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[TheGuitarPlayer]

Hey all,

So over the last few days I've been experimenting with having the VG-99 drive synthesizers.  I've decided I like the idea of softsythns and want to have the audio output from the softsynths go back out to the VG-99 via the USB connection.  However, the VG-99 does not work correctly when used as an audio interface.

When driven by WDM, it sputters along, playing back audio with frequent stops, like someone is pushing the pause button on and off over and over again.  When driven by ASIO, I get frequent clicks and pops.

I have found a strange workaround that may lead to a solution, but I have been unable to identify a cause.  The workaround is simple, if I keep the "Recording devices" window open (I'm on Win7 x86-64), it works fine being driven by WDM or ASIO.  Can anyone help?

Specs:
HP Pavilion tx2522au tablet (essentially tx2500z)
2.2Ghz AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile (ZM-80)
4GB of DDR2-RAM
Windows 7 Ultimate (x86-64)
Realtek HD Audio Chip for onboard sound
VG-99 connected to onboard USB port

[LeeMorant]

you will need to provide ur pc specs/setup too as its likey more to do with your pc than the vg itself.

[TheGuitarPlayer]

Specs added to main post, although I'm not sure what you're going to glean from them.  What else do you want to know?

[s0c9]

I'd bet its not the VG99.. my guess is latency.
Have you looked at the input/output buffers config and tried adjusting them ?
I have a similar [AMD] system and have tried the midi-usb-softsynth path and latency is killing me.   
I have similar problems with ASIO and WDM.

Have not resolved it yet, so am interested in result of this thread 

[sixeight]

Crackling and pops always come from having a buffer size or latency that is too small. Many of the larger plug-ins need higher latency settings. You should be alright at around 6 ms with your PC setup, but it all depends on what software you are running. Keep your machine as clean as possible, disable all the software that runs in the background that you do not need. That should give you a better result.

[TheGuitarPlayer]

Well there are no latency controls for WDM.  At the very least, this should work without problems, which leads me to believe there is a more fundamental problem.

[admsustainiac]

Have you enabled "Advanced Mode" on the VG-99 Driver Control page?

see your Windows control panel


this allows use of the ASIO driver - and you can Adjust for much lower latency than WDM driver.

[TheGuitarPlayer]

Yes, I've enabled advanced mode.  I'm not sure anybody is reading my initial post, at least not correctly.  To restate, I can see both the WDM and ASIO drivers.  With both drivers, sound comes in from the VG-99 and goes back out, however neither work correctly.  Both drivers experience problems, with the WDM drivers stuttering, and the ASIO driver clicking/popping.

[Brent Flash]

Yes, I've enabled advanced mode.  I'm not sure anybody is reading my initial post, at least not correctly.  To restate, I can see both the WDM and ASIO drivers.  With both drivers, sound comes in from the VG-99 and goes back out, however neither work correctly.  Both drivers experience problems, with the WDM drivers stuttering, and the ASIO driver clicking/popping.

Yes this is a problem with your computer. Try new settings for the buffer in the control panel.

[admsustainiac]

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/notebooks/hp/pavilion_tx2522au_fk677pa/263812

Reviewing the specs, its not the most robust platform for Audio recording

I do see you have an Expresscard 34/54 slot - i would see if an Expresscard USB adapter card might be of benefit to you, bypassing the onboard USB ports


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839150031&cm_re=expresscard_usb-_-39-150-031-_-Product
 

[TheGuitarPlayer]

Yes this is a problem with your computer. Try new settings for the buffer in the control panel.

Okay, I don't intend to be rude.  I do appreciate everyone's help, but I will restate for the third time.  It does not work with the WDM drive, and WDM has no buffer controls (at least that I am aware).  If it doesn't work with WDM, what chance has it of working with ASIO, especially seeing as I've already tried (and said that) it doesn't work with the ASIO driver.

For reference, I have adjusted the ASIO buffer size up to it's maximum with no effect.  This was one of the first things I tried.  Adjusting below 5 results in even worse performance.

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/notebooks/hp/pavilion_tx2522au_fk677pa/263812

Reviewing the specs, its not the most robust platform for Audio recording

I do see you have an Expresscard 34/54 slot - i would see if an Expresscard USB adapter card might be of benefit to you, bypassing the onboard USB ports

I realise it's not an ideal machine for this, but I wanted a tablet to read music off at gigs.  If anyone's interested, I use MusicReader for this purpose and recommend it strongly.  The EpressCard slot is a good idea, I'll try and pick up a card.  I just ordered a card, will try it out when it gets here, but that will probably take a week, maybe two.

Is anyone else out there running the VG-99 as an audio in/out device on an AMD based system (besides s0c9).  Is it working for you?

[admsustainiac]

FWIW - you should avoid the WDM driver - terrible latency

But if you do use it, remember to disable the VG-99's "Advanced Mode" in the VG-99 Driver control Panel.


To use the ASIO driver (recommended), use the VG-99 Driver Control Panel to re-enable "Advanced Mode" and  use the Slider to adjust latency!

[TheGuitarPlayer]

Okay, so the USB ExpressCard arrived today, and guess what...it worked a treat!  Now unfortunately, the latency (that I need to use for the signal to be stable using ASIO) is way to high to use the VG-99 to drive a soft-synth (I'm wondering if the Roland Win7 driver is just plain sucktastic and I'd have better luck with XP, but I refuse to run XP full time).  That being said, at least it now works for recording purposes, which is a big step forward from what I had before.  Cheers for the help everyone.

[Elantric]

Try the Edirol UA-4FX driver.

===


1.  Download and install driver for UA-4FX - select your OS here:

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=758


2.  Plug in USB cable for 99
3.  Cancel out of driver install wizard
4.  Open device properties for VG99 in device manager
5.  Click on driver tab, click update driver
6.  Select browse
7.  Select Let me pick from a list of drivers
8.  Select Sound, Video And Game Controllers
9.  Select Roland in Manufacturer list
10. Select UA-4FX, click continue on "may not be compatible" warning

[Elantric]

Latency is way to high to use the VG-99 to drive a soft-synth

You can adjust this in the VG-99 Driver Control Panel - see your Control Panel


Set it to "Advanced mode" - Slide the control for lowest latency/

Learn more here:
http://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,49.0.html

But you are probably running against a wall due to your AMD CPU,

You would have a much nicer time if you were running an Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.2GHz - or faster (Intel i3, i5, etc)

[TheGuitarPlayer]

I'll try the Edirol driver, although I doubt it will make a difference.  Also, I know you can adjust the VG-99's ASIO settings in the control panel.  Perhaps I should have been more clear, but I was trying to say that I need to have the latency slider up farely high to maintain a stable signal.  Again, like I said before, at least my initial problem of massive stuttering in WDM mode is gone and ASIO now works also (albeit with a large amount of latency).  It is probably due to the AMD system.  I'm looking at a HP tm2 as my next tablet, which has an Intel ULV processor.  Not sure if that will see an improvement in terms of performance (I expect it will probably go down a bit, not good news for running soft-synths), but battery life will go up and heat production will go down.

[agaskins]

I recently did an experiment by dual booting Windows XP (64bit) and Windows 7 (64bit) on my laptop. Now, I'm not using the VG99 as an interface, but since I'm pretty sure this is a PC issue and not a VG-99 issue, I think it's still relevant info. Anyways, I'm using Ableton Live 8 and opening the same project on both machines. This project uses about 10 tracks; VG99, guitar synth track with a Ableton Live synth, clean vocals, vocoded vocals, 4 NI absynth/fm8 tracks for my keyboards, and 3 FX returns, and a master looper track. On top of that there is the usual compression and other polishing going on with each tracks (I output an essentially mastered mix to my PA). The PC is a Lenovo Intel core2duo 2ghz w/ 4gb ram with a MOTU 828mk2 and 2 USB midi keyboards. It's a fairly hefty work load.

The results:
XP wins hands down. Windows 7 had pops, crackles and full spaz episodes several times per minute with all this going on! Both of these are clean & fairly recent Windows installs that are used only for music production! XP isn't perfect with this setup either, I do have the occasional crackle, but it's fairly low volume and only happens about once every 15-30 minutes, usually. This is what prompted me to perform this test, but needless to say I'm not jumping ship just yet... maybe some day I can afford a Mac!

For what it's worth, I don't actually recommend XP 64bit unless your POSITIVE you can find all of your drivers for it... it's a bitchin OS that just unfortunately didn't pick up enough steam to get all the gear manufacturers on board with drivers. But if your gear does happen to support it I don't think you'll find a faster more stable platform for music production!