Soundcards

[Ross]

Well, I currenlty own a Hercules Game Theater XP 6.1 (I hate it, worst product I ever bought) and just about every game I try has some occasional crackling. Now, I know crackling is something that is just there (unless someone out there has 100% perfect sound... share plz) but my question is, what soundcard are you using and what kind of problems or experience are you having with it?

Using PJ64 1.5 w/Jabo's plugins

Hercules Game Theater XP 6.1:
minor crackling
cant use Zilmer's or I will get major latency issues and cant buffer either (latency issues again)

Also, what audio codecs you guys using? I know not everyone is using the same audio codecs and if you have one that is just working wounders for you, post it =) Currently, I'm just using whatever WinXP shipped with plus some codecs off of Nimopack.

[jollyrancher]

It's probably not the sound card... probably the CPU's not fast enough... and you'll get slowdowns and sound crackling. A p4 with a cheap Soundblaster gets no crackling using Jabo's 1.5 audio. So don't expect to get no crackling just by upgrading the sound card.

[Maximus]

That's right, I'm using AC97 integrated sound chip and the sound is working fine. But due to my Duron 900MHz, sometimes the sound get cracky...

[Stezo2k]

well i got a ac '97 also and i dont get any crackling in pj or anything like that. Make sure ur drivers are up 2 date :)

Stez

[Ross]

Well I gots:

AMD Athlon XP 1900+ (agoga)
512megs PC2100
GeForce 4 Ti 4200
Win XP Pro

And I get crackling =) It has to be my soundcard but funny thing, I put in an SBlive value card and got crackling aswell. Isnt the speakers (Altec Lansing 251).

What I'm defining as crackling is that the sound plays fine but you hear crackling (static). Now, my mp3's play fine and just about other games play fine (WC3 doesnt if using EAX2/1, get crackling) so I'm guessing Hercules make shit soundcards. But, like I said I had the same static noise with an sblive value. So....

Codec?

[Smiff]

codec= compression/decompression algorithm, not relevant here!

This is a very annoying subject because different people have hugely varying standards of what constitutes "bad" and what's not noticed... completely consistent audio output all the time is not possible, conversely PJ64’s audio should be near perfect in most situations, try posting an MP3 made from logged audio to see if that demonstrates your perceived problem.

[jollyrancher]

When I said it's not crackling on a cheap Soundblaster, I meant the SB Live Value, which apparantly is crackling for you. Your AMD Athlon XP 1900+ has to be comparable to a fast p4, which I'm using, and you've got me on the geforce4 vs geforce3. My old Sounblaster drivers sucked and I'm using these obscure ones that came out in June 2002, which work real well. So besides the drivers, all I can reccomend is that you try "sync game to audio" on any games that are crackling. And make sure you're using Jabo's 1.5 audio... I got crackling on 1.4, but not 1.5.

[Matt Lukin]

i have some cracklingtoo... always wondered why...

but not in all games, not in most games , only on some :)

and my card is a SB 64 :D

[ShadowFX]

People, I never heard of the term 'crackling'. Or is it that hard to express yourself when it comes to explaining bad sound? Or does it excist? Anyway, I don't have any bad sound these days with the 1.5 Plugin. BTW, the newest drivers that were released in June, are those the Update Drivers for XP?

[Trotterwatch]

Have you got a Via Chipset Ross? If so, then it would be wise to download the Via Latency patch from viahardware.com

[Smiff]

crackling.. that's the stuff on pork. yum.

...

OK i should be good for another 10 serious posts

[bodie]

cracks pops and splutters ..sounds like a night at the bingo :P
strange subject to comment on .. i get great audio in everything(pj included) but like smiff said everyones perception of acceptable audio is going to be different ... if you have a good sytem /latest drivers and stuff then only god knows (he's a great repairer) .. so i haven't added much in the way of help and think i have only posted because i am on my 6th can of stella :) cheers dudes

[flow``]

i thought the via latency patch was included in the latest drivers? (now up to 4.43 btw, released yesterday)

and if you're using an integrated ac97 chip, you can grab the latest drivers here -> http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=69

soundblaster cards.. check soundblaster.com

and for hercules.. here http://us.hercules.com/support/index.php3

or windows update has some drivers for your card.. check out the post about it here -> http://www.warp2search.net/article.php?sid=6830