Adjust Pc For Best Performance

  • Thread starter Thread starter MERC
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MERC

New member
Hey,

I just purchased a PC for my home just to do some preproduction stuff using Cubase SX 3, Reason and some plugins. I have M-Audio Audiophile card. In my recording studio, I have a PC I purchased from www.sonica-x.com so that pc came configured for me already. I know the basics as far as going to performance and adjusting the setting for best performance and turning off system restore but that's about it. Any other suggestions? Here is my comp specs. I just cut and pasted everything here... THANKS!

Hardware
Base processor
PentiumD 940 (P) DC 3.2 GHz
800 MHz front side bus
Socket 775
Chipset
Intel 945P
Motherboard
Manufacturer: Asus
Motherboard Name: P5LP-LE
HP/Compaq motherboard name: Emery2-UL8E
Memory
Component Attributes
Memory Installed 2 GB
Maximum allowed 4 GB* (4 x 1 GB)

*Actual available memory may be less
Speed supported PC2-4200 MB/sec
Type 240 pin, DDR2 SDRAM

Hard drive
500 GB (2 x 250) SATA NCQ
7200 rpm
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW RAM (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
Must use Double-Layer media discs in order to take advantage of the DL technology
Must use LightScribe-enabled media discs and supporting software in order to take advantage of the LightScribe technology
Function Maximum speed
DVD-RAM Up to 5X
DVD-R DL Write Once Up to 4X
DVD+R DL Write Once Up to 8X
DVD+R Write Once Up to 16X
DVD+RW Rewritable Up to 8X
DVD-R Write Once Up to 16X
DVD-RW Rewritable Up to 6X
DVD ROM Read Up to 16X
CD-R Write Once Up to 40X
CD-RW Rewritable Up to 32X
CD-ROM Read Up to 40X

DVD ROM
Maximum speed: Up to 16X
Modem
56K bps data/fax modem
Wireless
Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g
Video Graphics
GeForce 7300LE
64 MB DDR memory
I/O Ports: VGA, Composite, S-Video
Television
TV tuner card with FM tuner
Sound/Audio
Integrated High Definition audio
Realtek ALC 882 chipset
Supports up to 8 audio channels
Dolby Pro Logic II compatible
Network (LAN)
Integrated 10/100 Base-T networking interface
Memory card reader
Supports the following cards:
Compact Flash I
Compact Flash II
SmartMedia
Memory Stick
Memory Stick Pro
MultiMediaCard
Secure Digital (SD)
Micro Drive
XD Picture Card (xd = extreme digital)
External I/O ports
I/O ports on the front panel
Port type Quantity
9-in-1 (4 slot) One
1394 One
USB Two
Headphone One
Microphone One
Audio L-R One
S-video in One
Composite video in One

I/O ports on the back panel
Port type Quantity
PS2 (keyboard, mouse) Two (one each)
Parallel One
USB Four
1394 One
LAN One
SPDIF out (coaxial) One
SPDIF in One
Audio (side speaker out, rear speaker out, center speaker out, line-in, line-out, microphone) One Each

Expansion slots
Slot type Quantity
PCI Three (None available)
PCI Express x16 One (None available)

Drive bays
Bay type Quantity
5.25" external Two (None available)
3.5" internal Two (None available)
Personal Media Drive One (One available)

Chassis Accessories
Camera dock lid
Technologies
Vista Capable
Viiv
nVidia Pure Video
Keyboard and mouse
HP wireless keyboard
Quebec Keyboard Kit (French Canada only)
HP premium wireless mouse
Remote Control
USB infrared remote and receiver
Software
NOTE: HP provides basic support for software that comes with the computer. For in-depth feature assistance, refer to the help section in the software or on the software vendor's Web site.

Key to software:
cd/dvd= media included in box
fc= only available in French Canada
nfc= not available in French Canada
Software titles that shipped with PC Software Category Software Title
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with Update Rollup 2
Microsoft Service Pack 2
 
you have to release the IRQ's, DON'T CHA KNOW!

THEN YOU HAVE TO SET THE SAMPLE BUFFER SIZE AND ADJUST TO THE LOWEST LATENCTY WITHOUT "GLITCHING" BUT THIS IS TRIAL AND ERROR

YOU HAVE TO TURN OFF YOUR ANTI-VIRUS AND ALLOW IN WHATEVER VIRUS WANTS TO MAKE YOU IT'S HOST

ALSO, YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS, IT'S BASIC: YOU HAVE TO DOWNLOAD ALL CHIPSET UPDATES

YOU HAVE TO DOWNLOAD ALL WINDOWS UPDATES AND INSTALL

YOU HAVE TO DISABLE ON BOARD SOUND AND DRIVER

YOU HAVE TO ALSO, FIGURE OUT WHICH DRIVER IS THE FASTEST WITH OUT BREAKING THE SPEED LIMIT, SO LIKE YOUR ASIO DRIVER MIGHT BE FASTER WITH SOME SYSTEMS WHERE AS YOUR WDM DRIVER IS FASTER WITH OTHER SYSTEMS BUT THAT IS FOR YOU TO FIGURE OUT THROUGH PAINSTAKING PROCESS.
 
here this might help..........or NOT


theblue1

14th December 2006, 07:27 PM

play a signal out the outputs, plug the outputs into the inputs and record the signal, see how far apart they are.

narco

Well -- that tests what some call "track misalignment" -- uncorrected latency, if you will, with regard to overdubs vis a vis previously recorded tracks.

And that is, of course, a very critical measurement. My own hardware and drivers have a 356 (or is it 355, now, I forget) sample misalignment when used both in Sonar (5) and in Mackie Tracktion (1) -- but Tracktion offers a kind of "ping loopback" test and auto-calibration utility that, once set, will compensate for that particular misalignment.

But there are a number of latencies typically involved in digital audio. There's the latency involved in both AD and DA conversion (primarily related to filling appropriately sized i/o buffers)... there's the latency involved in processing the audio in the computer... there's the latency involved in auto-plug-delay comp. Some of these "overlap" and some are additive.


The main places where monitoring latency comes to the fore, of course, are where you're monitoring "through-the-box"... say with virtual instruments -- or perhaps input monitoring with FX, say, to use an amp sim (which has a cumulative latency from AD and buffering, processing in the box, and then buffering and DA).

Anyhow... there are a lot of latencies all over the place. Some don't matter if you're monitoring through a zero latency device (something with an analog mixer) or perhaps a "near-zero-latency" digital mixer or NZL monitor output on a converter (although one man's "near-zero-latency" can be another man's "it just don't feel right!").


But that track misalignment issue (mentioned at the top of my post) is another matter. In my highly informal (and very spotty) ongoing 'survey' of other users' experiences, most of the people who've done ping-loopback tests have been surprised to find that their O/Ds are misaligned by anything from a sample or two to 20 or 30 ms or more, with most being in the "grey area" beneath 10 ms. (For me, my 8 ms misalignment is too much for critical parts like percussion... even though that's the time it takes sound to travel about 7 and a half feet or so... it often feels "out" to me -- particularly with percussion but also even with some guitar comping. [I AM a sloppy player, I think, but I want it to be MY slop... not the arbitrary slop of device misalignment.)








theblue1

14th December 2006, 07:39 PM

wrong!




That's what I did first and it does not measure latency which is easy to prove when you change the buffer size and notice no difference when you record the signal again.

What you get though is the latency for analog inserts, in case you use them with your digital built in mixer.

The proper way to do it is (what would be the latency what you hear in your headphone during recording):

Feed a signal on Input L (I just clap my hand on an open mic line)
Record Input L onto Audio Track1 and monitor your recording from audio Track1 on Output R.
Patch Output R to Input R (analog) and record Input R simultaneous to Audio Track 2 with Track1.

Compare both Audio Tracks = latency.

Right on the latter.

One point on the former, though: you're right as far as you go -- but the analog outputs are the "Now" you are hearing when you're overdubbing. So anything you overdub to THAT particular timing will be misaligned by whatever that amount is. IOW, if your ping loopback test (previously recorded track recorded onto a new track via analog out and compared) shows x ms misalignment -- all your overdubs will reflect that misalignment, by the nature of the process.

Worse, while most folks will probably lay down a rhythm guide first (drum or click) and try to key off that... say you overdub a bass as your second track (on my rig that would provide an 8 ms misalignment unless corrected)... NOW what if, when you overdub your guitar part, you take your rhythmic cues from the bass? It's 8 ms "behind" the drums. Your guitar part will be 8 ms "behind" the bass. Suppose your singer listens to the guitar part for his/her rhymic cues (instead of the bass or drums)... the singer is now 24 ms "behind" the drums. This is, of course, a somewhat unlikely worst case scenario -- but you can see how it adds to rhythmic imprecision unless corrected.

Because so few people pay attention to this -- or are even aware of the issue (a lot of people can't seem to wrap their head around the relatively simple logic of it, God love 'em) -- I can't help but feel that a lot of folks who complain about digital audio not sounding "right" may be unconsciously picking up on this often subtle problem.

BTW... I THINK Cubase's "hardware compensation" with its ping-loopback calibration test works similarly to Tracktion's... but I'm not certain. (As I understand it, the Cubase utility is purposed toward compensating for outboard digital FX box latency -- but it seems likely it could be used to adjust for any "straight" track misalignment by the same token.) And, supposedly, Sonar has added some form of track misalignment compensation in Sonar 6 (though I'm still using Sonar 5).





narco

14th December 2006, 10:52 PM

Well -- that tests what some call "track misalignment" -- uncorrected latency, if you will, with regard to overdubs vis a vis previously recorded tracks.

And that is, of course, a very critical measurement.

and thats what I was refering to (obviously) :)

narco




http://gearslutz.com/board/archive/index.php/t-98915.html
 
That system is plenty powerful. You shouldn't have bottlenecks anywhere. The only thing I'd suggest off the top of my head is disconnect from the Internet and disable your antivirus while using it for production.

Otherwise.... www.musicxp.net
 
Thanks

Hey, thanks for all the suggestions. I have the internet on the comp right now just to download updates and stuff like that but don't plan on having the net connected. I removed all the unwanted programs...(games, Quicken, Norton etc...) I like to use AVG over Norton but I will only turn it on to scan stuff. I'll try some of this stuff when I get home and i'll also try some stuff suggested by musicxp.net. Never knew about that site. Haven't had to since my comp in my studio already came customized. thanks again.

www.myspace.com/theboilerroom401
 
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