PT9, Win7 64 freezing up system, etc.

[lrankine]

Hello everyone, I'm a certified NOOB and just getting into PT9, recording, etc. and need a little assistance. I've been having two issues with my PT9:

1) After working in PT9 (trying to learn the ropes) I close the program. Things seem to be fine but if I come back later to my PC it's locked up and I have to reboot.

2) I can't seem to get PT9 to play back through my PC speakers (Bose Companion 5 system with USB connection).

I've gone through the forum here and did the suggested Win 7 tweaks and haven't had any luck. This system freeze also happens on my laptop and I haven't been using PT9 on it although it's installed. I'm thinking it could be related to the ASIO4All driver but am not sure and don't have any other options listed in the Playback Engine window. I can listen and work through a set of headphones connected to my PC but it won't play back through the speakers. I did see where these speakers are only 16 bit so that may be the problem there but again am not sure. The speaker thing is relatively minor as I can use my headphones but I don't want to spend the cash on studio monitors only find that they won't work either.

Any thoughts or assistance would be greatly appreciated! I'm currently running a Sandra report on my main PC (seems to be taking forever) and will include that when it finishes. Thanks in advance for any help y'all can provide.

Larry

[daeron80]

I can only answer the monitoring part. If you have ASIO4ALL installed and the Bose speakers don't work with PT, then I don't think there's anything that will make them work with PT. Which is good, actually, IMHO. Because believe me the last thing you want to do is make audio decisions while listening through Bose speakers. That's not because Bose speakers are bad, but because they tend make things sound much better than they really sound. There's no hype like Bose hype. They will disguise many problems that you'll want to know about so you can fix them. Great for gaming, worst possible thing for audio work, I'm afraid.

Studio monitors (or their amp if not self-powered) should probably connect directly to your interface, unless you have a mixing console involved. So as long as your interface works, the speakers will be a non-issue as far as working with PT is concerned.

I love my KRK Rockits. I mean, you know, they're not exactly Dynaudios, but for the price - wow. I bring my mixes to work and listen through some pretty fine stuff, and they translate. They translate everywhere. And they don't wear on the ears at all. Can't ask for more than that a few hundred $/pair.

Also a great deal, at the next notch up in price range, is the JBL LSR series. Super transparent. Self-calibration to room acoustics that really works. S/PDIF connection in addition to analog choices.

Connect either of those to your interface, and you'll be a happy man.

There have been reports of ASIO4ALL causing problems for Win7 users. I haven't tried it yet myself.

[lrankine]

Thanks for the info and recommendations David! I'm using the ASIO4ALL driver since I don't have any interface on my "main" PC. I've got another PC that I'm using in my drum room (for recording) that is hooked up to an interface (Profire 2626) and I'm not having any issues at all down there.......guess that should tell me something. But that's the only thing I'm using that PC for. I was hoping to use my primary PC just for mixing if I can get it working decently.

At this point I'm seriously considering picking up the smallest M-Audio interface along with some studio monitors just to make everything "play well together." And by the way..........do the Bose QC headphones also mask "bad" things that should be heard?

[daeron80]

Good! Yeah, the new mboxes are reportedly very good sounding, even the smallest one. That and a decent pair of self-powered studio monitors and you'll be in business.

Yes, everything Bose makes uses their proprietary sound-enhancing tricks. All kinds of subtle phase distortion and harmonic distortion going on.