Recording problems

Interitus

Member
I've got a presonus firestudio and a 6 mic kit by shure for recording. I tried installing the Cubase LE that came with the firestudio, but it crapped out a few minutes into install, corrupt file or somesuch. So, I downloaded cubase 4 off the net, got it installed, and managed to get it working through all the crashes. For a while, I had a problem with playback, all the sound, even mp3s in winamp, sounded distorted, like they were clipping, crackly and such. I can't remember exactly what I did, other than turning off monitoring, but it went away and playback sounded fine. And so I did a few recordings, and used it successfully for a few weeks.

Then the other day, cubase decided to start crapping out and screwing up. I lost all my settings and had to try and get the firestudio properly set up in VST connections again, but it was crashing every 5 seconds and I gave up. Apparently the cracked versions crash constantly. So, I looked online for alternatives. I have Adobe Audition legally on my main computer, so all I need is a BASIC program to just record the tracks. I gave N-track a try, but the interface was very confusing and I couldnt get it configured right.
I've now got Reaper installed, seems easy to use, was basically working with very little setup. But my playback is crackly again. I tried increasing buffer size to 1024, tried a few other settings here and there, but I can't figure out what's wrong. Any ideas?

My recording system:
Athlon X2 somethingorother
1GB RAM
Hercules Gametheater XP (with the external box)
Windows XP SP2.
Very few other programs installed, just VLC, winamp... acrobat reader..
 
Check all of your microphone cables, maybe you have a bad one in the bunch
 
Try to get a replacement Cubase LE from the store where you got the firestudio...

There are a lot of free DAW software out there, don't use cracks!
Usually the problem is in the driver, look for a program that uses ASIO drivers.
There is also a XP (SP2) fix for firewire audio interface pops, clicks and crackle
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885222/en-us>
The fix may be included in SP3.
/oldie
 
Try disabling wireless networking if you're using it; if there's a lot of stuff running kill it off and try again.

If that doesn't work, ditch Cubase. I had a similar experience - things would start crackling even after taking pains to get it happy. Switched to Logic and haven't had any problems of that variety since.
 
Its not a cable or firewire interface problem, as the recordings are coming out fine. I just recorded a few minutes with Reaper and brought the recorded files up to my main computer and they sound great. It's the audio playback that is causing the problems. There's no wireless internet, just a LAN connection (with internet blocked at the router) so I can transfer the recorded files to my main computer easily.

I'll try installing SP3 on the machine, see if that helps any.
 
If that doesn't work, ditch Cubase. I had a similar experience - things would start crackling even after taking pains to get it happy. Switched to Logic and haven't had any problems of that variety since.

Logic comes with its own problems. These things are all fixable, I'm sure someone's found a way to fix it.

This is just a playback thing, isn't it?
Are you using any VST 2 plugins? That caused me problems with Cubase 4. Although that was mac-related.
 
Don't worry, right now I'm battling with getting Logic Studio to work. £120's worth on a (student) licence. It'll be fixed soon though - getting the University technician (who has done hundreds of installs I'd imagine) to take a lot and I've also got another gig of RAM on the way. It is irritating though.

And just no to software piracy.
 
just call presonus. they walked me through a problem i was having and eventually just said that they were going to send me Cubase LE 4. it came 3 days later and the install was easy and havent had any problems. i use it on a macbook and also on a windows machine depending on where im working. its been straight forward since then.
 
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