New user,what can I expect

[Son of Mixerman]

I just bought N-Track 24 bit version yesterday and need to know what I can expect to do with it considering my PC's current limitations.

DELL GXi 200Mhz MMX
128 mb ram
13.6 gig 5400 rpm and 4 gig 5400 rpm
24/96 M-audio audiophile

Optimize me

SoMm

 

[Slackmaster2K]

I'd guess 6-8 tracks max if at 24/44 before it starts getting uncomfortable. Maybe 10-12 tracks at 16/44. Very little if any DX or VST processing will be possible.

Your only good optimiztion is a new computer What kind of performance do you actually require?

Slackmaster 2000

 

[Son of Mixerman]

Hey there Slackmaster. I originally just needed a 24/96 software for bringing music off my md8 into my pc. Then I got this dumb idea about cutting and pasting little sweeteners in certain areas to thicken it up in some areas. I need to reread the optimization stuff at fasoft, I crashed with only 3 tracks at 16/44.1. Duh, I had everything an its mother running some process in the back ground. Im probably going to upgrade the whole burrito later this year. I just had to dish out $2000 for a new furnace yesterday so my play money was severely damaged.

Thanks,
SoMm

 

[Slackmaster2K]

I'm not sure how much more power the newer versions of n-Track require. The numbers I quoted were from past memories...they might not be valid on n-Track 3.x+.

Good luck

Slackmaster 2000

 

[Son of Mixerman]

FYI

Ok Slackmaster, commit this to memory as the moderator for the next time someone tries this at home.

With a 200 Mhz MMX processor, you get almost 10 percent of cpu usage for every mono track of wave data. So I had about 8 tracks using an average of 50% on the cpu. So you would think you would be able to double that to 15, but you can't because there are little cpu usage spikes that happen faster than the graphics can respond. I took the 8 tracks and just for kicks took several different plugs (1 at a time) and tries to run them on the stereo buss and froze everything using the n-track stock compressor. I used my dynamics processor from SF 4.5 as a plug and got 1/2 second of music, and 1/2 second of silence alternating for about 15 seconds before I killed the process on purpose. I even ran the Sonictimeworks Mastering compressor in the streo buss and it ran briefly before choking like the SF compressor. The cpu usage meter froze once at 99.2 percent totally redded out.
Ill try a delay or some efx tonite if I get the chance. I did get my md8 to drive N-track forward for track transfer but I could get it to recognize the stop from the md8, more work to be done obviously. I hate my voice I hate my voice I hate my voice....


SoMm

 

[Slackmaster2K]

Yeah I didn't think you'd be able to do many or any effects Those are 16bit tracks I'm assuming??

Slackmaster 2000

 

[Son of Mixerman]

Yeah Slack, 16 bit 44.1 "CD" "Quality". RAM doesn't have much of an impact. As least I can justify an upgrade with the lack of performance, I might just track as much as possible and then use my father in laws 2.4 ghz (1.8 actally) computer for mixdown.

SoMm

 

[Slackmaster2K]

In that case, one thing that might help is an option in n-Track's Preferences called "Read Data from Muted Tracks" or something like that. If you're going to do a bunch of tracking in one session, muting each previous take, then unchecking this option will improve performance considerably. The reason that n-Track by default reads track data even when the track is muted is so the track won't have to be buffered if it is unmuted during playback (causing a long delay before you hear the track after unmuting).

Slackmaster 2000

 

[Son of Mixerman]

Hello, its me again with more experimentation results. I didn't remember the advice on reading data from muted tracks but I discovered that not all plug-ins are created equal.

Right now Ive got 10 tracks going with n-track delay on one vocal track with only about 63% on the cpu. I tried to do a pitch change on one track (prior to the delay being plugged) and it registed 118% on the cpu. Its seems that the dynamic processors are far more cpu intensive than the delay, flanger and chorus plugs. I tried various plugs from Sonic Foundry FX1, N-Track and Sonic Timeworks. One work around was taking a track into SF 4.5 and doing a non-real time process with an undo and seeing how it worked reinserted into N-track, works great even though its a little painful, but hey this is audio engineering and work arounds are common place. So I took a vocal into SF 4.5 and bumped it up a minor second and added 87ms of delay with some 2:1 compression and reinserted it into N-Track, total time to edit that one vocalwas less than 2 minutes and the cpu barely cared since it wasn't real time. Wow, that cool even though I hate my own voice. It sure alot easier than using razors. The cool thing that poped into my little brain was that I can spend about $600 for a 1.2 ghz and up PC and use my md8 for mic pre's, phantom and quicky writing, then use mtc to drive N-track for
24 bit recording. The mixer of the md8 is analog so I don't have to worry about atrac since it never gets on the md8 disc. More N-Track revelations Im sure as I use it more. One thing Im trying to figure out is why hitting stop on the md8 won't stop N-track from recording? Hint and tips would be appreciated. Thanks again Slackmaster 2K

SoMm

 

[Slackmaster2K]

Yeah, plugins that work more with time and amplitude are typically not nearly as hard on the CPU as plugins that work in the frequency domain. A pitch shift is in fact one of the nastiest plugins.

Also, not all plugins are equal. Some reverbs take ten times the CPU juice as others....guess which ones sound better?

Another tip, you can do destructive processing right from n-Track. I'm at work so forgive me if I'm remembering this wrong, but I'm pretty sure you can just right click on a track and select "apply fx destructively" or similar. It's not hard to find anyhow. After the file has been processed, n-Track should draw a new waveform, and it'll automatically disable the effects that you just applied. It leaves them inserted however, so you won't lose your settings in case you need to restore the old file. I'm not exactly sure if n-Track makes a backup copy when you apply effects destructively, but I *always* make backup copies manually, just for peace of mind!

Yeah, it's definately a worthwhile investment to build yourself a nice little workstation. Using effects in realtime sure as hell beats destructive editing!

I have absolutely no experience with the MD8. What kind of code does it send?

Slackmaster 2000

 

[Slackmaster2K]

<ugh stupid bbs is not working right>

 

[Son of Mixerman]

but I *always* make backup copies manually, just for peace of mind!

Yeah, Im figuring that out the hard way! Again

I have absolutely no experience with the MD8. What kind of code does it send?

Slackmaster 2000

Its got MTC and Midi Clock, its got all the ins, out's and thru's I just last week decided to try to learn midi all over. I used to do Cakewalk beta testing while working at a studio in the late 80's, but never really used it since.

SoMm