PG Music Home Forums User-to-User Post your own Tips and Tricks here How can I optimize my system for best audio performance?

Taken from the website for SampleTank...

Quote:

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Important note: Please modify your current settings at your own risk.

IK Multimedia is NOT responsible for any potential damage caused by the following suggested changes:

For Microsoft Windows systems:


- Disable background software (e.g. anti-virus, anti-spyware,
internet messengers, firewalls, etc).

- Disable visual effects and animations.
- Disable power management and hibernation.
- Defrag your hard drive.
- Disable Internet time synchronization.
- Disable automatic updates.
- Disable system sounds.
- Disable system restore.
- Enable DMA on all hard disks and removable media drives.
- Disable file sharing, remote access, and network folders.
- Disable the screensaver.
- Remove the desktop wallpaper.
- Disable power management and hibernation.
- Disable hard-drive indexing.
- Disable desktop cleanup wizard.
- Disable fast user switching.
- Disable unnecessary background services (for advanced users).
- Disconnect unused USB devices (e.g. web-cams).

For Apple OS X systems:

- Disable background software (anti-virus, anti-spyware, internet messengers,
firewalls, etc).
- Disable visual effects and animations (lock the dock,
make the desktop static, etc).
- Disable individual dash-board widgets.
- Disable power management and hibernation.
- Defrag your hard drive.
- Disable Internet time synchronization.
- Disable automatic updates.
- Disable file sharing, remote access, and network folders.
- Disable the screensaver.
- Log off additional users.

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HTH

Hi Sam

The reproduced acticle has some good points but also some very dangerous ones as well

There are a few things that will safely have the same effect-

1. Ensure that you have no malware - spyware viruses or trojans

2. Ensure that you have a top class registry cleaner like RegCure

3. Use a top class defrag and file placement optimizer like UltimateDefrag

4. If running Vista use TweakVista and choose one of the profiles to give you the speed you want

5. Disc Clean and Check Disc regularly
jazzman

HiJazzman,
Any recent update to your 2008 post please?
thanks.

The best thing you can do to improve audio performance is to add a dedicated musical interface running ASIO drivers to your studio.

Factory cards don't cut it if you are looking for the best performance.

The other stuff mentioned in the list is dubious at best.... I have tried that stuff and really did not notice any marked increase in performance. Yeah, some of that is good advice like defrag the hard drive, but really, I ran a stock laptop and didn't shut off a single thing and had no problems..... all the while I have AV running, was on the internet, and had all my services and screensavers enabled....

If you really do have to do all the stuff in that list, your computer probably should be upgraded to a more modern machine.

What do u mean by this please?
"The best thing you can do to improve audio performance is to add a dedicated musical interface running ASIO drivers to your studio." examples would be appreciated.
I hav a notebook that is less than a year old. Pl see my signature for details. Should I do more?

PG Music answers this question in their FAQ section. Click on this link

Cakewalk, the makers of Sonar and Music Creator DAW software has a nice article in their support files. Click on this link

Mainly, the less busy your computer is doing other things the more time and resources it can devote to your music. Background tasks like using wireless, having a screen saver can interrupt your file recording and rendering. Get off the internet and turn-off your anti-virus programs. Defragment your hard drive and consolidate your files on the hard drive so your computer doesn't have to scout around the hard drive for the files. Increase your computer's ram so it can use ram and not have to use your hard drive too much.

Basically, the sound card in the factory setup computer is junk. It's OK for playing music MP3 and watching the video's and other such low demand stuff.

When recording and playing music that has multiple audio tracks and any number of synths and FX/VST's in it, you need a sound card that can handle that heavy load.

the factory cards use a light weight driver... usually MME as their default. It's small and light weight and can do a good job running the audio file. However, what we do requires much more processing power to run the audio files and process the midi with the synths and get it all to the speakers at the same time.

The advice given above on the BB & CW site is basic info that we offer as well to people having issues. Increase buffers, adjust the latency settings...etc.... Sometimes it works and mostly it is only a temporary solution since it works best on small audio projects. Once you start working on larger projects, you are back in the same situation.

To get around this, there is a program called ASIO4ALL that is kind of a wrapper..... it tries to fool the card into thinking it is working fine, and the DAW software into thinking it is running on an ASIO driver. Because, ASIO rarely works with the factory chips. Kinda like trying to drop a Chevy turbocharged hemi V-8 into a volkswagen beetle frame.... It's not a good fit. ASIO being the V-8.

A dedicated USB external interface, running a driver specifically made to handle this load, ASIO, makes all the difference in the world.

At the cakewalk forum, we have lots of new users come in there on a weekly basis complaining about poor performance, latency, pops and clicks, audio drops....and they are all related to trying to use the factory card and driver. Once they upgrade to the dedicated interface running ASIO, the process becomes smoother and transparent.

M-Audio, Roland, Presonus, and my favorite, Focusrite, are some of the brand names for the better interfaces. I personally use the Focusrite interface and it is a superb performer.

With the right card and driver, there is no need to tweek the computer settings to try to nurse the last ounce of performance out of the factory card.

Although this is not scientific.... look at it this way. Your computer can run at 100% capability to what the processor chip can deliver. The factory card can deliver 100% of what it can do BUT it's only going to be at about 10 to 25% of what the computer can handle. Drop in an external sound card with the proper drivers and now you can realistically expect 90% or more in the performance level relative to what the computer can actually handle... at this point, the hardware becomes transparent in the process and music is the focus of your sessions, not tweeking the software to get it to run smooth.

I have not had to tweek my computer or the sound card since it was installed and set up. I turn the DAW on and jump right into recording the music and give no thought to how many synths or tracks are in a project.

Clicks, pops, audio drops and stutters, latency, what are they?

Since Jazzman's 2008 list, we now have SSD (solid-state) drives. If you have one of those, do not defrag it.

Hi Matt,
How do I ascertain what type of drive I have?

Looks like you are using the fast track from M-Audio (specs in your signature).... that interface normally uses ASIO.

Go to: Control panel> sound> device manager> find the audio device in the list and click it to expand it. Find the interface and right click then properties then the driver info is displayed.

factory cards are usually defaulted to MME drivers and the dedicated interfaces normally come with a disk to load the ASIO driver. Of course, you can always go to the manufacturer's website to DL the most recent driver version.

I'm not at a computer at the moment, but you should be able to see the type of disk drive in Device Manager. How to get there depends slightly on which version of Windows you have, but you will find it in the Control Panel. Once in Device Manager, click on Disk Drives to expand that. You should see SSD in the name of any SSD drive you have. If it is not obvious, then Google the model of the disk drive.

There are many other utilities, some free, that will give you a readout of your hardware and show the type of drive very clearly. Also, if you do have an SSD it probably came with a utility of its own to execute the Trim command, which you need to do periodically. But do not defrag a SSD drive, and make sure Windows is set so it does not do a scheduled defrag. If this is a PC you bought, then when Windows was installed, it knows not to defrag that drive.