MOTUNATION (formerly UnicorNation) is an independent community for discussing Digital Performer and other MOTU audio software and hardware. It is not affiliated with MOTU.
thanks brad for the important link. i already did part of the tweaks but missed others so this is really helpful. it also cleared that i can use the new vista theme without compromising performance which isnt a bad thing
by the way, i now have a very good overall situation so im really considering waiting, tryng and not makin the switch right now, im tryng to give windows and this stupid laptop some more chances.
fact is even if im now able to record and playback without issues i still dont have the 100% trust i had in my prior system. and this is a bit frustrating since i thought to upgrade and not to go backwards...anyway, this below is a link to a screenshot i did today with ableton live running, ethernet nforce card enabled, mozilla and antivirus running and no components disabled.
ableton is loaded with a bunch of cpu intensive plugins, cpu is between 30 and 40 % and the dpc latency is as you can see in the linked picture.
what do you guys think, im slowly reaching a decent situation?also, you think installing the vista service pack 1 will be a good idea? the italian support is due to be released these days.
thanks again.
thanks brad for the important link. i already did part of the tweaks but missed others so this is really helpful. it also cleared that i can use the new vista theme without compromising performance which isnt a bad thing
by the way, i now have a very good overall situation so im really considering waiting, tryng and not makin the switch right now, im tryng to give windows and this stupid laptop some more chances.
fact is even if im now able to record and playback without issues i still dont have the 100% trust i had in my prior system. and this is a bit frustrating since i thought to upgrade and not to go backwards...anyway, this below is a link to a screenshot i did today with ableton live running, ethernet nforce card enabled, mozilla and antivirus running and no components disabled.
ableton is loaded with a bunch of cpu intensive plugins, cpu is between 30 and 40 % and the dpc latency is as you can see in the linked picture.
what do you guys think, im slowly reaching a decent situation?also, you think installing the vista service pack 1 will be a good idea? the italian support is due to be released these days.
thanks again.
For what it's worth, I see DPC latencies of less than half of what you see, and that's with a several years old system, with both an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 and a Motu Ultralite, lots of USB devices and harddrives, and even a VIA firewire controller. There's still low latency and no snap, crackle and pop from the Ultralite.
But it was purpose built, using quality components, and resident programs is kept to a bare minimum. No quicktime or adobe updaters that run in the background without telling me, and trying to phone home over internet at inconvenient intervals. No instant messaging that constantly churn in the background (use a different computer for that, if you have to). No java or .NET hogs running behind the scenes.
Whenever I have to deal with people complaining about slow computers, or problems running timing-sensitive software (like sound applications), the problem is usually due to a plethora of applications running in the background, usually without the user not even knowing about them. CTRL-ALT-DEL, followed by looking at "Processes" tab, with "for all users" enabled will give a decent overview of what's running.
The worst I've seen was someone who honestly thought that minimizing a program would freeze it, and it would no longer take up any CPU time. So she never closed any programs, but just minimized them. And wondered why her system got so incredibly slow.
The rest of the problems tend to be due to one or more components not meeting specs, and bogging down the rest of the system. Having a Soundblaster Live/Audigy card, for example, will do it every time -- they deliberately trip up the PCI bus and southbridge for more than three times as long as what's recommended. This starves other interrupt driven devices. Or having a winmodem (which is basically a cheap sound card hooked up to a phone socket), with drivers and fax software pre-loaded, despite you never using it. Or having added RAM yourself, thinking that more is always better, not knowing that combining different types of RAM can cause severe problems, or that filling up all sockets can prevent dual channel from working.
You don't have to be a computer geek like Brad and me to get a good working system, but you should try to get someone professional to build it for you -- someone who knows which components go well together, which corners not to cut, and what components to avoid for your type of system. Someone who won't sell you a Dodge Neon or Chevy Corvette when you intend to use the car as a taxi.
And, get in touch with someone who can provide yearly maintenance. It's not that expensive -- if you pay $1500-2500 for a decent computer, paying $100 extra per year for maintenance can be a good investment. Especially if it means you get to use the computer for four or five years instead of two or three - then you save that extra expense. Think of it like taking your car in for service. It doesn't have to be at the dealer, and often you get better service elsewhere. But you do want a good mechanic to look it over unless you know how to do it yourself. Cause that costs less in the long run, and you lessen the risk of it breaking down at an inconvenient moment.
I run a Motu 8Pre on an HP NX6110 laptop, I do disable the wireless feature or I get glitches but other than that the thing is rock solid recording 8 tracks into Cubase, I'm very happy with this setup.
Hey, I found that I get pops and squeeks if my wireless internet is turned on, even if it is not connected to a network. Turning it off solves the problem..
trentks wrote:Hey, I found that I get pops and squeeks if my wireless internet is turned on, even if it is not connected to a network. Turning it off solves the problem..
That means that your wireless driver installed is poor or very outdated.
I personally bet it is is from 2005 or even before.
Visit the manufacturer's site for the latest driver. If there is nothing made after July 2009, ditch the adapter and install a new one.
...unless of course you don't mind the extreme latency caused by the driver and are equally alright with disabling the adapter when necessary.
