17 replies to this topic

[TheoConfidor]

My old studio computer was unable to handle my plugins, so I finally decided to purchase/assemble a new studio PC.

So far, I've had one headache after another, mostly due to using Windows 7.

- Old sound card drivers weren't compatible with Windows 7.
- New sound card only plays music using two speakers, even though I have a 4-speaker setup.
- Cannot monitor line-in while recording.
- Currently records garbled, time-stretched audio with Audacity.

Needless to say, I'm pretty stuck. I never had any of these problems with my WinXP/SBAudigy2 setup.

I'm certain that some of you record music with a Win7 OS. How do you do it? What programs/utilities/audio interfaces/sound cards do you use?

I'm willing to do whatever is needed to have a viable studio setup, but I don't know how to proceed...

[Norrin_Radd]

I had a butt of a time getting my setup running when I switched to Windows 7 64bit. Stick with it, and keep trying to re-word your specific problems in Google to see if you can find some help on random forums.

I can't really speak to how to fix too many of your specific problems, but as you suggested, I can state what I use.

Soundcard: Stock soundcard that came with the computer
Audio Interface: Tascam US-144mkII (This is used as my soundcard for all purposes)
DAW: Cubase 6

It's hard for me to remember all of the hangups and trouble I had getting this set up running, but I am now thoroughly satisfied with it, and it is the best system I've ever had for making music. It can be done!

The most general advice I can give is, are you sure you have been updating the drivers to the current 64bit ones? Just about any mysterious problem in Windows 7 revolves around that it seems.

With your new sound card, are you recording at a higher samplerate than your DAW is set to record, or vice versa? I know that can cause some slow down\speed up depending on if they are misaligned.

Monitoring Line-In while recording... I'm not sure I understand. Does this mean you are never able to hear your line-in, or just when recording?

[TheoConfidor]

The most general advice I can give is, are you sure you have been updating the drivers to the current 64bit ones? Just about any mysterious problem in Windows 7 revolves around that it seems.

I've ensured that all the drivers are for Win7 64bit.

With your new sound card, are you recording at a higher samplerate than your DAW is set to record, or vice versa? I know that can cause some slow down\speed up depending on if they are misaligned.

Nope. I always ensure that all the sample rates match. In this case, I have everything set to 48K.

Monitoring Line-In while recording... I'm not sure I understand. Does this mean you are never able to hear your line-in, or just when recording?

Both. Currently, I cannot get the soundcard to play the line-in back to me either when recording or any other time. The closest thing I got was when checking the "Listen to this device" feature in the Sound Control panel, but that plays the line-in with about a 250-400ms delay.


In any case, thanks for mentioning your setup. If needed, I will get a different soundcard/audio interface.

[Norrin_Radd]

I had that "Listen to this Device" thing checked for a long time, by accident. It was driving me mental, because I thought my soundcard recorded with latency. Then I found out my audio interface had a knob that goes from Input to Computer, and that fixed my latency monitoring issues.

If it's set to Computer, I hear only what the "soundcard" aspect of what the interface hears. If it is set to input, it is all monitoring. If it is set in the middle, it's a little of both.

For recording, I set it to Computer, and then select to "monitor" the channel i am recording to in Cubase. Since this interface is actually low latency, I can use the monitored signal as the only part I hear. I can then add Guitar Rig and other things to the channel, and play my "monitored" signal with any effects I have on it, instead of running it through the PODxt before the audio interface.

In any case, is there a Input Computer knob equivalent for you? Because if it were Cubase, I would not be able to hear anything unless I ticked the monitor icon next to the record icon of the channel.

Btw, what soundcard are you using?

[Brandon Strader]

My old studio computer was unable to handle my plugins, so I finally decided to purchase/assemble a new studio PC.

I can share my stats but as to whether they will help you or not, Idon't know. Sometimes the answer is to upgrade hardware, not just software. Love you Theo

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
AMD Phenom II X4 805 Processor -- 2.50GHz
8gb RAM

Interface: Alesis io|26 Firewire -- it works but they struggled with 64-bit implementation as well. The switch to 64-bit and modern OS is the problem with interfaces. Fuck 'em all honestly. They need to support things better.

I have an individual firewire card. Using the built-in firewire port caused blue screens of death.

Cubase 6.5 64-bit is my DAW... recently upgraded and purchased that. 32-bit Cubase 5 was ok. I hope to have more power now but I haven't recorded anything in the last several months, honestly.

I don't know if any of this info helps but feel free to ask questions.

I know using ASIO 4 ALL limits you to a single audio source. For example you can't use your daw + have any outside audio playing, it just won't work.

Cubase has built-in monitoring so you can hear your performance.

[Rocquero]

I have never gotten Audacity to be anything other than hot garbage.

[Brandon Strader]

I think one of my college lectures once tried to use audacity ads a teaching point for a class, it's a piece of fucking shit to be honest.. if you HAVE to use a free daw use Reaper... honestly, no offense intended. I love you, theo.

[kareshi]

I had massive headaches with two Win7 computers (desk/lappy) but they were both older computers (from 2006 or so.) The new Win7 laptop I got seems to work with Audacity just fine. And yeah, I'm using Audacity for now. But anyway, on the desktop I installed four sound cards and it just wasn't having it. So good luck!

[MichaelTheCrow]

Don't try and use Audacity like its a DAW, it's handy for converting stuff and adding tags, but I wouldn't record anything with it.

I use Reaper and never looked back, Sonar crashed like hell for me, especially the newest ones. My audio interface is a Focusrite Saffire LE, makes sure you find the latest drivers because chances are the driver disc is well outdated and may not even support Win 7. My speakers have a headphone and an input jack, because of that I can have my audio interface plugged in to the speakers, which allows my speakers to function as normal and I can also run sound through my DAW with no conflicts at all, really handy when you're learning the source material for a DoD entry etc. ASIO4ALL seems to have 'crackles' every couple of minutes for me, which really puts off timing when recording and if you're using a LOT of plugins it seems to crackle more on lower latency settings, just running the audio interface doesn't have those problems.

[Demonstray]

Audacity is particularly useful for single-instrument performances or clips, so I can definitely see where it would come in handy. For example, you're on the road and your laptop doesn't have REAPER on it, and you've also let the evaluation period expire so you know those pesky few seconds at the start are gonna get in the way. Download Audacity instead, and you're guaranteed a full raw recording that you can toss anywhere for editing later.

I mean, yeah, you wouldn't really put together a full-production master in Audacity, but it's certainly the most portable quick-task audio program.

...Wait, why am I posting in here? I don't even have Windows 7. ...Yet.

[the Wozz]

[Tim 200X]

One of my biggest audio disappointments with Win7 was the missing "What U Hear" function available in XP. It was super helpful for snagging video game samples and whatnot, but I guess it makes sense since it made it so easy to pirate music.

[Brandon Strader]

One of my biggest audio disappointments with Win7 was the missing "What U Hear" function available in XP. It was super helpful for snagging video game samples and whatnot, but I guess it makes sense since it made it so easy to pirate music.

Oh, so they removed that? Those bastards.

I had to make a work-around anyway by putting a headphone out from my audio interface into the microphone in on my computer tower itself and just recording that. It's a dumb way to do it but it works.

[M-H]

I run Win 7 32-bit with a 3rd generation Avid Mbox into Cubase 6. Works pretty great for me. Very stable until I run out of RAM.

[Rize]

When I build my new PC I'm going to try Win-7 64 bit. Hopefully it's not too much of a barrier. We've only had 64 bit Windows OS's available for what 7+ years now? Time for driver and plug-in developers to get with the programming.