I just got my new que burner and altho the burner works well so far, during playback on audio tracks I get what can only be described as a stutter or pause.

The odd part is that it only happens with tracks 7-11 and not on all of them, either with a burned cd or a commercial audio cd. The stutter occurs randomly within a particular cd but at the same spots on any any cd with the stutter. ie one cd might stutter only on track 8 while another might stutter on 7 9 & 10 but each of thses stutters affect the same cd at the same place.

When the cd playback pauses the access light on the que stays lit the entire time and the g-4 pauses as well, the mouse moves but the machine is locked until playback resumes. this might be a sec to maybe 5-10 secs before playback resumes. very strange.

the other odd thing is that these cds all playback fine on any other player/burner, the standard dvd-rom in the g-4, a scsi yamaha 6416 connectted to an adaptec 2906, my home denons, my sony portable and my car deck.

now to my question, does anybody else that has a que!Fire notice this? is this a firewire thing? (This my first firwire device)

details: g-4 450 gigabit, 768 ram, toast 4.1.2, firwire 2.5, os 9.0.4

I would have assumed that this was a problem with the burn or the media but I extracted a cd to aiff, burned it to the cd and both the copy and the original had the same stutter at the same spot in the same track.

I have calls into que and a topic at apple forums on this but no one else has heard of this so far.

thanks

[FixItAllNow]

Interesting. I have and use the Que 12x10x32x and do not have this problem. It sounds as if the FireWire stream is not being efficiently controlled. That is, when reading the Que drive will not be continuously active. Rather, it will indicate (Green LED) that reading is in pulses.

What are you using for playback? I highly recommend SoundJam. Probably one of the best programs for the Mac in any category. (No I don't work with C&C). One of the features I like about SoundJam is that it will play an audio CD without interruption 99.9% of the time. No matter what the User is doing. They have a demo version which can be freely downloaded.

Turn off autoplay in the QuickTime Prefs. Run SoundJam and then insert the audio CD in the Que.

Let me know your results.

I agree totally, and that is exactly what is happening, the access light is pulsing instead of being a steady green.

Unfortunately all of the items you mentioned are either being used or set correctly. autoplay is off and I use soundjam mp plus for general playback ( I agree with you about sj but just got a demo of the new audion that looks promising)

the funny thing is that when I run the que off my wallstreet PB although the audio doesn't go thru the book ( no digital audio I'm guessing because of os 8.6) the que access light is steady green while in playback and there are no stutters. I'm now guessing the problem is os related but haven't a clue how to address it other than what I've already done. if you have some more ideas I'd gladdly give 'em a try.

Thanks, Mark

also good to know that your not having this problem, btw what system etc are you using?

I have a similar problem with my Yamaha8824 external going through a FireWire2Go card on my PBG3 with FW 2.5 drivers.
50% of my mouse clicks cause a halfsecond pause in playback (mostly between programs and using menus and scrollbars). I've tried the latest SoundJam and Audion, but the pause frequency is the same. I figured this was because the audio was coming through the firewire cable instead of sound-in, which I also have hooked and set up (playback doesn't stop when the sound-in is unplugged); is there a way to force audio through the audio out on the drive and into sound-in? I've also noticed that the headphone jack doesn't work on the front of the drive.
Anyone have additional suggestions?
BTW, this drive works perfectly to burn on my PB and on my W2K machine (Firewire is slick!); I had a ZipCD IDE in the W2K machine that made coasters MORE than half the time, none yet with the FW setup.

hi Macsteve,

you must be using os9 on the pb? With os9 you get digital sound options that run trhu the firrewire cable instead of the stereo in that's why you get sound without the cord. You should be able to force the sound thru the spkr out by changing the setting in the sound control panel but I'm not positive about that. That would be where I started first. As to the headphone jack, you're right when in playback on the firewire connected to my g-4 it doesn't work. It did however when connected to my pb running 8.6. It must be becuase of the digital sound output thru the firewire channel.

I just checked the sound control on my g-4 and changing it doesn't switch the sound output, sorry.

now I'm not at all sure how to force the playback through the headphone jack.

btw, when I'm playing back through the que mouse clicks seen to have no effect, I can pretty much do anything on the g-4 during playback, my problem I think is more the que itself not able to pass as much data as it should or at least being able to manage the data flow. Does your que access light stay solid green during playback or does blink like mine?

Mark

[FixItAllNow]

Hi everyone,
I'm playing SRV from "The Sky is Crying" (good cracker) while I'm writing this message; clicking, dragging, selecting, correcting. All without "stutters" or other problems. ...had to answer some e-mail... no stutters.

I am running an iMacDV 400Mhz, 45G HD, Que 12x10x32x CD-RW (FireWire), Iomega 250 (FireWire). I ensure that at least all the current System Software (Apple) is up to date. (Let alone SoundJam which is at 2.5.2).

Let me try to create a stutter by using the dredded Iomega Zip 250 while Stevie is playing (knowing Iomega design I'm a little nervous)...It burped when the disk was mounted and when opening the main window but not while I was copying 10Megs of MP3s to the Zip.

Are you running anything else on FireWire which might be taking bandwidth away from your Que drive? Try running with only the que drive on FireWire.

I would have to say at this point that your problem is not hardware related. It is my belief that the software, system or otherwise, is not controlling the FireWire data stream(s) as they should. Ensure that your system software is up to date. Also, limit your background apps which take a lot of processing power. You can use Peek-A-Boo or a similar program to see what program is using a lot of processing power and should be killed.

[FixItAllNow]

McSteve,
I didn't notice your comments concerning your front headphone jack. I use external speakers with my iMac. These speakers, while they work great with OS 9.0.4, do not work at all with OS X. This seems to imply that software controls the output. That is, when an external plug is plugged into the output jack this is "sensed" and no sound is applied to that output. If I unplug my speakers while in OS X the sound will start flowing from the stock speakers.

Also, I believe the Que acts as a passive device which supplies data, how much? when?, etc., only when requested. I would suspect that the data is not acquired when needed, but, rather music data is read in advance so that stutters can be avoided. This is why I believe the problem may be with the controlling software rather than the hardware.

marbleguy, try adjusting the setting of SoundJam. I give SoundJam 20Megs (20480000) of memory. The idea is that maybe SoundJam can use or does use this extra memory to buffer the music so it can better control the data flow. After looking at SoundJam's prefs I noticed that I also set the File buffer size to the maximum of 256K. I'm confident that these setting adjustments will help you if not solve your prolems.

Last, maybe it's a problem with G4s vs. G3s.

Hi fixitallnow,

weird stuff, I don't have anything else on the firewire channel, and if I play from the internal dvd player no problem, but if I play the same cd on the que no matter if I'm running everything or nothing I get the stutter but only on those middle cuts. Does your que stay solid green during playback? on cds that don't stutter (there are some) no matter what I run everything is copasetic. I'm stumped, gonna call que tomorrow. I even bought a spindle of TDK 12xs because que recommended them, they weren't any better. and burns with DAO are still iffy, sometimes it works (real fast) and sometimes coasters. TAO is a bit slower but it generally burns no problem.

QUOTE]Originally posted by FixItAllNow:
Hi everyone,
I'm playing SRV from "The Sky is Crying" (good cracker) while I'm writing this message; clicking, dragging, selecting, correcting. All without "stutters" or other problems. ...had to answer some e-mail... no stutters.

I am running an iMacDV 400Mhz, 45G HD, Que 12x10x32x CD-RW (FireWire), Iomega 250 (FireWire). I ensure that at least all the current System Software (Apple) is up to date. (Let alone SoundJam which is at 2.5.2).

Let me try to create a stutter by using the dredded Iomega Zip 250 while Stevie is playing (knowing Iomega design I'm a little nervous)...It burped when the disk was mounted and when opening the main window but not while I was copying 10Megs of MP3s to the Zip.

Are you running anything else on FireWire which might be taking bandwidth away from your Que drive? Try running with only the que drive on FireWire.

I would have to say at this point that your problem is not hardware related. It is my belief that the software, system or otherwise, is not controlling the FireWire data stream(s) as they should. Ensure that your system software is up to date. Also, limit your background apps which take a lot of processing power. You can use Peek-A-Boo or a similar program to see what program is using a lot of processing power and should be killed.[/QUOTE]

Originally posted by marbleguy:
Hi fixitallnow,

weird stuff, I don't have anything else on the firewire channel, and if I play from the internal dvd player no problem, but if I play the same cd on the que no matter if I'm running everything or nothing I get the stutter but only on those middle cuts. Does your que stay solid green during playback? on cds that don't stutter (there are some) no matter what I run everything is copasetic. I'm stumped, gonna call que tomorrow. I even bought a spindle of TDK 12xs because que recommended them, they weren't any better. and burns with DAO are still iffy, sometimes it works (real fast) and sometimes coasters. TAO is a bit slower but it generally burns no problem.

I had SJ at 15000 and the buffer at the Max 256, I'm bumping sj to 30000 just for grins, it may just be the g-4....

QUOTE]Originally posted by FixItAllNow:
Hi everyone,
I'm playing SRV from "The Sky is Crying" (good cracker) while I'm writing this message; clicking, dragging, selecting, correcting. All without "stutters" or other problems. ...had to answer some e-mail... no stutters.

I am running an iMacDV 400Mhz, 45G HD, Que 12x10x32x CD-RW (FireWire), Iomega 250 (FireWire). I ensure that at least all the current System Software (Apple) is up to date. (Let alone SoundJam which is at 2.5.2).

Let me try to create a stutter by using the dredded Iomega Zip 250 while Stevie is playing (knowing Iomega design I'm a little nervous)...It burped when the disk was mounted and when opening the main window but not while I was copying 10Megs of MP3s to the Zip.

Are you running anything else on FireWire which might be taking bandwidth away from your Que drive? Try running with only the que drive on FireWire.

I would have to say at this point that your problem is not hardware related. It is my belief that the software, system or otherwise, is not controlling the FireWire data stream(s) as they should. Ensure that your system software is up to date. Also, limit your background apps which take a lot of processing power. You can use Peek-A-Boo or a similar program to see what program is using a lot of processing power and should be killed.

[/QUOTE]

unfortunately more memory didn't help, same stutter.

I did however get a reply from tech support at Que, the guy said he would pass my info on to customer service for an RMA so the drive can be checked out. I'm thinking maybe a return to buy.com but I'll have to check their policy.

Thanks for all the input, maybe its just a hardware problem afterall...

I would be trying an os 9 install on my pbook just to see if its the g-4 but I'm waiting for 9.1 before I buy a copy.

[This message has been edited by marbleguy (edited 12-22-2000).]

I've just done some more experimenting, I hooked the drives sound out to external speakers not connected to my PB, the sound played though the external speakers (sound out) but not though the PB speakers (FW cable) and NO stutter occured! When I switched the output to the PB sound-in, I got even sound with a steady drive read light. It seems the audio connection needs to be established at startup/poweron (?), for this to occur. With QT autoplay this worked as described; when I started Audion 2 and played using it, the drive read light started to flicker and the sound stuttered, however Sound Jam 2.0.2 did not perform this way. So what I've been able to conclude is that the cables need connected before startup/poweron, that QT and SJ will use the PB sound-in jack for audio and that Audion uses the FW cable (this is furthur confirmed by the fact that only Audion quits audio playback when the FW cable is disconnected mid-song) - this is a strick against using Audion 2.0.
Thanks marbleguy and FixItAllNow for all the input and suggestions.

Happy <insert holiday here>.

I sent my que back to buy.com, they were very nice about the only downside is no cross shipping. Have to wait until it gets to them before a replacement is sent out.

We'll see if there is a happy ending on this one, MacSteve too bad I didn't see your last post, I would have tried that out as well before sending it back. I still would like it to play through the firewire channel tho and it seems like it should unless Fixitallnow's is the only one that does that...

if I was sure I would be able to get os9.1 for free as an update I would just order that and update my pbs and try them to see if it was a g-3/g-4 thing.