More idiotic questions..

[buzzyreed]

So, since I was a Mac person until last year (and will never go back) I am wondering when using Haupwerk, does the sound card you use make a differnece? I have a Soundblaster something or other becuase it can do sound fonts. Now I am wondering if the breaking up I'm having on Haupwerk is due to the cheap sound card.

Anyone know what I mean?

[fredy2]

It is unlikely to be a fault of the sound card... More likely either a virus or antivirus software that runs continuosly sucking computer processor power needed to support real time audio...

Depending on what operating system you are using, you need to find out what tasks and processes are running simultaneously... That is the first step...

The background processes like virus protection can steal significant chunks of time from that available...

Try killing the processes one at a time and see what happens...

[andyg]

Hi Buzzy

Do as the man says above, and try and get rid of all the backround tasks that load up with Windows. Lots of icons down at the bottom right is BAAAD! Most of them just ain't needed.

Soundblaster cards are great, but no-one told Creative that real musician's might want to use them and their drivers aren't optimised for what you and I might use them for. Make sure that you have the most up to date set installed - downloading them from Creative can be a pain, though!

If you're running firewall and AV software, the usual caveat applies. Disconnect from the net before disabling the software. My son makes a good living out of sorting out the PC's of those who haven't. (And that used to be MY business!)

Now I'm not that familiar with Hauptwerk, don't see it over here. (but I'll try and get a copy to review in the mag that I work for!) I'm therefore not sure how it works exactly, but I'll bet it relies on playing back multiple samples of the pipe sounds in real time. That will require a good set of drivers, a fast PC, and a good, fast hard drive. A 'deficiency' in any of these areas can cause audio drop-outs and other problems. I used to have a Soundblaster Audigy but gave up on it. Now I run two soundcards, a Terratec Aureon Universe and an M-Audio Delta 24/96, no problems at all.

Windows itself can be slimmed down and optimised for music making, and many people, like me, have a double Windows install. One full-blown one for everyday use and a 'light' one for music. I'm sure a look through a few mags and on the Net will give you more info than I've got room for here.

If you've got specific problems, post back and I'll have a think!

Regards
Andy G

PS Just saw some of your other posts. Get more RAM. Most big virtual instrument software plays the initial part of the sounds from RAM, then streams the rest from disk. The more you can put in RAM, the smoother things go. I've got 2GB, but I'll have to go to 4 to run everything I want to. With RAM so cheap, it makes sense to go for a huge chunk of it. Try 2GB.

[stevetil]

Hauptwerk actually plays all sounds from memory so speed of harddrive only affects how long it takes to load the organ. Basically it samples each and every pipe in the organ individually using long samples. A medium sized organ will require about 2 gigabytes of ram.

[ChrisC]

If you do run a M-Audio 2496, make sure and DO NOT install the latest driver which comes with it or the latest on the website. You will get way too much latency.
Instead, go to the website and find the driver which ends in 5027, I forget the first part of the revision. It works best, and if you don't want a hassle with Windows XP, make sure and install it before you do any other revision.
Believe me, you will avoid a huge war with your PC if you do.

Chris