Making Acid and Vegas "Performance Safe" [Need to solve before the weekend!]

[barefoot]

Does anyone have any tips on how to make Acid and Vegas more stable?

I'm debuting my hard disc spinning this weekend and I want to avoid the occasional glitches which occur when playing my mixes. Acid seems to have the biggest problem, especially when I open a new mix. They occasionally stutter on the first playing. But after all the events have been played once and "loaded into memory" (or whatever technically happens), the next playing is glitch free.

How can I avoid this altogether? Would more memory help? Buffer settings?

Mobile System:
PIII 800MHz
128M RAM
7200 Ultra ATA EIDE HD
SB Live Value (no $ to upgrade right now)

Thanks!

barefoot

[lunatic]

My first guess would be to add a second hard drive. Store your mixes on this drive so that Acid, Vegas and Windows are not competing with your mixes for drive access.

Then again, I noticed that you state no money for a sound card upgrade so a hard drive upgrade may be out of the question as well. However, I do feel this would work for you.

Let us know how it goes! Do you have any samples we could hear?


Peace

[barefoot]

Thanks lunatic!

I pulled it off last weekend without a hitch, because I mainly stuck with Vegas. The Acid mixes I pre-played with the levels down in order "load" them first. It worked, though it wasn't quite as interactive as I had laid out. I sacrificed flexibility for stability.

I hadn't thought of getting a 2nd HD, but it sounds like it could have a high probability of success. It does seem like the glitches occur most often when I have large disc based events in an Acid mix.

Might not be out of the question money wise. Looks like I can get another 20GB drive for about $80. Most of the stuff I store on the HD is loop based, so I don't need a huge amount of space. So far I have about 5 hours worth of mixes and I've used less than 1/4 of my 20GB C drive. I can supplement that with "tweaked" tracks from various artists burned on CD.

I haven't got around to posting any music yet. I've been mixing most everything specifically for my sound system, so it doesn't necessarily "translate" well. Plus I have a family, so every second I get to work on music is precious. And I do have to admit mostly I've been a little afraid of getting slammed. But after all the positives I got last Saturday, I'm feeling pretty good about my music. I'll try and post some things as soon as I can.

Thanks again,
barefoot

BTW: My mixes lean towards a more up tempo ambient-dub and that slowed down d&b nu-school breaks sort of thing - I guess generically in the class of "Intelligent Dance Music".

[lunatic]

Barefoot,

Man, don't sweat getting slammed because it sounds like you're doing very well! I know I'd like to hear what your throwing down. The style sounds great!

I understand about time. We just moved and all my time is curently spent unpacking, plugging things in, hanging things up, etc. The good news is the house we moved into has a 250 sq. ft. "workshop" off the garage that I plan to turn into my recording space. That, and we have 4.5 acres now that is all ours. So, if necessary, I can expand down the road.

Anyway...

Hopefully you'll post some stuff in the clinic. I'm sure there are other people interested in what you are doing with Acid and Vegas.

Try the 2nd HD. I don't think you'll be disappointed.


-Peace

[SPINSTERWUN]

You should post your music. I would like to hear it.

spin

[lunatic]

Hear hear! Hrumpf, hrumpf, hrumpf....

[SPINSTERWUN]

I want to hear because I'm curious to how the pre-made mixes sound, not necessarily to critique.

spin

[theron]

Too avoid the initial stutter, try a bit of a pre-roll silence at the begining of the mix. Something small like 3 seconds could correct the problem without an additional HD. IF you can live with the silent pre-roll.

Theron.

[barefoot]

Spin, lunatic,

I finally posted a mix in the MP3 Clinic. Check it out. I'd love to have your opinions.
http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthr...threadid=41844

barefoot

[cloudchamber]

Why dont you just play your mp3 at your concert? I doubt anyone would notice, and it probably wont skip at all.

[barefoot]

Originally posted by cloudchamber
Why dont you just play your mp3 at your concert? I doubt anyone would notice, and it probably wont skip at all.

Because I'm doing a lot more than just syncing beats when I play out.

barefoot

[gec]

Hey Barefoot,

if you don't wanna by another drive you could always split the one you have.

[barefoot]

Originally posted by gec
if you don't wanna by another drive you could always split the one you have.

I don't think that helps with throughput, does it? Both partitions are still on the same controller.

I'm saving my pennies, they're only about $80.

barefoot

[lunatic]

Don't split the one you have. It'll only make things worse...