[rhythmdevils]

Hey all,
I was just listening to music and working on some stuff and I noticed that almost every time I did something to the computer, my speakers made a popping sort of noise.

I am accessing info that is on my LACie external hard drive (where my itunes music is also), which I have plugged into the back of the Maudio unit.

(going straight into the computer through the other firewire port next to the m-audio seemed to be very problematic. It seemed that it confused the computer, all kinds of crazy things happened)

Does anyone know how I can get rid of this terrible pop pop pop pop pop cause I am about to turn into a chimpanze and start eating bannanas and breaking things.

Much Thanks, Whitney

 

[maarek99]

Do you have an amd with cool'n quiet on? I had a problem where c'nq was the cause of some popping.

 

[rhythmdevils]

I actually dont know what an amd is, nor cooln quiet. but i guess that means i obviously dont have one

thanks though. oh, i am using a g4....

 

[gerG]

Drat, I thought only my Sony laptop did this.

Does the external drive have 2 firewire ports? If so, try connecting the drive directly to the G4, then the M-audio box to the HD. I don't know for sure if that will reduce the traffic going through the M box, but it is worth a try.


gerG

 

[rhythmdevils]

thats a good idea. It makes me nervous though, because the m-audio has acted very strange with cable placement.

I had the hard drive plugged into the 800 port and the m-audio plugged into the 400 port (so they were both going straight into the computer) and i got dropped frames in final cut pro and everything took forever. M-audio tech support said that "when the computer starts up, it cant decide which to use". So I dont know....

I'll give it a try though. thanks

 

[gerG]

It seems odd that the Mac can't resolve FW devices on different busses. Did you install the M-audio driver, or did the system pick one out by itself?

I would be tempted to start the machine up with the external drive connected to the FW800 port (especially if it is a FW800 drive) and the M-audio disconnected. Once up and running, plug the M-audio into the FW400 port and see if the system picks it up. May have ot point it out in the sound control panel, but this should get things working together.

Are you running the solo off an external power supply, or does it power off the FW cable?

gerG

 

[rhythmdevils]

First of all, thanks for the help.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerG It seems odd that the Mac can't resolve FW devices on different busses. Did you install the M-audio driver, or did the system pick one out by itself? I would be tempted to start the machine up with the external drive connected to the FW800 port (especially if it is a FW800 drive) and the M-audio disconnected. Once up and running, plug the M-audio into the FW400 port and see if the system picks it up. May have ot point it out in the sound control panel, but this should get things working together. Are you running the solo off an external power supply, or does it power off the FW cable? gerG

I installed the drivers that came with the unit, and updated to the new ones on their website.

Yeah, I would love to take advantage of fW800, but youre not supposed to hot plug the m-audio device for some reason.

And it takes power from the firewire. you actually arent supposed to plug it in at the same time.

i cant believe they would make an audiophile device like this that creates so many pops and cracks. its rediculous. Seems like going hard drive first, then m-audio might be the answer though. As soon as my movie is done, I'll be able to take apart my setup and try it out (Final Cut Pro can be very sensitive and screwing around too much could be dangerous). until then, i'll have to go m-audio first so that i can switch hard drives without re-booting.

Thanks again, Whitney

 

[ya8282]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhythmdevils i cant believe they would make an audiophile device like this that creates so many pops and cracks. its rediculous. Seems like going hard drive first, then m-audio might be the answer though. As soon as my movie is done, I'll be able to take apart my setup and try it out (Final Cut Pro can be very sensitive and screwing around too much could be dangerous). until then, i'll have to go m-audio first so that i can switch hard drives without re-booting.

According to M-Audio's knowledgebase, it is most likely some form of cpu throttling that you have (on windows laptops, speedstep, but not sure about G4s). Try disabling whatever G4's use for powersaving first and see if you get the same results.

I think the problem is either or possibly a combination of the following:
1) Not enough power is reaching your unit
2) Not enough bandwidth is available
3) Firewire controller is malfunctioning
4) Driver issues (check knowledgebase on m-audio.com)

I would also try and use separate firewire ports if your G4 has two rather than chaining off of one. Or perhaps getting a firewire pc card, or using an Audiophile/Transit off of the USB2 bus (or USB2 for your external HD).

I had a similar problem with my desktop computer and the M-Audio Transit because I had both a bad USB bus and far too many USB devices connected on another USB bus. I resolved the problem by adding a USB adapter with a PCI card. The only time I hear cracks and pops is when I am using an application that hogs all available system resources like a FLAC encoder.

 

[morphie]

Yep, I had this problem as I was hooking my soundcard to a USB port on top of my case instead of one behind it (thus getting less power). I switched it and everything works perfectly. ASIO can be tricky when u lag a bit.

Also be careful when listening to music with ASIO while playing a game, or opening an application with music/sound: you will get lots of statics. If you want to use both at once I suggest you disable ASIO and enabled DirectSound ouput instead, it will work alot better that way.

 

[rhythmdevils]

what's ASIO?

Ive heard it before, but cant think of 4 words that would fit...

 

[ya8282]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhythmdevils what's ASIO? Ive heard it before, but cant think of 4 words that would fit...

ASIO = Audio Stream Input Output
It's a protocol for digital audio.