Optimizing Windows 2000 and Windows XP for Audio by Tascam

8/8/2019 Optimizing Windows 2000 and Windows XP for Audio by Tascam

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Boo ting from CD

You will need to tell your computer to boot from the Windows CD-ROM instead of your(presuma bly blank and forma tted ) hard drive. To d o so, you must ac c ess yourc om p ute rs BIOS (usua lly hitt ing DELETE key d uring b oo t up w ill a c c ess the BIOS; som ecomputers use F8 or another key, so check your computers documentation or thema nufac turers we bsite). Onc e in the BIOS, you will nee d to c ha nge the orde r of bo otup d ev ice s. This is no rma lly set fo r (1) flop p y drive, (2) ha rd d isk, (3) CD-ROM . Ma ke theCD-ROM the first boo t de vice . Put the Windo w s CD in the drive and resta rt. Afterste p p ing throug h the b oo t up yo u ll see a m essa g e Press a ny key to b eg in insta llingWindows.

Setup Twe aks Thing s to Do During the Insta ll

There a re som e a c tions you w ill nee d to ta ke d uring th e initial XP insta lla tion, as the y setc ertain system d efa ults whic h are muc h more d iffic ult to c hang e later.

FAT32 vs. NTFS

You have the option under W2k and XP to choose the file system that best suits yourne ed s, FAT or NTFS. FAT (File Alloc a tio n Ta b le) is the n a tive file syste m b a sed on the

Windo w s 9x kerne l (includ ing 95, 95a, 95b, 95c , 98, 98se a nd ME). NTFS (New Tec hno log yFile Syste m) is the na tive file syste m fo r op era ting syste ms b a sed on t he Wind ow s NTkernel (inc luding NT4, 2000 a nd XP). During the insta lla tion , Win2K or XP w ill ask if youw a nt to c onve rt the insta lla tion pa rtition to NTFS. If you nee d c om p a tibility for Wind ow s98 espe c ially if you wa nt to d ual-boo t do n't co nvert.

While NTFS offe rs a num b er of imp rove me nts over FAT32, mo st o f the se a d va nta g es a renot all that applicable to audio, and you are unlikely to see a major performancedifferenc e bet we en the two. Moreove r, de fra gm enting your d rives (som ething youshould d o o n a regula r ba sis a nyw a y) is sub sta ntially quic ker in FAT32. Be a w a re th a tWind ow s 9x c a nno t read d a ta on NTFS-forma tte d d rives. Ge nerally sp ea king , you shoulduse FAT32 if you a re d oing a p a ra llel insta lla tion w ith Windo w s 9x/ ME, or if you will need tow ork with files c rea te d w ith a FAT32 system (op ening old song files, wo rking w ith oth ersusing FAT32-b a sed syste ms, et c .) lea ve ev erything w ith FAT32.

One exce p tion wo uld b e if youll be wo rking with video or other large files in exc ess of 4GB; or if you also use your PC to browse the internet or the computer is part of a LANrunning XP Professiona l. Only NTFS c a n limit a c c ess rig hts to your files a nd the reforep rovide the sec urity nee d ed for a ne tw orked c om p uter. In this c a se, selec t NTFS for a llpa rtitions excep t those w hic h are to ac c ommo da te your aud io d ata late r.


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On e ot he r inte resting p oint : NTFS c a n rea d the "resource fork" of SDII files from Ma c OS,a nd c a n the refo re rec og nize the timec od e sta mp s used in the se files; FAT(32) ca n t dothis. If you d o a lot of w ork w ith ProToo ls or othe r Ma c OS-ba sed DAW ap p lic a tions, yousho uld c on side r a t lea st one NTFS p a rtition in your syste m. (Note tha t this d oe s no t imp lytha t your NTFS-ba sed syste m c a n mo unt/ read from a M a c OS d rive; simp ly tha t individua lSDII files imp orte d to a n NTFS d rive w ill ret a in the ir time -sta mp informa tion .)

ACPI

Anothe r critica l insta ll d eta il is ACPI mod e. ACPI, or Adva nc ed Configura tion and Pow erInterface, is designed to help allocate system resources to more efficiently run peripheralde vices. For a n aud io mac hine, thoug h, its b een repo rted to c ause som e pe rforma nc ep roblem s d ue to its a ssigning a ll d evic es to a single IRQ.

During t he insta ll p roc ess, whe n th e on-sc ree n m essa ge a p p ea rs p ress F6 to insta lla d d itiona l drivers for third p a rty SCSI drive rs or ma ss sto rag e d ev ices, p ress F5 inste a d .When the sc reen a pp ea rs giving you a c hoice b etwe en ACPI-PC and stand ard PC

mod e, select stand ard pc .

Heres a tip: If youve upg rad ed to Window s XP you ma y find it s lost one impo rta ntfea ture: wh en turning off your PC (Sta rt/Turn O ff Co mp uter/ Turn O ff), WinXP goe s throug hits usua l "Wind ow s is shutting d ow n" routine , but it d oe sn't turn o ff the c om p ute r. Thep ow er sta ys on, with Windo w s help fully informing yo u tha t it is inde ed sa fe to turn off yourc om p ute r now , until you ma nua lly punc h the "off" b utto n. This usua lly oc c urs if you veop ted to leave ACPI disa bled . To fix this, you ma y wa nt to ena ble APM (Adva nc edPow er Ma na ge me nt). Here's how :

Click Start | Control Pane l Click Performanc e a nd M aintenanc e (at the lower left)

Click Power Options Click on the last tab , marked APM. Check the b ox marked "Enab le Advanc ed Pow er Mana gem ent Supp ort" and click OK

Figure 2 Adva nce d Powe r Managem ent


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Dual Boot

The c om p a tibility w ith lega c y (olde r) softw a re in Wind ow s 2000 a nd XP is c onside ra b lymo re restric te d c om p a red w ith Wind ow s 9x; this is intention a lly d esigne d to insure sta b ilityag ainst a ny kind of a pp lic at ion failure. If an inc om pa tible prog ram is run, Wind ow s 2000or XP w ill sto p it a s soo n a s it tries to a c c ess tha t p rog ram . It no rma lly will no t c rash orc ause insta bility, b ut it will not a llow the p rog ram to b e run.

1. If you nee d to run suc h p rog rams, or w a nt to reta in Win9x for any ot her rea son, besure to insta ll Wind ow s 2000 or XP in a d ua l bo ot c onfigura tion, so t ha t you c a n stillb oot Win9x or DOS whe n need ed . This is not a b ad idea anyw a y you ca na lways rem ove the othe r OS onc e its no longe r nee d ed a nd a dua l bo ot w ill letyou migrate safely to 2000 or XP while allowing you to revert to your previous

syste m if and w hen som eth ing d oe sn't w ork in Windo ws 2000 or XP.

To insta ll Windo w s 2000 or XP in a d ua l bo ot c onfig ura tion, ha ve your olde r OS insta lledfirst, then sta rt the Wind ow s 2000 or XP setu p from it. When p rom p ted , do n ot selec t up g ra d e t o Windo w s 2000 or XP, rathe r selec t "Insta ll a new c op y (clea n insta ll)", andsp ec ify a ne w d irec tory for it w hen a sked.

Mic rosoft rec om me nd s insta lling it in a d ifferent p a rtition tha n your oth er OS. Werec om me nd g oing a ste p further a nd using sep a ra te p hysica l d rives for ea c h OS. Thisp rec lude s the p ossibility of Wind ow s inad vertent ly sha ring files a c ross p a rtitions. Yourb est b et is p urcha sing rem ova b le ha rd d isk sled s for your sep a ra te d rives this w illena b le you to reta in com plete ly disc ree t op erating system s and simply boo t up w ith theone you w ant to use.

Ma ss Storage Device s

A single track of audio for an average song can easily take up more than 20-30 MB multiply tha t b y 24 trac ks a nd yo u c a n see tha t large r d rives a re no longe r a luxury. Withthe price of hard drives dropping almost by the hour, many users are now opting forlarger drives a nd ev en RAID a rra ys. Red und a nt Arra y Ine xpe nsive Disks protect your da taby writing simultaneously to more than one drive (when used in traditional RAID format).However, many professional audio setups also employ RAID arrays in a different modewhere multiple physical drives are seen as one large drive, allowing for throughput farexce ed ing tha t of a single d rive. In the eve nt of a ha rd d isk crash, the d at a is rep lic at edon a sec ond , or red unda nt d rive.)

During t he insta ll p roc ess, you w ill be p rom p te d to p ress F6 to insta ll a d d itiona l drivers forma ss sto ra g e d evic es.


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Multip le Users

While Win9x also offers the option of setting up multiple users on a single computer, theimplementation under W2k and XP offers far more independence between thesemultiple user ac c ount s. If you will b e using your co mp ute r for multip le func tions, its ago od idea to set up sep arate user ac c ounts for aud io ap plica tions and ge neral use. Thiswill allow you to slim d ow n the a udio p rofile in ord er to ga in maximum p erformanc e fromthe OS.

One important note: If you choose to install multiple users, its best to do so when firstinsta lling XP. If you d o so la te r, you w ill nee d to reinsta ll your OS.

Another hint: if you are using XP Professional, your audio user profile should be assigneda d ministrative rig hts (it d efa ults to t his a nyw a y). Rea son: You c a n only burn CDs und erWind ow s XP if you a re log ge d on w ith ad ministrative rights.

Upd ates and service p ac ks

Microsoft has issued updates and fixes for every operating system theyve ever released,and W2K a nd XP a re no exc ep tions. It s pretty muc h unavo ida ble w ith a ne w O S tha tthere will be some programs and/or hardware that dont function as expected, andthat s wha t the up da tes are intende d to a dd ress.

With W2K, the late st up d a te is Service Pa c k 2, a nd it de finitely a d d resses som e kno w np roblem s w ith aud io an d MIDI. Wind ow s XP is still rela tively new , and up d a tes a re stillbe ing de velope d. As of this writing there are two upd ate s, Q307 and Q310507, bo thava ilab le from Microsoft, which are recom mend ed for imp roving aud io pe rforma nce .


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System Performanc e Twe aks Stuff to Do Afte r Installing

Windo ws Messeng er

One of the fea tures o f XP is the d ee p er inte g ra tion of Wind ow s Me sseng er. WhileMessenger may be useful for on-line communication, its a real resource hog; werec om me nd d isa b ling it for aud io use. To d o th is, right-c lic k on its ico n in the t a sk tra yand select 'open'. (If an animated assistant pops up just cancel it..well deal withge tting rid of those later.) Now g o to the Too ls m enu and selec t O pt ions / Preferenc es , a nd unc hec k 'Run this p rog ra m w hen w indo w s sta rts'. This w ill d ea c tivat eautomatic startup, preventing Messenger from loading automatically again next timeyou log on t o Windo w s XP.

Figure 3- Deactivating Windows Messenger


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Display properties

While pretty photos and animated graphics are fun, they also contribute to boggingd ow n your lean mea n aud io ma c hine. And in keep ing with Microsoft s trad ition ofmaking looks a high priority, those fancy visuals are programmed to take processingpriority aw ay from w hat w e c onsider imp ortant, proce ssing aud io. Disab ling tho seeffects is a good idea unless you dont mind a pretty drop-down menu causing afrustra ting d rop out o r aud io glitc h.

If you feel you must ha ve a pic ture o n your d esktop, be ar in mind t hat do ing so requiresAc tive Desktop to b e a c tivated ; those c ute a nimate d GIFs suc k up eve n mo re resources.To za p t ho se fa nc y visua ls, right -c lic k on your d eskto p a nd selec t 'Prop erties'. First selec tthe Desktop tab ; select (None) in the Bac kground field to remove the ba c kground.

Figure 4 Bac kg round Displa y


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Now d isa ble visual effect s. Selec t the Ap pe aranc e t ab , c lic k the Effec ts butt on andd isa b le "Use transition e ffec ts". It's a lso a go od ide a t o d isa b le "Show w indo w c ont ent swhile drag ging".

Now selec t the Set tings ta b . Set your d isp lay co lor q ua lity to 16Bit. Sett ing it to ahigher (24 or 32 bit) dep th d etrac ts from aud io pe rforma nc e since Window s will need toallocate more resources to screen redraws.

Figu re 5 Disab ling Transition Effec ts Figu re 6 Sele c ting Co lor Qua lity

Figure 7 Disab ling Sc reensave r and Pow er Sc hem es


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Next selec t the Sc reen Sa ver ta b . Sc reen sa vers g ene rally te nd to kick in whe n youlea st wa nt them to; we rec omm end c hoosing None. On the sam e pa ge , select yourmo nitor pow er sa ving op tions. Wind ow s usua lly de fa ults to relative ly short times ofinactivity before shutting off your monitor and hard disk and activating hibernate mode.We rec om me nd d ea c tivating hibe rnat e mo d e (set to Never). In fac t, in mo st ca ses itsb est to set a ll the ene rgy sa ving func tions to 'a lwa ys on'.

While youre in there, its also a good idea to deactivate the automatic power downmo de for your hard disk. These sta rt a nd stop c ycles tend to c ontribute mo re to hard d iskwe ar than d oe s a c tual running time. Also, disab le any op tions tha t slow d ow n the CPUw hen it is unused . While the se sett ings a re useful for la p to p s running o n b a tte ry po w er,they offer no b enefit to a n AC-po we red co mp uter.

Finally, be fore c losing this windo w selec t the Them es ta b. Hee you c a n c hoose yourfonts a nd w indow d ressing. There are no rep orted p erformanc e differenc es be tw ee nthe o ffered them es, but keep in mind tha t if you mod ify your them e late r you will nee d toa d just a ll sett ings a ga in, includ ing system sound s (whic h should b e d isa b led see b elow ).Onc e you ve d ec ide d, c lic k on Save As a nd save this theme in c ase you nee d torec all it later. You c an no w c lic k on 'ap ply' to save your c ha nge s.

Windows Sounds

Unless you c a n t live w ithout M icrosoft s c ute sy sta rtup th em es, bings a nd b oing s, it s b estto kill the w indo w s sound sc hem e. Those Windo w s a lert sound s c a n interfere w ith aud iope rforma nce by temp orarily c ausing your aud io ap p to lose sync w ith the aud io d evice.Selec t 'Sound s a nd Audio De vic es' in the c ontrol pa nel and switc h to the 'sound s' tab .Choo se the 'No Sound s' sound sc hem e a nd c lic k on OK. Now o p en d ispla y prope rtiesag ain a nd sa ve a ll your settings a s a new 'theme '. Give it a d esc riptive nam e like AudioThem e'. This w a y you c a n ea sily reve rt b a c k to yo ur sett ings late r if an ything g oe s w rong .

Figure 8 Disabling Windows System sounds


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System Restore

Windo ws is set up to w rite p eriod ic restore c hec k po ints so t hat , in the event of a c rashor a c orrup te d file, your syste m c a n restore to its mo st rec ent func tiona l set tings. Som eusers rec om me nd d isa b ling system restore to imp rove p erforma nc e. NOTE tha t this is notrec om mend ed unless you m a ke regular system ba c kups.

To d isa b le syste m resto re, op en the C on trol Pa ne l a nd selec t Syste m. Sele c t the Syste mRestore ta b a nd c hec k turn off system resto re o n a ll d rives.

Performance

XP: Still und er Co ntrol Pa nel/ System , selec t the Adva nc ed t a b . Click the Performan c esettings butt on a nd selec t the Visual Effec ts ta b. Choo se ad just for best p erformanc ea nd t hen selec t the Ad va nc ed t a b . Und er Proc essor Sett ings, selec t a d just for b est

Figure 9 Disab ling System Restore


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pe rforma nc e of b ac kground servic es to ensure low est late nc y w ith ASIO-ba sed drivers(ASIO drive rs run as b a c kground servic es in Wind ow s).

W2K: Right clic k on My Com p uter a nd c hoo se Prop erties. Selec t the Adva nc ed Tab ,then c lic k the Performanc e Button. Cha nge the m od e from Ap plica tion Resp onse toBa c kground Service s

Virtual memory

Wind ow s d efa ults to set ting virtua l me mo ry auto ma tica lly. Und er mo st circum sta nc es thisis fine, but for aud io it c a n som etimes be a hindranc e to p erformanc e. If you wa nt to setvirtua l mem ory (som et imes referred to a s Pa g e Sw a p or Sw a p File) m a nua lly, g o toCont rol Pane l/System a nd selec t the Adva nc ed ta b. Und er Performanc e, c lic k theSettings butto n and selec t the Adva nc ed t ab . Unde r Virtua l Mem ory, c lick the Chang ebutt on. Enter the d esired values in the b oxes and c lic k okay.

A g ood ba sic rule o f thumb is to set Virtua l Memo ry at a bo ut 1.5 to 2 time s the a mount ofRAM in your c om p uter, up to 512 MB. (If you ve g ot 512 MB RAM, set Virtual Me mo ry to512.) Ente r the sa me va lue in Minimum and M a ximum fields. It s a lso a g oo d idea t ode frag your d rive a fter c hang ing Virtual Mem ory. If you have ac c ess to a third p a rtyd efrag g ing ut ility (like Syste m Suite, Disk Kee p er, etc .), it s p refe ra b le to d efrag w ith it,ra ther than Window s d efrag utility, which d oe sn t d o a true reorder of the swa p file.

Figure 10 Adjusting Display for Best Performance


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NOTE: Som e users a d vise d isa b ling virtual mem ory for increa sed p erforman c e. We donot rec om me nd this unless you ha ve a t lea st 512 MB of RAM. Even t hen , not e tha t this isnot p ra c tica l for a ll syste ms, a s it c a n tend to ma ke som e ma c hines less sta b le. Tha tsa id, if you c hoose to d isab le virtual me mory you ca n d o so o n the sa me p a ge (ControlPa nel/System / Adva nc ed ).

Fast user switching

Wind ow s NT a nd 2000 introd uc ed a ne w fe a ture multiple user log ons. While ma inlyintended for use in corporate networks (allowing multiple users to access the samema c hine), it is a lso useful for crea ting m ultip le p rofiles (e.g., g ene ra l use, a ud io-op timized ,etc).

Windows XP takes the multiple users concept a step further, allowing for fast switchingb et w ee n user p rofiles w ithout log ging off the first user. (The a p p lic a tions in use b y the firstuser will rema in ac tive until that user log s off, or until the c om p ute r is shut d ow n.) Whilethis is a great feature for large corporate networks, its a big resource hog for your audio

Figure 11 Setting Virtual Memory


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ma c hine. All those a pp lica tions running in the ba c kground req uire som e d eg ree o f CPUusa ge, a s w ell as RAM.

To d isab le this fea ture, go to C ontrol Pane l, and unde r User Acc ounts c lic k on Cha ngethe w ay users log o n a nd off a nd unc hec k fa st user switc hing.

Auto Start and System Servic es

Earlier versions of Windows used the startup menu to specify programs which are loadedinto me mo ry on b oo t up . Win2k a nd Wind ow s XP still em p loy Auto Sta rt for som ep rogram s, b ut a lso ha nd le mo st system -ba sed a p p s a b it more efficient ly w ith Syste mService s, w hich a re sta rted in the b a c kground b efo re Wind ow s b oo ts up . XP s imp rove dmultitasking allows these apps to run without seriously affecting your audio performancemo st of the time. But while som e o f these b a c kground a pp s are essential to Window sop eration, ma ny are not. These non-essential ap plica tions c a n be d isa bled by op eningCo ntrol Pa nel an d selec ting Ad ministrative Too ls , the n c hoo se Service s .

Now heres whe re it g ets a bit c omp lic a ted . You ll find a lengthy list of servic es, a longwith (som etimes vag ue) d esc riptions of w hat ea c h d oe s. It w ill also spe c ify whe ther the

Figure 12 Disab ling Fast User Switc hing


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particular service is running presently, as well as whether it loads automatically on bootup, ma nually (ca lled up b y either the user or a program ), or is disab led. You c an e d it

any servic e b y do uble c lic king o n it. Som e servic es c an no t be disa bled for safe tyrea son s witho ut t he se Windo w s w ill not run, or will suffe r serious p erforma nc e issues.

It s strong ly rec om me nde d tha t you no t c om plete ly disa ble a ny servic es without know ingwha t they do, and w hethe r othe r p rog ra ms or servic es de pe nd on them . (Examp le:disabling the Portable Media Serial Number retrieval, described in its profile only as

retrieves the serial number of any portable music player connected to yourcomputer, will disable the dongles used by programs like Cubase, Nuendo andLogic.)

Its difficult to define a list of whats safe to disable and whats not, since many of theservice s a re d ete rmined b y the usa g e of your pa rtic ular syste m. For examp le, if yourc om p ute r is solely de d ica ted to a ud io, you c a n sa fely disa b le any p rinters, DNS c lient s,et c ., b ut if you use it fo r other p urposes like Internet b row sing, you m ust lea ve DNS a c tive.

Ge nera lly sp ea king , these a re th e servic es you d o NOT w a nt to d isa b le:

Cryptographic services DHCP Client (unless the c om put er has no internet c onne ction ) DNS Client (unless the c om pute r has no internet c onne ct ion) Even t log IPSEC Service s (unless the c om pu ter ha s no inte rnet c onn ec tion) Network connections (unless the computer has no internet connection) Network location awareness (unless the computer has no internet connection) Plug and p lay Portab le me dia serial numbe r (if you use Cub ase, Log ic or any other ap p w hich requires a c op y-prote ction

key) TCP/IP Net BIOS help er (unless the c om pu ter has no inte rnet co nne c tion)

As to other services, if youre not sure what it does your safest bet is to set it to Manualra ther tha n d isab ling it.

As with earlier versions of Windows, some of the more non-essential boot up programsa re loa d ed into th e Sta rtup me nu, ra the r than throug h System Servic es. These a re usua lly(thoug h not a lwa ys) disp layed in the syste m tray. To see w hich p rog ra ms a re set up forAuto Sta rt, go to Wind ow s Sta rt m enu, selec t Run a nd type in m sc onfig (without thequo tes). Selec t the sta rtup ta b to view a list of ap p s load ed for Auto Sta rt. Note tha twhile its also possible to disable auto load apps by editing the registry, this is generallyspe aking fa r more risky, and only rec om mend ed for expe rience d users. An incorrec t ed itto yo ur registry c a n c a use you r ent ire system to c ra sh horribly. In a ny c a se, if you de c ideto d o a ny ed its to yo ur reg istry, ma ke sure yo u ve b a c ked it up first.

A note regarding virus programs: many virus scanning applications will, under W2K andXP, insta ll a s syste m servic es (i.e., loa d in the b a c kground ) by d efa ult. It s b est to a voidusing these in favor of those that offer the option of running as free-standing apps.When d oing a ny aud io w ork or insta lling a udio a pp lic at ions, it s be st to m ake c ertain youdo n t ha ve any virus softw are running.


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Disk I/ O Performa nc e Log ging

Windows defaults to continual logging of Input and Output data to your hard drive.Disa b ling t his w ill free up som e resourc es. To d isa b le pe rforma nc e log g ing, go to th eSta rt menu a nd selec t Run. Type in d iskpe rf n (minus the q uot es) and hit Okay.

Write Behind Cac hing

Windows defaults to write-behind caching, holding data in a memory buffer beforew riting it to d isk. Disa b ling t his func tion w ill inc rea se yo ur system p erforma nc e b y writingd at a imme d ia tely to disk. To d isa ble this function, right c lic k on My Comp uter a ndc hoo se Prop erties, or op en Co ntrol Pa nel and selec t System . Selec t the Hardw a re ta b

and c lic k the Device Ma nag er button. Clic k the plus sign next to Disk Drives and selec ta d rive. Choo se Prop erties and unc hec k Write Cac he Ena bled . Rep ea t for all d rives inyour system.

UDMA/ ATA Mo de for Hard Drives

As with earlier versions of Windows, running Ultra DMA mode will considerably increasethe sp ee d a t w hich your syste m w rites to a nd rea d s from t he ha rd d isk. With the c urrentUDMA66 and UDMA100 protocols its possible to reach throughput levels equal to that ofw ide SCSI drives, resulting in grea tly inc rea sed trac k c ount a nd system efficien c y.

Figure 13 Disab ling Write-Ah ea d Ca c hing


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Windows 2000 and XP can recognize a DMA capable device, and will detect andac tivate DMA mode by d efault whenever one is co nnecte d. Most drives ma nufac turedin the last few yea rs supp ort DMA, and mo st m od ern mothe rbo ards c hipsets d ete c t this.You can check or change your settings by opening Device Manager (right-click on MyComputer, select Properties, then select the Hardware tab and click Device

Ma na g er . Expa nd the list b y c lic king on the p lus sign ne xt to IDE ATA/ ATAPI Controllersand right-clic k on Primary Co ntroller. Selec t Prop erties , then g o to the Adva nc edSettings ta b. Tra nsfer mod e should b e set t o DMA if ava ila ble (not PIO) a nd DeviceType to Auto Detec tion. Rep ea t for Sec ond ary Controller.

A small few motherboards, especially some VIA chipsets, do not always auto-detectDMA. If you so not see o p tions for the a b ove settings, you ma y need to up d at e themo the rb oa rd s BIOS or insta ll sp ec ific d rivers. Che c k the mo the rboa rd ma nufa c turerswe bsite for info and do wnloa ds.

Also reme mb er to m a ke sure yo ur DMA d rives a re co nne c te d w ith 80-w ire ATA ribb onc a b les, ra the r tha n the old er 40-wire o nes. New er UDMA66 and UDMA100 d rives req uirethem but even olde r UDMA33 drives, which o nly need 40-wire c ab les to o pe rat e, be nefitfrom the inc rea sed shielding th e unused w ires p rovid e.

Sep arate Drives How and Where

No doc on optimization would be complete without mentioning the value of separated rives for a pp lic at ions a nd aud io. Dave s artic le c ove red mo st of the a spe c ts of SCSI

Figure 14 Chec king DMA Transfer Mo de


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d rives, and while SCSI still ha s c lea r a d va nta ges in using m ultiple d rive s, UDMA d rive s a renow rivaling them in throughput and performance; that and a much lower price pointhave helpe d find their wa y into mo re a nd m ore aud io setup s.

Probably the single most important thing you can do for your system to increaseperformance and track count is to dedicate a separate physical hard disk to audio

exclusively. It is simply not eno ugh to c rea te a sep arate aud io pa rtition on t he sam ed rive. In fa c t, this is a c tua lly a b a d id ea this ma kes the d rive s stylus w ork eve n ha rd er,since its simultaneously seeking application data in one partition and streaming audiofrom a nothe r. A ded ica ted a udio drive free s up b oth d rives to sep arate ly ac c ess theprogram d ata a nd the audio da ta.

If your motherboard has only two IDE connectors, you would normally connect thesystem d rive to the p rima ry IDE a nd t he a ud io drive to t he sec ond a ry IDE. Set e a c hd rive s jump ers to b e th e m a ster. Co nfigure the CD-ROM o r CD-RW as the slave , a ndma ke sure to c on ne c t it to th e sa me IDE b uss a s the syste m d rive . This insures a nuninterrupte d d at a flow to a nd from your mo re c ritic a l aud io drive.

If your mothe rbo a rd has a sep arate ATA c ontroller and tw o e xtra c onne c tors for UDMAmaster/slave, your setup is that much more simplified, as well as allowing for morephysical drives.

Defrag Often

Defrag me nting yo ur ha rd d rives is rec om me nd ed in a ll Wind ow s OS s, a nd p a rticu larly insystem s running a nd e d iting large a ud io and m ultime d ia files. Defrag me nting your d isksplac es the d at a fo r files next to ea c h othe r (rat her than frag me nted throug hout the d isk),w hich sp ee d s up read ing from a nd w riting to t he d isk, a nd increa ses syste m sta b ility.

In Wind ow s 2000 a nd XP, reg ular defrag ging offe rs eve n mo re b ene fits. XP a nd 2000monitor the files that are used when the computer starts up, and when your most-usedap plica tions sta rt. By monitoring t hose files the O S c an prefetc h them .me aning d a tatha t is expe c ted to be reque sted is rea d a hea d into the ca c he. Prefetc hing is improvedif the files are located next to each other on the outer edge of the disk, and XP/2000op timizes the loc at ion of these b oo t a nd ap p lica tion files while the c om pute r is idle. Thisoptimization is done in the background and lasts only a minute or two, but even thisactivity can cut into audio performance if Windows decides the system is idle at thew rong time. The d efrag g er will run this ta sk d uring d isk defrag me nting instea d , soWindow s wo nt de c ide to d o it while you re w orking.

Virus and othe r Utilities

While virus protection software is almost a necessity for general-use systems, they oftenrun in the ba c kground a nd c an c a use p rob lems with a udio system s. If youre running ad ed ica ted a udio ma c hine, its be st to not insta ll them a t all. If your ma c hine isconnected to the web, its safer to protect yourself, but try to find utilities that only runw hen c a lled up . System tune -up utilities a re a lso q uite useful in mo st c irc umsta nc es, b utsome tend to optimize according to the needs of general usage, and can changesettings tha t c an c om promise a udio p erformanc e. A clea n, minima l setup is your b estinsurance.


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Documents

Optimizing Windows 2000 and Windows XP for Audio by Tascam