Volume on toms?

[rolf]

I just started using dtab and it's great to be able to get all of those things in my head out easily and be able to hear them right away.

My only question is, is there a reason the toms are so quiet? Or is it something to do with my setup? The only one I can really hear well enough is the floor tom.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[kevin]

I've only heard above this issue once before.  Sadly I don't have any idea on why it occurs.  

What sort of sound card do you have ?

[rolf]

It's an integrated card on my IBM Thinkpad - T40. It's listed in my devices as SoundMax.

I will try my other computer (an R40) and see if there's any improvement. Otherwise, I've got a desktop as well. I'll just keep going until something works better, but I'm glad to hear it's likely just isolated to my particular hardware.

Thanks for the quick reply.

[kevin]

I think it may well be related to laptops (integrated sound), as the other guy (only one who's bothered to report a fault)  was having the same drama on his laptop also.

[rolf]

Kevin,

Thanks...it works just fine on my R40, for the record. I've been tabbing happily since I switched to that laptop.

[kevin]

I wish I could work out what the drama is ?, as it's just plain bizarre.. Oh well, that certainly makes a good case for adding some user pref's over the each sounds volume.

[smares]

hmm.... I have an integrated nVidia nForce audio. But even than the tom volume IS sounding very low.

Please check up with that.

[kevin]

Well, there's one easy way to check if it's a DTAB issue or simply and issue with the users sound card, and that's by playing this here midi file.

 If the problem is the with the sounds cards midi playback, then the same fault will occur.

[smares]

this is perfect. I'm able to listen to the Toms properly.

[spike1st]

I've noticed if i have DTAB and Windows Media at the same time, the tom sounds really really soft and the timing of the whole Dtab is off, like not clean, the hits are NOT smooth. But i have a hp laptop which does fine if i don't have Window Media player. also if you get exterior speakers help a lot to make it louder.

[smares]

I dont even have any media player running with Dtab. But even then the Toms doesnt sound loud at all.

[kevin]

Actually, It doesn't have to be Media Player, just any application that hogs the multi media device.  Even programs like "Seti" do it.   Which will effect playback, since Dtab uses the hires timer from that device for playback.

[smares]

yep... what u say is rite. But I dont have any of those programs running when I am using dtab.

Then what else might be the problem???

[kevin]

Sadly, situational problems like this, could be a result of anything, from a issue in Dtab, to interruptions from other programs,  bugs in the Midi Mapper device (which there are) , right to through bugs in your sound cards drivers or firmware.

 You could try selecting a different midi output device from within DTAB. (from menu Settings/midi/device)   The default device in Microsoft Midi Mapper.  Your sound card will no doubt have it's own device also.  Theres often a custom control panel of options for sound.   Check/tweak what your device sound/midi settings.  

You could try updating your sound cards drivers.

 Same applies to  interruptions from other software, this could be anything really and not only limited to the above few examples.  Like virus protections / p2p apps etc.  It could occur from any memory resident application that either wants the midi device or the high resolution timer.

[sandytf]

I am also suffering from this problem.  By setting the volume very low on everything else, I can improve the tom value but then I need to keep my system's main volume too high.  My computer uses a Asus Striker Extreme motherboard (with the included partially embedded sound card) and Windows XP SP2.  Additionally, the DTab program is not able to maintan consistent time.  The playback will speedup, slowdown, and miss notes.  I am using the October 8th 2006 version of DTab (0.99d).  I do not have any other "music" software installed on this machine that could have affected the MIDI settings and applications like Winamp and Media Center have never given me problems.  I even tried playing several of the posted MIDI files that have been exported from DTab (and a few of my own) and they all sound perfect in Winamp.