I've been using this in conjunction with Cubase SX3 for a few years now, no problems. At the time I installed XP and noted that the Audigy card *has* to have an exclusive IRQ to function fully. I thought it was about time I upgraded my system (which was an old Athlon 2200+ processor, Abit KR7A motherboard) and opted for an AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE processor with an Asus M4A77TD motherboard. The latter wasn't my first choice, but I wanted the 3 PCI slots for various essential cards, including the Audigy 4. I did a clean install of XP SP3 and all is working as expected (excellent processing power) but it allocates the Audigy a shared IRQ. Whilst it still works, the full functionality isn't realised, with apparently no ASIO 2 support for example. My usual way to ensure it gets its own IRQ is to install XP using the "Standard PC" HAL configuration during the initial set up, as it's not something that can be changed afterwards. However, this will not work under a multiprocessor system It would seem my only choice will be to get a new soundcard with the same facilities, which doesn't have such stupid IRQ issues. If anyone can offer advice or suggest solutions/work arounds to the Audigy problem, then I'll greatly appreciate it. Also, if anyone can suggest another card (PCIe) that will offer similar or better performance, then that'll be welcome too. TIA, Gary
"Gary" <> wrote in message news:hdokmq$kv2$-september.org... > I've been using this in conjunction with Cubase SX3 for a few years now, > no problems. At the time I installed XP and noted that the Audigy card > *has* to have an exclusive IRQ to function fully. > > I thought it was about time I upgraded my system (which was an old Athlon > 2200+ processor, Abit KR7A motherboard) and opted for an AMD Phenom II x4 > 955 BE processor with an Asus M4A77TD motherboard. The latter wasn't my > first choice, but I wanted the 3 PCI slots for various essential cards, > including the Audigy 4. > > I did a clean install of XP SP3 and all is working as expected (excellent > processing power) but it allocates the Audigy a shared IRQ. Whilst it > still works, the full functionality isn't realised, with apparently no > ASIO 2 support for example. My usual way to ensure it gets its own IRQ is > to install XP using the "Standard PC" HAL configuration during the initial > set up, as it's not something that can be changed afterwards. However, > this will not work under a multiprocessor system > > It would seem my only choice will be to get a new soundcard with the same > facilities, which doesn't have such stupid IRQ issues. > > If anyone can offer advice or suggest solutions/work arounds to the Audigy > problem, then I'll greatly appreciate it. > Also, if anyone can suggest another card (PCIe) that will offer similar or > better performance, then that'll be welcome too. > > TIA, > Gary Good old PCI and IRQ sharing issues eh? Don't give up just yet. You *may* find some info in the motherboard manual that will help. I haven't had cause to look for any of the more recent systems I've built over the last two or three years, but there pretty much always used to be a table in motherboard manuals that showed which PCI sockets and graphics sockets were hard wired to share the same IRQ. Using this info made it somewhat easier to move fussy cards that demanded their own IRQ to an appropriate PCI slot. In the (very likely) event that your motherboard manual doesn't contain any useful info, you could try simply swapping your various PCI cards around in an attempt to find a workable solution. You might also be able to set IRQ control to your preferences rather than being controlled by the OS in the BIOS.
Thanks Nick, I've tried two PCI slot permutations thus far, one remaining... > solution. You might also be able to set IRQ control to your preferences > rather than being controlled by the OS in the BIOS. I've disabled the BIOS to select the IRQ allowing XP to do so. However, the lack of the "Standard PC" HAL configuration during installation set up usually means XP happily lets numerous devices use the same IRQ
"Gary" <> wrote in message news:hdosbi$53r$-september.org... > Thanks Nick, I've tried two PCI slot permutations thus far, one > remaining... > >> solution. You might also be able to set IRQ control to your preferences >> rather than being controlled by the OS in the BIOS. > > I've disabled the BIOS to select the IRQ allowing XP to do so. However, > the lack of the "Standard PC" HAL configuration during installation set up > usually means XP happily lets numerous devices use the same IRQ > Yes. More or less that used to work with some troublesome cards, but with older single core CPUs. I'm thinking in particular of an old Pinnacle 500 video capture card which needed 3 separate IRQs and took some fiddling about with to get it to work properly with XP. I think XP SP3 was a step too far for this card though. :-( Creative cards have never been particularly good with regard to DAW application. I don't know about the Audigy 4 to be fair, but the earlier Audigy cards were a pain, so it's not even something I'd consider and haven't done since Windows 98 days. You'd possibly be better going for a decent external Firewire interface or possibly a USB interface (I personally prefer Firewire because there's usually less chance of bandwidth issues - no onboard USB hubs to worry about). Look at M-Audio, Tascam or Edirol for starters and for some future proofing - there's always MOTU too. Echo Audio always used to make reliable kit too - I still have a couple of ten or eleven year old Echo Gina ver 1 cards which were great in their day. Good luck
> Creative cards have never been particularly good with regard to DAW > application. I don't know about the Audigy 4 to be fair, but the earlier > Audigy cards were a pain, so it's not even something I'd consider and > haven't done since Windows 98 days. I've always endured IRQ issues with Creative Soundblaster cards (who hasn't?!), but I expected the Audigy 4 to have resolved such problems, sadly it wasn't the case. You'd possibly be better going for a > decent external Firewire interface or possibly a USB interface (I > personally prefer Firewire because there's usually less chance of > bandwidth issues - no onboard USB hubs to worry about). Look at M-Audio, > Tascam or Edirol for starters and for some future proofing - there's > always MOTU too. Echo Audio always used to make reliable kit too - I > still have a couple of ten or eleven year old Echo Gina ver 1 cards which > were great in their day. Thanks, I'll have a browse. I had briefly looked at PCIe cards, but the mainstream products don't seem to have any aimed at 'serious' audio use, no MIDI ports etc.
> Thanks, I'll have a browse. > I had briefly looked at PCIe cards, but the mainstream products don't seem > to have any aimed at 'serious' audio use, no MIDI ports etc. I'm currently using a Yamaha 01v96v2 with mLAN card as my main multi-channel Firewire interface. Running under Windows 7 64 bit on an Intel i7 based system and using the XP 64 bit driver in Test Mode. Works really well - especially considering it shouldn't. I can't really understand why Yamaha haven't developed a proper 64 bit driver for Vista and Windows 7. I have also got a MOTU Traveler and an M-Audio FW1814 both of which work well with a laptop - M-Audio took a very long time to come up with a 64 bit driver for Windows which is why I got the Traveler. It depends on your budget, number of inputs and outputs required, quality required and computer interface preference. If money isn't particularly an issue (when isn't money an issue?), I would definitely take a look at the MOTU Ultra-Lite Mk3 or the Traveler Mk 3. MOTU stuff isn't cheap, but it's pretty decent in my experience and they seem to be on the ball with drivers. Otherwise, maybe one of the Tascam interfaces. I have a little old 2 in/2 out + MIDI Edirol UA-20 which, when Vista 64 first appeared in Jan 2007 was discontinued, BUT Edirol still had a 64 bit driver for Vista available from day one - and it's still supported in Windows 7. You sometimes see these on eBay for not too much cash.
Gary a écrit : > I've been using this in conjunction with Cubase SX3 for a few years now, no > problems. At the time I installed XP and noted that the Audigy card *has* to > have an exclusive IRQ to function fully. Hi gary, Don't have the time to be sure that my answers will fit exactly your case, but anyway: - You Motherboard manual might indicate the default IRQ settings and sharing map (my old KG7raid manual did) - Have you tried all of your 3 PCI slots? With no scientific protocol, you just have to try each PCI slot until Windows shows that your audio card is the only one using a given IRQ==> this is what I had done with my old PC. - if no PCI slot gives you satisfaction, chose the one wich makes your audio card share a IRQ with something you don't care about (integrated audio chipset, firewire, LAN...). Then disable the peripheral which is sharing it's IRQ with your audio card. Reboot: you're done. Just in case it helps ... Huey
"Hueyduck" <> wrote in message news:4b004237$0$3037$... > - Have you tried all of your 3 PCI slots? Yep. > - if no PCI slot gives you satisfaction, chose the one wich makes your > audio card share a IRQ with something you don't care about (integrated > audio chipset, firewire, LAN...). Then disable the peripheral which is > sharing it's IRQ with your audio card. Reboot: you're done. Thanks, I did used to do this on a previous installation (I had a separate XP installation purely for music creation use, which is not a bad idea anyway). However, I removed all other PCI cards today and while the Audigy did indeed appear to have an exclusive IRQ, it still doesn't function correctly, clearly it will only work on a specific IRQ, presumably 5, as with so many Soundblaster cards. Therefore my only choice (as there's no installation technique I can employ to choose the IRQ for it) appears to be a new card
Thanks for the info and suggestions. To be honest I don't really need anything beyond what's provided with the Audigy 4 Pro, so I'll be looking at the more economical options.
Gary a écrit : > Thanks for the info and suggestions. To be honest I don't really need > anything beyond what's provided with the Audigy 4 Pro, so I'll be looking at > the more economical options. > > What would be your budget if you decided to buy a new card? Huey
"Hueyduck" <> wrote in message news:4b027c41$0$25388$... > What would be your budget if you decided to buy a new card? In the region of £125.
"Gary" <> wrote in message news:hdu20h$u1a$-september.org... > > "Hueyduck" <> wrote in message > news:4b027c41$0$25388$... > >> What would be your budget if you decided to buy a new card? > > In the region of £125. Just for a rough idea of prices etc... I've taken a look on Dawsons Web site - www.dawsons.co.uk (other suppliers are available) Prices may possibly be bettered elsewhere (very probably). Look at www.dv247.com for example (I haven't looked there for comparison) USB Audio/MIDI M-Audio Fast Track Pro 4x4 Mobile USB Audio/MIDI interface £160 Edirol UA4-FX USB Audio interface - £145 Alesis IO2 USB Audio Interface £110 - this looks quite good for the money Tascam US-122L - £130 Tascam US-144 £160 PCI - Audio/MIDI M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Digital Audio Card - £58.71 M-Audio Audiophile 192 PCI - £130 M-Audio Delta 1010LT - £146 EMU 0404 PCI - £100 Just a few there that would do the job and priced sort of near your budget All better IMO than the Audigy Nick
Much to my surprise, I've now resolved the problem and I'm still rolling my eyes over it... The problem was that the only ASIO options given within Cubase SX 3 were for DirectX, so very limited, high latency etc. I couldn't see a way out of this and assumed it was the card's driver limiting the functionality because of hardware constraints (.i.e. not having the correct IRQ resources). This seemed to be borne out when, on a previous installation a few years ago, it would only seem to function correctly when (after a lot of jiggery pokery) I got it working on IRQ 5. However, I thought I'd install a VST instrument to at least see if the latency was manageable in the short term at least, but was then surprised to find the Creative ASIO and other parameters were now suddenly made available (at first with the standalone instrument and then via Cubase). Note that even before, ASIO4ALL wasn't given as an option either. After all the head scratching, it's quite a relief
