Recording Gear Issues

[ReMmy]

So, for recording I use a Presonus Firestudio run via firewire into my pc (windows xp pro) running Ableton Live lite (came w/ my m-audio keyboard) and have had good luck recording a few songs over the last year. Recently, when I play back those songs or try to lay down midi tracks, the audio hesitates/stutters (like watching a VEVO vid on youtube). The buffering is fixed and adjustments to other rates for latency, etc., yield nothing. It will work fine for several minutes then have these issues for several minutes . Could it be my soundcard? CPU? Thank you so much for any help you can give!

Edit: I've also tried laying down some midi tracks with Reaper software and it does the same thing, so I don't think it's a software issue...

[lomky]

More tracks, plugins, and virtual instruments you add will tax the system more and more. The only thing to do is to increase the buffer rate until the point that the stuttering stops. If latency becomes unusable then a CPU upgrade is generally in order. This is a very simplistic explanation but without specific info this is generally the way things work.

Hope it helps

[ReMmy]

Ok, Thanks. When you say "tax the system", you mean the CPU? I had just downloaded Reaper so it had no VSTs, plug ins, recorded tracks, etc., and it still did it.

[lomky]

Generally it's CPU. Does reaper have a performance meter? I'm a cubase/nuendo guy so I'm not sure if it does. Also in my experience adding ram helps with performance.

[Samsound]

Is it a dedicated computer, or have you been installing a bunch of other crap on there in the meantime?

[80'sRocker]

ANY recording gear is an issue to me!! One has to be an Einstein

[ugly_bassplayer]

Get the latest drivers for your sound card.

[throughthefire]

Originally Posted by ReMmy

Recently, when I play back those songs or try to lay down midi tracks, the audio hesitates/stutters

When did you last defrag your hard disks? Get a decent defragger (auslogics have a very good free one) and run it - see if the issue disappears.

Don't know about audio, but when we edit large video files we always defrag before the start of the project... it makes a big difference (at least to us)

HTH

Pete.

[ReMmy]

Wow... thanks very much for the responses! This is not a dedicated computer. I go through it somewhat regularly, though, and remove almost everything that doesn't pertain to getting on the internet or my DAW, and I defrag obsessively. It's an older pc but has several upgrades... Intel 2.66 Ghz cpu, 2 gig ram. Definitely not a hot rod, but was enough several months ago. I'll try soundcard driver updates and let you know. Thanks so much guys.

[Low5]

Since it is not a dedicated computer, Create another user account and eliminate any running applications you can. Turn off your wireless network adapter during recording. Anything running in the background can use your resources. You could even have a second operating system on another drive partition with nothing but what you need for recording. If all else fails, buy a Mac.