I use Tracktion for a couply of years. It's the best DAW-Software I ever saw.
So it will belong part of my DAW as long as possible.
Many of tips from other users helped me to get a top DAW - thanks to all.
Here's my feedback I worked out for a lot of hours, You all know what I meen outerwise You would read this thread.
In short:
Tracktion is not actual. So it is a non-multimedia-applictation in sight of window vista and higher. It is handled from the kernel drivers like a text editor.
Thats in most cases not a problem, because all of You today have very high performant pc's. So the user don't realy gets a manner, whats going on at audio streaming. There are no tools you could use to see the problems. They had to run at minimum 10 times higher then the audio stream itself.
The only tool I know is DPC-Checker, with gives You a glance of the kernel action. But You can't see the cpu-works at the audio datastream.
Microsoft solved the problem with a new service called Multimedia Class Sheduler MMCSS. Read more here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/maga ... ernel.aspx
Newer applications can say for example to the MMCSS-server: "Hello, I'm a professional audio driver, so please, if I sent DCP-Data to my cpu, please tell her that they are VIP's!"
This works very fine and let us hope, nobody uses this to make his application a monster performance. Ok. MS applications will N.E.V.E.R do this.
On our DAW we must take care, that our application work together.
The fastest ASIO-Driver produces buffer underrun, if the audio editor is to slow. And so on...
Now what the deal with tracktion?
Tracktion is'nt able to sent messages to the MMCSS service. So tracktion runs as a normal application. And all the plugins are in the same boat.
If You wonder, why tracktion dosn't work fine and your cpu-usage meter in tracktion is far away from red. I myself wondered month over month. And if there was another application I still had changed.
Tonight I found the reason and fixed all my glitches, drops, hangs, no-working vst-plugins and can use all the fine ASIO drivers didn't work till today.
I can lower the buffer rate down to 128 Bytes and get 7 ms with ECHO FIREWIRE.
I'm very happy!
OK, permissing You havn't other probls like double interrupt, bad services and so on:
Here is for the first all you have to do to get Tracktion run stable under VISTA and all the never Windows:
Tell manually (tracktion can't) the Microsoft Multimedia Class Scheduler, that there is not endless space and time for VIP's, because normal applitions also want to live!
By default the value for not-multimedia-applications (like tracktion
) is set to only 20 percent while audio data streaming. This means for a high end pc running tracktion on a Pentium 4 with 500 MHz.This value seems never change and under windows there is no slider you can adjust it. So you have to go to the registry:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Currentversion\Multimedia\SystemProfile\SystemResponsiveness
Default value: 20
Range: 20 ... 79
Change the value from decimal 20% to 79%. I would say: The better your maschine the higher the value. I myself have best results with 79.
Or use this tool to control all Multimedia settings:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Syst ... Tool.shtml
DON'T DO THINGS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND - YOU SYSTEM MAY CRASH TOTALLY!!
Let work together - have fun!
ralf - germany
www.die-moories.de
