Attn: Vista Performance/Dropouts

[Simon]

With Vista SP1 it gets frustratingly close. Now I get up to about 30 secs of 30 tracks going mad in Cubase with the buffer set to 64 samples before I get drop outs. And when I say drop outs: the hardware buffers don't start breaking up on my system with a few crackles and pops... they completely drop out with harsh moments of absolute silence. No good for recording vocals or live instruments. And it doesn't become completely stable until the latency is unplayable.

The Sigmatel driver R&D seems limited, despite being the typical HD sound card on many popular laptops (including Dell), but perhaps I am expecting too much? The frustrating thing is that XP drivers (and A4A 2.7) give me perfectly good latency for recording live sources. But I have to change the size of the ASIO buffer on mix down (export) to give me a decent bass response. Notionally, the Vista architecture is better and the card should prefer it. At this point I blame Sigmatel (and Dell) for a lack of effort.

Anyway, it's back to the XP drivers and A4A 2.7 for me. I hope it stills works after SP1. Incidentally, I had to subvert the Sigmatel drivers (remove them) to get the SP1 update, so hopefully SP1 has put a bit of pressure on for a decent Sigmatel driver set.

[Simon]

As it turns out the old XP driver is problematic with Vista SP1 (it worked perfectly well with Vista before the service pack). But SP1 seems a decent step up in other ways (file handling feels much faster) and is worth keeping.

I will keep tweaking Vista SP1 and A4A v2.8 and see how it performs with some real world recording before I give up. Hopefully, in the meantime, SP1 will force Dell to come up with some decent drivers. Most of their machines still ship with Sigmatel sound.

[Simon]

Following is the best setup for Vista running Cubase with a Sigmatel soundcard (Inspiron 9400/1705).

Low latency audio (no MIDI) recording is what I do. This is my priority with what I say here, rather than bothering with whether the subwoofer or the SPDIF or whatever works.

I did the whole thing, an XP dual boot to test Sigmatel on both platforms.

Vista wins hands down. It offers a REAL latency down to <8ms, while XP manages 15ms at best. Real latency is a complete loop out from the soundcard and back in again as measured by CEntrance ASIO Latency Test Utility.

This should be the same time distance the signal travels into and back out of the card to your headphones when recording.

Vista with SP1 is easily the best Windows platform for sigmatel, and the MS drivers are also the best (although you might lose some functionality you want)

My advice is get rid of your Sigmatel drives in “Programs and Features” and scan your hardware to load the default Microsoft drivers. This will make SP1 available on Windows Update. After the update leave the Microsoft drivers in place and use A4A 2.8. Also, turn off Aero and make sure the power plan is High performance.

On other threads I have complained about drop outs with this setup. That is with 30 tracks going with all sorts of plug-ins in Cubase. A simple recording should work at the lowest buffer size. Try saving as many plug-ins as you can until mix down and you will have a perfectly competent 48K/24 bit multi-track recording platform.

NOTE: When changing drivers you may need to reconfigure your "VST connections" in Cubase.

[paul]

For even more performace in vista I also disable SuperFetch it improved my latency by a lot.

www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/how-to-disable-superfetch-on-windows-vista/

[David S]

My issue was crazy, I seemed to have different sample frequencies being used at once with the Sigmatel Drivers. Adobe said 44.1, A4A said 44.1, but Apogee DAC said 88.2, and I was playing an 88.2 file.

Simon - Thanks for your advice on removing Sigmatel Drivers and using Microsoft drivers, all of my issues are solved. Everything works fine with the Sigmatel C-Major SPDIF output and A4A.

[Kian lav]

I have Gateway Model GT5662 with phenom processor and 4 gigs of ram running windows vista premium .My computer had a built in sound by realtek HD 7.1 surround chipset.Now my problem is when i check the offline asio4all setting and click the beyong logic to disable,My computer suddenly out of video means blackout on monitor and keyboard are freeze and mouse too so i need to forced my computer to turnoff , my computer are configure at windows basic and running at high performance power. And also when i use my nuendo sometimes the sound are crackling or hissing back round that's why i always set the Asio4all to high latency up to 640.pls help me on how to solve this problem...thank you.. Asio4all user

[FiTzRoy]

Hi.. I've been tring like a week and I've got not results. I'm on a laptop, Win Vista, Guitar Rig 2 and soundcard Realtek onboard. If I use DirectSound it works but with 25 ms latency (with good sound). If I use Asio4All this happends:
1.
in Asio config:
Realtek HD Audio output= on (state= active)
Realtek HD Audio CD input= off
Realtek HD Audio Mic input= on (state= active)
Realtek HD Audio Stereo input= off

(there is no more possibilities)

MIDI->Output Interface-> MS GS Wavetable Synth= off

Here, there is no sound. Nothing work (the meters don't move either) but the metronome WORKS.

2.
in Asio config:
Realtek HD Audio output= OFF
Realtek HD Audio CD input= off
Realtek HD Audio Mic input= ON
Realtek HD Audio Stereo input= off

MIDI-> Output Interface-> MS GS Wavetable Synth= off (but doesn't matter: the output is off)

Here, the meters are moving (input and output), so the mic is working, but I can't hear anything because the audio output is off. So I think even if the Wavetable Synth is disabled on Guitar Rig, it works anyway and I can't hear a thing.
I tried to disable the MIDI on the Windows Mixer, or in control panel or everywhere possible, but I can't.

Is this the problem? MIDI still works when it's off in the program? So, how can I disable the midi on the whole windows? Can you help me?

Thanks and sorry for my awful english, hehehe

[Ab2you]

Where can I find these SATA drivers.
For my Asus Lappie I've found an AHCI driver on the Asus website. Are these the one you mean?

[Micros]

I agree with the SATA thing! (USB interface needing power feed -use the SATA USB drive etc..) Also the other "small Tweaking" -above, gives the day. Spec. turning off the network biznezes and virusprotections along with it+automatic updatefunctions etc backservices and then connecting the interface and kicking the Cubase or whatever the softa is and voilá!! Vista DAW runs like a butter on a hot summerday!

[Micros]

Google sata driver vista 32bit (or 64 if that's the case)

[Ramon]

Does this powersaving behavior have a negative impact on Windows 7 (x64) too?

Is there a method to test this so I could give feedback?

[New User]

Hi everyone.

I've installed asio4all for the first time in a LapTop (4GB RAM) with Windows Vista. I want to use it for GuitarRig.

All thse installation seems to be OK and when I run Guitar Rig, all seems to be fine. Also, the icon of asio4all appears in the windows toolbar.

The problem is that when I try to configure asio4all (clicking on the icon or from guitar rig option in File menu), the computer completely blocks. Absolutely nothing works and the only way is to power off the computer.

It seems that when the application is going to use asio driver occurs the same. Computer blocked.

Any help!?? Thanks so much!!

[New User]

Apr 28, 2010 14:17:54 GMT @New User said:

Hi everyone.

I've installed asio4all for the first time in a LapTop (4GB RAM) with Windows Vista. I want to use it for GuitarRig.

All thse installation seems to be OK and when I run Guitar Rig, all seems to be fine. Also, the icon of asio4all appears in the windows toolbar.

The problem is that when I try to configure asio4all (clicking on the icon or from guitar rig option in File menu), the computer completely blocks. Absolutely nothing works and the only way is to power off the computer.

It seems that when the application is going to use asio driver occurs the same. Computer blocked.

Any help!?? Thanks so much!!

Problem Solved: I use Realtek HD Audio and I had to reinstall the drivers. With the new Drivers, asio4all works fine

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