New RME Multiface and Carbus Drivers

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:27 am

Just wanted to update anyone still listening that I tested out the cardbus as well as the pci card, which is now in my new desktop. The firmware and drivers are legit. It was my new laptop that was the issue. On another laptop (Dell), the firmware and drivers yielded excellent results for the cardbus. On my desktop, even better - I could actually use 0.7ms latency (32 samples) on a regular basis. I'll likely keep it at 3ms, but it's nice to know that if I wanted to monitor thru these drivers, I could get the latency down to almost nothing.

Sorry for the roller coaster ride. I know some of you are stressed about this. All I can say is that if it's been working or you're at mission critical on projects or gigs, be careful, but it should very likely all work out well. If you get a new laptop, well, test out the old drivers first, because once you go to the new firmware, there's no going back.

Fortunately, in my case, I won't have to go back because it's all working well.

SubQ · Post by **SubQ** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 3:17 am

so the new drivers are fine...
anyone having issues with the update?

Nebulae, what was the prob with your notebook? Whats the PCMCIA manufacturer?

trying to know it all to avoid as much risk as possible before try out the new drivers.

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 3:39 am

I don't blame you...you should be concerned. However, this won't help much:

My last laptop, reliable for 3 years, had a PCMCIA controller made by ENE. So did the new one. The thing with the new lappie was that there was crap all over the place - the firewire was bad, the cardbus was bad, the pc express was bad, etc. And the rme wasn't going well even with the older drivers and firmware.

If your current setup is all good, then I think upgrading would be fine. Just make sure that you get that SUCCESS notice when flashing. No matter what, DO NOT take the card out or reboot until you get that success.

Now having said all that, I do have to say that Synthax in Ohio is reprogrammin$25, and I should have it back by next week. So even if it fails, it's not the end of the world. And on ebay, there are two cards for sale for low $200s.

4am · Post by **4am** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:14 am

good news!
i will upgrade mine after my gig on sunday (you never know...)

thanks for the information
a.

Lux Libra · Post by **Lux Libra** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 10:53 am

I've updated drivers and firmware, and i have to say that the system runs stable as a rock - like before. Besides the ultralow latency (which makes crackles and pops come thru at 60% cpu) i haven't noticed any performance gain/loss yet (after all my raving about the drivers at the beginning of the thread....

) The digicheck diagnostic tool has been updated too, which is now able to capture audio direct. Kinda useless for me but.....
Everything's fine so long.

But one issue which i've got before is still annoying me: When i exchange my rme cardbus with my internet wlan card when the laptop is running, the hdsp.sys crashes my system. - blue screen, booting up.
Anyone else experienced this? Maybe an IRQ-Adress conflict?

SubQ · Post by **SubQ** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:57 pm

nebulae, what settings are you using? buffer size, etc. I see its worth upgrade, due to latency and cpu peak, right?

fingers crossed right now, i´ll try this night, keep you posted.

best,

coelho

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:48 am

Just wanted to provide a final update on this. All the issues I had before were related to the crappy laptop I had, which I traded back. Just a reminder that that laptop fucked up my firmware flashing.

I sent in my cardbus to Synthax in Ohio. They charged me $25 and shipping to reprogram my card (well, they sent me a replacement). I popped it into my 2-year old Dell (1.8ghz Pentium M) and I was able to EASILY USE 32 samples of latency. We're talkin' less than 1ms of latency. The Live 5 test registered at 27% CPU at 0.7ms of latency!!!! No pops or crackles. Also, these new drivers and firmware are insanely good - Live doesn't choke until you get well over 80% CPU. I then backed off to around 3ms latency, and the Live 5 test registered at around 24% CPU. I did a stress test with some Operators, and Live didn't choke till I was at around 90% CPU. All in all, I'm very pleased with this update, and I recommend it to everyone.

As for my monster desktop (see my sig), that's my main produciton machine while the Dell remains my performance machine (and it already smokes my old P4). I got the hammerfall PCI card for the desktop, and I again get really low latencies and amazing performance.

Just wanted to close off this thread and say that these new drivers do indeed ROCK.

SubQ · Post by **SubQ** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 9:32 pm

Indeed!!

Im flying now on my old signature notebook.

Rock solid, low latency and no cpu choke.

Thanks RME!! and nebulae for the tip!

happy as pig in shit,

coelho

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 12:02 am

Awesome...I know you were concerned...glad it worked out well for you!

4am · Post by **4am** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 2:23 pm

i have also installed new drivers & firmware... works fine here...
did not have time to push to the limits yet

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 2:26 pm

it doesn't take long...just drop down to 32 samples, and then take a picture of that shit-eating grin on your face

nowtime · Post by **nowtime** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 5:52 pm

nebulae! 32 samples!!

Congatulations.

How do I get in on this game, being Mac user? Is it just a matter of purchasing a new Multiface and Cardbus, or do I have to find an old Multiface? I understand I would also need the duel express card adapter, perhaps this is still the wildcard for Mac users getting this Holy Grail?

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 5:56 pm

I don't know how the duel adapter works, or what overhead there is in terms of latency. If you're on a Mac, I'd look into the Fireface400 or Fireface800. Or, look into the Motu. I hear all those work well with Macs.

4am · Post by **4am** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 6:15 pm

ok i have made the test with 18 tracks and one in monitoring, but no effects and at 32 samples was fine...
i tried just a couple of minutes but it looks good

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 6:20 pm

yeah, you should be fine until you hit about 80%CPU. Of course, with 32 samples, you'll hit that faster, but just imagine how much more CPU headroom you have now...you should be able to take the CPU to 85-90% and 256 samples easily.