Optimizing XP for dedicated DAW ??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pier Calacino
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Pier Calacino

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Hello all,

I’m setting up a new DAW and I want to make it the best it can be. It will be used exclusively as a DAW, no connection to the internet etc.

How many of you have actually gone through an optimization of your XP OS?

Do you think its necessary or should I just install my sound card and recording software and forget about the many available optimization processes, or is there a minimum that should be done?

Thanks all.

Pier
 
I would optimize, yes.

google these:
music xp
tweak xp


good sites that tell you everything you can do, if you'd like to.
 
turn off all the bells and whistles. no av or other background stuff, your task list should be about 2 dozen things tops. dont go over the top trying to tweak it though, at this point modern machines are pretty stable when fresh. Over tweaking it can cause problems. Just go by the reccomend tweaks on musicXP or similar, i.e. don't go hacking into your registry

I would build XP from a fresh (meaning formated) drive, activate right away and turn off the network card in bios. Update to SP2 and get all drivers/updates via DVD. Turn off security center. Install all hardware drivers, then install your software.

I would also invest in a copy of norton ghost, once you get everything installed and running like it should, just image the whole drive (It should fit on 1 or 2 DVDs) so if you have to rebuild, you dont have to do it all over again.
 
yeah, but just make sure none of that Norton crap stays running after you back-up your drive. There are probably better (cheaper) products than Norton too, I know there are better options that their anti-virus (AVG).
 
No, norton ghost not AV or firewall, none of those should be running in a machine with no network
 
I followed one of the XP tweaking guides found on the net, and reduced my memory footprint from 128mb down to 53mb.

A dedicated DAW should have as little software installed as possible. The key point is if the software requires you to reboot after installation. If so, it has injected itself into the system message loop and become part of the OS kernel. The more players at the table, the slower the game.

Disable unnecessary services.
Uninstall unnecessary software.
Disable unnecessary eye candy, error reporting, etc.

The XP tweak guide on the net will give you a significant drop in memory footrpint, and provide more free CPU cycles for your recording needs.

I always GHOST the system partition after everything is working correctly. This gives me a safety net, should I have to restore the system back to a known, virgin state. Highly recommended.
 
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