Give me more Power!

KrazyKatz · October 08, 2006, 15:24:45

Im using a lot of VST plugins lately and Im hearing clicks and plops which Im assuming is a result of chewing CPU power. The question is will upgrading my RAM improve the situation.

If it means anything I have a P-4 2.6Ghz & 512 mb RAM

Thanks in Advance,

speed-goddamn-focus · October 08, 2006, 17:30:47

It might.

Also, try increasing your ASIO buffers.

LPChip · October 08, 2006, 18:27:38

It depends on your computer specs if increasing ram will do anything, but I think it will, because if your system gets out of ram, it will make a swapfile to compensate. Managing this swapfile costs a bit of CPU, so if your system has to do less swapfilemanagement stuff, it will mean less CPU. I dunno if it will be a big gain though.

Playing with your buffers will do good, and a new soundcard that has a processor on it will help too.

I went from an SB Audigy 1 to an X-FI Elite Pro, and I can now use signifficantly more VST's.

KrazyKatz · October 08, 2006, 18:53:18

Hmmm... I use a really lousy sound card... the standard one thats built into the motherboard of my P.C... I didnt realise that the soundcard can make a difference. I reckon that if its time to upgrade, perhaps the soundcard is the best way to go.
When you talk about increasing the ASIO buffers, Are you referring to the buffer length in the Sound Card Menu ( in Setup )? Those I've allready pushed up.

Sam_Zen · October 09, 2006, 02:44:13

First thing to do in this case stays to look at the bundle of plugins that are used, and reconsider it. Many times effect-plugins have overlapping functions aboard, so maybe the same could be made with less VST plugins.
The fastest thing that can be executed on a system with clockspeed 2.6Ghz is at 1.3Ghz anyway.

LPChip · October 09, 2006, 07:36:08

As for the soundcard, AC97 soundcards (eg. onboard cards) really eat CPU, so you're going to have a gain there for sure.

Its recommended to search for a soundcard with an onboard sound processor, cus not all cards have that.

I can say for sure for the creative cards. Eg. sb audigy, x-fi etc. They have an onboard processor. Do watch for this though, when buying one.

rewbs · October 09, 2006, 08:18:12

Quote from: "Sam_Zen"The fastest thing that can be executed on a system with clockspeed 2.6Ghz is at 1.3Ghz anyway.

I'm curious as to how you apply Nyquist to instruction execution rates.

Sam_Zen · October 10, 2006, 00:41:46

Excuse me for not knowing about what Nyquist is.

I just wanted to add some relativity in the system-speed issue. The electric oscillations of a crystal is often
divided into lower frequencies, at least a factor 2 by a flipflop, before being effective.

speed-goddamn-focus · October 10, 2006, 07:41:10

Quote from: "Sam_Zen"I just wanted to add some relativity in the system-speed issue. The electric oscillations of a crystal is often
divided into lower frequencies, at least a factor 2 by a flipflop, before being effective.

It would be very surprising if KrazyKatz has a 2.6 GHz crystal oscillator in his computer.

KrazyKatz · October 23, 2006, 18:35:23

I've decided to purchase the M-Audio 2496.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html

Costing me $110.00

Price wise is this the best way to go, or would any of you folks reckon on an alternative card?

LPChip · October 23, 2006, 20:44:04

Nice card man... That will definatelly make a big change in sound quality. I don't have first hand experience with this card, and therefore I can't tell you if the card has an onboard processor, but It'd be odd if it hasn't.

Sam_Zen · October 24, 2006, 00:19:57

A quad card ! You make me very jealous ..

seventhson · October 24, 2006, 01:07:33

Quote from: "KrazyKatz"I've decided to purchase the M-Audio 2496.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html

Costing me $110.00

Price wise is this the best way to go, or would any of you folks reckon on an alternative card?

I've been using this card for over a year now and all i can say that it sounds great to my ears,a good friend of mine has an emu 0404 soundcard which is in the same price range and to me the audiophile is much better.

maleek · October 24, 2006, 14:31:15

Some vst-effects are also very inefficient with cpu-resources. I have a few vsti:s that are incredible when it comes to the creative control I have over the ability to create my own sounds, but at the same time really eats up mu cpu power. Good thing about the buffer though.

Waxhead · October 24, 2006, 17:35:05

Quote from: "KrazyKatz"I've decided to purchase the M-Audio 2496.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html

Costing me $110.00

Price wise is this the best way to go, or would any of you folks reckon on an alternative card?

A friend of mine have this card and he's running a semi-pro studio. He's had that card for some time and have nothing but good to say about it. Earlier the drivers was a bit flaky but recent drivers have prooven to be rock solid and the card also offers excellent sound quality. I think you have made a excellent choise!

LPChip: Nitpick but the main problem with swapping out memory to disk is latency.