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If you could help me with this i would be very happy.
Im trying to configure the ASIO settings on Cubase VST but get all kinds of sync problems..

When i try to use midi, sending notes from cubase to a pulsar synth the notes clearly lag back and forth. So if i loop a pattern you can clearly hear the loop being played faster then fading to slower then fading to fast.. etc..

Can someone tell me the exact steps in order to get the ASIO to work? Im looking in the manual files for this but i cant find anything about asio. I think the manual is very badly written and confusing.. :/

Please help!! I want to get this card to work. Otherwise i have to return it..

Using the startup project.
Trying to detect buffer size on Creamware Rec 1 or Play 1 48/44khz

"Errorcode Fe8-c-0016

Info
Sorry, communcation with the audio card has been lost. Please select reset devices in the options menu or try restarting cubase or windows."

Then

"Direct Sound Full Duplex Setup"
Asio DirectX Full Duplex Driver:
An active direct sound audio port could not be found. Errorcode FE-1-0600

I get these messages all the time.

Please tell me exact from what project that should be loaded, what modules and how they
should be connected. To Ulli settings, to samplerate settings...
Im feeling extremley helpless!

I just tried to load up the ASIO Ezsynth playback project to try it out. SFP Freezed. I restarted and tried it again. No modules show
up when i load the project, only the startup modules dissapear, then
system freezes. Tried it again. Now it worked.

Great huh?!

Make a project with NO wav src/wav dest modules in...

Add ASIO2 src/dest modules.

save

start SX

Choose Creamware ASIO drivers
You should see ANY "Creamware REC" devices, those are wdm, not asio

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: marcuspocus on 2003-07-24 12:38 ]</font>

On 2003-07-24 12:37, marcuspocus wrote:
Make a project with NO wav src/wav dest modules in...

Add ASIO2 src/dest modules.

save

start SX

Choose Creamware ASIO drivers
You should see ANY "Creamware REC" devices, those are wdm, not asio

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: marcuspocus on 2003-07-24 12:38 ]</font>

I have Cubase VST 32.. Exactly where should the ASIO dest modules be routed to?

I'm no Cubaser, so I can't be very helpful on specific settings, but the general rules for the ASIO routings:
ASIO source channels are those which transfer the output of an SFP synth or FX unit into your sequencer.
ASIO destinations carry stuff from the sequencer into SFP.
You have to set the assignment which ASIO channel belongs to to which channel or bus in the sequencer setup and accordingly in SFP.
Make a very simple setup to experiment with and use some signals which make it easy to measure possible audio delays due to processing (not delay as an FX).
It may look frightening and complicated in the beginning, but well, it's a sophisticated production tool and it IS powerful.
Be happy, you won't master it in a couple of days That's perfectly OK - try to understand what's happening in signal flow possibly by thinking of the modules as external hardware boxes (if that's easier).
You'll quickly get behind that, all is quite logical.
I once bought a digital mixer as an IO extension for Pulsar. I better not think oabout how long it would have taken to understand it by just the poor documentation alone. But with the SFP experience it was really easy to figure out how things on that mixer had to be set and routed.

good luck, Tom

On 2003-07-24 18:13, astroman wrote:
I'm no Cubaser, so I can't be very helpful on specific settings, but the general rules for the ASIO routings:
ASIO source channels are those which transfer the output of an SFP synth or FX unit into your sequencer.
ASIO destinations carry stuff from the sequencer into SFP.
You have to set the assignment which ASIO channel belongs to to which channel or bus in the sequencer setup and accordingly in SFP.
Make a very simple setup to experiment with and use some signals which make it easy to measure possible audio delays due to processing (not delay as an FX).
It may look frightening and complicated in the beginning, but well, it's a sophisticated production tool and it IS powerful.
Be happy, you won't master it in a couple of days That's perfectly OK - try to understand what's happening in signal flow possibly by thinking of the modules as external hardware boxes (if that's easier).
You'll quickly get behind that, all is quite logical.
I once bought a digital mixer as an IO extension for Pulsar. I better not think oabout how long it would have taken to understand it by just the poor documentation alone. But with the SFP experience it was really easy to figure out how things on that mixer had to be set and routed.

good luck, Tom

I think i manage to get it to sync now. Cubase still complains but when i record the pulsar synths in cubase and then play the .wav together with the synth they sound very synced!
Btw, in cubase where you choose your ASIO device i can choose between 4 different devices. ASIO Multimedia something, ASIO Directx something, ASIO Directx full duplex, and the one im currently using ASIO Scope! Is this the one that should be used?
Even though the recorded files seem to be on sync with the midisignals to the pulsar synths, one thing that is very strange is that i if i choose ULLI latency like 4ms (44khz), i get crackling noises. This is just ridiclous, because with my old SiS motherboard and Creative Audigy, i could go down to 3-4 ms latency without any crackling sounds whatsoever!
Now i have Ulli set to 25ms/44khz wich is the only setting that works without crackling noises...

How can this be? It just feels strange that a 90 euro card did what my new 1000 euro card cant!!
The only difference is that with the Audigy i had a SIS based motherboard and now i have the Pulsar-recommended Nforce2 (A7n8x)

So far i have sorted out 95% of all the problems i have encountered but this Latency/ASIO issue still remains.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Sentriump on 2003-07-25 13:41 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Sentriump on 2003-07-25 13:43 ]</font>

congrats that you've got it running at least in sync
Your latency is indeed too high - it's the same setting I'm using on the old Pulsar one which IS way slower in IO than your Pulsar two. ASIO Scope is the right one, probably you'll have to tweak the buffer settings in Cubase. The buffer size determines the program latency, the ULLI setting is the hardware latency. Both must match someway and I admit that I found this rather confusing in Cubase, but many users here reported far lower values working without crackling sounds.
Does the Audigy allow the processing of 64 separate audio channels in realtime, arbitrary routing, has 16 Adat channels and top of the line converters ?
And don't forget you've got a whole bunch of software, SFP plus mixers, synths and FX. It's considered the result of a 150 men years developement process, probably the best 'studio on disk' available. That's what you really pay for, not just the PCI board

cheers, Tom

Im think im about to loose the last of my sanity...

hheeeellpPP??
Why didnt this damn card came with a expert midget in the package? I REALLY need some serious help with this card because the thing i have learned so far is that nothing makes sense!!

My latest findings..
The cubase ASIO Multimedia Settings where you detect/adjust buffersizes, check if everything is in sync etc has 4 devices when i open it.
Creamware Play 1
Creamware Play 2
Creamware Rec 1
Creamware Rec 2
What i have found out is that these modules are NOT connected to the Asio drivers of the Pulsar card, instead, they are linked to the Wave Source 1/Wave Source2/Wave Dest 1/Wave Dest 2 modules. This also explains why sometimes when i have trying to change settings in ASIO Multimedia have gotten errors that says "communication error" or that it cant find any available port. This have been a result of not having the Wave Source/Dest modules loaded in SFP!
If i delete them, i get the errors, if i add them, i can detect/buffers and so on..

So, why is this the case?! Should it not be a port for the ASIO drivers? Configuring the "standard" wave source drivers has no meaning because they have a latency of 500ms!

After i found this i have been trying to get the latency of the ASIO Scope drivers below 25ms without any noise crackles...
But with no luck at all

And it gets even worse. Now when i have Ulli 25ms without the crackles, it isnt on sync with midi!!!!! I loaded a old cubase project with alot VST`s and audiotracks, and when i thought i would include a Scope Synth into the song it was completley out of sync...

Im feeling so helpless and confused im about to breakdown and weep!!

I really like the card except for the problems. The synths and effects are great and i really like the concept.. But it doesnt matter how good the synths sounds if i cant use the card in a sequenser to create music...

If i dont solve this problem within the days i have available to return the card i will have to return it and buy a second hand Virus B and get back to the audigy :/
But i really dont want to!! So please help me out!! Im clueless right now.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Sentriump on 2003-07-26 08:03 ]</font>

first off if you are using ANY antivirus turn it off!

look,i don't know what you've done to have such a mess,but i suspect that you don't get what's going on(either in concept or computer-wise).your cw card is NOT a soundcard(!?) and the things you would normally do with a soundcard aren't really applicable(you CAN play games and view dvds,but that's not really what it's best at).

the routing window will show you that you can set things up ANY way you want.the connection points on the various modules represent HARDWARE style connections.if you don't have the module in that environment,you can't make a connection and the software won't work properly.you can think of cubase as a multitrack recorder and the asio modules are the PHYSICAL ins and outs.it MUST work if the computer world is right.(asio enabled in cubase)of course the sound must go somewhere from somewhere,so you'll have to make the appropriate connections in the routing window.just follow the signal flow from whre you want to where you want and it's all a piece of cake.the same goes for midi connections.

if it doesn't work,then you have a problem/conflict in your computer set-up,which you can fix,though as with all computer stuff it's kinda tedious.go to the tips and tricks section and follow the xp set-up thread.

if it's not a set-up issue,then it's the software install itself.there are THOUSANDS of lines of code and an error might not show untill a program is in the middle of almost working...start fresh.use fdisk on the harddrive then reformat and then install in this order:os,mobo drivers,cw DRIVER ONLY,sequencer,sfp.
it'll work.

remember,with sfp,you have a truly virtual studio.it works just like the real world studio,not like a normal computer soundcard/sequencer.normal stuff(rme etc.)has problems/set-up issues as well.check the forums and you will find plenty who can't make their computers work.you have a very powerful device,be patient!it'll be worth it.as i am fond of saying,the guys who run studios are called engineers.there is a lot to learn.if you don't get easily discouraged,you'll learn what you need to know in due time and it'll be worthwhile...

been there,done that ..........

sorry you're not here around los angeles or i'd just show you.....

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: garyb on 2003-07-26 14:21 ]</font>

BEFORE you start cubase, you MUST have a project setup with the appropriate ASIO/WAV source and destination modules depending on which protocol you choose to use (I would use ASIO with Cubase). They don't have to be connected to anything but they must have the desired number of channels you want to use *before* you start cubase. So don't start cubase until you have a suitable project setup. This is very important! If you remove the devices or change the number of channels whilst Cubase is running, then you will see those errors about lost communication and then have to restart cubase.

The "creamware play/rec" are indeed wav drivers. But if you are using ASIO, forget about these devices. They are only a concern when cubase does the "ASIO multimedia" test.
One this has passed, you should then be selecting the scope driver and leaving it at that. The wav devices can then be used by other audio programs that you can run at the same time as cubase e.g. Cool Edit, Wavelab, Winamp etc.

The pulsar cards are not beginner soundcards. They are very complex by nature because of what they allow you to do. There is no other card that gives you the same flexability. The trade off is you need to be prepared to spend a bit of time reading and understanding the manuals, getting to grips with the concepts, and learning about system optimizations. If you are experiencing pops and crackles at 25ms then there's a system configuration problem. You will find a lot of info by searching these forums.

Going from an audigy to a pulsar is quite a jump!

On 2003-07-26 18:44, bassdude wrote:
BEFORE you start cubase, you MUST have a project setup with the appropriate ASIO/WAV source and destination modules depending on which protocol you choose to use (I would use ASIO with Cubase). They don't have to be connected to anything but they must have the desired number of channels you want to use *before* you start cubase. So don't start cubase until you have a suitable project setup. This is very important! If you remove the devices or change the number of channels whilst Cubase is running, then you will see those errors about lost communication and then have to restart cubase.

I understand the connection between the IO modules and how Cubase react now.. The thing that made me confused from the beginning was that i thought the ASIO Multimedia Settings ports was connected to Pulsars ASIO modules, while instead its connected to the Wave modules.

The "creamware play/rec" are indeed wav drivers. But if you are using ASIO, forget about these devices. They are only a concern when cubase does the "ASIO multimedia" test.
One this has passed, you should then be selecting the scope driver and leaving it at that. The wav devices can then be used by other audio programs that you can run at the same time as cubase e.g. Cool Edit, Wavelab, Winamp etc.

Ok, so they are needed to do the tests? I thought, what importance does the ASIO multimeda test have if you choose the ASIO Scope drivers from Cubase anyway?

The pulsar cards are not beginner soundcards. They are very complex by nature because of what they allow you to do. There is no other card that gives you the same flexability. The trade off is you need to be prepared to spend a bit of time reading and understanding the manuals, getting to grips with the concepts, and learning about system optimizations. If you are experiencing pops and crackles at 25ms then there's a system configuration problem. You will find a lot of info by searching these forums.

Yes i also suspects these pops and crackles really have nothing to do with the performance of my Pulsar. What irritates me with this is that i bought a Pulsar reccomended motherboard so everything would run smoothly :/
One thing that would be interesting to test is to reinstall windows but having my Creative Audigy instead of the pulsar. If i get the same pops and crackles with the Audigy its for sure the motherboard that is doing something wrong.. Because with my SiS motherboard and Audigy, i had very little problems with using low latency... And the only thing that is different now is the motherboard..

Going from an audigy to a pulsar is quite a jump!

Well its more like going from alot of hardware synths and a audigy card only used to record hardware/control VSTi`s to a smaller setup only based on software and the
Pulsar

Thanks for all the replys. Hopefully i will be able to sort this out..

On 2003-07-26 14:17, garyb wrote:
first off if you are using ANY antivirus turn it off!

No antivirus. No Games installed, no Dvd player either
Programs installed: Adobe Acrobat (to view manuals)
Drivers installed: Midiman Midisport 2x2/
Pulsar/Aopen Aeolus Geforce 4/DirectX 8.1
Programs installed with Windows: Calculator, Wordpad

look,i don't know what you've done to have such a mess,but i suspect that you don't get what's going on(either in concept or computer-wise).your cw card is NOT a soundcard(!?) and the things you would normally do with a soundcard aren't really applicable(you CAN play games and view dvds,but that's not really what it's best at).

The only thing i really dont understand right now is why im getting pops and crackles below 25ms where the audigy (On the SiS Motherboard) could do below 4ms without problems.. Thats the issue...

the routing window will show you that you can set things up ANY way you want.the connection points on the various modules represent HARDWARE style connections.if you don't have the module in that environment,you can't make a connection and the software won't work properly.you can think of cubase as a multitrack recorder and the asio modules are the PHYSICAL ins and outs.it MUST work if the computer world is right.(asio enabled in cubase)of course the sound must go somewhere from somewhere,so you'll have to make the appropriate connections in the routing window.just follow the signal flow from whre you want to where you want and it's all a piece of cake.the same goes for midi connections.

Yes.. I understand this.

if it doesn't work,then you have a problem/conflict in your computer set-up,which you can fix,though as with all computer stuff it's kinda tedious.go to the tips and tricks section and follow the xp set-up thread.

Im using Win98SE, but yes, its probably something with my computer setup that is not right. The card is installed on IRQ10 and the device manager reports no conflicts whatsoever.

if it's not a set-up issue,then it's the software install itself.there are THOUSANDS of lines of code and an error might not show untill a program is in the middle of almost working...start fresh.use fdisk on the harddrive then reformat and then install in this order:os,mobo drivers,cw DRIVER ONLY,sequencer,sfp.
it'll work.

I dont think the install of SFP has gone wrong somewhere.. I mean, everything works fine except for the pops and crackles.. I can still use everything just that it is annoying to hear these crackles just as it is annoying to be forced to go up to 25ms ULLI settings to get rid of them!

One thing that you said.. Install of mobo drivers? What drivers would be needed for my ASUS A7N8X? I have never installed drivers for a motherboard before :]
Any A7N8X users here that use mobo drivers?? I will have to look into this..

remember,with sfp,you have a truly virtual studio.it works just like the real world studio,not like a normal computer soundcard/sequencer.normal stuff(rme etc.)has problems/set-up issues as well.check the forums and you will find plenty who can't make their computers work.you have a very powerful device,be patient!it'll be worth it.as i am fond of saying,the guys who run studios are called engineers.there is a lot to learn.if you don't get easily discouraged,you'll learn what you need to know in due time and it'll be worthwhile...

Yes yes, i know, it rocks.. if i just get rid of the pops & crackles, im happy!

sorry you're not here around los angeles or i'd just show you.....

Not exactly.. I live in sweden :]

First thing I'd recommend with that motherboard is ditching win98 completely. Win2k at minimum and I personally think xp is better in many ways, including being able to tweak it to a lower footprint. Not only that but for things like serialIDE you may NEED xp to get the most stability. ACPI is also much better supported than any of the older OS's.

You NEED to install the Nvidia NForce drivers (Nvidia makes the chipset on the A7N8X). Windows 98 knows nothing of Nvidia chipsets, since the M$ programmers, for all their faults, couldn't see into the future (at least in 1998).

Have you reinstalled Windows since you got your new motherboard? While it's technically possible to migrate an old install to a new motherboard, you must be prepared for weird problems because of old drivers hanging around etc.

I second Valis's recommendation.. newer motherboards are really designed with Windows 2000 and XP in mind, you should lose Win98 and make the jump... you might have a bit of a confusing time at first, but when you figure it all out you won't look back!

PS. Forget the Audigy... you are in a different league now. Trust me on that.

peace


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: dArKr3zIn on 2003-07-27 10:57 ]</font>

Thanks for the replys!

Ok Valis, i think i will try installing XP and see if things goes better.

On 2003-07-27 10:55, dArKr3zIn wrote:
You NEED to install the Nvidia NForce drivers (Nvidia makes the chipset on the A7N8X). Windows 98 knows nothing of Nvidia chipsets, since the M$ programmers, for all their faults, couldn't see into the future (at least in 1998).

Is this the drivers i need?
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_udp_win9x_2.41.html

Have you reinstalled Windows since you got your new motherboard? While it's technically possible to migrate an old install to a new motherboard, you must be prepared for weird problems because of old drivers hanging around etc.

I have reinstalled windows98 2 times.

I second Valis's recommendation.. newer motherboards are really designed with Windows 2000 and XP in mind, you should lose Win98 and make the jump... you might have a bit of a confusing time at first, but when you figure it all out you won't look back!

Ok, thanks for the help. I will try to see if the Nvidia drivers does any difference, if not, i will format and install XP instead.

On 2003-07-27 10:02, Sentriump wrote:
Ok, so they are needed to do the tests? I thought, what importance does the ASIO multimeda test have if you choose the ASIO Scope drivers from Cubase anyway?

The only importance I can think of is to pass the test! Then Cubase will work happily.

Anyway, have you enabled DMA on your hard drives(for win98)? Have you had a play around with the buffer settings in cubase?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: bassdude on 2003-07-27 18:14 ]</font>