How much free room do you have on your hard drive?
Also,for audio work you should have one drive for audio and important files, and one drive as just the O.S. drive. It makes it easier for the disk to write and increases speed.
Do you have USB periphs running at same time?
Also, be sure to download Sisandra's great PC benchmarking program that lets you know the details of you system. Running a comparions against other 2/4's will tell you if anything is wrong.
Tracktion demo songs slow @96khz (fix'd)+ Montana is a troll
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- KVRAF
- 10815 posts since 26 Nov, 2004 from UK
just a pop in the dark but did u put yr latincey up in the settings page in T try 10ms & also chk that yr running from the asio drivers in T not wdm or any other drivers yr soundcard has to offer i have a amd xp2000 running at 1676 htz & the demo tunes r using 20% max (emu 1820m asio sound card 512 ddr ram 64mb grafix & win 2000 sp4)
PS. peeps dont be rude to the nubies thay might be like me & have a gun & a way of finding yr home address from yr ip address
PS. peeps dont be rude to the nubies thay might be like me & have a gun & a way of finding yr home address from yr ip address
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- KVRist
- 415 posts since 18 Dec, 2003
""
The things you mention would slow down other hosts just as much as Tracktion, right?""
yep.
These days USB is alot better, but it still saps CPU. That's why I like regular midi controllers.
I will write a very short guide right now to help people tweak their setups,. Very basic and simple:
1. Keep taskbar startup icons to a minimum(lower right corner). Close out the printer, chat , virus stuff unless you are using it. Keep the firewall up of course - but that should be all you need when working on audio. If you have quick time, etc or any other non-essential music making app, adjust the setting so it never loads in the task bar unless you tell it to.
2. turn off the shitty windows automatic updates. This chews up cpu cycles searching around for stuff. Go into control panel, click on automatic updates, and uncheck "keep my computer up to date". That should do it, right? Wrong. It's still working, lol. So now go to administrative tools(same folder) and click on "services". Then click on automatic updates and set it to manual. Right below it or near it should be "Background Intelligent Transfer Service". Click on it and set it to manual as well. Now finally the automatic update beast has been killed. This will save you a bit of hassle and some cpu cycles.
3. Keep as much shit off your desktop as possible. Dontbe one of these guys with 300 AOL shortcuts all over your desktop. Dont keep large files on your desktop. Keep mp3's and bigger files in folders off the desktop. Only put essential items there. Put secondary items in your start menu.
4. Turn off all of the auto virus shit. But DO NOT turn off the firewall. Turn of ALL the anti virus shit. The startup, everything. You can update the system yourself and scan yourself every week or so. Dont even let the virus program load up in the taskbar. There is no need. You can just turn it on yourself for scans.
5. Download Ad-aware and run it every couple of weeks. It's a great spyware destroyer. It, along with your firewall and weekly virus scans should keep your PC clean without all the automated bullshit that slows it to a crawl. Of course, still scan files you dont know manually.
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
6. Download sisandra soft pc checker/benchmarker. I cant say enough about this application. It will be very helpful to all of you in keeping your PC fit for audio.
http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/
This will tell you everything you need to know about your system. It will give you reccomendations etc all in a great GUI.
You can run multimedia and cpu benchmarks, and then compare your results right there with similar specced machines. If your numbers are low in comparison, you will know something is wrong. It will do hard drive speed tests, cpu tests, you name it. Very helpful for a free app. IT will igve you a performance test and reccomend tweaks for you. Highly reccomended.
7. Make sure you are not running your O.S. drive with under 25% free space left. Some say it doesnt matter, I say bullshit. Of course defrag and run scan disk every couple of weeks.
8. If you can afford it, get two hard drives. One drive for nothing but O.S. and apps, and a secondary drive strictly for audio and al lyour important files (my documents, business stuff, etc). Why? Well for numerous reasons. First of all, the drive most likley to mess up is the O.S. drive. It's that simple. In case your O.S. drive does get wacked by a virus or windows goes berzerk , all you need to do is reformatt and reinstall your apps. There would be little need for any kind of data recovery. That's a little reassuring, don't you think? So when this happens, all you have to do is set it up again and then just plug your data drive back in. Of course back up your data drive with a dvd burner or another hard drive. The frequencey should be based on frequency of importanrt items added. Reformatting can be good anyway because it increase performance after a bloaty O.S. and swamped registry.
The other reason is speed. When using tracktion , cubase or audobe Audition, you wont have to read and write to the same disk if you have an audio drive andd an O.S./app drive. You will notice an increase in performance.
Be sure to back up all your patches ensembles, everything on your data/audio drive. Be sure to keep the audio drives on their own seperate IDE's and ribbons. No sharing. If yo uhave two hard drives and one dvd burner, keep them all to their own ide lost and cbale. Dont have 3 ide slots? Than get a cheap ata 133 pci controller card for like 25$. Well worth it. Some newer motherboards have IDE slots for raid setups as well as two IDE slots. You can use the raid slots as Raid 0 and have it act as another IDE basically or use the built in ATA 133 ide slot commonly next to the raid slot - but I have found this can chew up CPU cycles. Of course, run sisandra BEFORE and after tweaking this setup so you know your not losing performance.
9. Do you really need all that shit?
How many apps and crap do you really need? Be selective about what you install on your computer.
Do you really need that Internet shopper assistant or 4 different instant messaging programs? How about that interactive cookbook? Do you realy need all that warez? Think about it. Delete the shit warez. That is a gauranteed way to mess with your computer. Im not trying to be preachy, but talking about this from an effeciency point of view.
Simplifiy. Go into all your folders and organize everything. dont leave files laying all over. Run scandisk and defrag often. Delete multiple mp3's. Create more space for your system to operate in.
10. USB - do you use it? If not disable it. Go into your motherboard bioas (ins keyon startup) and disable it. Even if you use a digital camera once a month, disable it.
firewire - use it? If not disable it.
onboardsound - use it? If not , disable it.
You get the picture. The point is to make an effecient PC.
Ther is a pretty simple tweak guide that should give you a more pleasant PC audio experience.
I can write a more detailed guide if anyone wants it.
The things you mention would slow down other hosts just as much as Tracktion, right?""
yep.
These days USB is alot better, but it still saps CPU. That's why I like regular midi controllers.
I will write a very short guide right now to help people tweak their setups,. Very basic and simple:
1. Keep taskbar startup icons to a minimum(lower right corner). Close out the printer, chat , virus stuff unless you are using it. Keep the firewall up of course - but that should be all you need when working on audio. If you have quick time, etc or any other non-essential music making app, adjust the setting so it never loads in the task bar unless you tell it to.
2. turn off the shitty windows automatic updates. This chews up cpu cycles searching around for stuff. Go into control panel, click on automatic updates, and uncheck "keep my computer up to date". That should do it, right? Wrong. It's still working, lol. So now go to administrative tools(same folder) and click on "services". Then click on automatic updates and set it to manual. Right below it or near it should be "Background Intelligent Transfer Service". Click on it and set it to manual as well. Now finally the automatic update beast has been killed. This will save you a bit of hassle and some cpu cycles.
3. Keep as much shit off your desktop as possible. Dontbe one of these guys with 300 AOL shortcuts all over your desktop. Dont keep large files on your desktop. Keep mp3's and bigger files in folders off the desktop. Only put essential items there. Put secondary items in your start menu.
4. Turn off all of the auto virus shit. But DO NOT turn off the firewall. Turn of ALL the anti virus shit. The startup, everything. You can update the system yourself and scan yourself every week or so. Dont even let the virus program load up in the taskbar. There is no need. You can just turn it on yourself for scans.
5. Download Ad-aware and run it every couple of weeks. It's a great spyware destroyer. It, along with your firewall and weekly virus scans should keep your PC clean without all the automated bullshit that slows it to a crawl. Of course, still scan files you dont know manually.
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
6. Download sisandra soft pc checker/benchmarker. I cant say enough about this application. It will be very helpful to all of you in keeping your PC fit for audio.
http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/
This will tell you everything you need to know about your system. It will give you reccomendations etc all in a great GUI.
You can run multimedia and cpu benchmarks, and then compare your results right there with similar specced machines. If your numbers are low in comparison, you will know something is wrong. It will do hard drive speed tests, cpu tests, you name it. Very helpful for a free app. IT will igve you a performance test and reccomend tweaks for you. Highly reccomended.
7. Make sure you are not running your O.S. drive with under 25% free space left. Some say it doesnt matter, I say bullshit. Of course defrag and run scan disk every couple of weeks.
8. If you can afford it, get two hard drives. One drive for nothing but O.S. and apps, and a secondary drive strictly for audio and al lyour important files (my documents, business stuff, etc). Why? Well for numerous reasons. First of all, the drive most likley to mess up is the O.S. drive. It's that simple. In case your O.S. drive does get wacked by a virus or windows goes berzerk , all you need to do is reformatt and reinstall your apps. There would be little need for any kind of data recovery. That's a little reassuring, don't you think? So when this happens, all you have to do is set it up again and then just plug your data drive back in. Of course back up your data drive with a dvd burner or another hard drive. The frequencey should be based on frequency of importanrt items added. Reformatting can be good anyway because it increase performance after a bloaty O.S. and swamped registry.
The other reason is speed. When using tracktion , cubase or audobe Audition, you wont have to read and write to the same disk if you have an audio drive andd an O.S./app drive. You will notice an increase in performance.
Be sure to back up all your patches ensembles, everything on your data/audio drive. Be sure to keep the audio drives on their own seperate IDE's and ribbons. No sharing. If yo uhave two hard drives and one dvd burner, keep them all to their own ide lost and cbale. Dont have 3 ide slots? Than get a cheap ata 133 pci controller card for like 25$. Well worth it. Some newer motherboards have IDE slots for raid setups as well as two IDE slots. You can use the raid slots as Raid 0 and have it act as another IDE basically or use the built in ATA 133 ide slot commonly next to the raid slot - but I have found this can chew up CPU cycles. Of course, run sisandra BEFORE and after tweaking this setup so you know your not losing performance.
9. Do you really need all that shit?
How many apps and crap do you really need? Be selective about what you install on your computer.
Do you really need that Internet shopper assistant or 4 different instant messaging programs? How about that interactive cookbook? Do you realy need all that warez? Think about it. Delete the shit warez. That is a gauranteed way to mess with your computer. Im not trying to be preachy, but talking about this from an effeciency point of view.
Simplifiy. Go into all your folders and organize everything. dont leave files laying all over. Run scandisk and defrag often. Delete multiple mp3's. Create more space for your system to operate in.
10. USB - do you use it? If not disable it. Go into your motherboard bioas (ins keyon startup) and disable it. Even if you use a digital camera once a month, disable it.
firewire - use it? If not disable it.
onboardsound - use it? If not , disable it.
You get the picture. The point is to make an effecient PC.
Ther is a pretty simple tweak guide that should give you a more pleasant PC audio experience.
I can write a more detailed guide if anyone wants it.
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- KVRian
- 1161 posts since 24 Dec, 2004 from Adelaide, South Australia
Mostly valid points above for tweaking. Although, some would suggest that you should not be surfing the internet on your audio only computer, therefore a Firewall is probably redundant. But if you're like me and cannot afford 2 computers...then I guess it makes sense.
Not sure about the USB disabling though. I doubt that it would chew that many cycles. Stuff like desktop wallpaper is heavier than that or windows themes.
One thing to remember though, is that systems like Windows XP are much more able to handle what you throw at them. They're not likely to just fall over if you don't tweak a setting. The other point is that any processor over the 2ghz mark these days is fast enough to compensate for certain issues people used to have on systems like Windows 98 with multimedia. ie/ some tweaks are not as vital a they used to be.
Not sure about the USB disabling though. I doubt that it would chew that many cycles. Stuff like desktop wallpaper is heavier than that or windows themes.
One thing to remember though, is that systems like Windows XP are much more able to handle what you throw at them. They're not likely to just fall over if you don't tweak a setting. The other point is that any processor over the 2ghz mark these days is fast enough to compensate for certain issues people used to have on systems like Windows 98 with multimedia. ie/ some tweaks are not as vital a they used to be.
Mixcraft 8 Recording Studio : Reason 10
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- KVRist
- 415 posts since 18 Dec, 2003
""Mostly valid points above for tweaking. Although, some would suggest that you should not be surfing the internet on your audio only computer, therefore a Firewall is probably redundant. But if you're like me and cannot afford 2 computers...then I guess it makes sense. ""
I know studios that have their pc's hooked up online. They need to get their software updates the fastest and easiest way.
""
Not sure about the USB disabling though. I doubt that it would chew that many cycles. Stuff like desktop wallpaper is heavier than that or windows themes. ""
you would be surprised. It does chew up cycles, and the point is creating an effecient PC.
""
One thing to remember though, is that systems like Windows XP are much more able to handle what you throw at them. They're not likely to just fall over if you don't tweak a setting. The other point is that any processor over the 2ghz mark these days is fast enough to compensate for certain issues people used to have on systems like Windows 98 with multimedia. ie/ some tweaks are not as vital a they used to be.""
I disagree. With all the processes XP runs, it's important to cut out the fat.
I know studios that have their pc's hooked up online. They need to get their software updates the fastest and easiest way.
""
Not sure about the USB disabling though. I doubt that it would chew that many cycles. Stuff like desktop wallpaper is heavier than that or windows themes. ""
you would be surprised. It does chew up cycles, and the point is creating an effecient PC.
""
One thing to remember though, is that systems like Windows XP are much more able to handle what you throw at them. They're not likely to just fall over if you don't tweak a setting. The other point is that any processor over the 2ghz mark these days is fast enough to compensate for certain issues people used to have on systems like Windows 98 with multimedia. ie/ some tweaks are not as vital a they used to be.""
I disagree. With all the processes XP runs, it's important to cut out the fat.
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- KVRAF
- 10815 posts since 26 Nov, 2004 from UK
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- KVRAF
- 2009 posts since 9 Apr, 2003 from Cornwall, UK
My system was s.h.i.t. until I did all windows and IBM updates. [IBM T41 1.6 centrino]
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- KVRian
- 1161 posts since 24 Dec, 2004 from Adelaide, South Australia
I think each experience is subjective. I've known 2 systems side by side, running the same OS and processes. One falls over daily and the other works like a charm. Some people use win2k for audio, but for others it's, as you say 'shite'.djsubject wrote:win xp is shite 4 audio i have noticed
I didn't say it wasn't important to cut the fat. Of course it is. My point was, that modern operating systems are more able to handle multimedia than say, something from 1995.I disagree. With all the processes XP runs, it's important to cut out the fat.
A Firewall is also fat. Why not disable your internet connection instead if you want to really cut the fat? That way you're windows networking ain't chewing up cycles either and you don't need an active firewall while sequencing.
It's horses for courses. Whatever works for you. There are some basic tweaks that need still to be done, but not nearly as drastic as it used to be.
Mixcraft 8 Recording Studio : Reason 10
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- KVRAF
- 12977 posts since 29 Sep, 2003 from Ottawa, Canada
A desktop theme is more likely to impact your RAM than your CPU cycles. <shrug> And even then, it's so minimal that it's hardly noticeable these days. Remember that a lot of tweak guides were written 2 years ago or more, and even since then technology has advanced.
I dunno. I used to be REALLY into the microscopic tweaks, but after my last re-install, I didn't want to dick around at first and I just started recording without all the tweaks. And I didn't notice any real-world difference at all, so I decided to save my time and use it for somethin equally unproductive-- surfing this forum! <jk>
Just to be a little bit on-topic, I'd be very surprised if it was Tracktion itself that was munching CPU on you.
Greg
I dunno. I used to be REALLY into the microscopic tweaks, but after my last re-install, I didn't want to dick around at first and I just started recording without all the tweaks. And I didn't notice any real-world difference at all, so I decided to save my time and use it for somethin equally unproductive-- surfing this forum! <jk>
Just to be a little bit on-topic, I'd be very surprised if it was Tracktion itself that was munching CPU on you.
Greg
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- KVRist
- 415 posts since 18 Dec, 2003
""A desktop theme is more likely to impact your RAM than your CPU cycles. <shrug> And even then, it's so minimal that it's hardly noticeable these days. Remember that a lot of tweak guides were written 2 years ago or more, and even since then technology has advanced. ""
And XP + win2k have been out for that time so most of them are still pertinent.
If you like having automatic update kick in while your mixing down , enjoy
""
I dunno. I used to be REALLY into the microscopic tweaks, but after my last re-install, I didn't want to dick around at first and I just started recording without all the tweaks. And I didn't notice any real-world difference at all, so I decided to save my time and use it for somethin equally unproductive-- surfing this forum! <jk> ""
many of the microscopic tweaks do very little. The stuff I mentioned will however create a mroe effecient, stress free PC.
And XP + win2k have been out for that time so most of them are still pertinent.
If you like having automatic update kick in while your mixing down , enjoy
""
I dunno. I used to be REALLY into the microscopic tweaks, but after my last re-install, I didn't want to dick around at first and I just started recording without all the tweaks. And I didn't notice any real-world difference at all, so I decided to save my time and use it for somethin equally unproductive-- surfing this forum! <jk> ""
many of the microscopic tweaks do very little. The stuff I mentioned will however create a mroe effecient, stress free PC.
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- KVRian
- 1161 posts since 24 Dec, 2004 from Adelaide, South Australia
I don't think he suggested doing no tweaking at all. I would even say that many of those guides were written more than 2 years ago. Some are pertinent to Windows 98 and back and never mention later upgrades.If you like having automatic update kick in while your mixing down , enjoy
Of course you gotta tweak! Sheesh....
It's just that some of them are so small as to make little, to no difference in the modern operating system environment. I think that's the point.Mixcraft 8 Recording Studio : Reason 10
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- KVRAF
- 12977 posts since 29 Sep, 2003 from Ottawa, Canada
Indeed. Some things are necessary, but it's the microscopic stuff I'm referring to. Here's the ones I still do:
1. Use a fixed swap file (512 MB in my case)
2. Turn off automatic updates
3. Turn off system restore
4. Disable everything in the Security Centre that's not necessary
5. Turn off most special effects, but more because they annoy me than because they use resources.
It's the painstaking attention to every wee detail that I've decided to abandon.
Greg
1. Use a fixed swap file (512 MB in my case)
2. Turn off automatic updates
3. Turn off system restore
4. Disable everything in the Security Centre that's not necessary
5. Turn off most special effects, but more because they annoy me than because they use resources.
It's the painstaking attention to every wee detail that I've decided to abandon.
Greg
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 29 posts since 8 Jan, 2005
Not to put down anybody who's trying to help here - thank you, by the way - But I know all of this stuff. If I say my system is fast, it is - and I would like to repeat that I haven't had any performance problems with any other apps...
therefore any problems I'm having with tracktion are either tracktion-specific or something to do with the motu - I'm gonna figure out what it is, in the meantime can we stop this thread from turning into a generic tweaking thread or worse a 'my os rocks, yours is bullshit' thread. BTW:
no motherboard, no matter how advanced or how crap, makes more than 5% difference in overall processing speed, provided it genuinely provides the same features as the other mb you're comparing it to (ram speed, etc). I say this from 10 years experience in putting together pc's. Motherboard stability is another issue entirely.
USB does not make a difference unless you're running something intensive on the peripheral device (ie external harddrives).
If anybody can point out any possible stuff that is either p4 or tracktion-specific- I'm all ears.
Thanks once again,
Matt
therefore any problems I'm having with tracktion are either tracktion-specific or something to do with the motu - I'm gonna figure out what it is, in the meantime can we stop this thread from turning into a generic tweaking thread or worse a 'my os rocks, yours is bullshit' thread. BTW:
no motherboard, no matter how advanced or how crap, makes more than 5% difference in overall processing speed, provided it genuinely provides the same features as the other mb you're comparing it to (ram speed, etc). I say this from 10 years experience in putting together pc's. Motherboard stability is another issue entirely.
USB does not make a difference unless you're running something intensive on the peripheral device (ie external harddrives).
If anybody can point out any possible stuff that is either p4 or tracktion-specific- I'm all ears.
Thanks once again,
Matt
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 29 posts since 8 Jan, 2005
HI EVERYONE:
I FIGURED IT OUT.
Re-checked at 44k, found that the cpu-usage dropped below HansM's results- those being normal, of course-
re-checked again at 96khz and the cpu-figures went back up to the ones I indicated previously. So the problem of course is sampling-rate. Now, on the face of it, this may seem like a logical and reasonable assumption- after all, 96k being slightly more than double 44k, surely the processor usage should be slightly higher than double? WRONG. Having a computer science background I know this more likely derives from the plugins in question (or tracktion's audio engine?) being customised for 44/48k but not 96. Simply because you're processing twice the amount of data (or in the case of synths, producing twice the amount of data), does not necessarily equate to twice cpu-usage - the majority of processing time for most plugins goes into modelling the data for a set time-distance e.g 1 second reverb or delay or soft-knee compress - so what this says to me is that either the plugs in question are not designed to be run well at 44k, or (less likely) that tracktion is not well-designed to run 96khz. Does anybody else have any experience with this problem or enough comp. science or coding eperience to comment?
Thanks everybody once again-
m@
I FIGURED IT OUT.
Re-checked at 44k, found that the cpu-usage dropped below HansM's results- those being normal, of course-
re-checked again at 96khz and the cpu-figures went back up to the ones I indicated previously. So the problem of course is sampling-rate. Now, on the face of it, this may seem like a logical and reasonable assumption- after all, 96k being slightly more than double 44k, surely the processor usage should be slightly higher than double? WRONG. Having a computer science background I know this more likely derives from the plugins in question (or tracktion's audio engine?) being customised for 44/48k but not 96. Simply because you're processing twice the amount of data (or in the case of synths, producing twice the amount of data), does not necessarily equate to twice cpu-usage - the majority of processing time for most plugins goes into modelling the data for a set time-distance e.g 1 second reverb or delay or soft-knee compress - so what this says to me is that either the plugs in question are not designed to be run well at 44k, or (less likely) that tracktion is not well-designed to run 96khz. Does anybody else have any experience with this problem or enough comp. science or coding eperience to comment?
Thanks everybody once again-
m@