m having a LOT of problems with my current setup, so I have decided to get something new.. But what?

My current setup consists of:

K6-2 500Mhz on a
Aopen AX59pro motherboard
128MB ram

This setup generates so much popping and clicking that making music is close to impossible.

I\'m thinking of getting an
Athlon 1100Mhz Socket A Processor
Asus A7pro ATX Motherboard

Does anyone know if these motherboards are known to generate noise?.. It\'s still based on a Via chipset like my other motherboard.

Can anyone recommend a setup?. I don\'t want a pentium processor.

Thanks,

Thomas Regin.

[Thomas Regin]

Well..

I can\'t work with GigaStudio everyday, cause I can\'t bear to work with all those clips and pops. I have a Wami Rack 24 with the newest drivers.

My computer is in general very slow and since my work has decided to buy me a brand new machine, I may as well get something that REALLY takes off.

Thomas.

[Simon Ravn]

I use a P3-700 with Gina and Maxtor 7200 UDMA 66 drive + IBM UW SCSI drive and I don\'t get max poly without a lot of delays and clicks.... I guess I can get around 80 without problems.

[KingIdiot]

I\'m really beggining to think that questions like this are fiarly useless on this board. http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif

Everyone has different experiences with their setup.

I\'m using a P-II 350, 384 MB RAM, UDMA-66 30 GB Quantum Hardrive harddrive (the one that is supposed to have problems with Giga). an old BX motherboard with the XG synth built in, a Wami-Rack 24. I get 72 note maximum poly. I occasionally get a click on pieces that use alot of different samples hitting at the same time, or stuff with alot of gigapiano....but only occasionally.

If I had more machines to test I would I. I think thats the only way to be able to really tell what would work better *for me*.

I haven\'t heard of any probs with the MB you\'re looking at (acutally most people here are recommending it if I\'m not mistaken), and getting a fast CPU is always great if you can. Depending on the music style RAM will be a factor. As well, Hard Drives are of main concern. Have one jsut for gigs, and on its own bus is what most people say, its when I\'ve got my best results as well. Most say the IBM drives are the best. can\'t tell you from experience http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif

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Really...I am an Idiot

[Thomas Regin]

Hello again!

The funny part is, that I don\'t have any problems with polyphony or the amount of samples I can use. I make orchestral rock/pop which uses a lot of instruments and I rarely have problems with polyphony. Not even with the gigapiano!..

My problem is simply the noise. It\'s gotten even worse since I got myself an AGP graphics card. Sometimes there is so much static noise, that Wami Rack(and the computer) crashes!!!. Like playing an mp3-file while scrolling webpages in Explorer. It\'s like the card isn\'t synchronising with the other hardware in my machine.

I agree with you , King, that it\'s not the right forum to ask these questions, but the different input I get here is quite valuable. Since I don\'t have to pay for my new machine myself(my work will), I have the chance to get a really great setup, so all the different viewpoints I can get are truly appreciated!.. http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif

Thanks!

Thomas. http://mp3.com/thomasregin (\"http://mp3.com/thomasregin\")

[donimon]

Anytime I\'ve had popping/clicking problems, it\'s been because of soundcard drivers. That being said - I don\'t think you need THE fastest PC ever to run Gigastudio effectively - I run it standalone on a Celeron 366 overclocked to 550 with 160mb ram and a Gina card and it is solid as a rock. I work everyday on it and don\'t even think about the PC - and that\'s what it\'s all about.

JC

[Raven]

Hi Guys.

Personally I think all of your experiences are very valuable dudes.

I had a company build me good system, which has minimal noise and works great. I guess I coulda built it myslefa but I do not have the time man.

You might want to ask David at Soundsonics. Thats where I bought mine from. He actually goes into detail on all your hardaware gear you have and software and built me a system that fits well in my system. Ask em. I am happy with my buy as Dave is very flexible. Their phone is 503-999-8305 and email is soundsonics@netexecutive.com. You can find articles under Which pc in hardware profiles and get feedback on other guys that bought there.

Anyway, I agree its up to us individually how we wish to use Gigastudio. I do lotta Orchestra and need a big system. If all you do is use solo and Piano you can get away with smaller. So..... This site proves that we are all unique and have different styles of music therefore different needs man!

Relax guys have a good time!!!

Off to do ssssampling!!!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Thomas Regin:
Hello again!

The funny part is, that I don\'t have any problems with polyphony or the amount of samples I can use. I make orchestral rock/pop which uses a lot of instruments and I rarely have problems with polyphony. Not even with the gigapiano!..

My problem is simply the noise. It\'s gotten even worse since I got myself an AGP graphics card. Sometimes there is so much static noise, that Wami Rack(and the computer) crashes!!!. Like playing an mp3-file while scrolling webpages in Explorer. It\'s like the card isn\'t synchronising with the other hardware in my machine.

I agree with you , King, that it\'s not the right forum to ask these questions, but the different input I get here is quite valuable. Since I don\'t have to pay for my new machine myself(my work will), I have the chance to get a really great setup, so all the different viewpoints I can get are truly appreciated!.. http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif

Thanks!

Thomas. http://mp3.com/thomasregin (\"http://mp3.com/thomasregin\") <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>



[This message has been edited by Raven (edited 12-13-2000).]

[KingIdiot]

Thomas,

I think its one of two things the Graphics card and or the Mother Board. If its really only gotten wors with the Graphcs card you might want to look into IRQ conflicts, or moving your Wami PCI card. I\'m using a Creativ Riva I believe (came out about a year and a half ago), and like I said I\'m doign ok with a Wami Rack 24. Check your digital clock on the WAMI. With MP3s it definately doesn\'t like to work well, since its resampling on the fly. It really down\'t like Variable Bit-rate fiels. Also check out egosys\'s website for updated drivers for the unit. I remember reading that they fooled around with trying to make it work btter with MP3s. (I have\'n\'t really updated much, because my system works...and I don\'t want to break it) I have my on board Yamaha lined into the WAMI 1/2 input, this way I can use that for all my direct sound stuff, and use the WAMI for audio stuff.

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Really...I am an Idiot

[Thomas Regin]

Thanks for the replies everyone!.. http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif

I have decided to go with the 1100Mhz Athlon and a whole new motherboard. I agree with King that it\'s a motherboard problem that makes all the noise. I just went from a PCI RIVA TNT to a AGP GeForce and it only made it worse.

Just received an email from EgoSys stating that their Wami Rack driver for Windows2000 will be available in the beginning of 2001, so the second it\'s out I\'ll switch to Win2000. That might help as well..

Thanks for the different inputs. Gotta run now. Just got my Korg Trinity back from the shop, so I\'ll be able to make some music again. It\'s been a month since I last saw it, and I\'m really desperate to catch up with everything! :-)

Thomas Regin http://mp3.com/thomasregin (\"http://mp3.com/thomasregin\")

[Horst]

I found that polyphony very much depends on the sound-card.

I started with a SB AWE Gold on a Celeron-400 and had more than 100 voices without problems.

Since I switched to the Gina with the latest GSIF driver, the sound is much better, but polyphony went down to around 50. cpu-power clearly is the bottleneck here.

The Gina card sounds fine but sucks out the cpu. Go get a P3-800 or something above if you want to use this card.

Horst.

[Simon Ravn]

Going Win2000 might not be a good idea with Gigastudio since it doesn\'t work under 2k http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif

About Gina.. I have a Gina and P3-667 and my CPU load never gets above 40-50% in Giga, even when I hit 140-150 voices. But I can\'t get more than about 60 voices without getting random breakups and clicks in audio sometimes. Maybe it\'s the VIA chipset. I know I never had breakups with Gigasampler on my BX motherboard, but started to get them with the VIA board. The biggest problem with that is, I\'m planning to get a new Athlon system, and you can hardly get anything but VIA based boards for those.

[Haydn]

Echo recommends an Intel chipset motherboard on their website. Obviously they\'ve had problems with the other chipsets.

[Synth2k]

Currently the Echo GSIF drivers for the \"24\" level Echo cards are beta, and I think that may explain why the CPU load is slightly higher than other cards. I am assuming that the final releases of the Echo GSIF drivers will correct this to some extent - I\'m not completely sure. Both the Gina24 and the Layla24 seem to work very well in GigaStudio even with the beta drivers. Another one to look into is the WaveCenter/PCI if you\'re going ADAT only or the RME cards if your ADAT needs are more demanding. As a side note, I\'ve found that the WaveCenter/PCI seems to be less demanding on CPU resources than the Gina24 or Layla24 but again, the Gina24/Layla24 drivers are still beta and likely not fully optimized yet.

Ryan.


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Sonic Control
www..com (\"http://www..com\")

Giga Users Network at
www..com/gigasampler/ (\"http://www..com/gigasampler/\")

[Gunnar]

Tomas, I think that the popping and clicking sound you hear comes from your graphic card, or rather the graphic card drivers. Especially since you are noticing more noise when you changed your card to a new one. Many graphic card drivers are written in such way that they are sending data to the system bus without controlling if the bus is ready. The simple reason for this is that it gives more points in different benchmark test programs. A result is that the system bus locks up until the graphic card is finished with its instruction. If your WaMi is sending audio at the same time, the result is a clicking sound.
Usually a cheap AGP card is the best choice when you make music on your computer. Try a cheap S3 card or ATI. 3dfx/Voodoo and Geforce cards often gives you more trouble.

[Gunnar]

Thomas, it would be interesting to know if your new Athlon-WaMi-GS combination solved your problem. I have a WaMi Rack 24 myself and thinking of upgrading to Athlon CPU. What is your opinion?

[Charles-Valentin Alkan]

You don\'t have to be Sherlock Holmes to find the source of your clicks and pops. You only have to use the tried-and-true Process of Elimination In Reverse.

You disconnect absolutely everything the chain until you get down to the bare minimum to make your computer boot up in Windows. (Tip: you can disconnect drivers quickly without uninstalling them with MSCONFIG.EXE in your System folder.) Then you add 1 piece of hardware and/or software at a time until you get GigaStudio and your WaMi Rack running. Any pops? Yes? Then replace the WaMi with an old SB card. Any pops? No? It\'s the WaMi. Yes? It\'s your system--and then maybe you should buy a new computer.

Regards,
Alkan