hi @alex921 , I was wondering if the HDD could be responsible of dropouts when playing with low buffering. Could an SSD be of help (for dropouts)? I know it depends from the type of software: things like VB3 will not EVER rely on the disk, so there will be no difference. but, things like Omnisphere or Kontakt (that stream from disk)? my HDD once in a while has some peaks (I can see them in the Task Manager), and I think every time I got peaks on HDD, I also got dropouts. the 2 things seems to match.

btw I have an Acer Aspire V3-571G with i7-3632QM, 8 GB of RAM (Corsair; I took the old 4+2 configuration off), 750 HDD @5400 rpm, Nvidia 710M. The MoBo has been inexpertly replaced by Acer sometimes ago, since then it gives me problems. I use Windows 10 but Acer didn't give me drivers, so I'm on with pre-installed drivers. I'm aware that the problem, in my case, are the lack of decent drivers (or, the lack of drivers at all) for the hardware, but I understood that too late. My bad.I'm just trying to find stopgaps.

[I'll NEVER EVER buy Acer again. It really sucks.]

 

Any evidence on that statement? Somehow it feels "unbelievable"

What's wrong with 3rd gen "Ivy Bridge"? Based on my measurements, it's superseeds both 4th and 5th gen.
No audio-driven app is capable of utilizing AVX2 those CPU can offer so what's the point.

No, the real dropouts are always caused by insufficient CPU power to handle extreme spikes or driver problem.

Sure, recent Kontakt libs runs zilion mic positions at the same time, which may cause some samples to drop as the HDD can't keep up. But those are different - the sample plays for a little while and then stops abruptly. CPU Dropouts stutters momentarily.

 

Last edited: Dec 3, 2016

When you load a sample in Kontakt, it loads a small portion of each sample into your RAM. The rest is kept on the hard drive and streamed via Direct from Disk (DFD settings can be adjusted in kontakt). So less RAM means more strain on the CPU, which in return give CPU dropouts. Perhaps you installed a wrong RAM module, or it might be too slow. Poorly configured drivers could be a cause of your problems.

Also, when I worked with windows 10, I got this really weird bug that my disk usage always was running 100%, even though there were barely any programs running. I have to disable some settings in windows, and I got it fixed momentarily, but I switched back to w7, and I like it way better now. So I recommend to check your disk usage, even when your not producing to check if you experience this bug also.

Lastly, 5400 rpm is not really fast, you should invest in a SSD. But its not the root of your problem though.

 

There is nothing wrong with it, I just posted an example of CPU which came in my mind. I run a 3rd generation Ivy bridge myself :D

 

Sure, I will do that in a few hours. I got to test the maschine jam now before the store is closed

 

Hmmm... last time I checked dawbench.com the tests showed that Windows is in general a more efficient platform for audio. But, of course, it also depends on what DAW and what interface you use.

 

Well you need to download ASIO drivers with windows, the latency is way too big otherwise and the sound is crap compared to your native windows driver.Asio does not support multi-input devices unless you own a audio interface. If you dont own a audio interface and use the superior asio driver, you can only hear the sound of your DAW for instance.

Core audio (which comes native on OS X) has lower latency, better sound quality opposed to your native windows driver.
Core audio does have multi input devices, you can even set clock source, different in/outputs for each application
Also Audio midi setup, read this : http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/audio-midi-setup

I use a hackintosh, and when I compare the latency between the DAWS (ableton)OS X has a lower latency of 6 ms with my focusrite sound card.
Piszpunta, you're right about exclusions of DAWS and audio interfaces. Differences like 6ms is nothing, and I dont really care for it. I like producing music on both systems.

 

Last edited: Dec 3, 2016

Both interesting links btw:
https://support.native-instruments....1729-Windows-Tuning-Tips-for-Audio-Processing

https://support.native-instruments....445-Mac-OS-X-Tuning-Tips-for-Audio-Processing

 

Yes, I know that OSX has better latency that stock Windows solutions. But I think no one uses DAW on a Windows machine with Windows built-drivers, anyway. Pretty much everyone is aware we need ASIO drivers for that.

 

...and getting back to the initial question:

I would say, that the choice of interface (together with its driver) and DAW is as much important as the choice of the computer.

For example, I did some extensive performance tests comparing Reaper v5.x and Studio One v3.x. I found that Reaper is on average 2.5 times (!) more efficient than Studio One (so with certain virtual analogs Studio One is a no go). Also, drivers for different interfaces put various amount of stress on CPU - some interfaces can go with very low latency at the cost of poor performace.

 

HP - Spectre x360 2-in-1 15.6" 4K Ultra HD Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel Core i7 - 16GB Memory - 256GB Solid State Drive - Natural Silver. Working nice so far!
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-spec...-drive-natural-silver/4864800.p?skuId=4864800

 

USB uses a cue for data and commands, Firewire is peer to peer. That is the main difference. If you have a lot of USB devices on that hub the cue stacks up. Not so with Firewire. The commands/Data is addressed directly to each FW device = no cue to process
If you plug in a USB 2.0< device into a 3.0> hub it will slow down the whole hub to the speed of the slowest device. It was needed to keep it backwards compatible for older devices. A lot of controllers like M-Audio still use USB 1.0 in some of their low end midi controllers that will slow your 3.0 to a 1999 crawl. Im talking about the hubs on the mobo, not the external hubs we use. My mobo has 3 USB hubs one 2.0 on the front and 2 hubs on the back. One of the ones on the back is 3.0
I still use a firewire Mackie Onyx 820i for my audio device 8in 2out. It can double as a live mixer as well, and I can route a monitor submix right on the device without the need of an asio driver/mixer app. Talkback loop too.
All my USB3.0 devices like external drives are on their own 3.0 hub and my USB2.0 devices like controllers are on their own 2.0 hub.
This setup works quite well for me. Nothing is stepping on each other and no bottlenecks.

 

Last edited: Dec 4, 2016

so using a HUB (like this: https://www.thomann.de/it/elektron_overhub.htm), withi its own alimentation, is better than use USB ports on Desktop/Laptop (for MIDI controllers that can be powered by USB)?

 

If you have that Hub plugged into a USB 3 port on your computer and only USB 3 devices plugged into it you are good. As soon as you plug a USB 2 device into it the whole hub slows down to USB 2 speeds. I use a separate external USB 3 hub for external drives and another ecternal hub for Midi controllers. On the computer the one with hard drives is plugged into a blue 3.0 port The Hub with midi controllers is plugged into a regular 2.0 USB port. This is something I see DJs do a lot just plug everything into one hub and then plug it into the computer and don't realize that they could be getting better performance for their music drives if they separated them from their controller/soundcard on different hubs, external and on the motherboard as well

 

Last edited: Dec 4, 2016

Yeah same here my audio device is firewire (saffire pro 24 dsp), and each usb device (three midi keyboards and an mpc) has it's own dedicated usb port from the motherboard. Before doing that I had weird conflicts and bugs going on, not anymore.
Hubs that are powered through the MB cause trouble @JudoLudo , I've given up alltogether on hubs, but one with its own alimentation should be okay...

 

Also my desktop has 6 ports but it's three hubs on the motherboard

 

I really don't know how it's organised on my mb, I didn't even really check this part. I think I can disable them by pairs in the bios, so I guess what it disables is the hub that handles pairs of usb ports.
I'm guessing there are hubs onboard (I have six ports), like on most desktop mb. It's probably not ideal but unlike external usb hubs that are powered byt the mb on a usb port, it doesn't create problems on my setup so far.

 

@subGENRE no, it's MULTI TT, so every port is independent.

 

That is why I mentioned the "LIVE SETUP" since I did not mentioned anything about ITB LOL.
Latency in USB for live use is pathetic and USB3 changes nothing. USB was never meant for Audio!! or Midi for that matter. Most TOP rated low latency interfaces are as follows

PCI - Still nothing compares to this
Firewire - 2nb best
Thunderbolt - possible future
=
=
=
USB is as the end.

These interfaces all can record without any problems audio and Midi, but USB is a big problem with Jitter and Jitter
was never really brought down to the 1 ms which is midi.

An example I have a friend who has a POD HD 500 and it has USB out . He has no problem playing it live ( no surprise DIRECT OUTS!) . He was wondering how to play it DRY to his Daw to Reamp. But the latency was pushing at least 5 ms and since it is USB now add in the jitter ( 5 to 20 MS) he was going crazy trying to pay Amplitube 3 while monitoring it. So I asked him to bring his POD HD 500 and we hooked it up to my Edirol F101 and he played on my Amplitube 3, Jamvox 2 and Guitar rig 3. He went on Ebay the next day and bought a used Edirol Fa101 and now only uses the POD HD 500 USB for the POD HD editor as I told him to do.

He did not have to be told what to buy, his ears decided for him. Latency is about the ears not some made up numbers. If you can not play a guitar into an interface, monitor an amp sim and have it play out and be comfortable with the delay it has you need to start looking for a better way.

1. Interface and low latency monitoring - check the Jitter numbers IMPORTANT.
2.Desktop ( laptop's I do not recommend)


If you want serious work for live usage a Laptop is not what I would recommend.

Notice how Latency goes down as the price of the interface go up?
Notice how drum brains have more internal memory for your own samples as price goes up?

Notice those 2 questions and the companies who sell those products!!!
It is the reason why you have to buy a $2500 interface to have Sub MS latency
It is the reason why you have to buy a $4000 Drum brain to have USB and SD cad slots on those brains.

Monopoly.

 

and if I am a keyboardist and I'd like to use VSTi's live, what should I use? lol