Re: RAM and multitrack recording

Gareth Magennis wrote:
"Ben Bradley" <ben_u_bradley@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:jrs6b4166mpthavfo96r0hgafj0favpiod@xxxxxxxxxx
On Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:58:36 -0700 (PDT), iarwain
<iarwain_8@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

There must be some people here knowledgeable about this subject. How
much RAM do professionals who engage in intensive multitrack recording
have in their computer? I'm wondering about how many tracks can be
played at once and what limits this? Would increasing RAM increase
the amount of of tracks you could play at once? I have 1.5 GB of RAM
on a Pentium 4 3 GHz machine. What would increasing the RAM to 4 GB
do for me? Anything?

I tried to run about 16 tracks at once and it got a little way in
before it started to pop and click and then froze up completely. I
have a Soundblaster Live card using ASIO drivers. Would upgrading to
an M-Audio 2496 increase the amount of tracks I could multitrack at
once? How many tracks can you reasonably expect to run at once on a
computer?
In addition to the other good responses (mainly that the problem is
NOT a lack of RAM), what other things are running in the background on
this computer? Virus scanners and other "security" software should NOT
be running on a multitrack recording machine, nor should any "find
fast" software or "quick start" software that so many damn
applications load up with the little icons in the lower right of the
screen next to the clock. About the only thing you might want there is
a shortcut to the audio interface control panel. Even lots of programs
that DON'T have a little icon like that have a program that loads up
at boot time (making boot time longer) so that the initial "running
the program" will be (appear) faster. There's even something that
looks for a disk loaded in the CD/DVD drive, and either runs the
corrsponding program or asks you want you want to do with the disc.
You don't want that running either.
I recall there was some commonly-given webpage link some years ago
for "Optimizing a PC for multitrack audio" that would tell you what
all to remove to get the best performance (most tracks) out of a
recording PC. Maybe that's still around and someone remembers it.

And regardless of anything else, I strongly suggest upgrading to
the M-Audio, or to ANY similar semi-pro/pro audio interface (the
things musical instrument stores sell, NOT anyting available at
computer stores!) solely to improve the sound. After going through
several "consumer" soundcards a long time back, I found couldn't
digitize LP records on anything less than an Audiophile 24/96.


I get rid of sll this gunk as a matter of course now.
Go to Start / Run then type msconfig, press OK. Click the Startup tab. This will show a list of all the programs that are run automatically at boot. Most of them you don't need.
Best thing to do is copy their names into Google one at a time. You will then find out what they are and what they do, and whether it is safe to uncheck its checkbox so they do not run at all.

Annoyingly, some of these come back, notably MsMessenger which irritates me a LOT. I don't want it to start on my system but it seems I have no choice. Grrrrr. Sometimes it takes several days before it sneaks its way back



Gareth.



I can help you with msmessenger. Outlook Express is starting it for you. Go to the OE options menu and you can turn it off.

Otherwise a copy of Enditall is a piece of magic when it comes to shutting down all the unneeded dross.

d
.

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