Specifications

100 Question: What is mix in in the Record option in the Windows mixer?
Answer: This is the loopback audio input level control. As the card is re-routing the digital path
from the synth and audio parts directly back in as a wave device, you may find that this is the
best way to control input gain for the loopback record mode option.(if the app you are using
doesn’t have an input gain control).
101 Question: Can I use Sondius-XG with the SW1000XG and will I still have the latency?
Answer: Yes and Yes. The latency is part of the Sondius system for MME compatible cards.
102 Question: What if I get clicks and pops when recording audio in Windows 95?
Answer: Make sure that in your Windows control panel, your system is configured for optimal
performance. If you are running on a low memory based system (i.e. under 32MB), THEN BUY
SOME MORE RAM! (You get what you pay for!!). I personally wouldn't try to do anything serious
with modern apps like Cubase VST or Cakewalk Pro Audio with anything less than 64MB of RAM.
This is true of nearly all Windows problems. Windows will use your hard disk as a buffer when you
run out of RAM, using what is called a swap file. This is a trade off of memory to hard disk.
If you are recording or playing back audio and the audio drops out or clicks and pops occur, then
it is usually because your machine is incapable of sustaining the transfer of audio data from your
hard disk.
If you are playing back out of the digital out port, make sure that the receiving device for the digital
out is set to record at the frequency coming out of the digital out of the soundcard. This may seem
obvious to most people, but just read the newsgroups to see how many people make this mistake.
The message is simply, get as fast a machine as you can, decide what you want to do with it (if
you want to play games or run spreadsheets, then at least do it on another drive than the one you
are intending to record multitrack audio on).
Please don't under any circumstances use your boot/operating system drive for audio recording if
you can. Get as much RAM as you can lay your hands on, to help ease the pressure with apps like
VST and Cakewalk. Don't try to run too many things at once (i.e. don't have a load of Microsoft
Office files running in the background when you are recording) etc.
The SW1000XG takes the load off your system for effects processing and hardware level mixing. It
doesn't make your computer run faster, it just lets you do a lot more on slower machines.
However, hard disk speed and other factors such as RAM still have critical importance to the
effectiveness of hard disk recording packages.
A few tips for good HDR recording
Read this FAQ. If a problem you find is on here, then go ahead and resolve it.
Keep your PC as clean as possible in terms of TSR applications, memory managers etc.
Don't run compressed drives and expect to get any performance for audio, as you won't.
Get as much physical RAM as you can, memory manager software (such as RAM-Doubling etc) is
NOT the answer for Pro Audio recording applications.
Make sure that your system is not reporting any device conflicts or errors for every hardware
device that you have in your system. If it does, try to resolve it. If you think it is the SW1000XG,
then remove the card and check again, possibly with your old SoundBlaster card. If you find the
error is still present, then it is not the SW1000XG, is it?
If you are one of the early adopters who like to get the latest version of every app, check what the
bug fixes do in the new version, read the newsgroups to see if the type of problem you are getting
is happening on other people's machines with different cards. If it is, then it's the software, not the
SW1000XG.
Try to manage your own swap files on a good size drive, don't let Windows handle it if you can.
Read the manual for the audio app you are using, and don't let application software companies
'fob you off' with lame excuses as to why something does not work. Get them to give a full
technical answer, and not the 'Phone Yamaha' or ' Oh it must be the SW1000XG as our Insert
name of Card card works fine' type of excuse, as they are annoying for everyone concerned. Don't
forget that it's your time any money that they are wasting.