doublewah
I love Atomix, but there is one problem that is making me so upset that I'm ready to give up... How can I beatmatch on my setup? I've got a laptop and an external USB soundcard (the Roland-U8). I use the internal soundcard (an ESS Maestro) for the headphone monitor mix, and the U8 to output to the PA. Works fine EXCEPT: even when playing the same track, the two soundcards are way out of sync with each other!
Basically, the latencies for each card are different. This means that I simply can't beatmatch at all :( Any ideas for a solution? I bought this equipment so I could run atomix.... (One idea I had was if the headphone mix could include both tracks at the same time, - i.e. out of the same soundcard - then I could beatmatch on headphones alone - i.e. ignoring what was coming out of the PA - that would work, but there's no way of hearing both channels on headphones, and only one on the PA is there?)
Please help me....
A bit sad,
DoubleWah
Basically, the latencies for each card are different. This means that I simply can't beatmatch at all :( Any ideas for a solution? I bought this equipment so I could run atomix.... (One idea I had was if the headphone mix could include both tracks at the same time, - i.e. out of the same soundcard - then I could beatmatch on headphones alone - i.e. ignoring what was coming out of the PA - that would work, but there's no way of hearing both channels on headphones, and only one on the PA is there?)
Please help me....
A bit sad,
DoubleWah
Posted Wed 27 Jun 01 @ 4:06 pm
core
First, install the newest version of Directx.
If this doesn't help, you can always use one card and a stereo splitter.
HTH
If this doesn't help, you can always use one card and a stereo splitter.
HTH
Posted Wed 27 Jun 01 @ 5:31 pm
I'll check my direct-x version, but I think its up to date. Can any of the technical folks tell me if this is a problem with my hardware choices or is it a general problem? I mean, are both soundcards meant to be in sync or is there no way of getting the latencies to be identical? Is it just the case that other people have low enough latency (or the same sound card)? Is there a good way of delaying the output of the faster sound card by the relevant amount?
Basically, who out there has this problem? Who doesn't have this problem, and if not, what hardware do you use?
Basically, who out there has this problem? Who doesn't have this problem, and if not, what hardware do you use?
Posted Wed 27 Jun 01 @ 6:34 pm
maxius
are you sure you have the sound config right. i also use a laptop with an external usb soundcard. in the sound config section select the duel soundcards on the left and the "monitor" selection on the right (speaker with headphones). two option will now be availible on your right. use your laptops soundcard as the first and your usb card as your second choice. now you only need to connect your laptop (headphone jack) to your amplifier.
Posted Thu 28 Jun 01 @ 12:55 am
Do you find with your setup that the two soundcards are perfectly in sync that way? (To test this, play a song on the left hand deck, with the fader hard left and the left hand deck light green). I find there is often a big difference between the timing of the sound on headphones and the sound out of the master (maybe up to a second!). I have my setup right in the config as you suggest.
What USB card do you have? what operating system? and what internal soundcard? (sorry for all the questions, but I really need to get to the bottom of this...)
Atomix programmers: is this a problem with my hardware? drivers? a bug in atomix? or is it unavoidable?
DoubleWah
What USB card do you have? what operating system? and what internal soundcard? (sorry for all the questions, but I really need to get to the bottom of this...)
Atomix programmers: is this a problem with my hardware? drivers? a bug in atomix? or is it unavoidable?
DoubleWah
Posted Thu 28 Jun 01 @ 3:29 pm
Yan-X
Sorry but is is the problm with soundcards :(
As youhave said it depends of the brand of your soundcards I have two 128 bits cards in order to have the same power and the same speed but you use a usb card with an Isa or pci card : to my mind, it could be the origin of the problem : don't forget the USB 1.0 format is no a high speed way !
Maybe using USB 2.0 but as I don't have any usb soundcard I can't test it ! Sorry !
Anyone else use one usb card with one pci card here ???????
As youhave said it depends of the brand of your soundcards I have two 128 bits cards in order to have the same power and the same speed but you use a usb card with an Isa or pci card : to my mind, it could be the origin of the problem : don't forget the USB 1.0 format is no a high speed way !
Maybe using USB 2.0 but as I don't have any usb soundcard I can't test it ! Sorry !
Anyone else use one usb card with one pci card here ???????
Posted Thu 28 Jun 01 @ 5:51 pm
DJ Corpse
The Roland-U8 is a quite impressive piece of material.
However, hardware reviews have shown that its latency is significant (making its use in a professional studio environment not recommended). Assumptions which came out of the tests are that the card by itself is pushing the USB bandwidth limits to their very extreme.
Also, unfortunately it appears that the USB card does not support 3D audio. If that would have been the case you could have easily solved your problem by disabling the integrated soundcard and using the 3D capable card for both your master out and prelistening purposes (coming out of either front or rear outputs).
My own experience (confirmed elsewhere in this forum by several people) is that it is rather difficult to get two seperate soundcards to work properly. Some don't get them to work at all, and when you do succeed there is this risk (I experienced it myself with several configuration attempts) of unacceptable latency between both soundcards.
After ending up with several obsolete soundcards in one of my drawer I settled for an SB Live card. While using its 3D capabilities I have connected it to an external mixer.
This is (I recognize) not of much use to you. So I would recommend to buy a 3D-capable USB card (assuming that exists) to get around these problems. It might be an unexpected expense for you. Considering the price of the U8 (and if you really bought it for Atomix use only), selling it might be an option upon which you should be able to find a descent USB card with what you get for it and still keep some change.
DJ Corpse
However, hardware reviews have shown that its latency is significant (making its use in a professional studio environment not recommended). Assumptions which came out of the tests are that the card by itself is pushing the USB bandwidth limits to their very extreme.
Also, unfortunately it appears that the USB card does not support 3D audio. If that would have been the case you could have easily solved your problem by disabling the integrated soundcard and using the 3D capable card for both your master out and prelistening purposes (coming out of either front or rear outputs).
My own experience (confirmed elsewhere in this forum by several people) is that it is rather difficult to get two seperate soundcards to work properly. Some don't get them to work at all, and when you do succeed there is this risk (I experienced it myself with several configuration attempts) of unacceptable latency between both soundcards.
After ending up with several obsolete soundcards in one of my drawer I settled for an SB Live card. While using its 3D capabilities I have connected it to an external mixer.
This is (I recognize) not of much use to you. So I would recommend to buy a 3D-capable USB card (assuming that exists) to get around these problems. It might be an unexpected expense for you. Considering the price of the U8 (and if you really bought it for Atomix use only), selling it might be an option upon which you should be able to find a descent USB card with what you get for it and still keep some change.
DJ Corpse
Posted Thu 28 Jun 01 @ 9:31 pm
doublewah
Eek! Thanks for all the help, guys - pity for the sad conclusion. I am still a little confused, however... Van, are you saying that some soundcards actually do stay in sync, or rather that the latencies are small enough that the loss of sync is unnoticable?
Maxius, do you find any different swapping the headphone/master order with your usb/internal setup?
I'd rather not have to buy a new card (obviously)... there is another solution (which I mentioned earlier, and I know others have asked for).... could a simple headphone-mix option be included in the next release of Atomix (please - pretty please!). This would allow the user to specify that the master output also be fed to one channel of the monitor output... then beatmatching would work on one soundcard (thus being in sync)...
DoubleWah
Maxius, do you find any different swapping the headphone/master order with your usb/internal setup?
I'd rather not have to buy a new card (obviously)... there is another solution (which I mentioned earlier, and I know others have asked for).... could a simple headphone-mix option be included in the next release of Atomix (please - pretty please!). This would allow the user to specify that the master output also be fed to one channel of the monitor output... then beatmatching would work on one soundcard (thus being in sync)...
DoubleWah
Posted Fri 29 Jun 01 @ 6:07 pm
atomix_Dieselman8
I dunno, just a note to those developers of Atomix...I remember in Virtual Turntable that there was a feature to adjust for latency if you were using different soundcards together.
Posted Mon 30 Jul 01 @ 6:59 am
Dieselman you are absolutely right, i was just going to post about same thing. I have no idea why that isn't implemented in atomixmp3?
Posted Sat 11 May 02 @ 7:05 pm