Having problems?

I'm so mad at myself for not checking this forum often. Lots of usefull fixes. It would be amazing to have a list of config mods for the XP OS running on M processors to optimize it for Traktor. Any pros willing to start a thread?

 

When you install a Windows OS using F5 during the initial install and selecting a non ACPI HAL (or pressing F7 instead of F5 to automatically select a non ACPI HAL), you do not get to choose which ACPI functions get implemented. Instead, the OS installs with a NON ACPI hardware abstraction layer. This is why I gave the warning. And you'll see that recommendation on alot of sites giving tips on tweaking performance for realtime apps (like audio software). They work great on desktops because system cooling can be completely controlled seperately - on a lappy this usually isn't the case.

 

Hi all,

I see this thread has been dry for some time but I feel this is the best place to mention a problem I'm having with my newly bought Traktor 2.6 (which I have immediately upgraded to 2.6.2).

To quote Dj Hobbes:

This seems to be exactly what's happening to me. Almost like the cyber-needle jumps! A very brief "skip" that occurs at fairly regular intervals (roughly once or twice per track). I cannot for the life of my work out if it is my laptop or (judging by the current buzz here in the forums) a bug in Traktor 2.6.2. I'm not even going open that can of worms (bugs?) - I just want to know if I have done all I can with my laptop to minimise any potential problems.

I followed Dj Hobbes recommendations:

...and that made a enormous difference. Originally my tracks were skipping all the time but the ACPI "fix" has greatly reduced, but unfortunately not eliminated, the problem. The load on my CPU when the skips happen is ridiculously low (5-10%) so I know it's not that. I've tried disabling Norton AV and anything else but it still happens.

Does anyone have any suggestions/links to fixes?

My setup is hardly perfect but I don't think it's too bad. Although I'm no PC expert I have a LOT of experience fixing the buggers so I keep mine in tip-top condition. But it's mainly a home/work use PC rather than dedicated to music.

Toshiba Satellite Pro A10
2.4GHz Mobile Celeron Processor
1GB RAM
Windows XP Pro

I have no MIDI controller (yet - see Behringer posts for rants) and I use the onboard sound card - a Realtek '97. Perhaps the problem IS my sound card and an Indigo DJ would eliminate the skips?
Also - I don't know if this makes any difference but the tracks I mix are 320kbit CBR mp3s. Someone somewhere mentioned that 192kbit mp3s might be easier on the computer - makes sense I guess but my CPU load is next to nothing so I don't know...

 

Can't seem to edit my post above...

My laptop's soundcard is "AC'97".

 

*bump*

Is there no one that can offer me any help? If I knew for sure if it is a config problem with my laptop - then I can work to fix it. Or if it is a bug with Traktor then I will have to live with it until a fix is made.

I hate this "not knowing" bit!

 

check out this link - it may help;-

http://www.digitalproducer.com/2002/11_nov/features/11_04/optimize_pcaudio.htm

 

Thanks Sean_tf, those tips will defo help.

I also emailed Traktor support and they suggested setting windows to running "background tasks" as a priority (rather than "programs") and to download and use the ASIO4ALL drivers to reduce any latency.

That all seemed to help. I also noticed that I couldn't hear anything when I chose the ASIO4ALL drivers in Traktor. Puzzling. I had to close and reopen Traktor and then I could hear sound fine. Something to do with programs releasing they're grip on audio drivers.

Anyhoo - works much better now. Occasional glitches but I'm sure I can reduce them further.

Thanks.

 

For whatever it's worth, my opinion is that Windows laptops became a lot more solid for audio use with the Centrino-based Pentium/Celeron-M units. Oddly, the Celerons of the "M" series may be even more suitable for audio due to their having a lot of the power-management/"speed-step" type features disabled. I was really quite suprised at the CPU horsepower that was available on a 1.4gHz Celeron M laptop I used for a few months...the thing outperformed my 2.4gHz P4 desktop (according to the CPU usage meters in various audio apps). And, once I did all the various "audio" optimizations for Windows XP and shut off the networking, it worked quite solidly, within the reliability limitations of software *ahem* of course.

 

By the way DJMarkSF - what did you do to "shut off networking". I've seen this mentioned a few times and I'm unsure as to how that is achieved?

Do I just unplug/disable my network connection? Or do I need to disbale a whole bunch of services?

I hope it's just as simple as pulling out my wireless LAN card from the side of my laptop!!

 

I was using a newer (although ultra-cheap) laptop that had the wireless networking built-in...it could be shut off with a button on the front.

However, what I ended up doing was creating a seperate "audio only" hardware profile, in which I shut off all services that were non-essential for audio. (http://www.pcaudiolabs.com/setuptips.asp is one place with some useful information about this). Doing this, as well as doing lots of little things like setting the display for 16-bit color instead of 32, using an anti-virus that's relatively unintrusive (AVG) instead of Norton (which hogs a ridiculous amount of system resources)...along with regular running of utilities like Registry Mechanic, Adaware, Spybot S&D...seemed pretty essential for the machine to run audio reliably.

 

Nope what you've done does the job nicely You should also go into device mangler and disable the 1394 network connection if you don't use it Disable the adapter here turns of the Driver wrapper as well the Lan Driver which is all you turn off if you disable the 1394 LAN in network connections.

Phil

 

Thanks Phil - much appreciated.

 

Hello Everybody!

I have a little (for mwe it is a big problem) problem.
I have started to use my Traktor DJ Studio 2.6 with two soundcard (Creative Soundblaster PCI and NVIDIA nforce (TM) Audio). I have to use the ASIO4ALL v2.5 in the interest of its working. It is work very well for a short time. After 10 minutes the music on both soundcard starts to creak and groan.

Please somebody help me who has already met this problem or somebody who knows the solution.

Thank you very much.
Bye

 

^^^ you have to sing to your Soundblaster, she feels outdated!!!

 

If I use my soundcards separately there is no problem.
The problem come up when I use my soundcards together.

 

Hey guys, I'm really stumped here. I've been using my FS v2 for about a three months now and found numerous issues with my PC. I'm assuming I'll just deal with it until I get a MAC since many people have told me it will be solved once I'm running on a mac. Anyways....yesterday I went to use the recording function for the first time and after giving up on that (my own reasons), I started playing normally and my one deck (Turntable 1) now will not get a signal at all. The meter that shows the quality of the song goes crazy. If I do get it to calibrate and play the song, it jumps everywhere in the song, sometimes plays backwards???? WTF?? Now in my troubleshooting, I tried different needles, different channels on my mixer, swapped TT's, and finally, used another laptop that I had kickin around. Both laptops were P4's. On the orignial laptop, I had it configured with alll the tweaks we talk about. If it's a scratchamp hardware issue...I"m goign to lose it!!! PLEASE HELP!

 

hi, i just bought traktor v 2 but im having troubles starting the program.

im running a 15inch powerbook with 1 gig ram and all the latest updates.

ive installed traktor using the instructions provided, but when i double click the traktor icon on the desktop it pops up in the dock then vanishes,
can anyone help???

thanks in advance gav.

 

I've just started trying out the Traktor 3 demo and at first the waveform display moved smoothly. But then it started to have the annoying characteristic where it would freeze momentarily every 5 seconds. It could be my imagination but I think I may also have noticed T3 giving some minor audio freezes or timing delays that may be related to the ACPI.

I disabled my laptop Battery ACPI feature in the XP Control Panel and that cures the 5 second freeze or jerkiness. I'll need to do more testing of T3 to see if I can still hear the audio delays. Thanks to Hobbes for starting this thread.

Traktor 2.6 also had the 5 second freeze, but 2.53 does not have the problem.

Hopefully there will be no serious side-effects from disabling ACPI. I noticed my laptop's power management utility now indicates 0% battery remaining, but T3 says it is fully charged (which it should be). Laptop seems to be the same as before, otherwise.

 

Anyone know how this ACPI setting can be changed on Vista?
and, are these Global changes or will they only affect one Profile?

Can this cause any damage/problems with my laptop?

Will I still be able to perform with the Laptop under battery power, or only while plugged in?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

nope

besides the fact that this is never advisable to gig under battery - you can do it easily. only the warning message when the battery is low will be gone. the computer will not turn off nicely, when the battery is empty it will just turn black (happened to me while i was waiting for a flight) which will be no problem anyways. just plug in the power supply and start the computer again.