Setting up an audio computer

[benherron.rrr]

Hey,

I bought a new computer running windows 7, Im running cubase 5 32bit, connected to a toneport UX2 where my monitors are connected to the anologue outs, A casio digital piano which I use as my MIDI keyboard and a beringer BCF 2000 which I am using as My MIDI controller.
Its a Dell computer, fairly well kitted out.

I would like to know how I can optimize the computer for audio work. not in a sence of what plugins/vst's and mics I should buy. but the general set up of the computer.
One of the biggest problems I have been having is with latency. I have posted about this in another thread, but could do with a little more general help.

Latency with audio playback is absolutly fine, but it's the latency Im getting with my MIDI, running the settings at 24 bit, 512 sample rate. im getting input latency at around 18ms and output latency at around 24. If I lower the settings I get 6ms but thats still quite large. It is quite an important thing as I use kontakts alacias keys to record all my piano work. so low latency is a nessesity to playing piano correctly. In the toneports settings there is a slider with about 6 settings for the buffer (if you slide it down you get lower latency with increased cpu usage.) If i slide it right down to the bottom I get no sond what so ever.

I also find that when Im in cubase and have just one instance of kontakt the asio time usage is alot higher than it should be and I begin to get clipping noise (not from peaking) considering I never had this on my laptop with 1/3rd the power capacity. I also get the same result when having just a few audio tracks with no plugins on them. again It took quite alot to do this on my laptop which is also a dell. I bought this computer to erradicate these limitations, but they seem to be worse.

I have no internet connected to the computer appart from a wireless adapter I got so I can get updates etc.

by the way I have updated all the drivers and softwear to date, and had a long look around the line 6 website which ended up being useless help


Does anyone have any ideas that could help me? and also any settings changes I can make to truly optimize my computer?

 

[mjbphotos]

Get a Firewire interface. I think the Toneport is your problem. Make sure there is not a lot of background stuff running in Windows, too.

 

[Jim Lad]

Switch off your system sounds.
Don't just switch your security system off, actually delete it then re-install every time you go online.
Clean up and defragment discs, frequently.
Midi can be a huge drag but don't be shy about increasing the buffers during editing.
Go through your system and make sure that there are absolutely no processes running on a schedule.
A better video card actually improves overall performance.
Some DAWs allow you to dedicate one or more processors, leaving the other functions to a different processor.
Don't push your PC to the limit. One glitch can ruin a whole piece.
Use the dedicated drivers for whichever soundcard you are using.
M- Audio gets M-Audio... Echo gets Echo and so on.
Get Windows Live Messenger, Facebook, My Space etc off your working computer.
Any other invasive programs... same thing. Get rid of them.
Go into "Tools" and set it to "Work Offline".
Set your PC Audio System to the same default as your DAW.
Use external hard drives as much as possible and leave temporary files on your main hard drive. (I can hear the debate on that one but I'll qualify it by saying that I delete temporary files and clean and defragment my regular hard drive frequently)

.............But you've probably done all of that.
Anyway: Individually, none of these things probably matter but you're giving your machine a lot less to do if you do all of them.

I have no internet connected to the computer appart from a wireless adapter I got so I can get updates etc.

Lose it!

 

[mshilarious]

Don't just switch your security system off, actually delete it then re-install every time you go online.

You are completely insane.

 

[philbagg]

Take a look at this:

I posted this up in the Pro Tools forum, but it can be applied for any audio setup I guess... Nobody seemed to give a shit though

I'll be interested to hear what other people say about it too.

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showpost.php?p=3391444&postcount=1

 

[dastrick]

That's good stuff.

 

[Jim Lad]

You are completely insane.

Excuse me?
Not a very polite way of voicing your opinion but I'll bite.
Unless you have new hardware/software to install, there is absolutely no need to have your studio PC online. Therefor, absolutely no need for Antivirus software which in many instances behaves as badly as some viruses.
Also, with the studio PC offline, you have absolutely no reason for updates.
None.
So.... get rid of the antivirus software.
In addition... the Microsoft Security Essentials is new, free, far more efficient than other free antivirus software, is always up to date and absolutely risk free since you are installing it directly from Microsoft.
I can only assume, from the tone of your comment, that your studio PC is online.
Entirely understandable if you cannot afford more than one computer.

 

[Jim Lad]

Good post, Feileadh Beag,.

 

[benherron.rrr]

Excuse me?
Not a very polite way of voicing your opinion but I'll bite.
Unless you have new hardware/software to install, there is absolutely no need to have your studio PC online. Therefor, absolutely no need for Antivirus software which in many instances behaves as badly as some viruses.
Also, with the studio PC offline, you have absolutely no reason for updates.
None.
So.... get rid of the antivirus software.
In addition... the Microsoft Security Essentials is new, free, far more efficient than other free antivirus software, is always up to date and absolutely risk free since you are installing it directly from Microsoft.
I can only assume, from the tone of your comment, that your studio PC is online.
Entirely understandable if you cannot afford more than one computer.

Nah I think I mentioned, I keep my studio PC offline, appart from when I plug in my wireless adapter to update cirtain drivers, and softwear all of which are music related. Everything internet wise, I use my laptop, which is what I'm writing on now.

Ill try all the things you guys have mentioned as of yet and report back, In the mean time has anyone got any ideas on the latency front? Like I tried to explain, when I DI my guitar or doing mic recordings There is no latency issues that I can tell, its just the MIDI side. the tme between playing the note and hearing it. I cant set the buffer settings any lower without all the sound stopping. Is this purly an interface problem?

 

[Jim Lad]

Show us a link to your Audio Interface.
And... you are most welcome.

 

[dintymoore]

The first software synths I heard were maybe 10 years ago and I thought that they were terrible and that the timing was screwed up. In 2010 it's not hugely different. I have largely avoided them because of that.

Right now I use Steven Slate drums just for snare and kick and the timing is usually pretty good, but sometimes it screws up. Ableton Live screws up the timing way more than Cubase for me.

I use a Roland SC-8850 module for most of my sounds and the timing is spot on, and I use a junk computer most would laugh at (dual 1 GHz Mac 1.5 GHz RAM).

Personally, every year I try soft synths and I'm not convinced that they are ready to use yet. Most of them sound terrible. They need to be recorded at a way higher sampling rate (try 1040) and be played back on 2015 computers is my call. They aren't ready yet, neither are computers.

You might consider getting a hardware MIDI module to lay down the piano (I have an EMU piano hardware module I got for $20) and then use the soft synths to play it back. I can't stand that timing problem - enough to not use soft synths. All the soft synth "synths" are terrible compared to my Oberheim Matrix 1000.

 

[benherron.rrr]

Show us a link to your Audio Interface.
And... you are most welcome.

http://line6.com/toneportux2/ Thats the link to the website if thats what you mean??
note I have the red one which is no longer in production not the one with the black facia. I dont know if they are any different.

On another note I went through all that stuff that i could and It has had a noticable effect on the proformance of my pc, I havnt seen any differences within my DAW appart from slightly lower loading times.

Also is anyone familliar with cubase 5? is there any things i can do with preferences to optimize everything, Ive had a look through the manual but its fairly usless.

 

[guitaristic]

Excuse me?
Not a very polite way of voicing your opinion but I'll bite.

I think he was poking fun at the "deleting and re-installing every time you go online" part

 

[benherron.rrr]

The first software synths I heard were maybe 10 years ago and I thought that they were terrible and that the timing was screwed up. In 2010 it's not hugely different. I have largely avoided them because of that.

Right now I use Steven Slate drums just for snare and kick and the timing is usually pretty good, but sometimes it screws up. Ableton Live screws up the timing way more than Cubase for me.

I use a Roland SC-8850 module for most of my sounds and the timing is spot on, and I use a junk computer most would laugh at (dual 1 GHz Mac 1.5 GHz RAM).

Personally, every year I try soft synths and I'm not convinced that they are ready to use yet. Most of them sound terrible. They need to be recorded at a way higher sampling rate (try 1040) and be played back on 2015 computers is my call. They aren't ready yet, neither are computers.

You might consider getting a hardware MIDI module to lay down the piano (I have an EMU piano hardware module I got for $20) and then use the soft synths to play it back. I can't stand that timing problem - enough to not use soft synths. All the soft synth "synths" are terrible compared to my Oberheim Matrix 1000.

Hey dintymoore. I very rarely use soft synths, apart from the occasional pad to add that little bit of an edge or thinkness to a track but never anything dominating. For drums I use addictive drums, which I find works ok. I can use my keyboard to get the shape of the beat then use the drum editor to allign it right. the one thing that really annoys me is the piano issue. The lowest i can get latency is at 6 ms and thats running atthe lowest of the low settings, which is just enough to harm my performance. If only I could get it Slightly lower.

Just had a brainwave, the stuff Ihave on kontakt is mainly sample basd instruments, which are located on my computers hard drive, Could it help with clipping and dropout issues if I moved all te liberaries to an external hard drive thus not packing up my computers hard drive loading loads of samples along with all the processing done in cubase? also I only have a usb external hard drive would i need to get one with a power supply?

 

[kcearl]

Hey dintymoore. I very rarely use soft synths, apart from the occasional pad to add that little bit of an edge or thinkness to a track but never anything dominating. For drums I use addictive drums, which I find works ok. I can use my keyboard to get the shape of the beat then use the drum editor to allign it right. the one thing that really annoys me is the piano issue. The lowest i can get latency is at 6 ms and thats running atthe lowest of the low settings, which is just enough to harm my performance. If only I could get it Slightly lower.

Just had a brainwave, the stuff Ihave on kontakt is mainly sample basd instruments, which are located on my computers hard drive, Could it help with clipping and dropout issues if I moved all te liberaries to an external hard drive thus not packing up my computers hard drive loading loads of samples along with all the processing done in cubase? also I only have a usb external hard drive would i need to get one with a power supply?

Ive used a toneport, 2 different ones, with no latency issues on a dual 1.33 netbook and a dual 2.66 PC, vista & XP using softsynths, externals and with midi keyboards...

I dont think its the toneport...

 

[benherron.rrr]

Ive used a toneport, 2 different ones, with no latency issues on a dual 1.33 netbook and a dual 2.66 PC, vista & XP using softsynths, externals and with midi keyboards...

I dont think its the toneport...

Then what could it be?
If I havn't already stated It's a Dell Xps 81000, 2.8 i7, 8gig ram. I would of thourght that that would run everything perfectly. http://www1.euro.dell.com/uk/en/home/Desktops/studio-xps-8100/pd.aspx?refid=studio-xps-8100&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&~ck=mn

Im just trying to get to the bottom of this before I lose my mind!

 

[dintymoore]

... I very rarely use soft synths, apart from the occasional pad to add that little bit of an edge or thinkness to a track ...

Just checking but if you're not using a soft synth for piano are you using a module or actual keyboard ? If so why not monitor right off of thatto avoid the latency ?

 

[benherron.rrr]

Just checking but if you're not using a soft synth for piano are you using a moduleor actual keyboard ? If so why not monitor right off of thatto avoid the latency ?

appologies, when I think of soft synth I think of something that creates the note. Im not sure if there is any difference but its like note asociation, I play a C on the keyboard and the sample(s) of a C plays through the monitors. Dont mean to sound patronising, Im fairly hopless with all this terminology.
I have tried doing that but the quality of the piano is not convincing what so ever in a recording situation.

If it helps I installed the tone port onto my laptop and I got the same results, so I presume on the latency front its down to the toneport?

 

[kcearl]

Then what could it be?
If I havn't already stated It's a Dell Xps 81000, 2.8 i7, 8gig ram. I would of thourght that that would run everything perfectly. http://www1.euro.dell.com/uk/en/home/Desktops/studio-xps-8100/pd.aspx?refid=studio-xps-8100&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&~ck=mn

Im just trying to get to the bottom of this before I lose my mind!

Im not sure....I use Ableton so it allows you to compansate for the interfaces latency...but saying that Ive still had the toneport running at 5ms on my PC....and thats unnoticeable to me

 

[kcearl]

sorry if Ive missed you saying it but you are using the line6 asio driver and not asio 4 all??