Syntrillium Backup Forums :: View topic - In this corner we have an AMD processor...

clothesburner · Location: USA

In this corner, we have a Delta 66 with an Omni i/o.

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!

I wrote the guys at M-Audio concerning my new machine and they said the specs looked good except that they had experienced compatibility issues with AMD and VIA chipsets in the past.

"Hi Clothes
We have seen problems with the Via motherboard chipset. The fix is going to http://www.viahardware.com/download/index.shtm#inf
and download the usb filter and the 4 In 1 driver. There were inherent USB conflicts that were causing audio
problems and the infinite loop was also one of the problems that we were seeing."

So I went to this site. Downloaded the USB filter, no problem. But when it came time to download the 4 in 1 driver, I didn't have a clue which one to download. When I wrote M-Audio to ask, they told me I'd need to contact the makers of my motherboard. (It's an AMPTRON K7-817LM/DDR Board... anyone know anything about these?) Anyway, I wrote AMPTRON and have yet to get a response. Let me clarify something: I'VE WRITTEN AMPTRON 3 TIMES AND NOT GOTTEN A RESPONSE. So does anyone have a clue which 4 in 1 driver I should download for this particular motherboard?

One more thing I'd like to add: I've not recorded much since getting this new system. But the one time I did, there was a pop right in the middle of a vocal that I related directly to this AMD/Delta 66 conflict. What else might it have been?

SteveG · Location: United Kingdom

Actually, this looks pretty easy... The latest one, 4.32. It claims not to be a Beta, so it's almost certainly the one you want.

Actually I run CE2K on an AMD with a VIA chipset (different MoBo though) and don't have any problems at all. Even with it running under WinME! It might be worth you checking out all of the other stuff you can do to your OS to improve performance, especially if it's clicks and pops you're getting.

Steve

clothesburner · Location: USA

Steve,

Thanks for answering my question. These are the steps I have taken for optimising my computer. If you have anymore suggestions, please let me know:

Hard Drive Usage
Cool Edit writes data to the Primary Temp Directory for its temp files when
recording. You can set the location of this directory in Options >
Settings > System. Go to "My Computer" and find out the drive that has the
most free space and set Cool Edit's Primary temp folder to this drive, also
it is best that this is a fast hard drive. It is a good idea to create a
unique folder just for Cool Edit's temp files. For example, in your "D"
drive, you can create a folder named "ceptemp". So you will end up with a
directory/folder like: "D:\ceptemp\". This way you are sure where Cool Edit
puts it's temp files and you can manually delete them if needed. Set the
'Reserve Free' to 10 MB and no more than 100MB. This option sets aside the
amount that Cool Edit can not write to. This way you cannot fill the whole
hard drive with recorded audio files. You need to have some space left for
MS Windows to use as virtual memory.

There is a speed advantage in placing the two temp directories on separate
physical hard drives. If you have two hard drives, try placing the Primary
Temp directory on the drive that does not have the program installed on it
and the Secondary on the program's drive. If you have 3 hard drives, try to
put each Temp Directory on a different drive. If you have one hard drive
with a different partition, setting the drive to different directories
helps, but not as much as using different physical drives.

You should defragment your hard drive often when working on Audio files,
even if your hard drive shows as 100% defragmented. If you are using Norton
Utilities, select full defragmentation. Your hard drive can be reported as
100% defragmented, but still may contain gaps (free space) between files.
When attempting to record on a fragmented drive the HD has to jump all over
to find free space to record into which may cause skipping and gaps in
recording. When you run a full defrag with Norton Speed Disk or use
Windows98's defragmenter, it actually moves all the files to the beginning
or end of the disk and leaves the rest of the HD free for recording
(Windows 95 defrag does not do this). This way, the hard drive can be
accessed more efficiently and is less likely to slow down and create errors
and/or artifacts in your recordings. Note that if the defragmenter tool
tells that you first need to run ScanDisk,then this could be indicative of
a bad sector or problem with your hard drive. If you do get this warning
then you should run Window ScanDisk (or preferably Norton's Disk Doctor)
with it set in "Thorough" mode and with "Fix all errors" selected.

DMA Settings
This is very important if you have IDE hard drives in your PC! On your
desktop, right click on My Computer, left click on Properties and go to the
Device Mgr window. Double click on Disk Drives, and again on Generic IDE
Disk Type xx. On the Settings tab, if you have a DMA selection, make sure
the box is checked. If not then you should check it. Repeat this for all
IDE hard drive entries listed in Device Mgr. Click OK to exit Device Mgr. -
It will give you a warning but it is OK to keep this change and you will
need to reboot your PC.

Disable Startup Programs
In Windows 98 or Windows ME go to

Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information
From the Menu bar, select Tools > System Configuration Utility.
Click on the Startup Tab.

These are the items that get loaded when your PC starts.
Some of these items may be conflicting with Cool Edit's operations.
I want you to disable some of these items to see if this fixes
the problem. You can re-enable these items later if you like, but seldom
are they necessary and it is usually better to keep them disabled for an
audio PC.

Un-check all the items except the following:

- ScanRegistry
- SystemTray

Then click on Apply and then OK.
Close These windows and restart your machine.
Try a few operations in Cool Edit again and note if this provides better
performance.
You can go back and re-enable any items you may want at any time.

Memory Usage
You can increase the speed of Cool Edit Pro by setting the wave cache to an
appropriate level depending on the amount of RAM you have. As you reach
higher wave cache settings, you start to get diminishing returns, so you
should try various settings in the range given to see how they work for
you. While in Cool Edit, Go to "Options > Settings > System" to access the
wave cache size option.

RAM Cache Size
64 MB 8192
96 MB 12288
128 MB 16384
256 MB 32768

File caching
Windows 95/98 utilize file caching which keeps your most recently accessed
data in your memory. This is good for many programs, but not for audio
programs so it can help to restrict the amount of your memory reserved for
file caching . Find the System.ini file in your Windows folder and open it
in WordPad. Find the section named [Vcache} and set the MinFileCache and
MaxFileCache to:
- 4096 kb if you have 32 mb of RAM
- 8192 kb if you have 64 mb of RAM
- 16384 kb if you have 128 mb of RAM
If you have no entries under the [vcache] heading just type them in so it
looks like this (using the appropriate figures listed above):

[VCAHE]
MinFileCache=8192
MaxFileCahe=8192

Lower Read-ahead Optimization
Also in Control Panel>System>Performance tab window, select the File System
button. Select the hard disk tab and move the slider a few notches to the
left - or you can try all the way to the left, but some other programs may
suffer with this all the way left.

Write behind caching
In the File System Properties window, you can also try disabling "write
behind caching" by selecting the Troubleshooting tab and check the Disable
Write Behind Caching for all drives box.

Sound Card Driver
You should also make sure you have the latest driver for your sound card -
go to the manufacturer's site and download and install their latest update
according to their instructions. This can often remedy many record and
playback issues. Check for driver updates regularly.

Display Settings
Close Cool Edit and in Windows go to the Start Button/Settings/Control
Panel/Display - Settings tab. Set the Colors to "High Color 16 bit" (not
True Color 32 Bit) and click on Apply and OK - if you are prompted to
restart then do so. You might also try going to your video card's
manufacturer's web site and downloading and updating the driver for this
card. This can often remedy display issues and device conflicts.

If you have Windows 98/Me, disable the following items by unchecking them
in - Start - Settings - Control Panel - Display - Effects :
"Show Icons using all possible colors.
"Smooth Edges of screen fonts"
Enable:
"Show window contents while dragging"

Disable Windows System Sounds
This is not so much a performance issue, but having the Windows sounds
active can be very annoying and a problem if you click on anything that
results in some loud "bleep" while you are recording. To disable go to:
Control Panel/Sounds, choose the Scheme 'No sounds'.

De-activate any Screen Saver
If a screen saver kicks in while you are recording or burning a CD it can
cause problems. To disable any screen saver: Right mouse click on your Windows
Desktop, Properties, Screen Saver, set to 'None'.

Power Saving
Go to Control Panel, Power Management and choose the power scheme 'Always
on'. Set 'System Standby' and 'Turn off hard disks' to 'Never'. Turning off
the monitor after a certain time usually causes no problems, so set it as
you like it. This can be an alternative to a screen saver.

Animated Windows
Although nice looking, this feature is based on several CPU-calculations for
different window sizes, causing high CPU-load and drop outs. When starting a
minimized program from the taskbar while audio is running drop outs are
expected by most users. To de-activate: Desktop, right mouse click,
Properties, Effects, un-check 'Animate windows, menus and lists'.
Note: under NT the drop outs caused by this animation are even bigger.

Windows Me System Restore feature
It is recommended that you disable the System Restore feature that comes
installed with Win Me. This utility kicks in at regular intervals and backs
up system files to the hard drive. This is a problem while you are reading
or writing audio files to disk.
To disable this, right click on My Computer and select properties from the
menu, select the Performance tab and click the File System button in
Advanced settings. Next go to the Troubleshooting tab and there you will see
disable System Restore. Check this selection, click OK and then reboot.

motorhead_6 · Posted - Thu Aug 30, 2001 10:31 pm

Ive got an AMD Athalon 1000Mhz processor and for the most part it is good but I have had a few incompatibility problems, although not with audio programs.

MERRICK · Posted - Fri Aug 31, 2001 2:45 am

If your MOBO is more than 4 months old, I would suggest you try the 4.29 4 in 1's first. The versions that came after address more specific recent BIOS/chipset configuratons. IMHO.