FIREBOX and Media Centre Edition

[guitarrock80]

HEY,

I recently bought a firebox and I am using it with Sonar 5 PR. ED. I constantly getting audio dropouts and hiccups. I have addressed all the setup, latency and driver issues.

I have heard that XP MCE causes problems for the firebox(or firewire interfaces in general) but you can disable processes in the msconfig utility to get things working properly. Does anyone know which ones specifically you need to close?

I am also running two SATA hard drives and have a PCI firewire card. COuld I have motherboard bus issues as well.

If anyone has anything to suggest or worked out similar issues please let me know what you did. Thanks so much:)

[itsplayed]

WindowsXP MCE causes issues for DAWs in general and is not the recommended OS for such use. I know of no one that has used this OS successfully with any hardware/software combination. I don't believe you can tweak this OS to run a DAW smoothly....at least I haven't heard of any as most all DAW builders avoid this OS like the plague. That said, I will look into it further to see if you can tweak this OS to at least function on a limited basis for DAW use, but you'd be better served getting yourself a copy of WindowsXP home or pro. What computer system are you using?...Specs please.

[guitarrock80]

I am running a Dell Dimension at 2.6GHZ with Hyper Threading.
1GB of RAM.
120GB Western DIGITAL SYSTEM DRIVE 250GB WD SATA audio/video drive.
Soundblaster LIVE card

I have a band mate running an analog mixer throught a MAudio 1010 pci card through a computer with less ram and a slower CPU on XP MCE and everything is fine.
I also can run Adobe Audition 2 on mine with no problems. So I am lost.

My soundblaser drivers could be interfering with my firebox drivers? But Audition works?

Maybe I'll have to load my old XP Home like suggested.

[bmullens]

Hey Guitarrock80,

Send me your System Information file if you can.
To access your PC’s System Information:

Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information

Click File, Save the NFO file as your name and email to bmullens@presonus.com

itsplayed is correct. Many Audio Manufacturers do not recommend or write drivers for XP Media Center. It's a common misconception that Media Center is good for recording Audio. And with a name like "Media Center" one can clearly see why. But the truth is, Media Center is loaded with software that can commonly drag a recording system down and cause conflicts with certain audio drivers.

Also, the Soundblaster Audigy cards and its software have a tendency to cause conflicts for our drivers. Sometimes to the point where certain users will have to physically remove the card from the system.

Sometimes, using the Service Pack 2 patch (or "hotfix") can eliminate the need to actually remove the Audigy and its drivers.

You can download that Microsoft patch here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885222

(The patch also helps with pops, clicks, and digital distortion caused by XP Service Pack 2)

Hope that helps.

Let me know if you still need some assistance.

Ben Mullens
Presonus Audio
Technical Support

[itsplayed]

Maybe I'll have to load my old XP Home like suggested.

Best bet either way, but may still not solve your issue. There are just too many variables to a smooth running DAW.
First make sure the PCI firewire card has it's own IRQ assignment. If it doesn't, try moving to a different slot. Avoid slot 1 if possible.
What chipset does the firewire card use?
The SoundBlaster could also be a source of trouble. Try uninstalling it along with all it's software/drivers. You can always reinstall if you wish to.

Have you tweaked this system at all?
http://www.audioforums.com/resources/windows-xp-optimization.html
www.musicxp.net

* Make sure any anti-virus program is disabled when in record/playback mode
* Disable any 'Cool and Quiet' function within the BIOS
* Disable any type of 'messenger' service...ie. msn messenger etc.

Most important tweaks.....
Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced tab > Performance settings(adjust for best performance).

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced tab > Performance settings > Advanced tab(select 'Background services' for processor scheduling)

Disable indexing service if enabled.

This is the place to start....try applying these tweaks first and let us know how you made out. If it doesn't fix your issue we'll take it a step further....Good luck!

[guitarrock80]

Hi itsplayed,

I will tweak as much as I can. Thanks for the link. I do shut down Virus and spyware and uplug from the net Etc. I will try to tweak deeper and let you know how it goes.

guitarrock80

[guitarrock80]

Thanks to Ben and itsplayed I have loaded an alternate XP home and just use it for recording. I tweaked it and SONAR and my firebox like eachother again. Everything is crystal clear and fast. Cheers!

[itsplayed]

Your welcome guitarrock80, glad we could help you out. Happy music making!
.....:D

[tech1]

Glad it works. This brings up a larger issue about Media Center: it doesn't work, it is unsupported by almost every DAW manufacturer, and nobody can force it to work. See this article for more info: http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/ts/detail.php?Index=30163&keyword=media%20center