I work in FL 12 and soon to be Ableton and was just wondering what is needed to have a fast workstation when working with lots of midis and samples and vsts together. Usually about 50% into every track my computer shits itself. And I have to finish it through huge lag and static audio until I render it to a wav. I know one way is to render all midis to wav files but that seems impractical. I have a macbook with bootcamp running windows 10. The 2015 macbook pro which is supposed to be pretty fast. I also have a USB 3.0 external. What can I do to optimize the speed?

 

I am on Windows 7 and I don`t (want to) know shit about 10.............

1. Set your computer's power for high performance
If your computer is set to conserve energy, the CPU may not be running at full speed all of the time. This can have a detrimental effect on your computer's audio performance. To set your computer's power for high performance:
- Go to: Start>Control Panel>Power Options
- Choose "High Performance"
- Click the "Change plan settings" button.
- Make sure both power options are set to "Never"
2. Disable system sounds
System sounds can interrupt audio. Ensure that they are disabled by doing the following:
- Go to control panel and select "Sound"
- Go to the sounds tab
- Under sounds scheme, select "No sounds"
- Click "Apply" then, "OK"
3. Enable DMA (Direct memory access) on each IDE channel
This allows data to be transferred directly into the memory and can improve audio performance. To ensure that DMA is enabled:
- Open device manager
- Expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers category then double click on each one of the IDE channels
- Under the 'Advanced settings' tab, make sure the 'Enable DMA' box is ticked in device properties
Please note: this only applies to some hardware and if this option is not available, you should not worry about completing this step.
4. Set processor scheduling to "Background services"
This will improve the performance of your audio drivers on your computer. To do this:
- In control panel select "system"
- Go to "Advanced system settings" and then the "Performance" tab
- Set processor scheduling as "Background Services"
- Click "Apply" then "OK"
5. Disable Windows Firewall, anti-virus and spyware software
These should all be disabled to ensure that no interferences occur during audio recording or playback and to ensure that maximum resources are available. To remain secure while your firewall and antivirus disabled, it is advisable to temporarily disconnect from any internet connections when working with audio.
Advanced optimisation:
If you wish to optimise your system further, or you are using a system that is particularly lacking in resources you can follow the tips below for advanced optimisation.
Disable Visual effects
The visual features in Windows 7 can use resources that could otherwise help to improve audio performance. As a start, it is good idea to disable some of the visual features by doing the following:
- Press start and in the search box type: "SystemPropertiesPerformance" and press enter
- On the visual effects tab select "custom"
- Untick: "Animate windows when minimising and maximising" to help prevent glitches when minimising and maximising. You can also experiment with disabling other visual effects in the custom list to see how they improve audio performance.
- Once finished, press "OK"
If you wish to optimise your Windows 7 graphics for the best performance use the "Adjust for best performance". Although improving computer performance, this will make your Windows 7 appear a lot less aesthetically pleasing.
Disable Windows services
One way in which you can make more resources available to improve audio performance, is to disable unnecessary Windows services as these use valuable resources.

 

thanks.. I did that but there's not a noticeable difference. I think building a desktop might be able to handle more power.. I might just sell this macbook and build a specific desktop for producing.

 

Disable Visual effects yes I total agree with this except in cubase 8 you can not disable the Visual effects in windows 7.

 

The only way of increasing the realtime performance of DAWs is disabling or removing unused materials inside the DAWs at the time of playing. That's all. I never think of changing my Laptop. If you'd have the fastest supercomputer, without good management it will suck.

This always works for me:
https://audiosex.pro/threads/a-simple-trick-for-saving-a-lot-of-cpu-in-fl-studio.22358/

 

... yeah, I find I can do a lot more with a desktop then even some of the more recent laptops unfortunately..... obviously disable internet and wifi.... turn off channels on your audio interface you are not using, running 64bit? How much ram?

and unfortunately a lot of modern plugs are cpu hogs and make me commit to audio early and often, which for me is a good thing, but I can see how for others is not... Lot easier for a computer to play back .wav's then play back a u-he or omnisphere instance!

I also find I can get 90% of what I do done with stock Ableton fx, which are a lot less cpu intensive...

also making sure "warp" is OFF on tracks you are not using it on....ableton is preparing itself for pitch and speed adjustments on those tracks if you do not, so that probably is some overhead as well....

usb 3.0 "should" be fine, i usually use sata on my tower for better speeds, but that is not an option for you I imagine...

and the usual "increase the buffer" stuff.... but that can stink when performing "live" parts either with instruments OR recording audio at times....

you probably know all this, just tossing it out there!

 

I take it that you have a MacBook Pro. You should have at least 16GB of memory with a very fast processor and,
preferrably a SSD drive which will require an external drive for storage of large sample libraries and such.

The main problem I see is you are running Windows on a Mac. There goes your horse power, running right off a
cliff. If you need to run Windows Programs, you need a Windows computer. Networking a Mac and A Windows
Is a better option if you need both.

There also exist the option of modern audio interfaces with networking capabilities. All depends upon
what level of production you are at.

 

thermal throttling, core parking, c states and various CPU boost mode (Turbo Core for AMD/Hyper-Threading for Intel)... these are the real beasts to deal with

 

On OS X (Ableton) my CPU metering can go to 85/90% before audio goes into stuttering.
Better then windows but, my CPU performance is around 10/15% less or maybe even a bit more.

Keep in mind (for most DAW): when using effects on a single bus only 1 core can handle this so if you have heavy plugins try to route the audio thru multiple busses for multi core balancing whether how you say that (lol my english sucks)

 

All of the above in terms of computer and os tweaking - for windows 7 - and yeah a desktop is better.
But mostly (I don't have a big system I rarely run out of ressources, exept with particular fxs) you have to organise your session better. Uses buses to group the hungry fxs, disable oversampling in vsts (and check from time to time with, to check before rendering with too), and mostly use the features of your DAW which is based on clips features. Don't think tracks management but clips management. I don't use ableton but samplitude has the same idea at his heart with its objects, and I guess some features are common to both. You can put effects in them send them to auxes...and freeze them...Add more effects and freeze them, you don't like what you did ? Unfreeze, etc....Samplitude even offers the possibility to do "snapshots" (4 differents) of each clip/object, with different effects, auxes sends, pan, volume, if you wan to compare while playing your song.
Your workflow can and should save you ressources, specialy with ableton.
Even with a bigger CPU and more memory it can be a problem, only your workflow will solve this. You can't buy always more powerfull gear, there is a limit to that.

EDIT :i've checked the specs of your 2015 macbook, and this is not enought man...Never mind, you have the pro...It is way enought, you shouldn't have these issues...

 

Last edited: Feb 23, 2016

Also disable Windows DVD Burner to save more resources and use a third party burner
that usually provides more features and more compatibility.

 

A high-powered desktop is the only solution, preferably 6-cores or more.

 

Last edited: Feb 24, 2016

I think you get better performance with as much GHz as you possible can (because of audio only can be calculated by one core)
I have rather 2core 8 Ghz then 8cores 1 Ghz, to bad i maxed out @ 4,9GHz

 

@quadcore64 Sorry but what you say "the main problem is running windows on a mac, etc" is totally false. Any Intel Mac is a 100% Windows compatible PC machine. While a desktop computer gives a lot of benefits (faster cpu possible, more ram, lots of i/o, expansion slots, more hds etc etc), there is nothing wrong with running Windows on an Intel Mac. The wrong choice, if there is any, was going for Win10 instead of Win7 and it has been discussed to death (lol) in another thread.

 

If you do some research, you will find that there are issues with running Windows or OSX through
a virtual environment. Some info can be found here, in this forum.

A link for you to check out.
So You've Decided to Put Windows on your Mac

Downsides of using Windows on a Mac

Windows 10 + Mac: Boot Camp

 

Last edited: Feb 24, 2016

Good luck with that

 

Last edited: Feb 24, 2016

The base configuration is not enough for serious production but, with upgrading memory to 16GB and the hard drive
to SSD at the time of purchase, you have a machine that will give years of service. You will however need an external
drive for storge which is a good idea in any regard when working with Laptops.

I for some reason I ever go back to a Mac, it will probably be a Mac Pro (desktop/cylinder) or whatever is the current
top rated Mac.

 

Wow, interesting I know people dislike windows 10 but I thought it was supposed to run faster.

 

@quadcore64 Windows runs in Macs natively ever since they switched to Intel chipsets in 2007. No need for VMs. Seems to me you do not read the links you post eheheh. Apart from my studio work, i am a professional custom system builder. The Macs (about 5-6 machines) i have configured or upgraded and slightly customized (all current Macs leave very few options for peripheral hardware customization) the last two-three years run Win7 like a breeze (and any other newer Win OS if the user wishes to, but i strongly advise to stick with Win7 atm).
The bottom line is ALL MACS ARE PCs -period. Bootcamp will let you install and run Windows with dual boot selection from the bios to MacOSX. And because this is kindergarten knowledge i will not waste more of the server's valuable space on this subject.
Cheers

 

@Steve Faoki
So this is quite an odd selection. Buying a Mac to run Windows is the only mistake i find here. Not that it is problematic but you pay a premium when "endorsing" an Apple product. This premium selection of a laptop, while justified in terms of design/superb display, makes little sense outside the MacOSX ecosystem. Unless you are one of those people that need Windows for the studio and MacOSX for live gigs, which then makes sense. In every other way and if its strictly for studio use, a custom desktop pc at about the same money as the 15" Macbook Pro starter model (2.000 dlrs) will wield at least twice the cpu performance,3-4 times the storage capacity, 2-3 times the graphics performance, including a 4k display as well. And many other enhancements too, too many to mention. If the system builder is experienced you can have a custom pc that will be capable of running MacOSX natively too (and before somebody starts talking Hackintosh, i am talking legitimately bought MacOSX here). If you need details, msg me your budget if you have one, and i will suggest a good config for an audio workstation.
Cheers

 

Last edited: Feb 24, 2016