ReWire Still Too Slow

[Hovmod]

I use Reason witrh Tracktion all the time.
Loading samples is very slow indeed. The propellerheads told me the rewire host is responsible, and standalone loading times and variable loading times from host to host sort of confirms that...
However, once the samples have been loaded, I don't have many performance issues at all.

There is one thing that's a little strange: if I leave a project open for a long time without touching it, performance is insanely bad for a while. Crackles and pops. It's as if all the samples are stacked away for the winter and have to be reawakened before things are back to normal.

[fgimian]

It seems that a few of you see my point. Unfortunately in my case, everything is totally slughish after the loading of the samples and I really had trouble getting sound out of reason.

I've tried basically all ReWire hosts and there are 2 that do it perfectly. Ableton Live and Cubase, which is why I use Cubase lol

I tried Audition 2.0 yesterday and the ReWire support is totally unstable and sketchy, I had Reason hang on me several times while trying it. ACID has similar problems with Tracktion, things load really slowly.

I think the concept of using seperate affinitys per program might just work, I run a dual core here so I'll test it out.

Cheers
Fots

[headquest]

It's interesting to know that Cubase does it perfectly. I was beginning to think that Ableton was the only Rewire host that actually works properly!! I didn't have any problems with Audition 1.5 as a rewire host though, and I'm just downloading version 2.0. I saw your other post about that, but I noticed that somebody else had it working well, so I'll see what happens here and get back to you. (FWIW I'm using a P4 512MB laptop, so not exactly state of the art!)

[fgimian]

headquest yep I got Audition to work with ReWire too, I just noticed some wierd stability issues. For instance, while leaving Reason open and proceeding to close the current project and start a new one, some issues occurred. I hope you don't experience them to be honest.

Yep, I've been using Cubase with Reason for years and its totally rock solid. In fact, overall apart from the crappy support and bugs that Cubase has, I believe it rips every other sequencer without a doubt. The main reason I was thinking to switch was because I'm so sick of them releasing buggy products and then not supporting / fixing the bugs. Ableton are way better in that respect it seems.

But that's just my opinion, if you can find a copy of that SX 1 demo that was around somewhere you may want to give it a try for fun.

Cheers
Fots

[chico.co.uk]

If you're a registered Reason 3 user you could check this FAQ on the prop's site, titled;

"It takes much longer time to load samples in ReWire mode?"

http://www.propellerheads.se/support_ar ... SubArea=11

I don't own Reason 3 myself, so I don't know what it says. I have an earlier light version.

[headquest]

No multiple rewire .dll files here. Not maximg cpu either. Just one of those things I guess, but as I said tha GUI update problem hits hard here with T2.1, and I realise this only happens for a few people, so I'll shut up now

[headquest]

@ soundpalace - thanks for the info. I actually have a work copy of SX1 in any case, and I couldn't get into the workflow at all to be honest. That is why I got into Tracktion in the first place. A pity that things haven't worked out there, especially considering that the Tracktion/Reason rewire combination should be great. Tracktion has a lovely rewire implementation in terms of workflow... except for these problems that it presently throws up. From my point of view Ableton is working great though

[fgimian]

Totally agree headquestion, Tracktion has great ReWire routing possibilities, which have only JUST been added to Cubase. IT's a shame you couldn't get into Cubase but I agree that Tracktion's workflow is also wonderful. I found Cubase and Tracktion both great to use, followed by Ableton. Sonar was worst, workflow was just BAD ! lol

Looking at the FAQ question that chico pointed us to (Thanks mate), this is what i see..

When samples are loaded, they are first loaded in to the Reason panel. The next step is to copy the samples to the Reason Engine. In ReWire mode the Reason Engine is driven by the ReWire host. The ReWire host instructs the Reason Engine to load the samples, and the rate of this depends on the priority level set on the instructions from the ReWire host to the ReWire Engine.

If the ReWire host has set a lower priority on these instructions, the loading time will be longer.
This priority can't be set by the user.

So I think it's out of our hands. My computer hardware is as follows, maybe we see a similarity..

Pentium D (dual core) 3.0 GHz
Intel 955X based chipset board
2 GB Kingmax RAM
1 x 200 GB SATA drive, 1 x 200 GB IDE drive
Echo Layla3G PCI Audio Interface
Line6 GuitarPort USB Guitar Interface
1 x DVD burner (Pioneer)
1 x CD burner (LiteOn)
1 USB -> PCI card (which I have plugged the Guitarport in)

Ummm ... attached to my USB ports I have..
- iPod (just the cable)
- Printer HP PSC 2210 multifunction
- USB Hub -> Cubase Dongle (that's all that's in the hub)

I have 2 WinXP installs, 1 for normal work, 1 for music. My musicXP contains nothing but music software and drivers and is optimised using tips at www.musicxp.net

Running Reason 3.04.

I think I covered everything ? lol

Let me know if you have any joy

Cheers
Fots

[headquest]

Thanks for that soundpalace. I didn't know about the element of priority set by the host, but it explains a lot. Ableton and Propellerhead seem to have worked closely over the years, which would explain the popularity and reliability of the Live/Reason combination.

Regarding system specs, we actually have little in common - your system is much more powerful than mine!

P4 2.8 Ghz laptop, 512MB RAM, 60GB 4800rpm harddrive (not partitioned), WinXP SP2, Radion9000 graphics, firewire interface (M-Audio Ozonic audio interface/MIDI keyboard controller), various USB stuff plugged in (printer, mouse, broadband, wireless hub). TIme to upgrade actually

[fgimian]

yeah mate, that does look quite different. Maybe it has something to do with the version of Rewire.dll we are using. I think we must both be using the one that comes supplied with Reason 3.04.

That "could" be the culprit, or this could simply be a bug in Tracktion.

Cheers
Fots

[pHz]

has anyone checked this with anything else other than reason running as the slave ???

... dont have reason here but out of curiosity checked with live5 slaved to T2 and the loading of samples / loops / entire projects in live rewired to T2 was indistinguishable from live running standalone ...

... if thats confirmable by others then it might not be a T2 issue solely but something to do with the interaction between those 2 specifically ...

... do mackie talk to the props ???

slainte rob

[fgimian]

I can't say I've tried Ableton Rob, to be totally honest, I think I might just leave Tracktion alone and just continue with SL3 lol

But maybe headquest would like to give Ableton a shot ?

Cheers
Fots

[headquest]

Yeah, tomorrow
I'll get back...