I have been working with Reaper on a project. Things are going well but recently I noticed something odd. My computer will stop during playback for about 2 seconds, then resume. Doesn't happen often but it is getting more frequent. It usually happens near the end of a song.

I have ideas about what may be causing it but I am not the most computer literate person. Maybe hard drive getting ready to go, maybe not enough RAM (I have 6gb). 56% of my hard drive is free space.

In the meantime, I am backing up a lot.

Any ideas about what this might be? Thanks for your help.

2b

Background: I saw this question elsewhere and asked how much free space was on the drive, since less than 15% can be a problem. 2B has now included in the problem statement that it is 56% free space, so that's not it (hard drive thrashing). The basic computer, an i5 with 6 GB RAM, is easily adequate for BIAB.

New suggestions:

1) in Options, Preferences, RealTracks, uncheck Speed Up Generation of RealTracks
2) in Song Settings (Ctrl+N) check This Song Has Playback Problems, Disable Fast Generation

Report back.

Also check your audio buffers. If they are getting full they can cause all kinds of problems.

56%.

That was my first thought, too.

On WIN 10 run disk cleanup, defraggler, and CC Cleaner if you have it and have not run a disk optimizer lately.

If you have a SSD drive, don't defrag that.

Run Task Manager and check CPU load.

Also, from the Task Manager > Performance Tab, choose Open Resource Monitor, and check what resources are being used when the issue occurs. You may have to look at both CPU and Memory.

I'd increase your ram from 6gb to 32 if you can

I thought he was referencing his DAW not BiaB. 6gb is paltry IMO for a DAW and, I assume, plugins.

Bud

Sounds to me, too, like this is about the DAW (Reaper) and not BIAB.

I have a similar configuration.
Occasionally, I will get a "stutter" in the playback in my DAW (Studio One Professional)...

It is almost always because of the Windows Update routines (svchost.exe - a couple of them usually) running - downloading stuff and hogging memory. Once they finish - and go away - so does any playback problem.

Yes, he says the issue is with Reaper.

I use Reaper also and will occasionally get stutter on playback if I have too many plugins active, it runs out of CPU.

Within reaper you should bring up the performance meter before pressing play. You do that with Ctrl->Alt->p

Play your track and watch the monitor. It will show the amount of CPU being used by each track. Once you see which track has the problem you can narrow down which plugin is causing it.

Task Manager is a good suggestion. Related, try the free utility DPC Latency Checker. It says it isn’t updated for Windows 10 but it works. Instructions are clear on the website.

Yes, rereading this original post, it’s about Reaper. When I first saw the problem elsewhere, I didn’t know that. Unless there are plugins involved, 6 GB RAM shouldn’t be the cause of this problem.

Thanks for all the great ideas. I will go through them, see what happens and let you know.

2b

I don't think this has been mentioned...

Make sure to exclude bb, Realband and Reaper folders from antivirus checking, too. That could help.

Also try Process Explorer from Microsoft SysInternals

It will give you the best possible analysis tools to see exactly what is using what, with history.

The graphs show you exactly what has been happening over a period of time.

Turn off the network/wifi card.

Dunno about you PC folks but upgrading my 2017 Mac to 24gb was cheap and it took me about five minutes to install. I can run multiple instances of many track plugins in my DAW with BiaB and other apps open with no issues. From what I’ve read if you do overload Logic Pro X it will turn off a plug-in and alert you by changing the color of it rather than “stuttering.” I’ve never had an OS update affect the performance but then my OS and DAW are Apple. But admittedly my knowledge is limited to the above products.

Let's drop back a second. 2B has a Windows i5 laptop computer.

2B, I hope you aren't using the built-in sound card, probably a RealTek. Do you have a USB sound module? Even the least expensive Focusrite would be a great improvement and let you use a good ASIO driver. Let us know what you have.

I use a Focusrite for recording but not for playback and editing. That's the way I have been doing it for a while and it hasn't been a problem until recently. That's why I thought my hard drive might be getting ready to die.

Should I be using the Focusrite for playback and editing?

As far as WiFi, I used to turn it off when using RB but it never made a difference. I have never turned it off before when using Reaper and it was never a problem.

I will get back with you on the rest. I am have almost finished my project, and when I do, I can start on administrative issues and a better setup for the future.

Thanks to all.

2b

I say, Yes.

I also agree that this is the better direction to take.

Thanks to both of you. I will give it a try.

2b