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so what do you guys do to save CPU? (pg. 6)
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| jacheatamobits |
it amazes me how so many people use computers for production while knowing little to none about how to optimize it for that task SPECIFICLY (or about computers in general).
that would be like buying a synth, and not knowing how to play a single chord.
i bet most people here dont even know how much cache their HHD has
(and before you quote me on that and make some snide remark, try posting a poll instead to prove me wrong. ill eat my words, i promise):D |
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| mysticalninja |
its because ppl who use computers for production are pirates. lazy pirates.
i have cubase SX3, FL Studio 5, Vanguard 1.4, V-Station, z3ta+ .. every other ReFX plugin.. ALbino 2.. Abysynth 3.0 Battery 2.0 waldorf attack ... and all the other leet vst's thanks to pirating. you probly paid for something on that list.. OWNED. Stuff-oo Newb. |
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| Chronosis |
| quote: | Originally posted by mysticalninja
its because ppl who use computers for production are pirates. lazy pirates.
i have cubase SX3, FL Studio 5, Vanguard 1.4, V-Station, z3ta+ .. every other ReFX plugin.. ALbino 2.. Abysynth 3.0 Battery 2.0 waldorf attack ... and all the other leet vst's thanks to pirating. you probly paid for something on that list.. OWNED. Stuff-oo Newb. |
What does the origin of software got to do with optimizing your pc for audio? |
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| thesuperfunk |
| quote: | Originally posted by Chronosis
What does the origin of software got to do with optimizing your pc for audio? |
:haha: |
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| dEEkAy |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
I'm not saying you're wrong, it certainly is *possible* to do a complete track with the parameters you've specified without overloading the CPU, but it's heavily dependent on the track itself. |
and it certainly depends on the VSTs you use. Both FX and synthwise. Every lets say Compressor-VST is different algorithm and programmingwise. I just found the right mixture, thats probably all. But next time I run a project I'll count VSTs and FX :) |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by jacheatamobits
it amazes me how so many people use computers for production while knowing little to none about how to optimize it for that task SPECIFICLY (or about computers in general).
that would be like buying a synth, and not knowing how to play a single chord.
i bet most people here dont even know how much cache their HHD has
(and before you quote me on that and make some snide remark, try posting a poll instead to prove me wrong. ill eat my words, i promise):D |
So what is the point of this post? I'm an electrical engineering grad, I work in IT, I took 10 years of music lessons, and done almost all the music theory courses. Am I, therefore, stupid, because I can't magically configure my computer to run all my plugins and load all my samples at the same time with no latency?
I built my computer from scratch, my "sample" drive has an 8 MB cache and my older system and program drives have 2 meg caches. My memory has a 2-3-2-5 latency, I've split my page file across 3 partitions on different drives and defragmented all of them (both the drives and the page files), I've disabled any devices I don't use to miminize IRQ sharing, and all nonessential services are disabled when I'm producing.
So what does any of this prove? Well...
1) Knowing all this does not make me a good producer. Which is not to say that I suck, but I've heard tracks from much more "ignorant" producers with much less powerful and less optimized equipment that would put any of mine to shame. And...
2) No matter how powerful and optimized your hardware is, you can always exceed its limitations. Sure, I'd probably have to worry *less* about CPU if I had a dual G5, a room full of hardware and an entire farm of VST/VSTi drones, but with all that equipment the temptation would be there to make more and more complex tracks, and eventually I'd probably need to upgrade. Besides, adding more pieces to the puzzle introduces more possible points of failure, and even more likely, timing inaccuracies.
How about instead of coming here to on others, you make a positive contribution?
| quote: | Originally posted by dEEkAy
and it certainly depends on the VSTs you use. Both FX and synthwise. Every lets say Compressor-VST is different algorithm and programmingwise. I just found the right mixture, thats probably all. But next time I run a project I'll count VSTs and FX :) |
Hahaha, no worries, I wasn't meaning to start a whole competition, I was merely pointing out that what works for one person may not work for another. :) |
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| StuartC |
| Does anyone have a good link that will explain to you IN DEPTH how to overclock your CPU? |
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| Corteoz |
If it ain't broken, don't fix it! ;)
Nah, you should know enough about hardware before you start clocking. There are no guide that can show you how you clock your system. Every single chip has different thresholds of how much you can clock them. I bought a P4 2.4gHz C(attlewood or somehing) and managed to clock it to 3.4, it's stable during winter but in summer when room temp. hits 30 deg C, it's slightly unstable. :P My mate bought a 3.0 gHz and didn't manage to clock it to more than 3.4gHz, cause his hardware didn't "fit" together. He didn't find a good ratio for his RAM, so he lost a lot of power 'cause he had to run his RAM on a lower frequency.
Anyways... My point is, read about hardware! Learn in-depth about memory, cpu's and mainboards. If you get a little knowledge, clocking will be a pice of cake! :)
It's really fun once you know it, and you can start pushing the limits on your computer.
Another thing i'd like to mention. I ran my CPU @ 2.4gHz a week or so while I waited for better cooling, and the wierd thing is, I didn't _NOTICE_ any big difference in music productions. I loaded up a project I was working on. I had about 10 VST's and tons of FX + 20 wav-samples. The CPU-usage was 10-20% higher at average, but it didn't bother me much.
The most important thing you can get is a soundcard with ASIO drivers and lots of memory. I got 1gb, and I sure would like to have another one. Hmm... What else can I think of now as I've been awake way to many hours... Yeah! Learn how to optimize the sequencer! :-P FL has many tweaks that can boost your performance. The plugins also have options that can increase your performance.
z3ta+ has three rendering options. Draft, Normal and High. When producing, use "draft" or "normal". When you're about to render, switch to "high", and voila! :)
Diginaut mentioned many excellent ways of tweaking your system. If you want better performance, google for the methods and try 'em out! :) |
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| jacheatamobits |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
How about instead of coming here to on others, you make a positive contribution |
okay, then...
i dont remember saying ANYTHING about the quality of anyones music, we were talking about how to save CPU use in this thread, remember? but here goes. iwas simply making an observation (and i mis-spelled 'HDD', how funny)
for all of your overclocking neeeds, try:
www.ocforums.com
www.hardocp.com
and buy your crap here: www.newegg.com
of course overclocking isnt easy, so read THOROUGHLY before you burn something expensive. |
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| Zombie0915 |
Change the PCI latency timers so that the sound card gets more time and the gfx card gets less.(this might not be a windows issue)
re-arrange pci cards so that the sound card gets the highest priority IRQ, or better yet, get a mobo that allows you to switch around the IRQs through the BIOS.
switch to a lighter window manager/shell/whatever your OS calls it
(blackbox is available for windows)
enable pci burst, disable pci retry: these are graphics card settings to keep the gfx card from hogging the bus,I am not sure how to do these things in windows but I imagine they have equivalents.
most computers are arranged for graphics performance so you have to mess with this kind of stuff to put audio as the first priority, you get alot less buffer underruns (which create clicks and gaps in recordings) this way.
that stuff is more for reducing latency then it is for saving cpu though, except for the GUI suggestion.
Another thing you might do is consider running a cluster, hook up your boxen together with the fastest network you can provide them and install a cluseting sofware which can distribute the computing load, certain applications perform better with this than others. There are articles on the intel website with information on how to do this. I only have two computers and I run an openMosix cluster with them connected together through a crossover cable, definately makes things process faster.
Use an AGP video card if possible
disable automatic power monitoring
dont run those silly destop widgets that show your cpu load and which processes are using the most and stuff like that.
I am running linux so these things might not apply to those running windows, but I really doubt that.
Some linux-only issues:
tune hdparm for faster disk io
turn off cd-rom polling and mount your disks by hand
install low latency kernel patches, realtime pre-empt and rtlimits.
Turn on the IRQ handler thread in the kernel config and raise the priority for the sound card and lower the others(this might be helpful for those of us running computers that have hard-wired IRQs that aren't set up well for audio), also raise the keyboard so the magic sysrq key can save your ass if you break something.
use a journalizing file system(i prefer reiserfs, but don't know why)
ALSA and JACK > ASIO and ReWire :haha:
really consider ditching windows though, especially if you are on a budget, sure things are kinda duct-taped together on a linux system but you dont have to steal software and you get some really quality stuff that you can hack at like none other. I figured out all that stuff about optomizing my computer for audio through linux documantation, it is sort of the price of entry for running the linux audio programs. Not to mention you can really strip down a system to do nothing but make music in ways that you can't do on other systems that are less modular. |
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