P4 CPU Peaking Need Help!!!!!

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POSJMD

Post by POSJMD » Wed Nov 19, 2003 10:42 pm

Hello Everyone!
I am new to recording using a computer, I have a desktop P4 CPU with
512MB of ram with nothing running in the background and Sonar 2.0XL
keeps giving me a warning and shutting down. I am running a Layla
Ehcho PCI interface. I am currently running 18 audio tracks of music
and choir. I need to add more instruments and the soloist. I am not
adding effects, just running the signal that I record. The song that
we are currently doing is 3min and 41 seconds long. I am not using
any midi tracks. Is there anything that I could do this project is
for a church choir. The CPU meter is running yellow or red during
recording and playback with no effects. The hard disk meter stays
under 25%. The desktop computer is only 6 months old I bought it
from Dell.

Thank you for any assistance that you can provide!


Nathan


Special-K
Posts: 52
Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2003 3:44 pm
Location: UK

Post by Special-K » Thu Nov 20, 2003 1:20 pm

Mix some of the tracks you are happy with together so you can reduce the number of tracks that are playing thereby reducing CPU overhead

Guest

Post by Guest » Tue Nov 25, 2003 7:26 pm

Did you try a defrag and clean up of your hard drive? I am able to do mix 10 tracks with lots of EQ and other effects on a 600Mhz with 256MB of ram. I just purchass a Dell 2.8Mhz and did a quick test with 12 tracks with EQ and reverb on all tracks and CPU runs at 1 and hard drive runs at 1 also. :D

Axeman
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2003 6:31 pm
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Contact:

Post by Axeman » Tue Dec 02, 2003 9:36 pm

:mrgreen: Try mixing several tracks you like into a single track. I am concerned however, since you say it's a P4 CPU. Could you give more specifics as to the Proccessor speed and the Operating system you are using?

I run a P4 2.4 with 512mb of memory and I can easily record/playback 16-20 tracks of audio with ease. Take a look at your task manager (Ctrl Alt. Delete) and see how many processes are running. XP is a process HOG. However I run 2000 with only cakewalk and audio/video drivers with only 13 processes. It runs with ease. Strip the services down as far as you can. If you need help with understanding the services, go here: www.blackviper.com He has lists and descriptions of the services, and which are safe to disable.

Another way to squeeze headroom is to run all your effects in Auxilliary channels, and simply tie into them with whatever channel you want to apply the effect. Rather than having 6 tracks, each with their own reverb, try running 6 tracks into a single Aux with a reverb. This will help proc usage tremendously. Hope this helps

Guest

Post by Guest » Wed Dec 03, 2003 6:06 am

you can save some CPU strain by turning off meters.

GretscGuy
Posts: 434
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2003 1:26 pm
Location: Massachusetts USA

Post by GretscGuy » Thu Dec 04, 2003 6:27 pm

Nathan,
Are you running xp? It is a tremendous resourse hog and needs to be tuned before it will perform as well as a good clean install of W2k. Once it's running right it is very good.

Visit www.musicxp.net or www.tascam.com (look for the Windows Optimization Guide). You could also do a google for tuning xp for music.

The posts above offered some great tips, but with a machine like you have, you probably bought it so you wouldn't have to make compromises.

Good Luck, Let us know how you make out!

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