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SS Importing Problem- Artifacts Left Over

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JG98258

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Good evening all- let's hope I can explain this properly- I have previously transferred my minidiscs, both Hi SP 256 kBPS and SP 192 kBPS from the RH1 into SS v.4.3 on a now dead computer. Still have the hard drive with a directory of "SS Optimized Files". My idea for this is so I can listen to them on the computer and have a backup for each one should I lose it. I then converted them, removing the copy protection, with the same codec. So I have a folder on my computer of optimized files with the .OMA extension- 15 GB worth in directories by group from the MDs.

So I get a new(used) computer- a Dell Optiplex GX280 P4 3.2 Ghz with a built in sound card, and reinstall SS 4.3. I import the .OMA files into SS. When I play them, I get little artifacts, or short "blurred" parts of the music, reoccurring every few seconds. Not pleasant.

More evidence: if I transfer one of these groups of .OMA files onto a blank minidisc, using SS, and play it on the RH1, I don't get the artifacts. If I play the disc through the RH1 attached to the computer running SS, I don't get the artifacts.

More evidence: if I transfer a group of .OMA files that were stored on a different computer into this version of SS and play, I don't get the artifacts.

I don't record my minidiscs using SS; I record them straight out of the CD player using an analog RCA to stereo miniplug cable(CD player doesn't have optical out).

Seems like the sound card could be the culprit. Does anyone out there know enough about this to offer an educated opinion? I don't know much about the various features sound cards offer, especially optical vs. analog, etc., but I know they're not terribly expensive for a decent quality one. If my artifact problem is because of the current mainboard embedded sound card, I'll spring for a separate one. If not, well I guess I could transfer all my discs one by one into SS again, and convert them. . . unless someone out there can shed some light on this. Thank you for whatever help you can offer.

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Completely off the top of my head, I'd make a wild guess (without knowing ANY of your detailed setup on the new machine, software-wise) and say probably some Antivirus program is doing this to you. That or Vista or W7 not yet properly configured or running on too little memory, causing thrashing of the OS and/or application code that is relevant.

Yes, strongly recommend a sound card with optical in and out. But I don't think that (lack of a sound card with digi-io) is the cause here. Pickup of bad noise from the line in or out, perhaps. But completely dropping out... I seriously doubt it.

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I have encountered brief dropouts of music when played directly from SonicStage in Windows XP. Not sure what causes this - drivers, DirectX, codecs, buffering problems or some other system settings. But all these files play perfectly when transferred to a Hi-MD.

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Thanks for the help y'all. I didn't mention before- when I imported the OMA files, I had my AV and firewall turned off. But there may be more to that- some other small resident app. that is working with the OS on a frequent basis. I went into services.msc and disabled several things that may have caused the problem. That didn't help. Maybe it's system restore. Could be a buffering problem with existing onboard sound card. I just finished downloading updated drivers, incl. the one for the sound card. Maybe that'll solve the problem.

If I don't get this solved that's ok; I just want to make sure I can recreate a disc if it gets lost or damaged. Being able to transfer onto a disc in the RH1 using the files from SS, and having it play back on the RH1 without the artifacts is good.

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Another possibility is some sort of unresolved interrupt conflict. Often freshly-installed sound cards suffer from this - they tend to need their own dedicated IRQ. I recall booting XP multiple times after a new sound card and its drivers added before it worked properly.

Ah yes, I remember what I wanted to mention... try cleaning up the device map. Instructions under "Solution to slow SP upload", if you can't find we will help.

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It was the sound card. Got a new one, a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE, and the problem is gone. Of course now that I have a sound card, after what I read about this model, I may have a new set of problems pop up from time to time. A new Windows thing to learn how to troubleshoot. But it's all good, it's useful knowledge; kind of like knowing how to diagnose and repair your car

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