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#1
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punk'd by too many FX
After doing most of my serious recording using a stand-alone recorder
(HD-24) I have been doing more & more on my 1.6 Pentium M laptop using Cubase SX. Just got some new plug-ins and was doing some multi-track mixing, adding FX to some BGVs and hit the wall. Everything started skipping and clicking. Tried tome buffer adjustments to no avail. then removed the last 3 verb assignments and everything started working OK again. I have read about outboard processors that take the strain off of the computer itself but for those who have been working all computer based recording for a while, thought I'd ask what my options are to be able to increase the number and usage of my plugins without causing the multi-track program to take a dump. It's a Toshiba Satellite S-311 & I'm running XP home and clean my computer daily of any spyware/adware/virus' and defrag almost daily. I have cleaned most of my startup programs using msconfig. I am A+ cert. and know quite a bit about getting the most out of my processor but I know there are some of you out there that have much more experience with audio and the interactions of. Thoughts? peakester |
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#2
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#3
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As my post says, "I was doing some multi-track mixing".
peakester |
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#4
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#5
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It isn't always necessary to apply the effects to each channel
individually. See if you can send your channels to a group and apply the effects over that group. This is especially effective on reverb, which tends to be the heaviest effect. |
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#6
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#7
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What reverbs are you using!?!?!
I run an IBM T41 Thinkpad with Pentium M 1.6GHz (like yours), and 512M of RAM. So far, this rig has handled exceptionally well. I have a few suggestions, though: 1) consider a plugin soundcard to take some stress off the CPU (I just bought an E-mu 1616 and it has a reverb on the chip, though it's not the greatest it doesn't tax the CPU). 2) follow this lengthy bit of advice (taken from somewhere else, dunno where or when): One of the best results is to remove ALL cards except for the video card and add one card at a time and playing with the slot configurations Second: Change the "Role" of the computer.. Right click "My Computer" Select "Properties" Select the "Performance" tab Click on the "File System" button Change the role of your PC from a Desktop to a Network Server...this will allow faster streams of audio.(Restart) Third: Make sure nothing is started up when you launch Windows: In your Start Menu you will go to RUN Type in MSCONFIG and press OK Select the "Startup" tab and deselect EVERYTHING BUT YOUR SYSTEM TRAY!!! Press "Apply" ...Press "OK" (Restart) NEW-----It turns out when you disable your startup items from this System Config Utility program it creates a "second" Run category in your registry which "could" lead to a possible issue at some point due to it creating a dash(-) after the word run. In Start Menu you will go to RUN Type in Regedit and press OK Expand Hkey_Local_Machine Expand Software Expand Microsoft Expand Windows Expand Current Version Find the folder labeled Run Highlite each item and delete the key leaving your Systrem Tray alone You will also see a Run Services folder Hhighlite each item and delete each one and remove them all Now...if you have done the MSCONFIG tweak in the startup tab you will see two folders here...Run and Run-.....Delete the Run- folder and then continue as decribed above on the NEW way of tweaking the startup..do the same with the Run Services- folder as well Fourth: Make sure DMA is ON for your Hard Drives and Auto-Insert Notification is OFF for your CDROMS Right click "My Computer" Select "Properties" Select the "Device Manager" tab Expand(Press the + sign) Disk Drives Double click on the Drive you need to change Select the "Settings" tab and make sure DMA has a check next to it. Windows will give you a prompt...hit OK..Do this for the second drive as well(If you dont have a second drive....GET ONE!!) Expand the CDROMS Select the "settings" tab and make sure Auto-Insert Notification is unchecked. Do this for all CDROMS and CDR/RW's(Restart) Fifth: Optimize your Swap File: Right click "My Computer" Select "Properties" Select the "Performance" tab Press the "Virtual Memory" button Depending on how much RAM you have is how you figure out what to set the Virtual Memory to....As apposed to Windows 95 days the rule about making the swap file twice the size of your memory is no longer needed...ever since FAT32 that has all but gone away. Nowadays you will need less...for example-128MB RAM is about 192Min and Max 256MB RAM you should set to 128Min and Max. Obvioulsy it is not going to hurt your system if you allocate more than your memory but it is not needed and will use your hard drive more than you need it to. Explanation of Virtual Memory....Windows allocates your entire hard drive as a means of shuffling data back and forth from Memory as it is needed. When an application is running threads of information are put into memory(RAM) and processed..when that thread is done and the next thread is ready windows uses the hard drive to prepare the thread then swaps it with the thread that has been used allready. Depending on the software and the machine, the size of the threads can get larger and smaller using any available space on your drive....Fragmentation hell and it also can cause your machine to crash/stall when it has to search the entire drive for the next thread. Thus making the swap file the same size for Minimum and Maximum you are telling Windows to use only a certain part of the drive and to use the fastest part of it as well...the outside track. Thus windows has less of an area to find the next thread and continue on as normal **** VERY IMPORTANT*************** YOU MUST DEFRAG YOUR HARD DRIVE AFTER RESTARTING!!! DO NOT USE THE see a Run Services folderbr X-UIDL: p!-"!(i1"!1RM!!~4e!! Hhighlite each item and delete each one and remove them allbr Now...if you have done the MSCONFIG tweak in the startup tab you will see two folders here...Run br and Run-.....Delete the Run- folder and then continue as decribed above on the NEW way ofbr tweaking the startup..do the same with the Run Services- folder as well /font pfont size=3 color=#333333 face="Times New Roman"br Fourth: Make sure DMA is ON for your Hard Drives and Auto-Insert Notification is OFF for your CDROMSbr Right click "My Computer"br Select "Properties"br Select the "Device Manager" tabbr Expand(Press the + sign) Disk Drivesbr Double click on the Drive you need to changebr Select the "Settings" tab and make sure DMA has a check next to it. Windows will give br you a prompt...hit OK..Do this for the second drive as well(If you dont have a second br drive....GET ONE!!)br Expand the CDROMSbr Select the "settings" tab and make sure Auto-Insert Notification is unchecked. Do this br for all CDROMS and CDR/RW's(Restart) /font pfont size=3 color=#333333 face="Times New Roman"Fifth: Optimize your Swap File:br Right click "My Computer"br Select "Properties"br Select the "Performance" tabbr Press the "Virtual Memory" buttonbr Depending on how much RAM you have is how you figure out what to set the Virtualbr Memory to....As apposed to Windows 95 days the rule about making the swap file twicebr the size of your memory is no longer needed...ever since FAT32 that has all but gone br away. Nowadays you will need less...for example-128MB RAM is about 192Min and Maxbr 256MB RAM you should set to 128Min and Max. Obvioulsy it is not going to hurt yourbr system if you allocate more than your memory but it is not needed and will use your hardbr drive more than you need it to. /font pfont size=3 color=#333333 face="Times New Roman"Explanation of Virtual Memory....Windows allocates your entire hard drive as a means of shufflingbr data back and forth from Memory as it is needed. When an application is running threads of br information are put into memory(RAM) and processed..when that thread is done and the next thread is ready windows uses the hard drive to prepare the thread then swaps it with the thread that has been used allready. Depending on the software and the machine, the size of the threads br can get larger and smaller using any available space on your drive....Fragmentation hell and itbr also can cause your machine to crash/stall when it has to search the entire drive for the next thread.br Thus making the swap file the same size for Minimum and Maximum you are telling Windows tobr use only a certain part of the drive and to use the fastest part of it as well...the outside track. Thusbr windows has less of an area to find the next thread and continue on as normal /font pfont size=3 color=#333333 face="Times New Roman"**** VERY IMPORTANT***************br YOU MUST DEFRAG YOUR HARD DRIVE AFTER RESTARTING!!! DO NOT USE THE br WINDOWS DEFRAGGER..IT DOES NOT OPTIMIZE YOUR SWAP FILE...IT LEAVES THE br CURRENT STATE IN TACT....USE NORTON'S TO DEFRAG AND MAKE SURE YOU br TELL IT TO OPTIMIZE THE SWAP FILE!!! THIS CAN BE FOUND USUALLY IN THE br ADVANCED SECTION OF THE PROGRAMbr ***********************************br br Sixth: Lower your Bit Depth rate for your Display settings:br Right click on your desktop and select "Properties"br This will bring you to your Display Properties windowbr Select the "Settings" tabbr Change the "Color" settings to 16Bit...32Bit will eat up your performancebr Screen resolution is of your choice...I prefer 1024x768...larger screen areabr Not always is it best to go out and get the most "RAM" intensive video card.br Staying with a 16MB video(AGP of course) is a fine standard to be at.br Try and stay away from PCI video cards..puts a strain on your PCI bus! /font pfont size=3 color=#333333 face="Times New Roman"Seven: Power Schemes:br Right click on your desktop and select "Properties"br This will bring you to your Display Properties windowbr Select the "Screen Saver" tabbr Set Screen Saver to NONEbr Press the "Settings" button in the Energy Saver areabr For Power Schemes choose Home/Office Deskbr Set System Standby to NEVERbr Turn off monitor to NEVERbr Turn off Hard Disks to NEVERbr br Eight: Multimedia Settings:br Make sure windows doesnt use your sound card to "Map" thru itbr Go to your Start menuSettingsControl Panelbr Double click on Multimediabr Select the "devices" tabbr Expand the Audio Devices itembr Double click on the audio card/device in questionbr Check the box that says "Do not map thru this device" br Press Apply(Restart) /font pfont size=3 color=#333333 face="Times New Roman"Nine: Stop the Scheduled Tasks from runningbr Go to your Start menuAccessoriesSystem ToolsScheduled Tasksbr Double click on "Tune-up Application Start"br At the bottom of the screen deselect "Enabled" /font pfont size=3 color=#333333 face="Times New Roman"Ten: Network Settings:br If you are connected to the internet via your PC DAW via a modem/DSL but are NOT br using File Sharing remove Client For Microsoft Networksbr Go to your Start menuSettingsControl Panelbr Double click on NetworkHighlite "Client for Microsoft Networksbr Press "Remove"br When you close out of the Network box it will tell you your network is not complete and br do you want to continue...say YES!!(Restart) /font pfont size=3 color=#333333 face="Times New Roman"Eleven: More System Configurationbr These steps arent neccessary but reccomendedbr In your Start Menu you will go to RUNbr Type in MSCONFIG and press OKbr Select the "Config.sys" tabbr Deselect everythingbr Select the "Autoexec.bat" tabbr Deselect everythingbr Press Apply..Press OK(Restart) /font pfont size=3 color=#333333 face="Times New Roman"As far as "tweak" settings are concerned this should do it. Obviously there are system requirements too but this a known issue and all should be aware that a PII 400 is the minumum reccomended processor. 128MB RAM minimum(256 Reccomended) AGP Video card...No internet...Constantly making sure your hard drive(s) are optimized(defragged) and also not installing every software known to man(which can corrupt the registry) As far as "Physical" building of a system one should not put two hard drives on one IDE cable..this will cause bus speeds to be bogged down. Partitioning a single hard drive does not make it two drives...it only "emulates" a second drive..there is still one mechanical arm reading the two parts of one drive...this can cause skips or possible stutters. I reccomend using your main drive for ALL applications and the secondary drive for ALL data...audio files..program information..etc ! |
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#8
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wrote in message oups.com... After doing most of my serious recording using a stand-alone recorder (HD-24) I have been doing more & more on my 1.6 Pentium M laptop using Cubase SX. Just got some new plug-ins and was doing some multi-track mixing, adding FX to some BGVs and hit the wall. Everything started skipping and clicking. Tried tome buffer adjustments to no avail. then removed the last 3 verb assignments and everything started working OK again. Thoughts? Process a track or a group of tracks through an effect, making a new track. Make that new track a part of your mix. Move on. jb |
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#9
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#11
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wrote:
I know that the big studio units don't have to cut corners or use work-arounds in ProTools or Nuendo or the like. Is this just because of processing power? In the case of Pro Tools, you can choose between two system approaches: LE, which uses the computer's processing power (i.e. "native"), or TDM, which just uses the computer as a host and does the audio processing with dedicated, proprietary DSP cards. With TDM, you can increase processing power by adding DSP cards. -- "It CAN'T be too loud... some of the red lights aren't even on yet!" - Lorin David Schultz in the control room making even bad news sound good (Remove spamblock to reply) |
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