PG Music Home Forums User-to-User Post your own Tips and Tricks here my tips...

tips...005.
Windows should load faster on boot up if you use a lrger cache hard drive.(eg 16mb.) look at seagate perp drives.
Be aware that coming i suspect large memory array support also increases overhead possibly.
Try and keep messageing programs off your daw.
(offspring useing a daw can really clog it up with messageing apps.
ive had to clean up friends daws for this reason. )
Before buying a laptop or desktop, test the sound device with it.
This ensures the pc is compatible. also test out your audio software.
On a laptop consider upgradeing the internal drive to a faster one.
Test the speed of your anticipated pc purchase before buying.
Heres several TESTS to do before buying... Click on a desktop icon and watch how quickly dialogs display.
Also time with a watch how fast different pc systems take to copy a file.
You can also check in powertracks the anticipated track counts via the menu.
But the mother of all tests is to record a 3 minute 44.1/16 bit audio track.
Then hilte it in the audio edit window by clicking SELECT WHOLE.
Then pitch shift up an octave. (EDIT>>AUDIO EFFECTS>>PITCH SHIFT)...
and time with a watch how long the pitch shift takes.
The fastest result is the fastest system. Repeat on various pc's to see which is fastest.
you can also repeat useing the other effect dsp's...in ptw
Another test is to load up a test song youve created with 30 tracks.
Then start loading up real time plug ins. When doing this, watch the TIME
and NOW readouts carefully and note when they start to get sluggish.
other tests include timing how long a large section of audio takes to paste in the audio edit
window. In all these tests the fastest pc will become apparent.
ie...the pc that supports the max number of tracks/plug ins and processes the fastest.

You can get more than 48 tracks in powertracks. Heres how.
Mixdown the 48 tracks to a stereo wave, then re-import to a new blank session.
Back up your songs. Did i say back up ?? YES BACK UP YOUR SONGS !!
No matter how good the pc, hard drive malfunctions CAN OCCUR.
The advantage of two drives is you can back up your song seq's on the win drive.
but dont be lazy. What if sadly something destroyed your pc ??
Also consider backing up to other mediums and storing OFFSITE.
A bank is a jolly nice idea for example.
Heres a hint to consider. JUST BECAUSE YOU DID A BACK UP TO DVD or CD or whatever
DONT ASSUME IT WILL ALWAYS BE READABLE. After creating a back up ensure powertracks can read it.
sometimes for many reasons the back up might be to a medium that might have a problem.
Thus test your back ups before storing them away.
In addition retrive your back ups at periodic intervals to ensure they are
still readable.

Ensure your hard drive is set up for the highest performance.
Some retailers forget to set the DMA mode on a hard drive.
Ensure the DMA is set. In win>>control panel>>system>>Device manager.
NOTE. prior to xp you click on the hard drive properties.
For xp bring up the drive controller info.

If you have a bit of a clunker pc, sometimes a little upgrade might work.
Run tests, maybe with a new hard drive you can return or say some more memory.
if itsone hard drive. try a second one for recording to.
On higher performance systems, you might want to run tests with different memory brands.
You might get a faster responsive system with some brands over others.
several sites on the net always test various memory brands as a guide.

Sometimes buying a used pc is a viable option if cheap enough.
Once again run the outlined tests on it. Maybe add another hard drive or more memory.
Reason. as folks upgrade to dua/quadl core pc's the market will be littered with good used pc's
at cheap prices. Be aware of future trends. And time your purchases.
Its never a good idea to be an early adopter and buy right at the top the fastest most expensive pc's due to rapid obsolescence. Some trends i predict.
Not only will we see over the next few years common two processor systems but also 4 and 8 and even 16 processor systems.
and maybe lots more. Thus be carefull when you decide to blow lots of your hard earned cash.
Silicon tech on which pc's are based is coming to the end of its life cycle.
other tech like molecular for example is being worked on in labs around the world to
increase computing power.

How to keep the bad guys out of your system.
In this regard There are many ways to protect yourself by simple means
without buying lots of protection devices. Ideally as i said use a seperate used system for netting.
but if you cant do that. Heres some tricks to help.
1. Youve just got your new shiny pc home. Before opening ptw.
i want you to do several things. Bring up task manager or whatever you use to monitor tasks and note
down the listed tasks. ie...take a picture of it if you can.
yes i KNOW its a pain, but it will help protect you in the future.
When you can check if there any changes to running processes that you havent initiated.
for example...if you see some weird task running in the future that wasnt on the original
list when you bought the system. But be aware it might be a net task because you installed the net
after buying the system. Thus after each change like this take a new snapshot of task manager.
What your trying to nail down is anything you didnt authorise.
Like some nasty program you didnt authorise for example.
2. Really monitor the windows temp folder.
junk can build up there over time. and will need clearing out.
when you get your system home. check it. (there might be a couple of items left by the retailer).
And thats OK....but you want a snapshot again. Whether blank or otherwise.
Once again..every few days check the temp folder and see if any junk has built up from your original
snapshot and clear it out. Thus retrieving disk space.
3. WINDOWS SEARCH IS YOUR FRIEND !!
THIS IS A BIG TIP TO KEEP OUT BAD GUYS.
When you get your new system home, use the SEARCH FUNCTION, all files.
In the box provided enter *.exe. this will list all programs on your computer.
take a snapshot of it. notice VERY CAREFULLY THE DATE COLUMN AND SIZE.
click the date column for the most recent dates. and jot the top ten down by name.
once a week run the *.exe. and ask yourself if you see any new exe's
you didnt authorise ?? Another hint is youll notice you can do a search back one or more days.
do this every few days useing the CREATED option.
this will tell you if any new exe's have been created that you didnt authorise.
By comparing with your original snapshot of your system it will help you identify anything thats changed
you didnt authorise. follow that date column. THATS THE KEY !!
and will give you clues hopefully of anything nasty that might have invaded your system.
by comparing to your new virgin system as orioginally set up.

Make sure your power supply does not get stressed over time.
Without a good power supply a pc cant operate.
Heres a nasty problem that can arise. Originally you bought a nice pc with a good power supply.
BUT !!....over time you add more and more peripherals to it.
maybe more hard drives or whatever. If you add enough peripherals a scenario might develope
where the power supply is taxed under load. This could end up impacting the processor for example.
The processor load CAN get quite severe with lots of tracks and plug ins.
THUS, to be safe. when you buy a new pc overspec the power supply if you expect to add lots of peripherals
down the road. By overspec i mean MORE power in it than you might need in the beginning.


if you get funny noises, WATCH OUT.
A pc is a bit like an auto. You get a feel for it.
but one day you hear a funny noise. maybe where the hard drives are located.
normally a pc should be very quite, unless you have a cheap clone with a noisy fan.
what to do ?? if you hear a funny noise from the hard drives i would get a
pc tech to have a look immediately and not carry on blindly.
it might be a hard drive about to fail. Once again, all your critical
data should be backed up in case of this possibility. did i say BACK UP ??
It still stuns me how people still dont do this. and loose their songs theyve
spent days over creating. i see it all the time on various recording forums.
for example a pc with just one drive that sudenly crashed.
One plus of a seperate internet machine is you could also store back ups of songs on its hard drive ...something i do religeously.
just in case your recording daw DOES FAIL.
(lots more to come.includeing ptw specific triks ive used.)