3 Questions reguarding Session w/XP

[rockbass]

Hello. Well, I gave up on trying to get Session and my Keystudio 49e and Fast Track USB to work on my Vista 32bit system, and actually bought a new computer with XP on it. Here are the specs:

eMachines W3644 AMD Desktop Computer - AMD Sempron LE-1200 2.1GHz, 1GB DDR2, 160GB SATA II, DVDRW, NVIDIA GeForce 6100, Windows XP Home

It's nothing flashy, but I am only using it for music recording with my 2 pieces of M-Audio hardware and Session software. Most of my Vista problems are no longer issues with the Keystation, however I have 3 questions for you guys! (I am in contact with region support too, but waiting 3 days for each 1 line response is getting to be a pain, so maybe someone in here can help!!)

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Question #1. For some reason when I record, lets say, 3 or 4 tracks, and go back to play them, one track always seems to not want to play. I can resolve this if I select the track as if I was going to record on it and gently bump the volume slider on the keyboard as the song is playing. Thing is, this is a huge pain in the neck when you are trying to mix down a song as touching the volume slider effects the volume of the recorded track! And sometimes when I go to export the track, that one track that wouldn't play won't even export into the final .wma file! Any ideas on how to fix that? To add, I'm still getting the occasional distortion from all the tracks.

Question #2. When I had the program working in Vista for awhile and I would drag a drum loop into a track, it would somewhat "snap" into place on each measure(beat) line. In XP it doesn't do this at all and I need to zoom way in on the track just to make sure that I line up the drums so they are all on time. Again, very very tedious for trying to get things done.

Question #3. I am yet to install my Fast Track USB device. I'll be honest, I'm scared to mess something up. The install DVD that came with it has Session 1.5 on it, and I currently have 1.6 installed. Do I just de-select all the boxes EXCEPT for the box next to Fast Track USB (on the DVD installation screen) to install the software for it? Or can I just get the driver off of the website and do it that way?

With that all being said, I again have Session 1.6 on my XP system. Do I need to upgrade to the 1.6.3 version to eliminate these problems or is it something else like a USB Power Managment issue...or is that only on Vista? Hopefully you can answer these questions and I can be done with this finally and get on with some recording!!

Thanks again for your help,
-Eric/Rockbass

[rockbass]

Can anyone help me out here??

[JA]

#1: I'm not sure what's happening. I've forwarded this to our Verifications Department for further investigation.

#2: The snap to grid adjustment is below the tempo drop down which is below the File Menu. Yours may be set to "none".

#3: Just download the latest driver from our drivers/updates page (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support&tab=driver).

The 1.6.3 update addresses a conflict with an M-Audio MIDI driver and I don't think will do anything to help with your current issues. I would suggest disabling USB power management, and in the mean time, check out this Windows XP Optimization Guide (http://www.audioforums.com/resources/windows-xp-optimization.html) to improve system performance.

[rockbass]

Thanks so much JA. No idea how much I appreciate the help! And yeah, just let me know what you find out about the track problem. (#1) It records fine, it looks just like any other MIDI recorded track, I can add/delete effects, but for some reason, it just stops playing back in the mix of the other tracks!

[JA]

Eric, when one of your tracks stops playing back, click the track to select it, go to the Track Menu and select "Edit Synth Patch". On the far left side, about half way down (under MetaKnobs) should be the volume for that instrument. Where is it?

For the software instruments in Session, the volume slider on the KeyStudio keyboard controls this volume knob. I'm wondering if the volume slider is getting moved and turning the volume down on those tracks. This would account for the tracks not being heard when exporting, and why moving the slider back up gets the volume to come back.

Regarding the distortion, have you tried plugging the Micro into different USB ports? If you use the Micro as your system default playback device and playback a CD or some songs from a program like iTunes or Windows Media Player, do you get any distortion?

If you increase the buffer by moving the slider up on the latency tab of the Micro Control Panel (before launching Session), does this help with the distortion or change anything?

Also, while playing back your songs in Session, press Ctrl-Alt-Esc to open the Windows Task Manager, on the Performance Tab, how high does the CPU usage get?

[rockbass]

Hey JA,

When I change the volume in the Edit Synth Patch box, it works about the same as it would if I would touch the slider on the actual keyboard. It seems to work for a playback or 2, and then it goes back down to nothing. I have intentionally made sure NOT to touch the slider tonight after your last post and it keeps reverting back to 0 volume, only so I can go back into the Edit Synth Patch and raise it up again. I wish it would just stay still!

My CPU % stays right around 20-45% basically the entire time, even when I am playing 6 or more tracks. Whenever I have the task manager open though, the distortion kicks in after a few seconds and I have to close task manager, then hit play again and it's fine. lol..Don't ask me man, it's really weird. To answer your other question, the playback through the micro using itunes or media player is just fine, its all just occasional which makes it really hard to pinpoint what I'm doing that is causing it.

If I could just get the recorded track volumes to just stay put, I think I would be all set! I installed the driver for the Fast Track USB and it looks like it's good to go.

[JA]

I did some more experimenting and it turns out that Session records the movements of that volume slider for the software instruments. So, if you are testing with the same recording, that bump that lowered the volume to begin with exists in the recording; and unfortunately, there is no way to remove that from the recording.

If you create a new composition and test recording, making sure not to bump the volume slider, the problem should not occur.

Try out some of the system optimization tips to see if that helps with the distortion and let me know what happens.

[rockbass]

Ok, good to know. I did a bunch of the XP optimization and it seemed to work. Haven't had any distortion since! I'll just re-record the tracks that aren't playing and be sure not to hit the slider.

I think I only have one more question and I should be good to go here. I installed the Fast Track USB and set the ASIO settings and all that...Thing is, it's only recording one channel. I hear the mix in stereo through the Fast Track device, but it only records one channel. I even go into the track settings and make sure stereo is selected, not the right channel or left channel, and it still is only recording the right one. But again, I HEAR both when I am recording! I checked other posts in the forum and the site and the FAQ and couldn't find an answer to this! Any ideas?

Up to this point though, you have been very helpful, and if I could hug you I would.

[JA]

Glad to hear we're making progress :cornut:

The problem is you are recording a mono signal onto a stereo track. You actually need to choose a mono input in Session. The left channel is for the XLR Mic Input, and the right channel is the 1/4" instrument/line input. This way it will record and play back on both sides. Check out this FAQ (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.faq&ID=c4cf6c51341f4536cadb5edb67933733).