Drums bogging down firepod

alucidreality · #1 01-17-2008, 03:30 PM

Hi all,
I have just started a home recording project and am having problems with dropouts while I record drums. My setup is a firepod with six mic inputs active to my HP dv6448se (which I bought not knowing to look at the brand of firewire). As I record in Sonar 6 the recording freezes after about 1+ minute or stops if I click the mouse or even do nothing. I'd like to find a software that uses up less cpu at least just for recording, or any other tips you guys have. Thanks!

Snarf · #2 01-17-2008, 03:32 PM

Could be a lot of things. Post the specs of your computer, that will help.

alucidreality · #3 01-17-2008, 03:36 PM

2 gig memory, 160 gb hard drive, amd turion 64x2 tl-56 processor (1.81ghz)

meev992 · #4 01-17-2008, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alucidreality

2 gig memory, 160 gb hard drive, amd turion 64x2 tl-56 processor (1.81ghz)

This makes my laptop feel impotent.

hunta · #5 01-17-2008, 05:36 PM

It's because that laptop uses Ricoh firewire. There really isn't anything you can do short of buying another computer or using a USB interface. It has nothing to do with CPU utilization

stranger0 · #6 01-17-2008, 08:35 PM

Tried a reboot?

honestly, while I've been a PC man most of my life, my macbook is what I use to record.

alucidreality · #7 01-18-2008, 08:25 PM

I'm guessing there's no way to just replace my firewire card. arg.

chrisp2u · #8 01-21-2008, 01:12 PM

If you're recording to your internal drive, it's also quite possible that the drive is unable to keep up with recording that many tracks at the same time (though 6 tracks probably shouldn't be too much). The slower (5400RPM) speed of notebook drives can limit performance. If you have one or know somebody with an external (7200RPM+) that you can use, I'd give that a try too. External drives with the Oxford 911/922 FW chip set seem to have the most reliable performance from my experience.
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c

alucidreality · #9 01-21-2008, 11:15 PM

I'm now recording just fine using Reaper. Joy

benjo09 · #10 01-22-2008, 11:40 AM

So you've managed to get the Firepod to work with a Ricoh? Anything special have to be done?

Promising news

hunta · #11 01-22-2008, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benjo09

So you've managed to get the Firepod to work with a Ricoh? Anything special have to be done?

Promising news

Check your latency at 64 samples as well. You should get around 5ms. Record 8 tracks at 24 bit 44.1k and see if you get any pops or other issues.

alucidreality · #12 01-23-2008, 09:00 PM

the only special thing i did was install the asio4all driver, installed reaper, and seem to be recording fine. I will update this as the recording process goes along so maybe I can help fellow victims of the ricoh chipset

RevGroove · #13 01-23-2008, 11:39 PM

The band I just left had the bright idea of using V-Drums to trigger Reason and other midi software...less resources, excellent sound...may be something to consider...

hunta · #14 01-24-2008, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alucidreality

the only special thing i did was install the asio4all driver, installed reaper, and seem to be recording fine. I will update this as the recording process goes along so maybe I can help fellow victims of the ricoh chipset

ASIO4All is only emulating ASIO, so this isn't a total fix.. But if it's working well enough for you then groovy.

hunta · #15 01-24-2008, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RevGroove

The band I just left had the bright idea of using V-Drums to trigger Reason and other midi software...less resources, excellent sound...may be something to consider...

You'd run into the same kind of problems with this setup. V-Drums and a software drum sampler works great, but not if you have a ton of latency. You also can run into problems with MIDI notes getting stuck and making all kinds of ugly noises.