Subject:playback clicks.... cant record properly

Posted by: rival

Date:4/11/2002 6:59:19 PM

hey. ya playback click are really gettin on my nerves.. i cant record a second track overtop of the first one anymore cause of the playback clicks.. also, if you know what kazaa is, the videos that i play on kazaa stall as well.... does this have something to do with my video card.. any suggestions? i'm not a computer whiz so if this involves moving my video card, i'm gonna need guidance on how to do that..
any thoughts would be appreciated. thanks.

Subject:RE: playback clicks.... cant record properly

Reply by: rival

Date:4/14/2002 8:38:07 PM

c'mon someone's gotta know

Subject:RE: playback clicks.... cant record properly

Reply by: SonicJG

Date:4/15/2002 1:46:53 PM

First, it might not be optimal to have Kazaa on an audio production machine. Do a quick search around the net for a list of the backend stuff that's loaded on your machine, making it more compatible for file-sharing. IOW, perhaps you're getting gapping during recording for the simple reason that other people are accessing your hard drive while you're recording.

Second, you've told us nothing about your system, other than that you have Kazaa. For starters, what OS/VideoCard/AudioCard/Memory/CPU/Hard Drive/Motherboard/Chipset does your machine have? Is your HD almost full, or is it perhaps fragmented?

Subject:SOnicJG

Reply by: rival

Date:4/16/2002 4:46:49 PM

hey. ya my computer is a 1GHz pentium 4, 256MB RAM (i think something like that), and it has 22GB of space but it capable of holding 40GB. I'm not sure if its fragmented, and I dont know what kind of cards it has or anything else. If you could tell me how to figure out what kinds of everything i have, that would be cool. I really appreciate this man, thanks.

Subject:RE: SOnicJG

Reply by: groovewerx

Date:4/16/2002 8:02:19 PM

which windows version are you using 98, 98SE, Me, 2000, or XP??

for most:

1. right click my computer
2. click properties
3. select device manager

this will list all hardware components

to defragment:

1. click start
2. click programs
3. click accessories
4. click system tools
5. select disk deragmenter
6. defragment all listed drives

this should make your pc run smoother and eliminate most of the clicking

Subject:RE: SOnicJG

Reply by: SonicJG

Date:4/16/2002 10:43:47 PM

Also, make sure to do a Ctrl+Alt+Del, by pressing all three keys at the same time. This will show you a list of all of the programs that are running in the background. You'd be surprised what kind of things could be sucking up your valuable CPU time. You can end task on pretty much everything in the list that shows up except for Explorer and Systray.

HTH,
Joel

Subject:RE: SOnicJG

Reply by: groovewerx

Date:4/17/2002 2:17:08 AM

good point joel.

Subject:thanks guys

Reply by: rival

Date:4/19/2002 2:18:37 PM

thanks for all the help guys. i'm gonna try everything you said and i'll write back here again and let you know how it went. i have windows ME by the way.

Subject:how to guide from blueaudio.com

Reply by: groovewerx

Date:4/19/2002 10:59:04 PM

installing windows me for audio:

Installing Windows in an optimal way can really help out both the performance and stability of your PC. Windows ME, as has been the trend from Microsoft, now has more junk than ever thoughtfully included with it which really is better of being removed. The best tool for this really is 98Lite from 98Lite.net. However, not all of us wish to use that so here is a guide to installing Windows ME from scratch in a way which is as optimal as possible for audio:



Section A: Prepare the hard-drive

1. Use FDISK to partition up the destination hard-drive if necessary (you may want to unplug any other hard-drives in your system first to simplify things and ensure that you only FDISK/Format the correct hard-drive). You will need to re-boot for the changes to take effect.

2. Format the drive as required (using the methods described here)



Section B: Install Windows

3. Boot from a the Windows ME installation CD or a compatible boot-disk/CD e.g. Windows 98/ME (You may need to change your boot-order in your BIOS to boot from the desired drive). If booting from the Windows ME CD, choose start installation from CD.

4. If booting into DOS mode, insert your Windows ME installation CD into a CDROM capable drive and when in DOS mode, switch to that drive by typing for example g: if your CD drive was drive g. Now type setup and the installation process will begin.

5. The setup program will run Scandisk to check all the currently connected hard-drives in your system - partitions will be checked independantly of each other i.e. treated as seperate drives. Let Scandisk run and then choose Exit afterwards.

6. Now follow the instructions through until your are asked which type of install to perform. Choose Custom.

7. You will now be presented with several options of components which you can choose to either install or not install. I reccomend that you install nothing at all unless you require multi-language support. None of the options you can install are required for an Audio-only system.

8. Now you will be required to enter your locale information such as time zone and currency etc etc. Follow these instructions through and enter the relevant data.

9. Now you will have to perform several re-starts in the time-honoured Microsoft fashion - you may want to adjust your BIOS boot settings upon the first restart so that the system boots straight from the hard-drive you are installing Windows on.



Section C: Installation of drivers and software

10. The first thing you should do after Windows has finished installing is to defragment the partition it is installed to. This is very important as it organises the Windows file into a sensible order - the disk will actually be quite fragmented.

11. The first driver(s) you should install are your Motherboard/Mainboard driver(s) - e.g. the PCI bridge driver etc. Windows will probably want to re-boot afterwards, make sure you let it do so. It will then re-organise the devices.

12. Now you should install the rest of your drivers - Graphics card/Videocard first (so you can see what you're doing) then Souncard then the rest.

13. Defragment again and then resolve any IRQ conflicts you may have.

14. Now you can install your software at last. Make sure you defrag again afterwards...

______________________________________________________________________________

tweaking windows me for audio:

windows me optimisation is very similar to windows 98 optimisation since windows me is simply the latest evolution of the windows 9x series. the first thing to say however is that a straight install of windows me (i.e. not an upgrade from windows 98) is essential since the upgrade does not work well at all. windows me requires that several settings should be made to attain more reliable operation. these settings include the disabling of or at least controlling of the system restore function which is built in to windows me. here are our recommended windows me settings for audio pc's:


before you start tweaking, ensure your pc is running correctly:

1. make sure you have no IRQ conflicts or memory range conflicts, if you have, your system will not run smoothly and may not even work at all for some things. you can check this by looking at the properties of each device and checking for anything being written about conflicts.

2. make sure you have reliable drivers for everything. ME has most drivers so you won't need many. The most recent drivers are not necessarily the best. Check the known bugs/issues list. Try the driverguide along with the manufacturers Web-Site. If you built the system yourself, make sure you've installed the Motherboard driver(s).


now begin tweaking:

3. disable system sounds. they can hog the soundcard output(s) thus preventing audio apps from using them or worse, the system could make a sound when you're recording which may get recorded depending on what you're doing. (go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'Sounds and Multimedia' and select Scheme 'No Sounds'. while you're there, remove the tick from the box next to 'Show icon on Taskbar').

4. disable screen savers. if a screen saver is enabled, the system will check periodically if any programs which are running have received an input recently thus preventing the program from doing anything for a short time. this can cause glitches in recordings and/or playback. (right-click on the desktop and select 'Properties' then click on the 'Screen Saver' tab and select 'None'from the drop-down list).

5. disable power profiles. this stops the system checking for activity similarly to disabling screen savers. (go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'Power Options' and select scheme 'Always On' and then in the options for scheme 'Always On' set all drop-down menu options to 'Never').

6. disable any unnecessary applications which are set to run when the system starts up. this gives two advantages. firstly, it frees up resources such as memory for the programs you actually want to run. secondly, it reduces the chances of your pc crashing since less programs running means less for the pc to do. (go to 'Start'>'Run' and type msconfig. now click on the startup tab and remove ticks from the boxes next to the programs you want to disable. you can remove programs such as 'Load Power Profile', 'Taskmonitor', 'RealPlayer','TweakUI','System tray', 'PcHealth', 'StateMgr', 'SchedulingAgent' etc etc).

7. disable automatic updating. this prevents windows from trying to find updates for itself if you use the internet and also stops it asking you annoying questions. (go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Automatic Updates' and disable automatic updates).

8. set your virtual memory to a fixed size (max. size = min. size). this prevents windows from re-sizing the virtual memory or swap file which it may otherwise do whilst you are recording thus causing glitches in the recording. set it to 1.5 to 2 times the amount of actual RAM you have or 256MB as a minimum. (go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'System' then click on the Performance tab and then click on 'Virtual memory'. Now select 'Manually specify Virtual Memory settings' and set the two values (min. and max.) to the same value as recommended above. ignore the warnings windows gives you). if you have 256MB of RAM or more, you may well benefit by disabling virtual memory entirely. this is done in the 'Troubleshooting' tab.

9. disable the system restore function. this stops the system from constantly saving it's current state and thus hogging the hard-disk and other resources. the system restore doesn't work too well anyway. (go to 'Start'>'Control Panel'>'System' then click on the Performance tab and click on 'File System'. tn the troubleshooting section, choose 'Disable System Restore').

10. add the following line to your system.ini file after the [386 Enh] tag so it looks as follows:

[386 Enh]

ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1

this makes the system use RAM more often rather than the virtual memory. this improves system performance since RAM is much faster than the hard-disk. (note: do not use this option if you have less than 128MB of RAM installed). (go to 'Start'>'Run' and type System.ini - a notepad will be launched containing the System.ini file. Add the above line after [386 Enh] so it looks as above. there will be other lines in the section you're adding to, just add it before them. now save the changes you made and close the notepad - as ever, you will have to restart for the change to take effect).

also add or edit the entry after the [vcache] tag in system.ini so it appears as follows:

[vcache]

MinFileCache=16384
MaxFileCache=16384

this limits the amount of your system memory (RAM) that windows uses as a buffer or cache when reading from or writing to disk drives to 16MB instead of the cubase default of 1/4 of your system RAM/Memory which is often too high.

if the [vcache] tag does not exist in your system.ini, add it after the [386 enh] tag and it's contents so i looks as above.

11. make sure your hard-disk(s) are not too fragmented. You should defragment at least once a week (if you've used your pc), before installing programs and before recording audio onto your pc.

12. don't set your display resolution and bit depth too high, experiment with different settings starting from 16 bit 800 x 600 and working upwards with a reasonably complex song until the re-draws get slower then set it back to it's previous setting (when re-draws were acceptably quick). don't set your display to 256 colours as most new graphics cards do not accelerate this number of colours meaning your processor will have to do the work instead.

13. make sure hardware graphics acceleration is on FULL. this takes some load off your processor (go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control panel'>'System', click on the Performance tab and then click on Graphics and set the slider up to full).

14. turn off all auto insert notifications (data and audio). this stops the system checking every second or so for new CD's in the CDROM's/CDR's/DVDROM's/DVDRAM's which can block the PCI Data buss for that short time. (go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'System'>'Device Manager' and double click on the CDROM section. Now double click on each of your CD/DVD drives and un-tick the Auto-Insert notifications).

15. enable 'Show Window Contents While Dragging'. this forces windows to maintain the graphical contents of any windows you drag around so that you can always see what you're doing. (go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'Folder Options' and select 'Show Window Contents While Dragging').

16. even if you are going to use the internet on your audio pc, it is still recommended that you use IEradicator from 98Lite to remove internet explorer. i would then recommend that you install the opera browser. you can of course re-install ie if you want to, your pc will still benefit. this optimisation dramatically increases stability.

17. USB can be problematic with pc's which are set up as audio workstations - particularly those with VIA chipsets. for this reason, it is reccomended that you proceed with caution if using USB devices. if you have no USB devices, disable USB - this will free up an IRQ and prevent Windows from 'pinging' or checking the USB port for new devices which it usually does a many times per second. (go to 'Start'>'Settings'>'Control Panel'>'System'>'Device Manager' and double click on the USB section. now select the USB to PCI host controller and choose 'Do not use this device (disable)').

I have been advised that those with VIA chipsets should do the following:

1. enable USB in BIOS

2. install VIA's USB patch (in Windows)

3. disable USB in BIOS (if you are not going to use it)

18. try not to install any software other than that which you need for your audio work. you can always create another profile in windows for other uses. microsoft office 2000 and virus checkers which constantly run (as opposed to those which are run when you choose to run them) in particular has been known to cause big problems.


settings i DO NOT reccomend:

1. disabling double-buffering entirely.

as a default, windows sets double-buffering (set in msdos.sys after the [options] tag) support to'1' which means 'use double-buffering only if required (some SCSI controllers require double-buffering). this is almost always fine, only disable (set to '0') if you have problems with disk access.

2. changing computer role to 'Network Server'.

this will simply allocated more cache space for programs which will use up a little more of your RAM/Memory.

3. reducing graphics acceleration.

this has the exact opposite effect of that which is desired. graphics acceleration takes the load of graphics processing off the CPU/Processor and allows the graphics card/videocard to do it instead.

4. PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL NORTON. it is a nightmare

Subject:me again

Reply by: rival

Date:4/20/2002 6:03:24 PM

hey. thanks for the 'how to' guide. i appreciate it. ya this computer does have norton anti-virus which i noticed was a bad thing on the guide. um, i tried the disk defragmentor and i'm having trouble getting it to work properly. everytime i try it, it resets after it gets to about 17%. i close pretty much all the programs i can but i still have this problem. how can i fix this so i can complete the defragmenting? thanks again, i really appreciate it. see ya.

Subject:RE: me again

Reply by: groovewerx

Date:4/20/2002 6:29:44 PM

thats just 1 of the special treats they put into win-me...try getting low (<20ms) latency on an asio driver...it'll drive you nuts.

just think of it as a long time-out...set it to 'auto fix' and go rent a movie...it should be finished in a few hours.

win-2k is much better...

Subject:how?

Reply by: rival

Date:4/21/2002 8:52:40 PM

how do i do that? i really dont know nearly as much about computers as you. once again, i appreciate it. thanks.

Subject:RE: how?

Reply by: groovewerx

Date:4/22/2002 12:43:30 AM

sorry...i mixed scandisk and defrag together...

for defrag: it will take some time because of the constant restarting. just leave it alone and it will finish eventually.

for scandisk: auto-fix is listed as an option but beware of auto-detect/recover bad sectors...this can take a whole day or more depending on your hard drive...

i suggest running these in turn...start scandisk w/auto-fix at bedtime. then defrag the next night or vice-versa

Subject:half done

Reply by: rival

Date:4/23/2002 10:42:36 AM

ok i've completed the disk frag. but i stil have to do the scandisk... so i'll let you know how it goes.... thanks again.