Stuttering problem in ACID -ACID Product Family - MAGIX Community Forums Archive

Subject:Stuttering problem in ACID Posted by: cryder1010 Date:4/29/2003 4:39:41 PM Hi, I am having a stuttering problem with ACID 3.0 Pro (same stuttering with the 4.0 demo) with some of my bigger ACID files. I get the same stuttering behavior with my built in sound card and my Echo Mia. Computer stats are: Compaq Pentium 4 1.7 GHZ 512 Ram Echo Mia Windows XP When I run task manager and watch my CPU usage, the stuttering occurs when the CPU usage is at 100%. My question is... Would a new computer with a faster processor like a P4 2.53 GHZ improve my performance signifigantly? Or is there not much improvement between a 1.7 and a 2.53? Thanks, C
Subject:RE: Stuttering problem in ACID Reply by: Iacobus Date:4/29/2003 8:30:01 PM ACID was not meant to be a multitracker in the truest sense (though there are people using ACID as such successfully). That distinction belongs to Vegas. That being said, you'll probably get away with about 4 or 5 disk-based tracks in ACID. Bounce down to 4 or 5 disk-based tracks if you have more than that. You might be able to get away with more than that depending on your system setup (which looks great, BTW). What constitutes a disk-based track? Beatmapped tracks are always disk-based. One-shot tracks are disk-based only if they're longer than three seconds; three seconds or less and they're loaded into RAM. Loops are always loaded into RAM. You can try to switch disk-based tracks to Loop types, but beware this will eat your RAM like candy. A typical 3 minute audio track can eat about 50 MB or more alone. A fast 7200 RPM hard drive dedicated just for audio helps out here, preferably on another IDE controller. Do not go crazy with effects if you can help it. Some are really processor-intensive. If you know for sure you like the real time effect applied to a specific track, bounce the track down with effects applied to save some processing cycles. Similarly, if you're using 24-bit, bring it down to 16-bit until your final render. Using 24-bit can really jack up the ante for real time playback, especially when effects come into play. You can mute a track or two to also shave CPU use temporarily. This is ideal for tracks you bounce down but want to keep the original track or tracks in case you want to come back to them later. Consider also reducing or turning off video acceleration. Most video card drivers are souped up to the point where they hog resources away from the rest of your system. Turn off anything in the background you do not need for ACID, like antivirus programs and firewalls. Check out MusicXP.net if you haven't already. Lots of tips there for us XP DAW users. HTH, Iacobus
Subject:RE: Stuttering problem in ACID Reply by: cryder1010 Date:4/29/2003 11:37:38 PM Wow, great response. I will definitely try some of these ideas out. Thanks for your help. C

ACID was not meant to be a multitracker in the truest sense (though there are people using ACID as such successfully). That distinction belongs to Vegas. That being said, you'll probably get away with about 4 or 5 disk-based tracks in ACID. Bounce down to 4 or 5 disk-based tracks if you have more than that. You might be able to get away with more than that depending on your system setup (which looks great, BTW).

What constitutes a disk-based track? Beatmapped tracks are always disk-based. One-shot tracks are disk-based only if they're longer than three seconds; three seconds or less and they're loaded into RAM. Loops are always loaded into RAM.

You can try to switch disk-based tracks to Loop types, but beware this will eat your RAM like candy. A typical 3 minute audio track can eat about 50 MB or more alone.

A fast 7200 RPM hard drive dedicated just for audio helps out here, preferably on another IDE controller.

Do not go crazy with effects if you can help it. Some are really processor-intensive. If you know for sure you like the real time effect applied to a specific track, bounce the track down with effects applied to save some processing cycles.

Similarly, if you're using 24-bit, bring it down to 16-bit until your final render. Using 24-bit can really jack up the ante for real time playback, especially when effects come into play.

You can mute a track or two to also shave CPU use temporarily. This is ideal for tracks you bounce down but want to keep the original track or tracks in case you want to come back to them later.

Consider also reducing or turning off video acceleration. Most video card drivers are souped up to the point where they hog resources away from the rest of your system.

Turn off anything in the background you do not need for ACID, like antivirus programs and firewalls.

Check out MusicXP.net if you haven't already. Lots of tips there for us XP DAW users.

HTH,
Iacobus