Syntrillium Backup Forums :: View topic - Multitrack editing session hangs in CEP2/Q10

kdas · Posted - Sat Jan 18, 2003 10:46 pm

I have 4 tracks recorded in CEP2 in 32/96. I recently bought Aardvark Q10 soundcard. I do all the multitrack editing/playback in 32 bits. The problem I am having that after 5-10 minutes of editing functions (delete time and adjustment of volume envelope mostly I use) suddenly during the playback it sort of hangs, means the time counter seems to change fine, cursor line moves fine during the play but either I do not get the audio out or suddenly I hear few secs of audio with choppiness. The soundcard q10 is set to Int96k. The level bar in CEP plays at slow motion. It shows no level in Soundcard mixer application at this time. I tried changing playing with Buffer setting etc and it didn't help. I have Windows XP Professional edition with 1GB RAM and 2GHz CPU and enough free space in Hard Disk (+100 GB). The happens even when the Background mixing indicatior shows 100% (turns bright). Closing the CEP session doesn't help. I tried saving session file with a different name and reloading. Only thing that helps is when I reboot my PC, the problem goes away for next 10-15 minutes and again comes back. This is consistently happening even with the differnet set of sessions and tracks. Can any experienced user help?
Current CEP Multitrack Settings:
Playback Buffer size = 1.5 (I tried 0.5 - 2.0)
Playback Buffers = 5 (earlier it was 10)
Recordinmg Buffer size = 2
Recording Buffers = 10
Background Mixing Priority = .5 (I tried .5 - 2)

Wave Cache = 32768 (earlier it was much less)
Thanks, KD

VoodooRadio · Location: USA

While your system specs are impressive, even such a system if not "optimized" can wrestle at times with a "processor heavy" software. Look in the "Tips and Tricks" section under "optimization" and also do a search of the same and see what turns up. You also need to ensure that nothing is running in the background whilst trying to run CEP. The fact that you mention a re-start clears it up for a little bit makes me suspect that some other function is interrupting you. Again, check for "optimization" and..... defrag often!

Elameno · Posted - Fri May 09, 2003 9:38 am

Our systems seen rather comparable. I have an Athlon XP 2000+ (1.7Ghz) with 1Gig PC2700 RAM, my mobo is an ASUS A7N8X-DX (nForce2), and I'm running WinXP Pro.

Most of the time I run fine with this set up. Occasionally I'll have CEP crashes on sessions that have about 20 tracks with 96Khz, 32-bit waves. I think that's just way more than my system can handle. I think I need more HD bandwidth to do that. I have no problem with 20 tracks at 48Khz, 32-bit.

I do have an occasional problem where the aardvark.exe service uses up to 50% of the CPU cycles even when I'm not recording. If I'm not mistaken I don't think it generally takes that much CPU power even while recording 8 tracks. When this happens my entire system becomes ultra-slow and I have issues with audio playback in CEP. I'm not sure it's quite as bad as what you've mentioned. I used to reboot when I saw this happen and it would fix the problem, but now I go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services and restart the aardvark.exe service which fixes the problem, and without a reboot.

When this happens to you I'd appreciate it if you would check the Task list and see if the aardvark.exe process is using a high amount of CPU cycles. I'm interested in seeing if this is the same issue...just more pronounced on your system.

Dave Wolff

texas terry · Location: USA

Personal I am a fan of the Aardvark cards and their sound. You do need to know they have at least one known issue with CEP2... Pause... When you hit pause and then resume play they often times skip.

When I was talking to one of the tech guys, they told me that they knew about this problem... AND that they had a new BETA driver out fixing another issue... Call them and ask to get on their BETA, it might help your problem.

Note: These problems exist with CEP2 & CEP2.1 only (while there are possibly others with other software). And every PRO sound card company goes these adjustments... So don't throw the baby out with the bath water...

I realy do believe in these cards, the station has one, and I have one at home.

T

trendkiller101 · Location: USA

kdas-- i started getting the same thing about 2 days ago and its REALLY starting to piss me off.

i've only got 12 tracks on this one song i've been working on, but doesn't start to hang up, skip, GET OUT OF SYNC, until i put vocals on it (which make up tracks 11 and 12). but it will play fine for about 8 seconds or so, then the meter bar starts hanging up and here we go!!!!

i've done all the optimization tips and have NO other programs running. anyone got any other ideas? ANYTHING?!

CEP2k
seagate 40g
athlon xp 1.4
384 ram

maudio omni studio
maudio delta 66 card

texas terry · Location: USA

ozpeter · Location: Australia

CEP2.1 has a wide range of bug fixes and optimisations which affect performance and stability - which won't of course fix every issue for everyone, but it's well worth the download if you are having difficulty with 2.0.

- Ozpeter

kdas · Posted - Mon Jun 16, 2003 1:14 pm

Update:
Dear Dave Wolff,
I can not thank you enough for letting me know to restart the aardvark.exe service instead of reboot. This saved me lot of time and frustration. I haven't seen Aardvark.exe reaches 50% CPU, though when I do Multitrack(4-5 tracks) I see CEP sometimes reaches 100%.

BTW: I have already upgraded to CEP 2.1. I have optimized my XP as recommended in www.musicxp.net (recommended by Aardvark and Syntrillium).

Dear "texas terry",
I got the Beta driver from XP as suggested by you. I haven't done muck work after that though the system still hangs sometime or gives me a message that the device is in use even though in Aardvark manager they are idle. When I restart Aardvark.exe service the system starts working fine.
Thanks, KD

Elameno · Posted - Mon Jun 16, 2003 1:41 pm

Hey kdas, you're most welcome, I'm really glad to have been able to help. I think the best we can do is all contact Aardvark with the little issues we run into and hopefully they'll feel enough pressure to get out another release.

They did get back to me on the aardvark.exe CPU spikes, and they asked for my system config and what services are running...so that's one that, while rare, they are looking into. So it's good to know they aren't just snubbing us for now.

Elameno