PC keeps crashing when recording audio tracks (1 Viewer)

[twilightsection]

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone out there could help me or at least point me in the right direction.
I use a p3 1ghz machine with a sound blaster audigy which I use for recording guitars and for midi purposes.
I use Sonar xl 2.0 , Reason 2.5, fruity loops and Sound Forge. Thats about it.

For the last few months I have been working on tracks for my debut mini album which I wanted to get out in the
shops for october, but my machine keeps crashing when I record guitars in Sonar.

Usually I will have more than 20 tracks running simultaneously in Sonar and it has
been well able to handle it with hardly any problems for the last 2 years.
Its only in the last 3 months this problem has surfaced.

I was going to buy a p4, and a scsi 40gb hard disk as maybe Im writing too much info to the hard disk at any one time and basically it just cant keep up.

Im just wondering am I overloading my pc with 20+ tracks or does anyone have any ideas as to what I should do?

Maybe its my soundcard?

I really need to get it sorted asap if Im to get my album released by October.


Feel free to mail me at [email protected], I would really appreciate any help that anyone out there can give me.
Thanks,
Owen

 

[aoboa]

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone out there could help me or at least point me in the right direction.
I use a p3 1ghz machine with a sound blaster audigy which I use for recording guitars and for midi purposes.
I use Sonar xl 2.0 , Reason 2.5, fruity loops and Sound Forge. Thats about it.

For the last few months I have been working on tracks for my debut mini album which I wanted to get out in the
shops for october, but my machine keeps crashing when I record guitars in Sonar.

Usually I will have more than 20 tracks running simultaneously in Sonar and it has
been well able to handle it with hardly any problems for the last 2 years.
Its only in the last 3 months this problem has surfaced.

I was going to buy a p4, and a scsi 40gb hard disk as maybe Im writing too much info to the hard disk at any one time and basically it just cant keep up.

Im just wondering am I overloading my pc with 20+ tracks or does anyone have any ideas as to what I should do?

Maybe its my soundcard?

I really need to get it sorted asap if Im to get my album released by October.


Feel free to mail me at [email protected], I would really appreciate any help that anyone out there can give me.
Thanks,
Owen

Whens the last time you did any maintainance on your harddrive (defrag etc)?
Do you only have one hard drive that's not partitioned ie. is your audio recorded to the same drive that sonar is running from?
Do you use the same pc for internet?

 

[egg_]

You should do the things that aoboa implies you should do
Start by defragmenting your hard drive and see if that makes a difference - that could well be the problem. If you can you should also have your audio on a separate drive (or partition) from the software you are running

 

[Wicker]

it might be worth having a read of this article about optimising your PC for Audio

http://www.virtualsoundstudio.com/articleoptimizewin98.shtml

 

[twilightsection]

Hi,
Thanks for getting back to me.

I recently (march) partitioned my hard disk into 3 seperate drives.
One is running Sonar, one is running Reason and the other is used for backups etc.

I wiped my Hard disk on three seperate occasions since january and ran numerous defrags.

I use a seperate pc for the internet.

Just ten mins ago I impoterd a ten second drum loop, and copied and pasted it until the lenght of the drum track in sonar was 2 minutes. I was only able to record 20 seconds of guitar on track 2 and the whole thing crashed (everything freezes and i cant even do a ctrl alt del to kill any processes.)

Im really in limbo.
Owen

 

[aoboa]

Hi,
Thanks for getting back to me.

I recently (march) partitioned my hard disk into 3 seperate drives.
One is running Sonar, one is running Reason and the other is used for backups etc.

I wiped my Hard disk on three seperate occasions since january and ran numerous defrags.

I use a seperate pc for the internet.

Just ten mins ago I impoterd a ten second drum loop, and copied and pasted it until the lenght of the drum track in sonar was 2 minutes. I was only able to record 20 seconds of guitar on track 2 and the whole thing crashed (everything freezes and i cant even do a ctrl alt del to kill any processes.)

Im really in limbo.
Owen

Which drive is your audio being recorded to?
Is it being recorded to the same drive that sonar is running from?

 

[aoboa]

Also, have you virus checked your pc lately and also checked it for spyware?

Has all this happened since you partitioned your drive?

 

[twilightsection]

Hi,
Yeah audio is being recorded to the same drive as sonar is running from. I use Norton and there are no viruses on my machine. I will try recording to the E drive and run a defrag and see what happens. I prob wont be on the internet until friday or sat but will check my messages then. Thanks for your help.
owen

 

[egg_]

Yeah audio is being recorded to the same drive as sonar is running from.

Shouldn't be, AFAIK
I don't use Sonar, but in Pro Tools you're advised to keep one drive exclusively for audio. It stops the read head on your disk drive having to jump back and forth between the software and the audio

 

[twilightsection]

Shouldn't be, AFAIK
I don't use Sonar, but in Pro Tools you're advised to keep one drive exclusively for audio. It stops the read head on your disk drive having to jump back and forth between the software and the audio

Hi,
I have tried everything from defrags to wiping the hard disk and re-installing. I tried running sonar from c drive and recording to the D drive, but still the problem persists.
I cant isolate the software or hardware thats causing the problem and I really need to get back recording asap.
Im going to buy a scsi HD.
Can anyone suggest the best processor to use? a p4 or an AMD?

Basically I want to build a machine that well capable of handling up to 30 tracks in Sonar and to be able to mix in real time with plug-ins etc. I am willing to spend around 1000 euro. I use a sound blaster audigy. Is that good enough? I have been getting fairly good results with it and would prefer not to buy a new card. but, if i have to i will. The EMU's look to be the bizz.

If anyone can point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Owen

 

[Wicker]

RAM ?

twenty tracks on any bog standard PC would be a lot..........

Are you using any VSTis or Plugin Effects?
if you are I would recommend disabling or removing them until you have your audio recorded

it takes a lot of CPU to record Audio and a lot to process External plugins
the two combined could easily crash any computer

is your soundcard internal or external?

have you recently installed any MIDI equipment??

 

[twilightsection]

RAM ?

twenty tracks on any bog standard PC would be a lot..........

Are you using any VSTis or Plugin Effects?
if you are I would recommend disabling or removing them until you have your audio recorded

it takes a lot of CPU to record Audio and a lot to process External plugins
the two combined could easily crash any computer

is your soundcard internal or external?

have you recently installed any MIDI equipment??

I have 512 mb of ram installed.
I dont use any VSTis and dont use plugin effects in real time. Only when Im mixing but it would be on only one or two tracks.

I am only ever recording I audio track at a time and its either guitar or vocals.

My soundcard is internal.

This problem only started at xmas but before that I was well able to playback up to 30 tracks in SONar. Now it wont even playback 1 track while I record a 2nd track without crashing.

Thanks,
O