After 60 hours of DL I am now running with BiaB 2013 and am stunned at the leap forward from my BiaB2008.
However - If I am loading a Real tracks tune, I find that the playback can sometimes jerk and stumble every now and then.
COuld it be that my PC processor is not longer man enough for the job or RAM (I have 1gb ram - its an old machine)needs boosting?
Any ideas?
cheers
ian
If you're using a PC that is 2008 or older, the problem is probably on your end.
First thing to do is whatever it takes to insure that you have at least 15% freespace on it and then DEFRAG the C hard drive.
--Mac
<< I am now running with BiaB 2013 and am stunned at the leap forward from my BiaB2008.
Thanks!
<<< Could it be that my PC processor is not longer man enough for the job or RAM (I have 1gb ram - its an old machine)needs boosting?
There are many factors affecting audio performance, but if its a real slow PC, it would be a good place to start.
CPU requirements for BiaB have been the same for the last 3 years or so.
You should run Geekbench to get an overall score of your system speed.
free)
http://www.primatelabs.com/geekbench/minimum would be geekbench= 1,100, although in the 1,100 to 1,500 range things will work slower, and you could get hiccups with certain songs, other programs running etc.
Really fast new machines are around 8,000 speed. My PC is 3,500 and runs real well with BiaB.
If its an old, slow PC, there are things you can do. If you have a song with lots of RealTracks that is causing problems, press the Song Settings button, and select "This song has playback problems, disable fast generation". The song will now take a long time to generate before play is pressed (10-30 seconds), but playback will likely be glitch free. Freezing the arrangement would speed up the generation time.
Ian, I've been involved with several discussions about this issue and while yes, you can make an old slow machine work (sort of), it's really not worth the time and effort unless you really cannot afford a newer machine. Every one of the people involved finally decided after a couple of weeks of us going back and forth with them tweaking their old machine decided to get a new or at least newer one. One gig of ram says it's a real antique and I wouldn't waste time with it. Even $200 USD can get you a pretty good used one from a thrift shop or PC repair shop but I completely understand that some can't spare that much cash right now. If that's the case we can help you make it a bit better but it's not going to be "good", just usable with some tweaks if you're careful.
If you decide to get something used ask us about it first, we can give you good advice about that.
Bob
Thanks for the comprehensive answers.
I guess you hit the nail right on the head.
Hi Mac - the drive is a new one - in a previous thread I mentioned that I had lost the old one and was having problems re-installing BiaB (which you all sorted for me) - so its not that.
Hi Flatpicker Bob - I guess the PC IS now older now than my Band In A Box - lol !!!
Hi Peter - well that is the RIGHT answer and THE PROBLEM!! I ran Geekbench and came up with the magnificent score of 1349. I had no problems running BiaB2008 but with all these lovely whistles, bells and Real "everything" in BiaB2013 I think it is running out of Puff.
Thank you too for the tips on how I can "workaround" the problem in the short term. Much appreciated.
Hi Jazzmammal Bob - I shall have to have a look around at what I can afford. Now that I am on a "fixed income" - i.e. Retired - money is always going to be an issue. But, if I see one I like I'm sure I can rely on the Forum here to tell me if I'm looking at the wrong end of the horse - lol !!
I'll sign off with my kit listed like Jazzmammal does. You may laugh (but not where I can hear you!!)
Ian
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Windows XP Pro 32 bit, AMD Sempron 3200+ @1.81 Ghz,500g HD
2 GB Ram,
Biab2013 (and Proud!)
Cakewalk Guitar Pro2 (oldie but Goodie - now you know why I'm stuck with XP)
Hi, SixChannel -
Stick around and we'll help you get your problems sorted.
I just went to your SoundClick page and listened to several of your songs there. I really liked Cavatina and Love Will Keep Us Alive.
Quote:
...Hi Mac - the drive is a new one - in a previous thread I mentioned that I had lost the old one and was having problems re-installing BiaB (which you all sorted for me) - so its not that.
----------------
Windows XP Pro 32 bit, AMD Sempron 3200+ @1.81 Ghz,500g HD
2 GB Ram,
Biab2013 (and Proud!)
Cakewalk Guitar Pro2 (oldie but Goodie - now you know why I'm stuck with XP)
It very easily could be in need of defrag on the C drive after downloading and then installing all the new large files.
Your machine specs are very close to the specs of one of the machines I used for the beta testing his year.
Have used that machine both for testing and getting work done for quite a few years and at times have gotten the very same problem - skipping or even missing audio due to bad loading of Realtracks.
The disk could be new, as yours is, or it could be just a problem with the download of those large files, which are first always stored once in a Temp directory, then when saved are moved to a permanent directory, then when installed are decompressed to an even larger filesize first and then placed in yet another directory. That can cause fragmentation of ONLY the newly installed Realtracks and other program files.
Another issue -- I don't take Windows' Defrag report as having anything at all to do with large audio files like the Realtracks. Their algo was written with the average computer user's demands in mind, which typically consists of Web Surfing, Word Processing and other tasks where the need to stream large audio files from disk to ram and maybe back again just aren't as intensive.
So it therefore is a very good idea to run a defrag on the C disk after installing BiaB and finding the kind of realtrack dropouts that you report. Again, I've been through that enough to know that the defrag has, to date, solved the problem here the overwhelming majority of he time.
One trick about DEFRAG -- Good idea to wait until evening and start the defrag process before going to bed, it can sometimes take a long time to defrag today's much larger drive sizes.
Another tip: While the Defrag routine included in Windows XP can indeed accomplish the job, webearching for a program called, "Defraggler" and downloading and installing same and using it to do your disk defrags is advised with that XP machine. Been using it for some time measurable in years now, love it. A bit faster and a lot more comprehensive. I keep mine set to advise me of program updates available when Defraggler starts and almost always get any new updates before starting a defrag, the developers are topnotch and the defraggler program just keeps on improving and improving. Maybe from this alone you can tell how important it is to defrag when using realtracks on our older machines, regardless of hd size, age or the likes.
HTH,
--Mac
HTH indeed, Mac, as always.
I just downloaded Defraggler and its running now. It says it'll take less than a day to complete!!! lol!!
See ya tomorrow!
cheers and thanks for the info
Ian
PS, What is Windows XP? Is x an integer and P denotes prayer where if you pray x times it runs? (Ducks)
Hi John
I always thought that an X was a has-been and a P was a drip under pressure!
Seriously, I have XP because I always have. If Real Band can work for me as my recording software I may well go to Windows 7 when I upgrade (IF I upgrade.) But then again - its all Money, Money, Money.
cheers
ian
thanks for making me smile of this cold December day.
Must be cold. My daughter called from Kent and told us they had a bit of snow and everything was in a state of shock. Even here, we've had a bit, but not to speak of. High today of 0C, -6 tonight. Won't be long, and nice N'or easter will whack us but good from Lake Huron. Last year we had over 100cm by now, mostly in one big dump overnight. That did mess up the morning drive to work in the wife's mini cooper. Myself I stay home and laugh. 10 cm and that Mini stays here and she hikes 3 blocks to the City Bus, which gets plows every hour or so, sand, salt, and thus things keep chugging, albeit later than usual.
Bit of bother, that snow business. I used to like it. I prefer warm beaches, palm trees and sand. I'm thinking of picking up the uke, portable, and if you sell it when drunk another is only a few bucks.
I suspect it's off to England in May or June to sort out the return of my daughter after 2 years, and her 'beau'. I sure hope they are not destined to live in my basement, I have precious junk down there and it's quiet. And I don't feed it from my pension.
My son, contemplating marriage to his girl friend/woman of the year, was told this advice by a dear friend of mine...
Forget marriage, buy some woman you don't like a house and car, start hating her now, and you will end up better off! I laughed loud and long at that, but the first time around was a disaster, the 2nd one I shopped for longer than a a fortnight, and that has worked out OK for the last 28 years.
I ran into a woman in a mall one day, who brazenly walked up and discussed the time of day and the price of potatoes in December. Strange large woman, of a certain age you'd forgive her for being perhaps senile or something. The next day my oldest son called me and told me my ex-wife met me at a mall, and talked to me. My wife said no wonder the witch had something familiar about her, she was eyeing my pocketbook again.
Ian I agree with Mac, your machine is not that bad just slow when it's running right. My old machine sounds similar with yours, a P4 1 ghz and 2 gigs of ram running XP. I got rid of it about 18 months ago so I was running Biab 2011.5 and it would generate a 5 RT song in about 30-45 seconds. My new one does it in less than 10 seconds.
A newer machine running Win 7 is much better on many levels. I continually had problems with ASIO but now it's perfect. And the thing is I didn't do anything it's just with the new machine I installed it, it worked and that was it. No tweaking, no problems while with XP it was a complete chore and it never did work right. I have no idea if the problem was the hardware, the OS, me, the stars or what. All I know is the brand new box fixed it.
I do know the Win 7 64 bit ASIO drivers for my EMU and Sonic Cell are only a few years old while the XP ones are 6-7 years old and like anything else, newer is better.
The other thing with XP is nobody is writing bug fixes or updates for XP drivers for anything any more. Win 7 has been out for 3 years or so and now Win 8 is out and there's a few on this forum running it and reporting it's even better than Win 7. Companies don't have the resources to fix old stuff for XP so it's on you to figure it out.
Bob
In my world, the X, if on the aircraft, means eXperimental.
Fly at your own risk.
--Mac
Hi Mac and all
Update - I have defragged the drive using Defraggler. Amazed to see how much it needed it - took 12 hours to do.
I have tried a few of my old sgu's and added full RealBand styles and they play (almost) without a glitch and without having to tick the "No fast generation" box, something I could not have said a few days ago.
Many thanks for all the help.
cheers
ian
ps - glad you liked the Soundclick tracks.
The version of Chet's "So Soft Your Goodbye" was done in my old 2008. Cant wait to try it with REAL musicians - anyone have any idea what Style I would use (not being an American, I would have no idea myself)
UPDATE -
My son has just updated the PC and the Geekbench score is up from 1349 to 4228.
It runs Biab2013 now without any jerks or jumps and I dont have to to check the "No Fast Regeneration" box any more. Its also heaps faster in regeneration. Not as fast as some of the electronic super-marvels around but compared to what I had, its a big leap forward for me. And it was done on a budget too.
Thanks for all the input - much appreciated.
cheers
ian
Wow, Ian, that's a dramatic jump in Geekbench score...what all did he do? Inquiring minds what to know!
Hi Mountainside
It WAS - AMD Sempron 3200+ @1.81 Ghz, 2 GB Ram at 334 Mhz = 1349 score
Is now - Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 @ 2.5Hz, 4GB Ram at 334Mhz = 4228 score
My son tells me that the memory is old and modern RAM works twice as fast etc etc so when we update THAT, it should be even better.
HTH
Ian
Quote:
I ran into a woman in a mall one day, who brazenly walked up and discussed the time of day and the price of potatoes in December. Strange large woman, of a certain age you'd forgive her for being perhaps senile or something. The next day my oldest son called me and told me my ex-wife met me at a mall, and talked to me. My wife said no wonder the witch had something familiar about her, she was eyeing my pocketbook again.
I also miss my ex-wife a lot but my aim is getting better!!!
I guess I am gonna have to convince my lady that I must have a new PC. My geeked results show my current one as 952....way off the bottom end I think. I have just upgraded to the 2013 ultrapak and am having some of the problems stated above.
So I had better start racking up some points for 'good behaviour'...lol
Hi
Before you splash the cash, check out replacing the motherboard and updating the Ram.
I went from Geek 1349 to 4228 (TRIPLE THE SCORE)for less than £100 .
UK
The only jerk that there now is, is the guy using it.lol !
ian
Hi Ian
It's just a netbook, so no real chance of an upgrade. I only paid 160 pounds (I'm actually English living in the USA) for it about 4 years ago, and although it works well for what it was intended, I need a new one.....Honest !!!!
Just not sure how to decide, given that no-one that I am aware off publishes the geek ratings, so I am very unsure where to start. Maybe I'll just get a superfast thing and figure out how to explain it to my sweet lady........
Quote:
Just not sure how to decide, given that no-one that I am aware off publishes the geek ratings, so I am very unsure where to start. Maybe I'll just get a superfast thing and figure out how to explain it to my sweet lady........
Faster is always better, and may add a bit of headroom for the future as well.
While the Geekbench scores may not be available for some models, you can safely use quite a few of the newer offerings. Just stay away from the bargain basement priced machines, as they are likely not going to be all that powerful simply because of what they are and pricepoint.
You don't necessarily need to have the very fastst machine, either, although having one is nice.
A Dual Core processor or the Intel i5 or anything above those levels is where I'd be looking. With as much RAM as you can afford at purchase time. Larger capacity internal hard drive is a plus when intending to work with music and audio files.
--Mac