comuter hardware issue or user error

Stefan A

New member
I have experimented a little with Ableton Live lite and Reaper. In both programs, the following problem has occured. After several minutes of working with my tracks, I go to play the tracks and it is moving very slow - like in micro seconds. So slow that it takes a few minutes to get through 1 second of performance. But there is no sound during this time. The only way I have been able to get it to play again is to close and open the program. I am using a 2005 (or so) era PC with only 1 gb of ram. According to the CPU usage meter, there's hardly any drain going on. I can't imagine that I am pressing anything - it just starts happening. Any advice?

Stefan
 
My guess is user error. Hardware on a computer is not likely to slow down like say a turntable going down in a power failure.

Check you system set up for sampling rates. That usually is the problem when things change speed.
 
I am starting to become more convinced that this is a computer problem. I was playing my recording a few times, then I walked away for about three minutes, and when I came back it wouldn't play. Nothing was pressed or set of reset. I am always open to more ideas, but this computer of mine slows to a crawl sometimes.

'Stefan
 
Have you disabled all background programmes (especially wifi networking and anti virus software) and turned off system sounds?

I suspect you may have a programme or process still running that is grabbing your computer every so often (hence the delay) and stealing priority from your DAWs. What you might get away with on a modern machine would cause big delays on your relatively old computer with limited memory.

You don't mention was OS you have but do a Google for "Optimising Windows XXX for audio" and you'll get a list of tips for things to delete or reconfigure.
 
It's XP. Thanks, I will try those suggestions. After I typed my last reply last night, I was messing around with FX for about a 1/2 hour and never had a problem. Very random.
 
Does no one else think it may be that it may be that Ableton requires 1GB of RAM minimum, and that's probably without considering that his OS is going to be taking up maybe 256-512MB of RAM on it's own?
I personally think it may be a RAM issue, but I'm not 100% certain on it. Try out what everyone else says first before buying some new RAM to put in there (although getting more than 1GB wouldn't hurt).
 
It's possible it could be a RAM issue. I would definitely invest in more RAM. 1GB is low for the types of effects used these days. I would definitely be disabling stuff that is not required when recording. Antivirus, internet, automatic updates. Any program that's set to start up on boot that you don't need.

Right click My Computer>>>Properties>>>Advanced>>>>Performance Settings. Click Adjust for best performance. It will disable a load of shite you don't need.
 
Frankly, another gig of RAM would never hurt anyway even if some of the other suggestions help tool.

I assume that Ableton's "1 gig minimum" has to include space for the OS as well but I have to say that when I was on XP (using Audition) the original 1GB RAM didn't cause the level of problem the OP is having--but doubling it certainly sped things up.
 
I assume that Ableton's "1 gig minimum" has to include space for the OS as well but I have to say that when I was on XP (using Audition) the original 1GB RAM didn't cause the level of problem the OP is having--but doubling it certainly sped things up.

I kinda figured that it would include space for the OS too, but you know... Nowadays, with RAM at under $50 for 8GB on a desktop, I feel it's foolish to have such a small amount for audio. So why not, yeah? =]
 
It's possible it could be a RAM issue. I would definitely invest in more RAM. 1GB is low for the types of effects used these days. I would definitely be disabling stuff that is not required when recording. Antivirus, internet, automatic updates. Any program that's set to start up on boot that you don't need.

Right click My Computer>>>Properties>>>Advanced>>>>Performance Settings. Click Adjust for best performance. It will disable a load of shite you don't need.

Nice tip. Is this a Win7 only thing? I did not know it was there. Thanks
 
It's actually an XP thing. As the OP said he was on XP.

There is a similar thing in Windows 7. I don't use Windows 7 to look so I don't know if you can do it via My Computer Properties the same as XP but you can do this below if not. :D

To adjust all visual effects for best performance:

Open Performance Information and Tools by clicking the Start button, and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type Performance Information and Tools, and then, in the list of results, click Performance Information and Tools.

Click Adjust visual effects. Administrator permission required If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Click the Visual Effects tab, click Adjust for best performance, and then click OK. (For a less drastic option, select Let Windows choose what’s best for my computer.)

:thumbs up:
 
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My system slowed down yesterday as if the power plug was pulled on a turntable.

I started running a stack of drum samplers, a package called Alt Drums by Ryan Green.

I had the whole song sequenced and was recording vocals when half way thru, the system began to stutter and drop out then started running slower.

I’ve had stutter and drop outs before but never the slowdown. I muted the drum track and that took care of it.

So I amend my previous statement to say that it’s not only sample rates that can slow down a song but clearly system overload.

I plan to bounce my drum track to audio to see if that helps.
 
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