Digital Audio Workstation

So, for about the last two weeks, I've been trying to set up a 16-channel 96kHz, 24-bit, digital recording system based around Cubase Essential 4, two Delta 1010LT cards, and my main desktop machine [home-built Intel Quad core Q6600, Asus P5Deluxe, 500GB RAID, 2GB fast ram, GeForce 9600 graphics card, aluminium case, Vista 32-bit SP2].

Annoyingly, there are crackles in the recorded audio at 96kHz. Everything is OK at 48kHz, but I'm with Jean Michel Jarre on this one - if you're recording analogue synths, it's only at around 96kHz that the recording process becomes transparent; there is a very definite digital colouration of analogue synths at 48kHz.

So... I've tried the various system optimization tricks I've found in magazines and the internet. I've installed a dedicated SATA drive with a dedicated small partition for audio. I've tried linking the Delta 1010LT cards by S/PDIF and I've tried linking them by Word Clock. I tried setting the OS priority for background tasks, and setting the drive properties for performance. For god's sake, I even tried unplugging the WiFi hub, my Blackberry, and the cordless house phone.

None of this witchcraft makes the slightest bit of difference. What it turned out to be was this - in the BIOS, there is an option called C1E. This changes the clock speed of the CPU in response to task demands without any intervention from the OS - very energy-efficient, I'm sure, but following a message board post, I tried disabling it.

The crackles seem to have gone - but I'll try some more recording tomorrow and see what happens.