Comments on: Bug Squash: AlexP on MacBook Vista Audio Problems, Other Wifi Adapters and DPCs?

By: dodo

dodo — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:40:04 +0000

Using Vista on a PC for audio endeavors is the 2nd dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of.. Using Vista on a Mac is the 1st.

By: Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:18:09 +0000

Well, there’s no question Windows can benefit from OSS, generally. Let’s see, on my machine, Pd, JACK, SuperCollider, PUTTY, WinSCP, Notepad++, cygwin and all the GNU stuff, Subversion, Python, Java, JavaFX, Eclipse, NetBeans, Processing, XChat, Pidgin, OpenOffice… I could go on.

Part of the problem with drivers is that very often companies save time by licensing code, so they can’t always open that up.

By: e-f

e-f — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:05:06 +0000

right as usual peter!

however, there are many open source drivers for the microsoft platforms. asio4all (hmm not really sure if that’s open source) comes to mind. and there are various projects for the audigy sound cards (creative) that enable tolerable latency on those cards (8-10 ms). there are many others for graphic cards, modems etc… i just have not really had the need for them up till now since moving on to “pro” audio.

still, these things (drivers) are an option for people wishing to breath new life into an old notebook, and record a few tracks.

@peter: domain suggestion->
createopensourcemusicdrivers

;-)

By: Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:27:05 +0000

Holotropik’s over-the-top response aside, it IS a really good argument for open source drivers – and, in fact, why not open source drivers *on Windows* and not just Linux? The whole point of the chip vendor is supposedly that they deliver something you couldn’t in the driver. But then these things happen, and while I sure don’t fit into that category, I know there are people out there who do know how to resolve some of these things. Ironically, Microsoft suffers sometimes because their third-party partners screw stuff up.

Anyway, even on Linux some of this stuff sits in proprietary drivers (depending on chipset). So it’s a quandary.

But yeah, it’s a driver. It’s worth checking with your vendor. Sometimes you get fixes in the mainboard / chipset / BIOS drivers, even.

By: e-f

e-f — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:21:36 +0000

well thanks for deciding that for everyone holotropik.

you’re the greatest.

By: Holotropik

Holotropik — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:50:45 +0000

Well these days there is no reason for windoze to exist…

By: e-f

e-f — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:07:43 +0000

i have a dell vostro 1500 laptop in addition to my macbook pro. well i have to say, contradictory to what many have said about that company – both my motu and edirol firewire interfaces function fine (2-6ms latency) with my dell laptop. i’ve read in MANY audio forums, that you can forget it, and they even sell audio laptops to disgruntled dell users *cough*.

more on topic, i DO have to turn off wireless (it’s just a slider switch) on both machines otherwise i get glitches and latency of 10-15.

IMHO it’s the drivers.
i have already installed xp without wireless drivers, turned on the switch, windows says new device found etc etc but my latency (ableton and reason running) does not get worse.

we need third party drivers maybe?

By: apalomba

apalomba — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:49:51 +0000

I am running Vista on a Dell XPS m1530 and I
encounter this problem with my Firewire410.
Having to disable my wireless connection
is a pain in the ass. What is even more annoying
is dells reticence in dealing with the problem.
If you mention anything about 3rd party audio
they wash their hands of you or tell you to reinstall the OS.

By: Peter Kirn

Peter Kirn — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:56:51 +0000

@Deaq: Well, unfortunately, your only shot at this is to go through devices one at a time and disable them. Total pain.

@everyone: Yeah, we are seeing glitches with wifi cards on Mac OS, too, under certain circumstances. It’s definitely worth trying disabling wifi for audio as a matter of course. Of course, it *should* be able to work and often does (Windows and Mac alike) … it just sometimes doesn’t. ;)

By: Deaq

Deaq — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:39:11 +0000

I have some major DPC latency problem on my laptop that I used for producing music and other multimedia stuff. I cant isolate the problem. I thought it was my Nvidia card first but it wasnt either, my dpc peaks at 1000+ and sometimes spikes at 2k ms.

Do anyone have a solution or can help me with this?