Vinyl Studio hangs recording from ADL GT40 USB

[amanka]

Hi Joe, Paul

Yes, I checked the various settings of that switch (MM=Moving Magnet cartridge, MC=Moving Coil; and line). I've been having some intermittent problems with the GT40 while recording.  After about 5-15 minutes of recording, a hum/buzz appears in the recorded file, but I don't hear it while recording.  I went back to my old phono stage and used my preamp output as a line in for the GT40, but still heard the buzz, so I suspect it is the ADC part of the GT40.  I called Music Direct and it agreed to swap it out even though my 30 days has passed.

Regarding the software, I've been playing with demos of VS and Sound Studio.  SS works for any setting, but it's more expensive.  I tried to trick VS into a higher setting by starting at 44/16, waiting a few seconds and changing to 96/24 after it already started.  It crashed out, so that didn't work either.

I never got a response from Furutech, but it doesn't look like I missed much.  I'd bet they didn't do much testing with Macs.  I'll check back in after I get the replacement unit.

Aaron

[joebee53]

Just noticed this new addendum to the downloadable ADL GT40 USB user's manual on page 25 under the heading of Mac OS - "Do not set the bit and sample rates on the MAC OS MIDI application to 24bit/96kHz. Only set bit and sample rates to 24bit/96kHz on recording software." My original paper user's manual makes no mention of this.

Joe

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Curious.  Thanks for the update.

[StefanRied]

I have the same problem. The GT40 appears as USB 1.x



A USB 2 device should be listed with 480 MBit/sec speed.

If you set the Vinylstudio to 24/96 only one stream (recording or playback) fits into the USB 1 bandwidth. If you run a 24/96 reconding and use the GT40 also for playback through Vinylstudio the USB device hangs reproduceable.

I opened an ticket with the German Furutech Distributor who was very friendly and committed to research the subject with Furutech Japan. If Furutech will not solve this in the next 10 days, I have to give my GT40 back again.

Is anybody seeing the GT40 as USB 2 device in the OSX Lion System profile???
My Macbook Pro is a fresh Lion 10.7.2 installation.

This is not a VinylStudio problem. Any other recording software will crash or hang if Apple's CoreAudio driver has such a bandwidth problem.

Stefan

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

That's very helpful, thank you.  It might be worth trying another cable and / or USB port but I don't hold out much hope.

[Furutech]

Recording instability and USB noise issues with the ADL GT40: The TENOR chip used in the GT40 has a bandwidth limitation of 12Mbps (USB 2.0 full speed operation), and due to this limitation only one I2S input or output can be set for 24bit/96KHz application at one time. Therefore, under this condition, for simultaneous multiple-channel applications other I2S interfaces must be configured at 16-bit/48KHz or 16-bit/96KHz. In other words, when recording it is necessary to set the audio Input on the computer to 24bit/96KHz (PC-Sound application; MAC-MIDI application), but do not set not the audio Output to 24bit/96KHz. The Output should be set to a lower 16bit resolution until recording is done. Then when you want to playback your 24bit/96KHz files through the GT40 you need to reset the output to 24bit/96KHz and reset the input to a 16bit resolution. For further information please refer to the GT40 FAQ page: http://www.adl-av.com/products/usbdac/gt40/

[StefanRied]

Hi,

thanks for the explanation.
This background comes really late. And frankly, would have been expected to be in the manual.
I was personally very disappointed about the GT40, because a 24/96 record and monitor use-case is really the default, what I expect to be delivered by a real USB 2.0 interface in the premium class.

Meanwhile, I have a RME Babyface with superior studio sound quality and an external Phone-Stage, even symmetric audio input and output.

The German company RME is more serious about doing USB and Firewire right. Shiny covers and stylish design is totally useless, if the software part of such a product sucks.
Mac users and even PC users should stay away from Furutech and consider RME.

Stefan

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Thanks for this.  I'm surprised the UK guys didn't tell me when they supplied the loan unit.  Perhaps it wasn't known about then.  

VinylStudio monitors recordings at the same sample rate and bit depth rate as the recording itself, so will trigger this problem.  The best solution, currently, is probably to turn 'Monitor Recording' off although I did have one correspondent (on the Mac) who reported that setting the sample rate and bit depth to 44/16 in Audio Midi Setup clears the problem.  We cannot verify this ourselves, unfortunately.

And, of course, avoiding using any playback functions in VinylStudio while recording.  That's not so good.

We will see what we can do about this in the next release.  It's probably adequate to monitor all recordings / perform all playback at 44/16 (or at least have an option to do so).

[dif]

I know this is an old topic, but it's just been very helpful to me. I'm using the Creative Sound Blaster Surround 5.1 USB on mac, and this was causing VinylStudio to hang when trying to check levels. I could never get to actually record anything.

Looking at the connection information it's the same as the model described here - 12mb/sec max. Looking using the Audio Midi Setup showed that the output was set to 6 channels. Setting both input and output to 2 channels, 24bit has got everything working. This looks like basically the same issue and same solution as for the ADL GT40 USB.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Interesting.  Thanks for the info.

[GHSMD]

First, thanks for your great product!  I second the request to support separate sample rate and bit depth for monitoring vs recording.

For other ADL GT40 users out there,  I can record at 96/24 and do "Save Tracks" editing at 96/16.  Source select USB on the GT40.  After setting Recording Options to 96/24 in VS, check in Mac OS X Audio Midi Setup that device "ADL GT40 USB DAC" shows Input format 96/24 and Output format 96/16.  Change Output back to 96/16 if necessary.  This is contrary to the advice in the ADL FAQ that says to let the recording software set the rate.  In our case the recording software effectively sets the same rate for both, which will not work.  Do not Monitor Recording or Change Playback Device (to ADL GT40 USB DAC).  While recording, it is okay to switch the GT40 source selector to Phono/Line if you want to monitor the source while recording (since Monitor Recording is off in VS).  There is an audible click when toggling the GT40 source but this is not transferred to the recording.  Toggle back to USB before "Split Tracks" or next recording.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Hi,

The next version of VinylStudio (following on from V8.3.1) will offer a 'playback at 44/16' option regardless of recording settings or the file being worked on.  That should sort this issue out once and for all.  In the meantime, thanks for the tips.

[GregC]

I downloaded and purchased your software today.  It works very well with the Furutech ADL Esprit and Windows 7.  I did not have the same problems as the people reported with the GT40.

I look forward to when the software allows playback.  Another nice feature would be if you can select a block in the wavefrom and delete it. 

Will the new version be available for download to people who bought the current version?

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Hi,

You can delete the selected part of the waveform by using the 'Cut and Splice' facility in the Cleanup Audio window.  To remove gaps between tracks, shift-click and drag the green 'start pf track' marker past the section you want to remove.  You do this in the Split Tracks window.

The new version will be a free download, yes.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Update: we now have a beta-test version of VinylStudio available which has a 'playback at 44/16' option.  Using this option should resolve the problems with the GT40.  Please let me know (by posting back here or through the website) if you would like a copy of this.