I'm new to digital music & have run into a major problem for which I'm hoping someone here may have some insight.

I bought Cakewalk 6.0 a few years ago, but ran into much difficulty because of the limitations of my old PC. I finally bought a new PC last year that could easily handle the software & I really enjoyed learning what all I could do with this package. (PC is Intel 1Ghz, 384 Mb RAM, 60G of storage, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Soundcard).

Unfortunately, I didnt realize what a dog Win_ME was when I bought the PC, so when I had the chance to upgrade to Windows XP_PRO, I did so. Overall, it helped tremendously, now I only reboot when new software is installed (instead of every day or two with Win ME).

Unfortunately, it has caused a MAJOR problem when trying to use my Roland XP-10 & Cakewalk: There is a split second delay from the time I press the key & when the sound is heard. I'm using the output on my soundcard to my stereo amp input. The entire set-up is the exact same as before when it worked fine-- with the exception of the O.S. I'm not running any other programs at the same time. I can't imagine 384Mb Ram or a 1Ghz processor not being enough to run Cakewalk 6.0 on Windows XP --> But, I'm stumpped.

Anyone have any insight into this? Ideas? Suggestions? (Preferrably one's with reasonable cost, I can't spend another $2k on another computer :p )

Thanks in advance,
Brad

Being a Mac guy, I have very little guidance for you. But it does sound like a software latency problem. In other words, I can't imagine it being an expensive solution. You're probably working with a bad driver or something similar. What I'd suggest is that you check out the keyboard forum at www.musicplayer.com I think you just might find your answer there.

Brad,

I don't have the answer either, but I agree with Steve - the driver is the first place I'd look. The Turtle Beach site lists a driver for XP for the Santa Cruz card that apparently just came out - dated April 26, 2002.

Other than the driver, I would check the task manager (or whatever is the equivalent in XP) for any processes chewing up cpu time. Also perhaps try closing as many other applications and services (use the services manager) as possible, just for troubleshooting.

Failing all else, perhaps an alternative might be Win 2000? But Steve is right too about checking other news groups - might be an answer there. Also, IMO you did good to ditch Win ME!

Steve & Simon:
Thanks for such quick responses!! -- I'll all of the ideas & websites -- one will surely work.

I guess I'll start with the driver & work from there. I had gone to the TB website, but that was 2-3 months ago. I guess they've made updates to the driver again!

Thanks again for the help!
Brad