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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Disclaimer* - use at your own risk. This is just "sharing knowledge" post. I can't complain about the power of my PC (i7-12700H 32ram, gen4 NVME), but some kind of recent update, either Windows, drivers, or browser started introducing artefacts / stopped audio engine issues with relatively average weight DAW project. Traditionally, (in good ole days) the rule of thumb was to turn off BT adapter, Wifi, start system lean, etc. I really didn't want to go that rabbit hole... again, so I've decided to take a different approach - a trick that I remembered from few years ago. Not sure if it relates to other (than Intel) CPUs, but I would guess it's somewhat similar across the board. Here goes. Intel cores are divided between Performance cores and Efficiency cores. By default, many software packages, especially ones that have multiple processes running are using multiple cores - a mix of Efficiency and Performance cores. Chrome is a solid example of this. In Task Manager you can assign affinity (which cores to be used for specific software) and priority (I/O) for each process... However, this is a temporary solution as some software might open other process instances randomly that will not be affected by those settings. Another thing, your settings will reset on restart (why? ask Microsoft) There is a free trusted program called Process Lasso which lets you permanently assign a program with all of it's processes to particular cores of CPU, and set permanent I/O priority. What I did was assigned BIAB and DAW to Performance cores only with high I/O priority, and non essential things like Chrome to Efficiency cores only. I don't see any performance changes in Chrome and my DAW is flying on very low buffers. P.S. I strongly suspect the pops I was getting and stop audio engine are related to the last Win(11) update. I was not experiencing anything like that in the past 2 years. In any case, Process Lasso solved it for me and regardless of future updates, now I can control apps not to take over / interfere with resources which are needed for audio recording. I hope this helps some poor soul 
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Neat. You may want to duplicate your post in Tips & Tricks.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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If you had deactivated any devices, such as the HD audio driver for a display monitor, check if the Windows update reactivated it. That one gets me every so often.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Matt,
thanks, but I am pretty confident it relates to Windows + (even idle) Chrome / Edge marriage. Process Lasso is not a magic bullet, but a very powerful program to dedicate / isolate resources where needed.
Last edited by Rustyspoon#; 04/16/26 06:06 PM.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Of course. I agree with your tip about the usefulness of Process Lasso. Good luck. What surprised me was that you mentioned Edge (the default) with Chrome.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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To pinpoint issue, I've used both (individually). In different ways, both were affecting DAW performance. Once I pushed them to E-Cores, all issues disappeared. Gone. Likely something changed in windows.. of how it shares critical resources with these browsers. Again, only a guess.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Ok, I will keep an eye out to test your hypothesis.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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