Firewire Audiophile and Buffer...

[BombJack]

Ok, here's the deal. I may have missed smethign glaringly obvious, but anyway, this is my problem...

When using cubase, my machine maxes out fairly quickly.
It's a 3ghz pentium with a gig of ram in it, but I also use a lot of plugins,a nd fx and stuff so I can understand it.

However, previously when using other peoples machines (and soundcards) I have been able to increase the buffer size (at the expense of latancy) to produce less of a cpu hit. Thing is, when I access the soundcard console to alter the buffer size (it's currently at 256 samples) I can't increase or decrease this value. The manual for the soundcard says that I should be able to do this, but for some reason clicking on the up/down arrows to increase or decrease the sample amount doesn't have the desired effect.

Is this because I actually CAN'T change the buffer size whilst using Cubase? (incidently this also is the case when trying to change it within ableton)

Am I missing something?

another issue I have is to do with CPU spikes. I ahve read somewhere about denormals cauisng problems within this area, and one of the remedies was to place Waves IDR in the channel fx chain at the front.
This seems to have very limited effect for me - has anyone got any better ideas from theyre experience???

Cheers

BombJack

[nova]

im not a cubaser but cant you freeze channels? that drops cpu for sure

[BombJack]

Of course I can nova, but that's not what I want to do...
I don't actually have that many synths on the go in my recent track, just one instance of Motu Mach 5. I do however have a good few fx on the go, but these you cannot freeze as far as I know - it's only VSTis that you can freeze.

Back to my real issue - The MAudio manual says that I should be able to change the buffer size, but for some reason it won't let me. Does cubase lock the available buffer sizes? Does ableton do the same thing hence why I can't move it in both apps?


Thoughts???

Cheers

BombJack

[nova]

sorry just tring to help!. i had issues the other day with buffer size but when it was up 1024 it didnt help me. that was cpu peaking right out. froze the tracks and it was fine. anyway i'll shut up! :lol:

[messyfuture]

which drivers are you using?

i have noticed in cubase some of the drivers i have for my dsp factory let you do different things

just a thought

[DJZeMigL]

some drivers and sound cards require u 2 close apps before u change clock rate, I had never heard about buffer sizes on that matter!?

Please try with in another sequencer ...! If it works that the prob lies else were... anyways 256 is very low... U'd only really need that if u are playing vst is live with a midi kb!

Z

[BombJack]

DJ Ze Mig L,

that was my thinking that it was very low. To be honest, I haven't played around with any of the settings since my laptop and soundcard came from the shop. It was et up for "optimum" performance - Nusystems is the compnay I bought it from. It was only the other day when trying to set up headphone monitoring in Ableton that I noticed the buffer size...
Like you, it made me think that it was set very low, and that I could significantly give my system a bit of a helping hand by increasing the buffer slightly... Things is, I can't.

Don't get me wrong, I'm clueless about this kind of thing, and my apologies to nova for sounding a bit tetchy earlier (I was!!!!) ], it's just I'm sure my set up could be a bit more flexible performance wise if I could get this to work.

As for trying with other sequencers, I don't have any handy.
At closer inspection though, I can't alter the buffer size even before booting up Cubase or Ableton, so likely it is a software issue with the soundcard....

BombJack

[BombJack]

DJ Ze Mig L,

you cracked it! Though I had been using trying to work t out within Cubase or Ableton, I wasnt' actually trying to do this kind of thing without any of them running!!!!! Followed your advice, and hey presto, works a treat - I can increase the buffer to 2000 odd samples!!!!

Nice one! And thanks again...

BombJack

[tocsin]

Of course I can nova, but that's not what I want to do...
I don't actually have that many synths on the go in my recent track, just one instance of Motu Mach 5. I do however have a good few fx on the go, but these you cannot freeze as far as I know - it's only VSTis that you can freeze.

Back to my real issue - The MAudio manual says that I should be able to change the buffer size, but for some reason it won't let me. Does cubase lock the available buffer sizes? Does ableton do the same thing hence why I can't move it in both apps?


Thoughts???

Cheers

BombJack

[edit: just saw the m-audio question answered]
As for your CPU spikes, when did you get the P4 chip? Were you using the same hardware setup on a different mobo/cpu at one point? I use Sonar, not Cubase, and upgraded from an AMD Chip to a P4 3.2. I was actually getting more sound rops from CPU spikes with the new P4 CPU than I did with the AMD chip. Then, I found out there was a checkbox I needed to hit in the preferences to enable hyperthreading. Since doing that, I get much better CPU usage with VSTis than I ever did with the AMD. I just never thought to check the preferences to see if such an option existed.

[nova]

no worries dude :lol:,

[BombJack]

Tocsin, I'll check it out. I'm pretty sure my cpu tho isn't hyper threading enabled, but I'll make sure...

Anything may help, right???

Cheers

BombJack

[tocsin]

Tocsin, I'll check it out. I'm pretty sure my cpu tho isn't hyper threading enabled, but I'll make sure...

Anything may help, right???

If you have a Pentium 4, chances are it's Hyperthreading enabled. Also check to make sure the option is enabled in your BIOS.

[BombJack]

Tocsin, I'm pretty sure my P4 isn't hyper threading enabled.
It's supposedly quiate a rare unusual P4 in that it also has an 800 FSB.
I took my lappie into a shop to get some additional ram in it, and he said that he had never heard of a P4 with an 800 FSB without having Hyper threading. That said the guy was a bit of a tool, so don't knowhether t belive him or not...

BombJack