MIDI, Digital Music Composition, Windows Digital Audio Software, Digital Audio Recording, Live Audio Engineering, MIDI Guitar, General Music Theory and Composition.
Experience
Experience in the area:
- 25 years working with Computers and Digital Music.
- 10 years as a professional Live Sound Engineer.
- 5 years as a professional Studio Recording Engineer.
- 2 years as Creative Director of an internet-based Audio Production Company specializing in Sampling and Digital Audio.
Organizations:
- Currently active as a Beta Tester for various Audio Software Companies.
- Regular contributor to various Software Support Forums.
Education/Credentials:
- Dip. Technology Telecommunications Electronics (B.C.I.T.)
- A.A. Degree (U.B.C./S.F.U.)
- College Cert. in Jazz Guitar Composition (V.C.C.)
- College Cert. in Fine Arts (E.C.I.A.D.)
Question I just recently got a Midi program called Miroslav Philharmonic, which I run through a Dell Laptop into a Firebox (soundcard), into my Yamaha DGX 500 that I use as a controller. The program sounds amazing, it is exactly what I have been looking for as far as realistic orchestra sound. Unfortunately, I have been having multiple problems with the sound cracking while playing. Also from time to time, some keys stick and stay held down even though the keyboard isnt jammed. I have my setting set at the lowest rates possible, since it plays everything back more clearly with better quality. My PC has 3g of ram and has plenty of Memory. I just can't figure out what is going on within the Midi files or connection. Anything you can do to help? Thanks for your time.
Answer Hi Keith...
Running audio, especially a software sampler, requires a few things hardware-wise that it is unlikely a consumer-grade Dell is going to give you. First, you need a fast hard drive... and often laptops have very slow drives...
So the first thing you could do is buy or borrow an external high speed drive to hold the sound files and stream them from this drive. This alone might solve some of the problems. It also separates the audio data stream from your system data coming off your internal drive.
The other issue could involve setting your buffer settings. You don't mention what protocol you are using but anything other than ASIO is going to be trouble. ASIO2 is even better.
Also, increase your buffer size.
The Dell is not optimized for audio so you may be in for a major headache trying to get it to work... if you really need portability, it is hard to beat the new Mac's - but of course, you would need to change all your software.
It is fairly simple to build a dual core, dual drive desktop and just put it in a rack case...
