Cubase VST32 + Echo Layla24 Latency, etc.

[tntkemp]

I'm trying to help a friend out with his studio. He runs VST32 v5.something... Anyway, he's recently purchased a new system with an MSI Intel 845-based motherboard and Windows XP. His configuration is as follows:


MSI 845 Ultra-AR P4 DDR (478) Motherboard ATA 133 with
Onboard Promise IDE Raid controller
Intel PIII-1.8GHz CPU w/256k cache
1GB Ram
40GB ATA-100 5400 RPM EIDE drive, OS and Apps, Primary
Controller, Master
40GB ATA-100 or 133 7200 RPM EIDE drive, Audio only, Primary
Controller, Slave
2 32x CD/RW drives, Secondary Controller, Master and Slave
Matrox Millenium G450 AGP Twinhead Video, using only one
monitor for now
Layla24 Sound Card running the latest v6.03 ASIO WDM drivers
10/100 NIC


This issue is that when we run Softsynths (SampleTank Synths especially), the CPU shows excessive usage, much the same as his original 400mhz system. This doesn't make since, since we have over 4.5x as much CPU and 2x memory. What could we be missing? One sample song was 4 synth engines, 4 sounds each. Read on:

Eventually, we hope to move the hard drives to each of the ports of the Raid Controller, and leave the standard onboard EIDE ports for each of the CDWriters, thus opening up each EIDE port to be dedicated to one drive. I.E., it would be booting off of the primary Promise Raid controller. However, for now, this configuration should work fine. In fact, the drive registers absolutely no usage during playback.

I have tweaked XP every which way I could think off. The only shared interrupt is the NIC with the USB ports, which aren't even being used at this point. All of the fancy screen fades, etc. are disabled, running in Standard mode, Swap files set to 2048 min and max, to match 2x installed memory. No additional apps are running from what I see. It was a very clean install.

Any help/advice would be very much appreciated!

[viren55]

Welcome to my problem.

Cubase SX
Layla24
1.25 Gb DDR2 SD Ram
HP Pavillion 3.06 Ghz

Running 4 Vsti's + 4 channels of audio (vocals) = Excessive CPU Usage in SX.

Thinking about killing my self. Well either that, or throwing this piece of garbage Layla24 out the window.

[seismetr0n]

i run a layla 24 with my 2.4ghz, and 1 g ram.. i have really no problem at all with mixed tracks... (i just tested a couple 1=6 audio 4 softsynth = 60%, 2= 8 softsynth =20%)... i only get mega cpu usage with massive plugins used (reverbs, delays, freakout things).. (note softsynths = minimoogV, Monologue, Poly 6, etc.. =some brain heavy shit)

i use the WDM driver with 512 samples.. and it gets only 6.x ms of lag...

check to make sure:
1. newest drivers installed, (for everything esp layla and DX)
2. antivirus progs off (or in my case set to not read from certian directories)
3. keep efx to minimum or route through send channels for mutliple uses

gl

(btw the layla 24, is way faster than earlier layla20)

[viren55]

Hey Seismetron,

Anyway to hook up 2 computers. Have 1 run the vsti's, the audio files, and have the Fx's run on the 2nd computer. That way neighter computer gets lagged down.

Any idea how to do this? I've never used S/Pdif or Adat or anything. Not ever sure how to connect it with that stuff.

Thanks,
Viren