Home Recording - (scratching head)

[Beavis]

Hi there i have been an avid enthusiast when it comes to home recording, not i have a good knowlege of midi, syncing, and the general jargon of computer music BUT i can't seem to get my system working. I have been trying on and off to get it working for 6 months, here it is

PIII 500mhz
512Mb Ram
60 Gb hard disk
Matrox G450 dual head graphics card
Korg 1212 audio card
Cubase VST 5
Windows 98 SE

Now the mixer i use is the Korg 168rc soundlink DRS (compatible with the audio card)

Ok well i install everything as it says in the right order and everything but i keep getting pops and crackles, now i have done every combination of the syncing, Adat, word clock, the whole lot and can't get away from the pops and crackles. Sometime the pops and crackles go away but then cubase decides to chance my sample rate from 44100hz to 48000hz and this really ruins recordings. And after all this i keep getting ecessive pci activity from my sound card when ever i do any editing or midi.

This is really starting to annoy me as i haven't been able to record anything for a while, and i am fed up with fiddling, i never actually get round to recording because i am always mucking about with settings and trying to get it to work, i just want to record.

Now i think i have two options,

1. Bin the whole lot/sell it all and just buy myself an all in one system ala roland vs1640, korg 16 track recorder or something similar. I have a drum machine, keyboards etc. *But what would you recomend.

2. Change the software i use and see if it is more compatible with my system, example pro tools free or somthing else just so i can record my ideas.


Cheers in advance for any feedback

Beavis