CPU drop outs

[Zed10R]

OK...soo...yeah I'm kinda clueless on some things.

So when your CPU activity maxes out and you get drop outs, what exactly would fix that? I've only got 37% of my hard drive free...would that be the problem? Do I need to archive some data? Get a second hard drive to store shit? Do I need more memory? I have a 1 gig and a 512 chip...I thought that was enough....do I need a new mother board?? That's the only way to get a better processor, right? Are my projects just too big? There are only 8 guitar tracks, 8 vocal tracks, 8 drum tracks, and 1 bass...I didn't think that was all that big....

I'm confused. And frustrated.

 

[sixways]

What program are you using? What plug-ins are you using? What are the other specs of your computer? Hard Drive speed?

6

 

[Dogman]

What kind of Pc is it? Mainly, Cpu speed, and FSB....1.5Gb of Ram seems adequate for using. What programs run when you are editing a project? If there are many programs, they can hog resources also. Turn off all teh programs you can, and see what happens.

 

[altitude909]

OK...soo...yeah I'm kinda clueless on some things.

So when your CPU activity maxes out and you get drop outs, what exactly would fix that?

Less tracks, sub mixes, freezing tracks, new computer with more horsepower

I've only got 37% of my hard drive free...would that be the problem?

Nope

Do I need to archive some data?

Nope

Get a second hard drive to store shit?

Nope, this has nothing to do with storage

Do I need more memory?

Nope, you have plenty

do I need a new mother board?? That's the only way to get a better processor, right?

That would definitely help

Are my projects just too big? There are only 8 guitar tracks, 8 vocal tracks, 8 drum tracks, and 1 bass...I didn't think that was all that big....

Yes they are. 25 tracks with plugins is pushing it for sure on an older machine

 

[Ford Van]

How your application handles edits, and how effectively it handles processing the DSP is the issue here. Not all applications are the same in handling this stuff!

If you have a lot of edits, you will see big ol' spikes in cpu usage that is otherwise very low.

But, plugin's like reverb chew up cpu cycles in a hurry! Pitch effects can too.

Your onboard hard drive drivers might be relying on some cpu help too! This would be most unfortunate, but it happens.

Other things could be a flakey NIC card driver that is interferring! This happens far too often. Also, firewire/usb cards on the PCI buss can fuss things up.

CPU spikes could be coming from anything, and these are hard problems to solve.

But, you have not listed your computer specs (mobo, cpu speed, etc...) or what application you are using, or the plugin's you are using. Knowing these things would help us a LOT in helping you! Oh, also, what sampling rate you are working at!!! For all we know, you could be working at 96khz!!!

 

[tarnationsauce2]

Altitude909 pretty much hit it all on the head.

The only hard-drive related problem you could have is you might be in PIO mode, do a search on Google on how to check if you are in PIO or UltraATA.

Although, you are limited in CPU power (though I don't know your CPU/mobo), you can make your computer more efficient, leaving more CPU cycles for your recording software.

Check out the Tuning Tips on www.musicxp.net/

Also, depending on your recording software, you might be able to adjust buffers (increase size). Also see if your sound card has adjustable buffers and what kind of drivers your card can use with your software. For example, AISO drivers should have adjustable buffer size.

In the long run, there's no replacement for CPU power. Especially when it comes to VST/DX plugins.

 

[Ford Van]

Yeah, I was gonna mention adjusting buffer sizes too, but got caught up in all the other crap. Heh....

 

[Zed10R]

How your application handles edits, and how effectively it handles processing the DSP is the issue here. Not all applications are the same in handling this stuff!

If you have a lot of edits, you will see big ol' spikes in cpu usage that is otherwise very low.

But, plugin's like reverb chew up cpu cycles in a hurry! Pitch effects can too.

Your onboard hard drive drivers might be relying on some cpu help too! This would be most unfortunate, but it happens.

Other things could be a flakey NIC card driver that is interferring! This happens far too often. Also, firewire/usb cards on the PCI buss can fuss things up.

CPU spikes could be coming from anything, and these are hard problems to solve.

But, you have not listed your computer specs (mobo, cpu speed, etc...) or what application you are using, or the plugin's you are using. Knowing these things would help us a LOT in helping you! Oh, also, what sampling rate you are working at!!! For all we know, you could be working at 96khz!!!

I use Cakewalk Sonar and Delta 1010 with Drumkit From Hell 2. No other plug ins, virtual instruments, or effects. The processor is an AMD Athlon, 2GHz. Motherboard bus speed is 266MHz. That's all I know....

1) What do you mean by lots of edits? If I split a wave form and delete some unwated low volume noise, or drag and drop somewhere, would that be a resource hogging edit? And if so, how exaclty does that work? I save the files as bundles, delete the wav files, and re-open the projects from time to time to avoid the build up of redundant data...??

2) I use the default sample rate - 44.1

 

[Dogman]

Windows XP? Might be a glitch there. I had to re-format my drve recently...It had been 2 years. Works like a charm now. Before, I started having some weird stuff. 2 plugs, and Sonar said I was at 90%....it wouldn't even play back...just garbled shit. After a format and re-install, it is fine. Might be something that simple.

 

[Ford Van]

I use Cakewalk Sonar and Delta 1010 with Drumkit From Hell 2. No other plug ins, virtual instruments, or effects. The processor is an AMD Athlon, 2GHz. Motherboard bus speed is 266MHz. That's all I know....

1) What do you mean by lots of edits? If I split a wave form and delete some unwated low volume noise, or drag and drop somewhere, would that be a resource hogging edit? And if so, how exaclty does that work? I save the files as bundles, delete the wav files, and re-open the projects from time to time to avoid the build up of redundant data...??

2) I use the default sample rate - 44.1

Is DKFH running as a vsti or dxi? If it is, I would say that is your culprit.

Lot's of edits would be several tracks broken up say 15 times each with fade outs/fade ins. Each time you have a fade out/in on a clip, that takes cpu cycles to perform. If you have a LOT of fade outs/in happening at the same time over several tracks, you can cause a cpu spike.

Saving as a bundle then re-opening them doesn't really save you anything. All audio files associated with the project save with the bundle, the expand back into the audio folder when you open the bundle. You would be just as well off having Sonar clean your audio folders. That would be MUCH faster also!

 

[Zed10R]

Is DKFH running as a vsti or dxi? If it is, I would say that is your culprit.

Lot's of edits would be several tracks broken up say 15 times each with fade outs/fade ins. Each time you have a fade out/in on a clip, that takes cpu cycles to perform. If you have a LOT of fade outs/in happening at the same time over several tracks, you can cause a cpu spike.

Saving as a bundle then re-opening them doesn't really save you anything. All audio files associated with the project save with the bundle, the expand back into the audio folder when you open the bundle. You would be just as well off having Sonar clean your audio folders. That would be MUCH faster also!

Thanks mister Van.... DKFH does run as a dxi. And since I do things the hard way, I never thought to have Sonar clean the audio folders. I thought what I was doing helped "compress" the data...or de-frag it...but no matter...I'll record the drums to audio and close down DKFH. That should work - I follow your reasoning and should have seen that coming...