The Setup:

Maxtor 120Gb USB 2.0 external HD holding about 30Gb of MP3s (256K quality on average)

>>running via USB (1.1) cable into>>

Dell Inspiron 8100 Laptop running Windows XP (all updates DLed and installed as of 1/6/03)
with
Pentium III 1.0 GHz processor
512 Mb RAM

using MM4Pro, build 21

>>sending audio (live [outputs 1 and 2] and preview [outputs 3 and 4]) via firewire into>>

M-Audio Firewire 410 sound module (4 in, 10 out)

The Problem:

While running dual outputs through the 410, at random times during the live performance - whether in the middle of previewing/manipulating or not -, MM just stops processing all audio and the preview and performance points just stop where they are.

I say it just "stops processing the audio" because I can still open up menus and see the options window and such, but I can't manipulate sprockets or songs at all, or restart the playback for about 30 seconds to a minute or so.

Watching my task manager performance while using MM, I note that the processor resources run at about 50-60 percent while just running the performance, and 70 to 80 percent - occasionally spiking at 100 - when running the preview while the performance is running.

I did catch another thread of a similar topic, suggesting that there was an NVidia driver conflict that may be causing it, and the Inspiron does use the NVidia GeForce2Go driver and chip, so, I went to update the drivers for that (however, because I couldn't get any NVidia driver update to show up on windowsupdate, like the thread originally mentioned, I ended up downloading the latest drivers from the NVidia site directly).

I also killed any and all expendable applications that were running in the background (MSN Messenger, Direct CD were the only ones found), and ran a defrag of the laptop's hard drive, even though it told me that a defrag wouldn't be necessary (the USB drive reported 100% contiguous files and no fragmented files).

In terms of Mixmeister settings, I ended up moving the performance slider all the way to "reliable", set the cache size to "unlimited" by checking the correct box, and am using Wave Output instead of Direct Sound, (Direct Sound seems to make the audio sound "digitally scratchy", which would be the best way to put it).

Still, the audio freezes seem to continue at random, and I just can't put my faith in a program with that kind of temperament - especially when DJing live in a nightclub.

The only thing that I can come up with is that the data from the hard drive may not be making it to the PC in time, and I may need a PCI card for USB 2.0 - but that's just speculation...

Is there *anything* I might be missing here - setting-wise, software-wise, or hardware-wise - that could be causing this? The concept and interface behind MM4 is very nice, but, while I'd hate to have to forsake it for another app, I just can't have things like this continue to happen.

Thanks for any and all suggstions,

-J(ay)

[This message was edited by The Konstrukt on Jan 06, 2004 at 16:32.]