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This mysteriously disappeared from the forum. It was still in the archives, but as I often refer newbies to it, I thought it was worth having immediately available.) I STRONGLY recommend that all those serious about music and audio production on their PC check out the following link: http://videoediting.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=13970 I also recommend the book "PC Recording Studios for Dummies" to help get started. I am NOT a newbie--I have been doing sound and recording since the mid-70s and under the hood of my PC for at least 10 years--but making it all work on a PC was about to get the best of me. The author writes in an annoyingly cutesy manner, but the book is loaded with useful information. PLUS, it is equally applicable to PCs AND Macs--he uses Logic Pro and Pro Tools as his working examples of applications throughout the book. Hope this helps ya fight the good fight, R. P.S. 02/27/08: There is a program which many of you know about--Spybot S&D. Anyone who uses the Internet should have this anyway to keep their PCs free of spyware and hijackers. It has another function especially helpful in terms of performance. Set "View" to "Advanced". Then, under "Tools", click "Startup". You will see a list of programs which start with Windows, many of which are inaccessible in Windows itself. Simply uncheck any that you don't want running and restart. You may have to do this a few times with some (notably Quicktime), but it will eventually pare things down to just what you want running. This is a big help with brand-name machines which come loaded with a lot of accessories and help functions not needed for day-to-day usage. Happy BiaBoxing! R.
"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."
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Just goes to show, eh? If you do everything TASCAM guys suggest, you could end up running a full professional 999 track DAW on a x386 machine!
Good point to highlight this article for newbies
One of the best handbooks I have is now way out of date (first published in 1992) but it is still extremely useful. 'Home Recording Techniques' by J. D. Sharp (An Alfred Handy Guide). ISBN 0-88284-495-4. It even has a TASCAM PortaStudio 07 identical to my old baby on the front cover!
Another good one is 'Managing MIDI Basics' by David R. Trubitt from the same series. ISBN 0-88284-496-2
Of course, PG manuals and the forum are also extremely useful (if only we could patent and publish Mac's knowledge!)
Well done
Follow That Dream Sam Karaoke King -------------------- Turning that corner again - I have to keep following that dream, no matter what
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There's a thought - maybe Mac could be persuaded to write a no-nonsense book on recording basics, tips and tricks...
--=-- My credo: If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing - just ask my missus, she'll tell ya  --=--You're only paranoid if you're wrong!
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Post your own Tips and Tricks here
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Brilliant idea! Hey, Mac! How about it?
Follow That Dream Sam Karaoke King -------------------- Turning that corner again - I have to keep following that dream, no matter what
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Post your own Tips and Tricks here
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Post your own Tips and Tricks here
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I'm re-posting this from 'Off Topic'. Worked too darned hard all night to get my laptop back together again (20 hours non-stop) and stuck it in the wrong place. Darn! I knew there was something up! Quote:
In re-installing my TASCAM US-122, I came across a pdf file on the CD. 23 pages from TASCAM all about how to optimise your computer to work as a DAW. Thought I would put it up for folks who might be interested. It's here
Hope that's of interest to somebody out there
Might even be worth printing out and keeping. It's certainly well worth a look 
Follow That Dream Sam Karaoke King -------------------- Turning that corner again - I have to keep following that dream, no matter what
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Post your own Tips and Tricks here
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Finally got to reading that TASCAM article myself last night. Good points in there and a lot I need to do myself as a result. Well worth reading through
Follow That Dream Sam Karaoke King -------------------- Turning that corner again - I have to keep following that dream, no matter what
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Post your own Tips and Tricks here
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"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."
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Post your own Tips and Tricks here
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Follow That Dream Sam Karaoke King -------------------- Turning that corner again - I have to keep following that dream, no matter what
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Post your own Tips and Tricks here
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Just curious: how much sense would any of those tweaks (well, some of them I always apply anyway) enhance audio processing on a machine with Xp Pro X64 an 8GB RAM?
Anyone out there with a story?
Cheers, Mike My Music * Asus ROG Strix G15CF 32 GB DDR4 4TB HDD + 1 TB SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 8GB Win 11 AKAI EIE PRO Sound Interface. BIAB/RB 2024 UltraPak Build - Latest
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I've had a Microsoft employee (you'll meet him eventually, Mike) who runs such a config (well, with Vista, actually) tell me that there is little difference. He said he hardly bothers to defrag his HD.
That is he. I have reasons to doubt his overall judgment. Being me (and not having the latest and greatest hard- and software) I'm going to look for every edge I can get. If you are looking for audio perfection, why would you not optimize your system?
"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."
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Yup. Proper maintenance, such as defragmentation, should always be performed. No doubt. Power schemes, screen savers and such crap should definitely be disabled.
However, at some point and depending on your configuration, it becomes more important what kind of quality you put into your DAW to get optimum results and not how much you tweak your system.
Cheers, Mike My Music * Asus ROG Strix G15CF 32 GB DDR4 4TB HDD + 1 TB SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 8GB Win 11 AKAI EIE PRO Sound Interface. BIAB/RB 2024 UltraPak Build - Latest
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