Steinberg NUENDO Audiolink 96, Operation Manual, Page: 42 / 136

NUENDO AUDIOLINK 96
English – 42
13.2 Performance
A very common problem is insuffi-
cient hard disk performance. If the
first track is missing while recording
multiple tracks, or the error mes-
sage ‘Audio: Record Error’ appears,
the disk sub-system is too slow, i.e. it is unable to write the audio data
to the disk quickly enough. The problem can almost always be reme-
died by changing ‘Disk Block Buffer Size’ from the default 64kB to
256kB.
This is especially true if you want to
record more than 12 tracks at the
same time. 26 tracks are only possi-
ble after changing ‘Disk Block Buffer
Size’ to 256kB (depending on your
computer). Please note that these parameters are only updated after
clicking on ‘Apply’.
The heyday of (expensive) SCSI hard disks in high-speed audio worksta-
tions is over. Today’s cheap high-capacity EIDE disks allow continuous
transfer rates of well over 5 MB per second. In practical terms, this is
more than enough to record up to 24 simultaneous tracks using Nu-
endo and Nuendo Audiolink 96!
Windows
However, the hard disks have to work using the Windows 98 Busmaster
drivers. To activate the EIDE Busmaster mode, open the Device Manager
(Control Panel/System). Double-click on ‘Disk drives’, then on the required
hard disk(s). Select ‘DMA’ in the Properties dialog, then restart Windows.
The Buffer Size value in Nuendo Audiolink 96’s Settings dialog deter-
mines the latency (in this case the delay) between the audio applica-
tion and the Audiolink 96 as well as general system stability. The higher
the value, the more tracks can be recorded and played back simulta-
neously and the longer the system takes to react. At the given maxi-
mum of about 0.2 seconds, you will not notice much delay at all - the
system will still respond quickly and smoothly.
Windows
Present systems are unable to use the 1.5 ms mode without audible clicks.
Current PCs can handle 3 ms. For optimum reliability we recommend set-
ting the highest latency possible, 182 ms.