XTC 'sounding better' ?!?

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Sat Sep 07, 2002 4:11 am

Using Scope/Pulsar since the very first days, I note a very strange phenomenon after

hopping over to XP some months ago. The SFP-GUI is extremly (!!!) slow and you can't

do any creative work while SX / Nuendo is running in the background (around 60% CPU)

even at low DSP-usage at ~25%!
If you touch a knob on the mixer, you have to touch it twice, before it reacts and

then it's very, very slow. Same when external device is connected and SFP is

controlled via Midi. Everything seems to be 'magnetic' and behaves like 'refusing' to

move. No dynamic (automating) or creative work possible. Ulli only at worst setting,

any other nearly stops the system and produces very heavy CPU-traffic.

I thought my video card caused the probs (dual screen) but nothing helped. Same scene

when I'm using 1 screen only.
Every XP-Tweak applied, totally stable system while working with SX / Nuendo /

Wavelab or even heavy video cutting / rendering (see Specs below).
!!!-LISTEN-!!!
I Was Not very convinced about XTC because I'm mainly a guitar player and latency is a major topic when recording, I tested XTC, because I learned how to load non-XTC devices like SPL Attacker (TD) and the Sonic Timeworks devices in XTC-Mode. Asthonishing result:

no crackles, no problems in reducing Ulli to lowest setting and an acceptable latency

while recording (not perfect but you get used to it). Fluid GUI in SX / Nuendo. Lot

of power to apply in terms of RAM, Graphics-Speed and DSP. No more switching between

two apps, no more unpredictable fader-moves and my right hand doesn't hurt that much

any more.
Closing SX / Nuendo and opening SFP in non-XTC-mode: same sluggish behaviour! And the

best of all: XTC produces a completely different sound! I know, it sounds weird, but

that's the truth: sounds like I'm hearing Pulsar/Scope the first time without any

crackles, dropouts and glitches. Sounds very good.

Experiences anybody?
Can somebody explain this? Subhuman - any comment?

Regards, Steve-O
________________
Specs: P4 1700, P4B, 1 GB RAM, ATI Radeon 7500, 4 IBM Deskstar HD, OS/Audio

separated, USB-Audio disabled. Cubase SX 1.03 / Nuendo 1.61 / Wavelab 4.0d

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Sat Sep 07, 2002 6:11 am

Forgot to mention: Pulsar I & Scope cascaded via STDM.

orbita · Post by **orbita** » Sat Sep 07, 2002 7:06 am

Which version of SFP are you using?

What colour depth are you running in. I found that under XP if I ran in 16bit depth everything went very slowly but when I raised it to 24/32bit it was much improved.

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Sat Sep 07, 2002 9:07 am

I'm using 3.1c (phenomenon didn't change since 3.1a), increasing color-depth didn't change anything.

Steve-o

Post by **garyb** » Sat Sep 07, 2002 12:44 pm

it must be something in either your hard AND/OR software setup since not everyone has the same experience.(but hey,whatever works.....)

maybe backround app priority settings?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: garyb on 2002-09-07 13:46 ]</font>

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Sun Sep 08, 2002 4:50 am

this surely should not be happening. Since they removed the transparency effects from the scope gui everything should move normally without delays. (well there's some delay when opening surfaces).
It seems you have some major problems in your system, with all the slow-down and crackling. Your video card would be the most obvious cause, but what else is there in your system?

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Sun Sep 08, 2002 6:46 am

Everything is set after XP-audio-tweak recommendations (backgr. app etc.). Standard PC-mode. Other cards: ISDN, Network card. USB disabled. BUT: they are there since 1st ver. of Pulsar software and I never exp. this phenomenon until XP & SFP. Same hardware since then (except better mobo and more RAM): Used Asus Cusl-2 before P4B. Strange, isn't it?

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Sun Sep 08, 2002 7:29 am

Did you install the motherboard drivers at the right moment? - and the INF utility?

Immanuel

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Sun Sep 08, 2002 10:01 am

Did you try running SFP in Low Priority mode?
Winkey-R, "start /low c:SFPAppBinSFP.exe -s"
I made an SFP.bat containing that line, to start SFP with...

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Sun Sep 08, 2002 1:33 pm

AtOmic: I changed the priorities when running SFP & SX together: no matter what I did: I got even worse! SX at 30%: no problem for SFP, even it's running very slow...SX at >60%, SFP slows down and switching between the two apps is nearly impossible. Same with NUENDO. SFP runs pretty stable, but gets slower and slower. E.g. Optimizer can't move the meters anymore (DSP-load still <30%), son samplers, no synths loaded, just mixer 1632 and I/Os.
Immanuel: what do you mean "installing mobo-drivers at the right moment..?" What do you mean with inf utility? Do you mean mobo-drivers for XP?
BTW: thanx for your interest, guys!

DJATWORK · Post by **DJATWORK** » Sun Sep 08, 2002 11:26 pm

May be changing the Priority to background services? (System properties performance)

DJATWORK

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Mon Sep 09, 2002 12:08 pm

May be changing the Priority to background services? (System properties performance)

DJATWORK _________________________________________

I did that already...

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Mon Sep 09, 2002 12:10 pm

AtOmic: used your tip (change prioty of SFP not on start but during running it) - seems a little better but still crackles and very low compared to XTC.
Maybe I should try a clean install of SFP...
Thanx for your suggestions!
Steve

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Mon Sep 09, 2002 12:11 pm

On 2002-09-08 08:29, Immanuel wrote:
Did you install the motherboard drivers at the right moment? - and the INF utility?

Immanuel

I installed the latest ASUS mobo-drivers last night and I got the impression it helped a little - but still a huge difference to XTC-performance!
Steve

DJATWORK · Post by **DJATWORK** » Mon Sep 09, 2002 1:56 pm

What Video Card are you using?
Some cards come with a driver and an extra "color administrator" (or things like that) software...

Had you installed ONLY the driver, or the software too?

DJATWORK

DJATWORK · Post by **DJATWORK** » Mon Sep 09, 2002 2:01 pm

Have you got some kind of Software IDE RAID?

What else have you got inserted on PCI slots?

Anything is sharing any IRQ?

What slots number are you using? (if the closer to AGP is the 1st)

Have you got any Antivirus, ICQ, Messanger or anything that could be running in the background?

DJATWORK

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Mon Sep 09, 2002 4:08 pm

On 2002-09-09 14:56, DJATWORK wrote:
What Video Card are you using?
Some cards come with a driver and an extra "color administrator" (or things like that) software...

Had you installed ONLY the driver, or the software too?

DJATWORK

__________________________________________
I Use the ATI Radeon 7500, latest drivers. Just plain driver installed - no "color administrator".
Thanks for your interest!

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Mon Sep 09, 2002 4:13 pm

On 2002-09-09 15:01, DJATWORK wrote:
Have you got some kind of Software IDE RAID?
What else have you got inserted on PCI slots?
Anything is sharing any IRQ?
What slots number are you using? (if the closer to AGP is the 1st)
Have you got any Antivirus, ICQ, Messanger or anything that could be running in the background?

DJATWORK

_______________________
I'm using slot 1 and 5, IRQ set to 5 in BIOS. Before I did that in pre-SFP area both cards didn't work together very well: lot's of STDM-errors (was a nightmare). IRQ-sharing solved the problem and performance was good using OS 2.04 and pre and 98se.
PCI-slots are populated (since then) by a ISDN card (AVM) and Network-card. No AV, no ICQ, MS Messenger disabled, no unnecessary background service runing...
Thanks for your interest DJATWORK!

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Mon Sep 09, 2002 4:16 pm

A few things that would really help your system:

1. Install the latest Intel .INF for your motherboard, not the ones from asus, as they are usually a bit older.
2. Update your BIOS.
3. You've got a P4 with SDRAM, this is not recommended. P3+SDRAM, or P4+DDR/RDRAM is prefered. You should still be getting better performance than what you are experiencing.
4. I would remove all PCI devices except your Creamware cards to see if it is the other devices causing the problems, then add them back in one at a time, testing between each card. Some network devices have poor PCI bus activities and take too many PCI time slices. I have had problems with for example: some netgear cards in the past.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: subhuman on 2002-09-09 17:17 ]</font>

DJATWORK · Post by **DJATWORK** » Mon Sep 09, 2002 8:36 pm

I assume that you have not any IDE RAID...

PCI Slot 1 may have some problems with AGP Slot, so its recomended not to use any high troughput device in that slot. May be that can help.

Had you installed XP in ACPI mode or in STANDARD mode??

That may help too (STANDARD mode)...

As subhuman say, uninstall everything but the creamware cards. Run windows again. THEN change the SLOT 1 card to another slot. Make sure all is detected and try again...

we will kill your problem!!!!
just patience...

DJATWORK