Latency with Audigy 2 ZS PCMCIA and USB2 Midi po

Question

I have a creative labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZX PCMCIA card which is plugged into my LG 3ghz Laptop.
I connect my Yamaha WX5 Midi Wind Controller to the laptop via an "M-Audio" generic USB-2 Midi port. (Because the PCMCIA card doesn't have MIDI ports).
When I play the WX5 through the laptop in this configuration, I get a 25ms latency which makes it useless for performance. In fact the latency is just as bad as when I used the on-board FM-Synth that comes with Windows.
While doing this test I used the Soundfont Bank Manager to process the midi signals. In the "Midi Devices" the Soundfont Synth is showing as the soundfont device, so I am quite sure it's not using the on-board FM synth by mistake.
I also tried using Jazz++ to process the midi signals instead, and have the same latency issue.
I installed the ASIO-4-All driver to try and fix this problem, and have upgraded all the creative software to the latest version.
None of this lowers the latency.
Incidentally, When I run the Creative Audio Console, although the Wave Device shows as being the SB Audigy 2, the MIDI device shows as "Not Available".
Is what I am trying to do unachievable?

Answer 1

MagicTyger wrote:
Now onto our technical issues:
I used the Soundfont Bank Manager to save the entire selection of sound fonts to a file, then loaded this into sfz. Perhaps my delays are related to the fact that the file is large? I assume you can just copy one or two sounds into a file, rather than every single sound in the Audigy - if so, this might give me a smaller file and therefore lower latency.
I tried using the Asio4All driver again. It gives much higher latency than the nati've SB driver, so I'd like to stick with the SB driver for now.
How do I switch to 6 bit / 48 khz using the nati've SB driver? It's not clear where I'm supposed to set this.
I don't know how to read the sysinfo data. I've attached it to the end of this message - perhaps you can let me know if it appears to have a problem?
Sorry for the dumb question, but how do I tell if DMA transfer is in use? I've attached the DMA part of the sysinfo report.
Thanks for your help.
Regards
Neil
System Information / System Summary / Hardware Resources / Conflicts/Sharing:
IRQ 6 Mobile Intel(R) 95GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port - 259
IRQ 6 ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600
IRQ 6 Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio
IRQ 6 Marvell Yukon 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller
IRQ 6 Intel(R) 8280FB/FBM USB Uni'versal Host Controller - 265B
IRQ 6 Texas Instruments PCIxx20 Cardbus Controller
IRQ 6 Creative SB Audigy 2 (WDM)
IRQ 6 Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 394 Host Controller
IRQ 6 Texas Instruments PCIxx20 Integrated FlashMedia Controller
IRQ 8 Intel(R) 8280FB/FBM PCI Express Root Port - 2664
IRQ 8 Intel(R) 8280FB/FBM USB Uni'versal Host Controller - 265A
IRQ 8 Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 295ABG Network Connection
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF PCI bus
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF Mobile Intel(R) 95GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port - 259
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB Mobile Intel(R) 95GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port - 259
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600
System Information / System Summary / Hardware Resources / DMA:
Channel ECP Printer Port (LPT) OK
Channel 3 SMC IrCC - Fast Infrared Port OK
Channel 4 Direct memory access controller OK
Sounds like a very interesting controller (and seems you can have even wireless connection now (w/ guite high price though)). Going to look it closer, if I just can find some shop, in this area, having it available.
You seem to have quite many devices/controllers sharing IRQ 6 and IRQ 8. It's not always a bad thing, but you may start getting those audible issues when using low latency settings because of it.
You can try to ease the situation by disabling some un-needed devices/controllers. This can be done from BIOS (more permanent way) and (temporary) from Device Manager (right mouse click the item and choose disable (/enable if needed later)).
I have bolded the ones you propably can disable, if not needing them.
IRQ 6 Mobile Intel(R) 95GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port - 259
IRQ 6 ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600
IRQ 6 Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio
IRQ 6 Marvell Yukon 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller
IRQ 6 Intel(R) 8280FB/FBM USB Uni'versal Host Controller - 265B
IRQ 6 Texas Instruments PCIxx20 Cardbus Controller
IRQ 6 Creative SB Audigy 2 (WDM)
IRQ 6 Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 394 Host Controller
IRQ 6 Texas Instruments PCIxx20 Integrated FlashMedia Controller
IRQ 8 Intel(R) 8280FB/FBM PCI Express Root Port - 2664
IRQ 8 Intel(R) 8280FB/FBM USB Uni'versal Host Controller - 265A
IRQ 8 Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 295ABG Network Connection
Wireless NIC controller is one of those said to be causing disturbance in audio --> use the other NIC controller (Marvel Yukon), if it's possible.
Also, I read somewhere on these forums that you don't need the UAA driver when onboard audio is turned off. If you haven't disabled the onboard audio, do it -> SB cards are not (normally) working 00% correctly if onboard is enabled.
If you have more USB controllers listed using other IRQ's then disabling those using IRQ 6 is possible (you just need to check out which ones are disabled so you get your USB device(s) connected).
Could it be possible to see the whole IRQ list?
DMA settings can be cheked/set on Device Manager --> select the controller (like Primary IDE under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers) -> properties -> advanced settings -tab. I'm not sure if DMA (Direct Memory Access) can be set for PCMCIA (CardBus) controller.
ASIO driver options named Creative ASIO and SB Audigy 2 Zs ASIO [xxxx] are 6-bit/48 kHz mode drivers and SB Audigy 2 Zs ASIO 24/96 [xxxx] is as it says on its name. You select the driver on software (for example, menu option ASIO -> Driver "lists available"/"lets you choose" drivers on TobyBear MiniHost).
jutapaMessage Edited by jutapa on 05-25-2006 08:40 AM