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Faster bootup times ... post your results! ... may the fastest PC win!

[*]Improved: Much faster bootups. 2-3x faster! (note: fast bootups will start after you've booted up about 3 times and will stay fast). You can see your bootup time by [main menu]-Help-Utilities-Display Log File. Then look for two line like this:
- Bootup was optimal, set to fast [2017.461.0, 3/6/2017 4:26:41 PM]
- Bootup time in millseconds =1,772 [2017.461.0, 3/6/2017 4:26:41 PM]

The first one, saying "optimal" lets you know that it is using the fast bootup method. The second one, shows bootup time which was 1.7 seconds for me! That's a record for me, and this is a fast machine (geekbench 4 score of 4,300 single core, SSD Drive, i5-6200 @2.3 GHz).

Anyway, I wouldn't expect 1.7 seconds from everyone, but you should expect bootups in 1/2 the time or less (compared to your usual bootup times).
If they are still slow, please select prefs-"Write a detailed log". And then reboot BiaB and you will see a file called BootupLog.txt being created. You can then send that to us in a message, and we paste it into Excel and see how long various routines are taking.

Note that non-English versions may take longer - we are working on that.

Please post your results in the following format:

1. Bootup time (from a bootup that says optimal as above). Remember, don't count the first bootup after a PC reboot, since your system is overrun with startup items like DropBox, Google Helper etc. etc. Wait until things have settled down.

2. PC info: Windows version, Geekbench 4 score if available, # cores, CPU speed. HD or SSD drive.
1. 1.8 seconds
2. Windows 10, i7-6700k, 4.00 GHz, SSD

Usually fast enough, now up in an instant. THANKS!
- Bootup was optimal, set to fast [2017.461.1, 16/03/2017 10:00:03]
- Bootup time in millseconds =1,001 [2017.461.1, 16/03/2017 10:00:03]
- Time to Count Plugins in ms =60. Plugins counted=22 [2017.461.1, 16/03/2017 10:00:03]

Wow that's fast...

i7 4 core 480gb SSD drive

George
- Bootup was optimal, set to fast [2017.461.1, 3/16/2017 7:14:26 AM]
- Bootup time in millseconds =2,007 [2017.461.1, 3/16/2017 7:14:26 AM]

Not to shabby - I like a lot! Specs in my sig.
George, that's by far the fastest reported so far.
- Bootup was optimal, set to fast [2017.461.1, 3/16/2017 10:35:12 PM]
- Bootup time in millseconds =3,058 [2017.461.1, 3/16/2017 10:35:12 PM]

Dell laptop, Win 7 Home Premium with service pack 1 and all updates, 64 bit, i3 dual core cpu, 4 GB ram, 480 GB 5400 rpm hard drive.

Very noticeable difference.
I was more than happy with 2 seconds or less on my i7. But I'm flabbergasted by 3 seconds on my old Core 2 Duo, a six-year old PC.
))) Bootup time in millseconds =1,001

George,

That's a beast of a computer you have there! What have you been feeding it? Fastest bootup by far.

Peter
Originally Posted By: Matt Finley
I was more than happy with 2 seconds or less on my i7. But I'm flabbergasted by 3 seconds on my old Core 2 Duo, a six-year old PC.

Booting time depends on the reading speed of the Hard Drive, that's why SSDs are the fastest.

My laptop is an i7 with a 512GB SSD. I haven't updated it yet, so I'd like to take notes of the actual boot time and after the upgrade, so I'll ask: WHERE exactly do I find the booting times?

Inquiring minds would like to know. cool
Originally Posted By: LtKojak
My laptop is an i7 with a 512GB SSD. I haven't updated it yet, so I'd like to take notes of the actual boot time and after the upgrade, so I'll ask: WHERE exactly do I find the booting times?

Inquiring minds would like to know. cool

As per below. Note that the latest information is at the top of the file

Attached picture 2017-03-17_21-16-09.jpg
Thank you, Video Track!

As promessed, I did it:

Before: avg. boot time 16ms

After: avg. boot time: 5ms

Definately an improvement, it really feels lightning fast!

Kudos to Dr. Gannon and Developement team!

It's very nice to see how it really is possible to make the best even better!

Yours very truly,
Originally Posted By: Matt Finley
I was more than happy with 2 seconds or less on my i7. But I'm flabbergasted by 3 seconds on my old Core 2 Duo, a six-year old PC.


Yes. The same for me. My older dual core processor has again become the powerful sleek PC as the sticker on the side of the case indicates it should be...


- Bootup was optimal, set to fast [2017.461.1, 3/17/2017 8:14:43 AM]
- Bootup time in millseconds =2,437 [2017.461.1, 3/17/2017 8:14:43 AM]
Kojak, thanks, yes I did put an SSD boot drive in that old Core 2 Duo PC. You're right, that makes a huge difference.

Your readings appear to be in seconds, not milliseconds. That's an excellent improvement, though.
Hi Lt Kojak

5 (five) mS ???

Wow, that sounds very quick. Might need to recheck.
Originally Posted By: VideoTrack
5 (five) mS ???



I think that some people take only the integer portion of the value listed in the report.
For ex, in most of countries using the International Metrics system, like Italy or France, we should read for exemple 5 256 ms, while English countries will write 5,256ms. Taking the integer portion, that is the most significant value, we get 5, that is in fact 5 seconds and not 5 ms.

Some years ago, I asked to get all values listed in BIAB according to the System International.
It is still strange for many people in many countries to see we have for example 5,451 styles in the style picker instead of 5 451 styles.
According to the selected language in BIAB, the values could be implemeneted in SI display.


By the way, all values listed in the report are in 'millseconds'. The right term is 'milliseconds'. Let's call a cat a cat.
- Bootup was optimal, set to fast [2017.461.1, 3/17/2017 11:16:56 AM]
- Bootup time in millseconds =2,161 [2017.461.1, 3/17/2017 11:16:56 AM]

This is my office laptop, not the one I use onstage (described in my signature):
Windows 10, i7 5500u (2.40 GHz), 2 cores, HD
Geekbench 4 CPU score - single core = 3370, multi core = 6409
Geekbench 4 Compute score = 14,679


Much, much better loading time! Thanks!
Quote:
Some years ago, I asked to get all values listed in BIAB according to the System International.
It is still strange for many people in many countries to see we have for example 5,451 styles in the style picker instead of 5 451 styles.
According to the selected language in BIAB, the values could be implemeneted in SI display.


And of course, I know that in Norway (and probably other countries as well), they use a comma instead of a period to represent the decimal point.

So, a restaurant bill in the United States for 17.26 would be 17,26 in Norway.
Originally Posted By: John-Luke
Originally Posted By: VideoTrack
5 (five) mS ???
in most of countries using the International Metrics system, like Italy or France, we should read for exemple 5 256 ms, while English countries will write 5,256ms. Taking the integer portion, that is the most significant value, we get 5, that is in fact 5 seconds and not 5 ms.

Yes, that's the case in my case, pun intended.

So yes, it's five seconds.

Still lightning fast... wink
- Running Windows Notepad.exe to display file C:\bb\Data\FlashMessageLog.txt [2017.461.1, 3/17/2017 8:48:56 PM]
- Bootup was optimal, set to fast [2017.461.1, 3/17/2017 8:48:51 PM]
- Bootup time in millseconds =1,433 [2017.461.1, 3/17/2017 8:48:51 PM]
- Time to Count Plugins in ms =231. Plugins counted=45 [2017.461.1, 3/17/2017 8:48:50 PM]

Thank you Peter!

Don
Well, I didn't put a stop watch to it or copy those file numbers out.... heck I couldn't find them.... but there is a huge difference in the start time from "click" to "ready to roll".

Something in the vicinity of maybe 2 seconds. Since I'm rarely in a rush, that's good for me. I was used to seeing start times of around 15 to 20 seconds. Never really thought about it before.... it needed to do all the stuff to get ready, including loading the synth, and whatever else it needed to do. Fix it's hair and makeup... heck I don't know. 2 seconds is good. Now, I need to take a swallow of my coffee BEFORE I click start on BB. Previously I could do that while it was booting up... not now.
- Bootup was optimal, set to fast [2017.461.1, 3/19/2017 9:40:38 AM]
- Bootup time in millseconds =3,019 [2017.461.1, 3/19/2017 9:40:38 AM]

Well no record breaker here, considering this old Dell i7 used to be a powerhouse back in the day, but otherwise, pretty nice.
- Bootup was optimal, set to fast [2017.461.1, 3/19/2017 11:19:48 AM]
- Bootup time in millseconds =2,462 [2017.461.1, 3/19/2017 11:19:48 AM]
- Time to Count Plugins in ms =214. Plugins counted=25 [2017.461.1, 3/19/2017 11:19:47 AM]

Phenom Tri-core, much quicker now.
Thanks
Originally Posted By: MusicStudent
- Bootup was optimal, set to fast [2017.461.1, 3/19/2017 9:40:38 AM]
- Bootup time in millseconds =3,019 [2017.461.1, 3/19/2017 9:40:38 AM]

Well no record breaker here, considering this old Dell i7 used to be a powerhouse back in the day, but otherwise, pretty nice.


Shut down, went to lunch and when I started again, felt like I had to wait forever.... grin

- Bootup was optimal, set to fast [2017.461.1, 3/19/2017 11:51:55 AM]
- Bootup time in millseconds =9,596 [2017.461.1, 3/19/2017 11:51:55 AM]
What'd you have for lunch that slowed you down so much?
<ducking>

Was there anything below that in the log file? Sometimes (historically) I've seen 'stylepicker rebuild' messages and other stuff that explained the time..
Just for the record, it was an extra 6 sec. to *count plugins" which it did not record on the first loading.
So you're back down to 3 or so?
I find that the first start is slower than subsequent restarts (for the same computer session). Presumably as a result of some caching by the O/S
Yep in Win 7 I'm getting the above typical ~2 sec's (aka 2072 +/- ms) - I'll try Win 10 later on this machine, specs below.

Not sure what numbers were prior to update (I deleted the .txt file)

The interesting case is, like Matt and a few others, my 2006 Core 2 Duo (2 Gz Intel T7200 chip), Dell Latitude D820, max 4GB RAM, with it's third and final "fast" PATA/IDE 750GB HDD upgrade, running Win XP. [Not worth hassle of finding a PATA/IDE to SATA interface, that will FIT in the space allowed. Besides I have a new i7 Win 10 Pro laptop that DOES have SDD's showing up later this week]

Before 461 update, on the D820, the x-bar was ~17.4 secs (pointless to say 17,400 ms but I guess I just did), after update it was ~5.8 sec's (ok 5,883 ms) so right at 3X faster.

Note, in both cases, I'm losing the same ~1 sec (1,036 ms) to plugins counting; therefore, plugin counting impact on boot time is more significant AFTER update than before by a factor of 3 - LOL

Great work guys!
Larry
Wow.....that is fantastic, Doctor. Mine rebooted in negative time, like yesterday!
My first one of the day (after a restart of my computer) was 11,664 milliseconds. My next two were 3,475 approximately. Is Band in a Box using memory to keep itself ready for a fast start?
Here is my boot time:

[img]https://www.dropbox.com/s/oube0noq8umns75/BiaB%20boot%20time.JPG?dl=0[/img]

I don't now what my original boot time was. All I know is now I don't have time to get another beer wink

Gee thanx Peter grin

PS - let me know if you can see the image. Dropbox has messed things up when it comes to the public folder.
Can't see it...
Originally Posted By: MarioD
Here is my boot time:

[img]https://www.dropbox.com/s/oube0noq8umns75/BiaB%20boot%20time.JPG?dl=0[/img]

I don't now what my original boot time was. All I know is now I don't have time to get another beer wink

Gee thanx Peter grin

PS - let me know if you can see the image. Dropbox has messed things up when it comes to the public folder.


Yes, I see the image. 1,403 ms for boot time is very fast.
Are these times based on the first time opening Biab after a cold restart of the computer? If so then mine isn't so fast, maybe 15-20 seconds using the system in my sig. After that, if I close Biab and reopen it's almost immediate, like 2 seconds or so. I've tried this 5-6 times, same result.

Bob
Originally Posted By: jazzmammal
Are these times based on the first time opening Biab after a cold restart of the computer? If so then mine isn't so fast, maybe 15-20 seconds using the system in my sig. After that, if I close Biab and reopen it's almost immediate, like 2 seconds or so. I've tried this 5-6 times, same result.

Bob


My time was on the second time opening BiaB. It has been the same every time after that.
))) Are these times based on the first time opening Biab after a cold restart of the computer

A bootup after a cold restart will be a little slower for any program. And if the bootup is done immediately after a bootup, it could be very slow. This is because many apps are working during startup - email, Dropbox etc.

If you're getting 2 seconds, that's great. If it's 16 seconds after a cold reboot, that's unusually long, but maybe you have services running as above.
My old Windows 7 with core i7 boots much faster, but I don’t know, or care, how to measure it. I just watch it until it comes on. The faster speed is nice to have, but not nearly as much as correcting the faulty frozen tracks that wouldn’t play previously. That’s a big deal to us live players, who had to wait an eternity for 6 or 7 real tracks to load, some of which had solos. You can imagine the wait time, with folks staring at you wondering when the song will start. Now, if PG Music could get non-frozen real tracks to load blazingly fast, that would really be something to celebrate.
Originally Posted By: J. Larry
My old Windows 7 with core i7 boots much faster, but I don’t know, or care, how to measure it. I just watch it until it comes on. The faster speed is nice to have, but not nearly as much as correcting the faulty frozen tracks that wouldn’t play previously. That’s a big deal to us live players, who had to wait an eternity for 6 or 7 real tracks to load, some of which had solos. You can imagine the wait time, with folks staring at you wondering when the song will start. Now, if PG Music could get non-frozen real tracks to load blazingly fast, that would really be something to celebrate.

To avoid that, you should use either *.mp3 or *.wav files as backing tracks and play over those, not BIAB itself.

HTH,
- Bootup was optimal, set to fast [2017.461.1, 3/21/2017 10:33:16 AM]
- Bootup time in millseconds =1,807 [2017.461.1, 3/21/2017 10:33:16 AM]
- Time to Count Plugins in ms =97. Plugins counted=20 [2017.461.1, 3/21/2017 10:33:15 AM]
**** New Session started at : 3/21/2017 10:33:15 AM
My old Windows 7 with core i7 boots much faster, but I don’t know, or care, how to measure it.

Now, if PG Music could get non-frozen real tracks to load blazingly fast, that would really be something to celebrate.

-------
You measure bootup time as described above, just run a main menu item help-utilities-display log. Then find the line with bootup time on it. At the top of the file.

The time to generate non-frozen songs is CPU dependent. I have an old win 7 machine, and it's gotten slower over the years. This is from layer upon layer of third party software addons (Dropbox, iTunes etc, avg) and perhaps the hard drive getting slower, or memory management. Anyway, you should measure your single core geekbench score, as if it is low that would be the cause of waiting a long time to generate a non frozen song.
J Larry, here's a suggestion: although Peter says the CPU speed is critical to regenerate songs, and I agree, I have also found the process works somewhat faster if I am loading the song from an SSD. Maybe I'm imagining that, because the songs are loaded into RAM and presumably stay there unless you change them. But I think if I were using BIAB live and regenerating, I would put a SSD in my PC. When I did that with my laptop, it was like having a new machine, only better!

On my desktop, when I am composing a song and doing a ton of regenerating as I make changes, I first copy the song onto one of my SSD drives. It helps. Then, when done, it gets archived with the others onto a regular hard drive.
- Bootup was optimal, set to fast [2017.461.1, 3/21/2017 3:24:36 PM]
- Bootup time in millseconds =2,156 [2017.461.1, 3/21/2017 3:24:36 PM]
- Time to Count Plugins in ms =180. Plugins counted=22 [2017.461.1, 3/21/2017 3:24:35 PM]
**** New Session started at : 3/21/2017 3:24:35 PM

Win 10, i5-650, 16GB ram, 500GB SSD, 2x 1Tb HD's

Big improvement..thanks PG!

Jeff
Originally Posted By: J. Larry
My old Windows 7 with core i7 boots much faster, but I don’t know, or care, how to measure it. I just watch it until it comes on. The faster speed is nice to have, but not nearly as much as correcting the faulty frozen tracks that wouldn’t play previously. That’s a big deal to us live players, who had to wait an eternity for 6 or 7 real tracks to load, some of which had solos. You can imagine the wait time, with folks staring at you wondering when the song will start. Now, if PG Music could get non-frozen real tracks to load blazingly fast, that would really be something to celebrate.


Larry, this is all computer dependent. Look at my specs. I can have a complex song using 6 or 7 RT's including a soloist and it generates in 3-4 seconds with an SSD main drive. Speed means horsepower and it costs money even if it's a computer and not a car...

The bigger question or actually two, are you using the Conductor to change the arrangement on the fly or are you using a multichannel mixer to make tweaks live? If the answer to those two things is no then why bother with messing with a laptop on stage? Just create some wav's or MP3's and then use any one of several setlist apps and play the songs from your phone or a tablet.

Bob
Great speed improvement
Just realized that if I use bb for 1000 times I save 33 minutes
of my life
Hi
Could be 33 mins of musical inspiration!
Hugh
or (33 - n) minutes where n = testing and posting time about how he saved 33 minutes.

like my wife: shoes on sale so she buys a pair and saved 50%, but I think she spent 100% MORE then she needed to since she already has SHOES grin

Larry
Wow! Just installed the latest build and I am so happy with how fast BIAB starts now! Thanks PG!!!
Glad to hear that JJJ
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