PG Music Home Forums User-to-User Post your own Tips and Tricks here TIPS FOR SOMEONE NEW TO MUSIC PRODUCTION LOOKING TO BUY A PC OR USE AN EXISTING PC.

10...WRAP UP AND ROOT CAUSES/ SUMMARY OF WHY A USER ENCOUNTERS PROBLEMS USEING A PERSONAL COMPUTER FOR MUSIC PRODUCTION.

i didnt write this series of tips to be a 'smartie'. there were three reasons.

..over the years as a pg user ive seen very loooong threads develop as users try to help other users with technical problems and sometimes a lot of 'guesswork' ensues. Thus one aim of these tips was a reference point to save people's time.
(both pg users and the pg support team.)
There are many kind hearted people on these forums but it might be nice to save their time somewhat.
..it's very difficult sometimes for even an experienced pg user or tech to help another user with problems. sometimes it's akin to a medical professional going through lots of analysis steps in order to hone in FINALLY on the 'offending gremlin(s)'.
..sometimes ive seen the developer…in this case pg blamed by the user. same in industry…i would like a buck for each time a user said 'it's the IT departments fault'. I would be rich…lol. The 'truth' of the matter is yes sometimes it can be the IT folks fault but sometimes not. it must be clearly understood, and ive worked with outstanding technically brilliant people over the years that even for the best sometimes this stuff isnt trivial.
So please spare a thought for tech people trying to help you often find that 'needle in the proverbial haystack'.

common refrains ive heard over the years striving to help someone with problems include…
..'but my friend has the same pc and soundcard'. 'Why me ?'
..'this computer cost me a lot of money…it's the most powerful one sold.'
..'it's the softwares fault'.

etc etc and so it goes.
but the above means nothing often.
the friends computer might be optimised for music production or the expensive pc hasnt been optimised for music production or in fact it might be that the music app is crashing because something else on the pc is impacting the music app and the music app can't get enough pc resources to execute its tasks.
it must be clearly understood that music production apps are a very different animal from many run of the mill apps we might run. BECAUSE MUSIC PRODUCTION IS TIME CRITICAL.
as an example once i had a friend that had spent large on a pc while i had spent only a couple of hundred bucks on a refurbished pc. he had all sorts of problems because his new pc wasnt optimised for music whereas my el cheapo pc had been optimised so it ran pg
software and other music apps like a champ.

so let's address ROOT CAUSES….THERE ARE A TON OF POSSIBLES.
(and I'm sure I'm gonna miss one as I'm just human.)
In no order off the top of my head root causes can include…
..os updates.
..putting a music production pc on the net can sometimes cause problems.
..not doing one's research and even testing if one can prior to purchase of a pc.
..useing an old clunker and expecting it to do high track and/or plugin counts.
..inherent high dpc count. (see the very first post in this thread.)
..one or more defective parts.
..pc configured wrong from get go.
..pc bloatware.
..malware and/or viruses the user might not be aware of that are installed.
..poor choice of sound device viz drivers.
..sound device installed incorrectly and/or its drivers. ive even seen cases where a user forgets to install the drivers.
..incorrect setup of windows audio in identifying the sound device to use and/or win audio settings.
..incorrect setup of the music app re identifying to the music app the sound device/ drivers to use. and/or incorrect set up of other music app settings.
..incorrect setup of the sound interface itself…eg these days most sound interfaces have their own on screen control app. the user needs to ensure this is set up correctly.
..background processes and apps running and impacting the primary task of music production.
think of it like this way…if i go to the fridge and there is no food for supper because my cute new cat ate it…then i cant eat. same with music apps. if they cant get pc resources because something else is chewing up pc resources they can't function properly.
IT MUST BE CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD>>>MUSIC APPS ARE VERY TIME DEPENDENT.
(btw…lol…we had a cute cat once that could open a fridge. We still miss him to this day.)
..a pc as i said upthread with low processor thread counts can be a problem.
(see cpubenchmark.net link upthread.)


The above are just a few examples of possible root causes.
As I think of more I'll add to the list. i invite anyone to pm me with added root causes and i will update the list and attribute the update to them.

Well that's it for this series of tips and thread .
I hope new and existing pg users find them useful.

happiness to all.

om