XP tweaks - Scope & Logic 5.5 setup / proejcts
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:25 am
After 8 years of owning a pulsar I finally feel that I am able to setup windows XP in a very reliable configuration for logic platinum 5.5 and scope SFP.
I would like to share the 'tweaks" I performed in order to get my system as solid as possible as well as some observations about what software works better than others.
first off windows XP
after installation of windows, scope / sfp, and your audio apps
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn off extra apps and services
start -> run -> msconfig
go to the startup tab and un-check everything unessential
that means leaving ONLY nvidia, scope, and any other essential software (live Anti virus if you are on a network)
then go to the services tab and un-check the following :
telephony, terminal services, uninterruptable power supply (unless you have one), portable media serial number service, windows media player network sharing service, automatic updates, possibly more, but those are pretty safe to turn off
click apply, then close
it will ask you if you want to reboot now, I usually say no since I have more tuning to do
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
check to see if any other hardware is sharing IRQ's with the pulsar
start -> run -> msinfo32
click the + next to hardware resources
then click conflicts / sharing
now look for your pulsar / scope / luna / whatever
if there are any other devices listed as using the same IRQ then turn them off by doing the following
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disable the shared devices
start -> right click my computer -> manage
click Device Manager
now for each device that shared the IRQ of the hardware, find the exact one (for USB devices, the last 4 letters in system information are the exact identifier of the controller), right click the device and select disable. repeat for all devices that shared the IRQ
you may also want to disable your computers on-board soundcard, I find that causes noise and crackles even if it's not sharing an IRQ.
After disabling all the shared devices, ensure that DMA is on for all hard drives in device manager
Click the '+' next to IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
left click on Primary IDE channel -> Properties
Advanced settings tab
Look at the box that says the Current transfer Mode - you want Ultra DMA 5 or at least Ultra DMA
Do the same for Secondary IDE channel
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re-route all DirectSound / MME audio through scope
it's a good idea to have some wave drivers in your scope routing window before you do this.
start -> control panels -> Sounds and Audio Devices
Sound Playback Tab :
Sound Playback : set to Creamware Play/Rec #(of wav driver you want to use)
Sound Recording: set to Creamware Play/Rec #(of wav driver you want to use)
Midi music playback : I set this to creamware as all MIDI get's routed through there, no matter where it's final destination is -your setup may differ here.
I also select 'use only default devices'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Set the properties for those wave drivers (still in the Sounds and Audio Devices control panel)
Under the Hardware tab :
left click creamware card, then left click the properties button below
choose the settings tab, set the output preload all the way to the right (it's just safer that way)
I also change the number of Wave device to "2" and also Midi Devices to "2"
this gives me the flexibility to bounce audio and midi around between multiple applications.
Un-check the box that says 'Reset board if idle'
Logic Platinum :
Launch Logic
Audio -> Audio Hardware and Drivers -> Aydio Driver 2 Tab
Check ASIO
Select ASIO SCOPE for driver
check 20/24 bit recording (requires ASIO 24 or ASIO 2 24 object in Routing window)
Check software monitoring
Set Process Buffer Range to "Medium" (safe)
Check Universal Trackmode
Check Larger Disk Buffer
Some observations :
I really like using another WAV recording application such as Cool Edit, Soundforge, or Audition to record the output of logic, that way it's real easy for me to 'roll tape' in a session and capture all of what comes out, eve if it never makes it into the final project. It's handy and fun to go back and listen to it.
so here's the rub, with a fast compute (intel core 2 duo) I am now not able to do this with Cooledit or Adobe Audition - they are the same app underneath so that's understandable. I can now only do this with wavelab and soundforge. Which sucks, because cooledit / audition have real time frequency analyzers that I like to use. Granted this is only for recording, playback is unaffected in these applications, so I can still use them for edits, and sketching out tracks in their multi-track mode.
Hope this information is helpful to others.
I would like to share the 'tweaks" I performed in order to get my system as solid as possible as well as some observations about what software works better than others.
first off windows XP
after installation of windows, scope / sfp, and your audio apps
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn off extra apps and services
start -> run -> msconfig
go to the startup tab and un-check everything unessential
that means leaving ONLY nvidia, scope, and any other essential software (live Anti virus if you are on a network)
then go to the services tab and un-check the following :
telephony, terminal services, uninterruptable power supply (unless you have one), portable media serial number service, windows media player network sharing service, automatic updates, possibly more, but those are pretty safe to turn off
click apply, then close
it will ask you if you want to reboot now, I usually say no since I have more tuning to do
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
check to see if any other hardware is sharing IRQ's with the pulsar
start -> run -> msinfo32
click the + next to hardware resources
then click conflicts / sharing
now look for your pulsar / scope / luna / whatever
if there are any other devices listed as using the same IRQ then turn them off by doing the following
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disable the shared devices
start -> right click my computer -> manage
click Device Manager
now for each device that shared the IRQ of the hardware, find the exact one (for USB devices, the last 4 letters in system information are the exact identifier of the controller), right click the device and select disable. repeat for all devices that shared the IRQ
you may also want to disable your computers on-board soundcard, I find that causes noise and crackles even if it's not sharing an IRQ.
After disabling all the shared devices, ensure that DMA is on for all hard drives in device manager
Click the '+' next to IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
left click on Primary IDE channel -> Properties
Advanced settings tab
Look at the box that says the Current transfer Mode - you want Ultra DMA 5 or at least Ultra DMA
Do the same for Secondary IDE channel
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re-route all DirectSound / MME audio through scope
it's a good idea to have some wave drivers in your scope routing window before you do this.
start -> control panels -> Sounds and Audio Devices
Sound Playback Tab :
Sound Playback : set to Creamware Play/Rec #(of wav driver you want to use)
Sound Recording: set to Creamware Play/Rec #(of wav driver you want to use)
Midi music playback : I set this to creamware as all MIDI get's routed through there, no matter where it's final destination is -your setup may differ here.
I also select 'use only default devices'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Set the properties for those wave drivers (still in the Sounds and Audio Devices control panel)
Under the Hardware tab :
left click creamware card, then left click the properties button below
choose the settings tab, set the output preload all the way to the right (it's just safer that way)
I also change the number of Wave device to "2" and also Midi Devices to "2"
this gives me the flexibility to bounce audio and midi around between multiple applications.
Un-check the box that says 'Reset board if idle'
Logic Platinum :
Launch Logic
Audio -> Audio Hardware and Drivers -> Aydio Driver 2 Tab
Check ASIO
Select ASIO SCOPE for driver
check 20/24 bit recording (requires ASIO 24 or ASIO 2 24 object in Routing window)
Check software monitoring
Set Process Buffer Range to "Medium" (safe)
Check Universal Trackmode
Check Larger Disk Buffer
Some observations :
I really like using another WAV recording application such as Cool Edit, Soundforge, or Audition to record the output of logic, that way it's real easy for me to 'roll tape' in a session and capture all of what comes out, eve if it never makes it into the final project. It's handy and fun to go back and listen to it.
so here's the rub, with a fast compute (intel core 2 duo) I am now not able to do this with Cooledit or Adobe Audition - they are the same app underneath so that's understandable. I can now only do this with wavelab and soundforge. Which sucks, because cooledit / audition have real time frequency analyzers that I like to use. Granted this is only for recording, playback is unaffected in these applications, so I can still use them for edits, and sketching out tracks in their multi-track mode.
Hope this information is helpful to others.
Try and stick to 1GB if you want the most stable system possible.