Does anyone know why the following might be occuring?

Audio files (.wav) that have always worked for me in the past on soundtracks and that still play fine in Windows Media Player and using other players,
are now skipping, popping (sounds like scratches) and slowing down (kind of a slow motion warble) BUT only when on the Vegas timeline during editing.

Thanks in advance for any help.

BTW, the source of the files is a storage hard drive, not a CD-ROM.

could be a lot of things. first off, I'd check for things in the following order:
1-check CPU load
2-check for conflicting processes/programs-firewire busses are notorious, if you're using something like a soundblaster pci card, throw it in the trash and get a good sound card...check your computer's IRQ assignments...a sound card sharing with a firewire card, for example, is problemattic.
3-check your threshhold noise levels. they should be under -90 dB.

4-check for actual clipping...look at the audio waveform

hope this has been of some help

Thanks Bill...negative on all of your suggestions...I'm running dual core processors with no programs running in background, no IRQ conflicts, and no sound card sharing firewire connections...I am running a Soundblaster Audigy 4 card, but this issue is much newer than the card...oh yes, the waveform shows does not indicate anything in the spots where the skips, etc are.

OK, what audio output device did you set in vegas preferences? do you get the same problem in ASIO, Microsoft sound Mapper, Direct Sound, and waves classic?

I currently am using the Microsoft Sound Mapper (the default setting), I will try the other options.

The options I have are:

Direct Sound
Classic Wave
Creative Asio
SB Audigy (three varieties of this)

Do you recommend any settings over the others?

I have tried an Asio setting and it does seem to be working fine now....still interested in your recommendation if you have one to offer....

At this point, it appears, however, you have led me to the solution!

ASIO is the method of choice...zero latency.

Thanks Bill

You know, the problem is back...it had seemed inconsistent, and now I see that it happens after editing for 20 minutes or so, almost as if the PC becomes "tired", the music starts to skip and slow down...

In this case, I am adding a song for a soundtrack, play with it, when it doesn't work, I remove and add another, etc, playing with different selections...wonder if something, memory or something is becoming bogged down.

I have previously tried doing complete shutdowns and restart, but it didn't work. I have checked CPU and MB temps, they are excellent.

This is some weird stuff. I've been using Vegas for two years, and this is the most "serious" issue I've had.

Edit:

I am starting to suspect a possible connection between this issue and my recent installation of Windows Media Player 10.

other people have reported problems with WMP10

I zeroed out my hard drive, reinstalled XP and Vegas 7.0c, did not update Windows Media Player, and Vegas is running like a champ. Preview is better and the audio is perfect, just like it used to be!

Thanks for your assistance, Bill.

NP
I hate it when that happens. ;o)

Hmmmmmmmmmm

I wonder if thats the poblem I am having. I have the exact same symptoms. Additionally sometimes WMP plays only audio w/o video. How do I tell which version I have of WMP?

Try this experiment. Go to preferences, video tab. If your dynamic RAM preview is set to a high number try defaulting it to 64 MB. See if this helps.