Sonar 4 troubles

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Ctrl_Alt_Dlt

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I keep hearing cracks in my recordings. What could it be from?

Some things about my system:
Sonar 4 Producer
Presonus Firestudio
PC--Windows Vista

When I open up a file on Sonar 4, the disk space reads: 46%. Does this mean I have 46% of space left?

Example:

For one song I recorded, I have the following:
tracks 1-8 Drums
tracks 9 and 10 Guitar 1
tracks 11 and 12 Guitar 2
track 13 Bass
track 14 Vocals 1
track 15 Vocals 2

If i just listen to these 15 tracks, the bottom right corner shows a CPU percentageat about 20-30% when I play the song.

After mixing and editing (adding EQ, compression, effects etc...) when I play the song to listen to it, the CPU percentage on the bottom changes to 50-80% depending on how much EQ/compression I put it. On one song, the percentage on the bottom right corner was playing at 90% and at this level, during the playback, the song sounded very choppy and muddy as if my computer could not handle the amount of stuff going on.

What can I do to make sure the CPU levels are lower? I understand that I may be using too much EQ, compression, effects. I will monitor that more.


Could the cracks be from the disk space? I understand that it could be from cables too or the input on my firestudio too.

Not looking to get responses about how crappy my system is or that i am a novice. I know all of that. Just looking for suggestions on how I can fix the problems above if possible.

Thanks.
 
Unfortunately, it's computer. It takes a lot of computing power to handle all those tracks and effects in real time and play it back.

You can adjust you buffer size and that will help. First are you using an ASIO driver or WDM driver. You should use ASIO and you can raise your buffer level up. Do this by going to the ASIo control panel and adjusting the buffer size. The larger your buffer, the smoother it will play back, but the compromise is that you are increasing latency as well. Set your buffer up to 1024 or 2048 and it should play smooth. You won't be able to track with it though because the latency will be so high that when you play a note, it will take several seconds before you hear it.
 
Some other things you didn't mention about your setup, but might help:

More memory... I'm guessing your computer is running at 32bit and not 64, so throw in at LEAST 2 gigs of ram and, if your computer will take it, up to 4 gigs.

Add a second 7200 rpm hard drive for audio files only... Separating your system drive from your audio data will help boost things considerably.

Turn off all unused services/hardware.... As your main recording DAW, it's best to keep it off the Internet, which allows you to disable network cards and/or modems. Also, make sure you don't have any camera software, printer bells and whistles, MSN, Yahoo Msgr, Adobe Acrobat, Itunes, etc. starrting everytime you turn on your system. If you must have Internet on the DAW, consider setting up separate hardware profiles.

Hope this helps!

:)
 
Washburn100 said:
Unfortunately, it's computer. It takes a lot of computing power to handle all those tracks and effects in real time and play it back.

You can adjust you buffer size and that will help. First are you using an ASIO driver or WDM driver. You should use ASIO and you can raise your buffer level up. Do this by going to the ASIo control panel and adjusting the buffer size. The larger your buffer, the smoother it will play back, but the compromise is that you are increasing latency as well. Set your buffer up to 1024 or 2048 and it should play smooth. You won't be able to track with it though because the latency will be so high that when you play a note, it will take several seconds before you hear it.
Click to expand...

I am using ASIO. I will fool around with my buffer size then. thanks for the info!
 
BentRabbit said:
Some other things you didn't mention about your setup, but might help:

More memory... I'm guessing your computer is running at 32bit and not 64, so throw in at LEAST 2 gigs of ram and, if your computer will take it, up to 4 gigs.

Add a second 7200 rpm hard drive for audio files only... Separating your system drive from your audio data will help boost things considerably.

Turn off all unused services/hardware.... As your main recording DAW, it's best to keep it off the Internet, which allows you to disable network cards and/or modems. Also, make sure you don't have any camera software, printer bells and whistles, MSN, Yahoo Msgr, Adobe Acrobat, Itunes, etc. starrting everytime you turn on your system. If you must have Internet on the DAW, consider setting up separate hardware profiles.

Hope this helps!

:)
Click to expand...


I had a feeling it was my computer. My brother built it for me just for recording. I did notice that when I had the internet hooked up to it, it did slow it down. I'll have him put more stuff in it to make it run faster.

Thanks for the info!
 
Just to double check------the cracks i hear in my recordings may be from the space, ram, memory etc...of my computer?

My brother keeps saying that too...but I keep thinking it could be from my presonus or cables.


DAMN CRACKS!!! they really kill a recording. I want to do everything possible to avoid these damn cracks!
 
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