Logic introduced a new feature a few versions ago that automatically disables tracks without MIDI on them. It'll then enable them dynamically the moment you start using them. Pretty brilliant for loading up large templates: File > Project Settings > General > "Only load plug-ins needed for project playback"
Hi Guy, I am a pro computer engineer (Microsoft & Linux mainly). I have been tuning Windows based setups for years, you covered most of the parts I cover. Two things I would also add: * Processor scheduling (In advanced system), ASIO runs in the background and can perform better if you set this to "Background Services" instead of the default "Programs". This gives the ASIO a higher priority over programs for real time performance. * Cubase has a hidden feature called "ignoreportfilter", this covers cubase's midi timing with the Operating System and can make playing in midi work better :)
Also its worth looking at disabling services in Windows. If you only use your machine for music then do you really need the Printer service running in the background for example? You can also remove windows features via "Programs and Features" / "Turn Windows features on or off". Again you could turn of something like "Print and Document Serices" here to save resorces if not needed.
A little tip for Cubase users when using Reverb on an effects channel with Sends... make sure to hover over the Solo button on the effect track and hold-click the button to enable Solo Defeat - this ensures that when you solo any track sending to the reverb, you won't mute the reverb track! Otherwise, when you hit play, you won't get anything from the effects track as it will have been muted with all the other tracks! I'd imagine other DAWs will have a similar feature as well! :)
My God, I am just in the process of buying a notebook I can use for my Music and figuring out what I need and how to optimize, and literally right now this GREAT VIDEO just popped up! Just proves he is the Angel of music! He is supernatural in how much time, effort and help gives to people. Best channel on the internet, paid or unpaid you will not find a better channel than this!!
Here’s a big tip for Kontakt on PC: if you use Windows Defender (or any other antivirus) add your plugin folders and all your sample library folders to the AV exclusion list. Defender *greatly* slows down the loading of any sample based instrument, because all those samples are scanned for viruses every time they are loaded into system memory. It slams your CPU and takes time. Exclude Kontakt (plugin and libraries) from scanning! I got a massive performance increase from this simple tweak.
Hi. Thank you for this great tip. Would you care to elaborate on how to do that exactly? I'm a composer but I don't know how to tweak my pc that much and even less how to add/remove exclusions on defender. lol. I'm trying to get better though. Thanks
@@DepressedCapitalist First, find the folder location for ALL your Kontakt libraries: Where you install them to. I use a custom path on an external drive. Remember it. Then, Go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security > Virus & threat protection. Under Virus & threat protection settings, select Manage settings, and then under Exclusions, select Add or remove exclusions. Select Add an exclusion, and then find the main folder you remembered earlier. Select it, click OK. I also do this with my VST folder, where you install all your plugins, and do the same. You can find that folder in your DAW plugin settings if you’re having trouble finding it. Good luck, on my system this helped Kontakt load A LOT
@@mrnelsonius5631 This is so clear. I really do appreciate your answer and the time you took to explain it in detail. Can't wait to try this in my kontakt system. Thanks a lot! NB: I always say to myself on every video :"read the comments", they are gold. And I mean it. Cheers!
@@DepressedCapitalist no worries! These kind of tweaks can be hit or miss. I see a lot about batch re-saves with Kontakt, and that can help, but for whatever reason this one really sped loading up on my system. Want to share the knowledge. Happy music making friend :)
Great video, Guy! You'll know this, of course, but if anyone is reading and gets annoyed by slow speeds when loading large Kontakt libraries even on SSD, that same Save menu featured in the Memory chapter of this video includes a Batch Re-Save option. Run it once, and you get massively improved loading speeds forever. (NB - There's a scary-looking warning that comes up ("Only do this if you know what you're doing!" It's extremely unlikely that anything will go wrong, unless there's something odd like identically named samples in a self-made library or something, so this isn't anything to worry about really. It's possible to Batch Re-Save all your libraries in one operation if they're all in a common folder, but if you're concerned by that warning then it's probably wiser to do the parent folder for each library one by one, just in case. Never caused me any issues, however. The worst that can happen is you might need to re-download.)
IMPORTANT TIP: in Logic Pro, clicking "DISABLE" track while holding "OPT" key SAVES LOTS OF RAM, by completely unloading the plugins in that track. I discovered it while using AAS Chromaphone, as being a modeled (not based on samples) instrument it doesn't need as much drive space for my tiny 256GB SSD, but it turned out to be a VERY HEAVY weight in terms of RAM usage, up to 1GB or more per instance/preset/channel, despite it being based on algorithms and almost no footprint on the hard drive, but when I used it for several different drum sounds in the same Project, on my 8GB RAM machine, I hit a hard wall until I Disabled individual tracks while holding "Option" key. I don't know if this is a documented or undocumented feature in Logic Pro, as there is no visual hint to whether the track is fully disabled and unloaded (saving RAM) or just disabled. It also saves time on loading the project from disk as plugins disabled this way are not loaded until re-enabled. It also works in Folder-tracks with lots of sub-tracks using lots of plugins (and lots of RAM memory).
This is genius Guy, thank you so much for teaching me this. Disabling and Freezing tracks, Playing the Audio > Buffer size, Removing Automatic and assigning the highest level of cores, and so much more. Your energy, your clarity, your tremendous indepth information is astounding. THANK YOU!
In the PC world there are other things that can (should) be done like, uninstall or disable apps that you don't need. Such apps may be running in the Background taking CPU cycles, collecting data (telemetry) and doing so, introducing DPC interrupts and CPU re-pagination (also known as "relocate worker threads to different CPUs"). Such operations are well known to introduce "clicks" and "pops", even on more or less "resource free" and relaxed ASIO audio operations. Many of the Windows services running on the background (by default), are not needeed for music production and can (should) be "disabled" or changed to "manual". Doing such, this will free memory but most importantly, CPU cycles that can be used for real-time audio processing and reduce DPC interrupts. Unfortunately Microsoft couldn't care less about the musicians needs, else they would have introduced config-setups that would optimize the OS for music production disabling all the bloatware and "trash" running in the background that only benefits MS and not the user. You can find many videos about these tips on RU-vid, specifically aimed to debloat "Windows 10". Anyway, nice tips. Thanks for sharing. Stay Safe.
regarding using reverb, depending on the genre and how creative the use of reverb is it might also make sense to use just on reverb just to prevent confusing the brain. I've heard some (I think it was Steve Albini?) talking about this: if you have one reverb for all instruments your brain will still be able to get a idea of the room, if you have multiple reverbs the brain will no longer be able to parse what it's hearing other than a big ball of sound not really representing any specific acoustic environment.
This is great information, all of us logic users that deal with these problems every day. Now I am waiting to move from my 2014 MacBook Pro to a 2022 iMac Studio. I hope the response from the new computer will be better, and cooler!
Marvelous Video!!! However, what happened to the promised links in the description below? Can you do an update to include them regarding this topic? I was looking forward to reading them. Thank you.
Guy, excellent video! As a decades long PC user, here's the PC keyboard shortcut to view the resources etc.: CTRL+SHIFT+ESC And you have it so you can see everything running on your PC.
Both DAW's are great and have freezing options that are well implemented, being Logic that introduced freezing, which was a breakthrough. When we have a look at Reaper (another amazing, but overlooked DAW), they took freezing to the next level (based on their users feedback). Next to that, they added an option called SubProjects, which opens a new project file within the main project file (nested) in a new tab. So basically you do all the massive, cpu taxing editing in there and when closing the tab or subproject, it automatically renders it to one file. Truly genius and very useful for those that do a lot of music and audio production for gaming. Guy, hopefully at some point you are willing to do an introduction video about Reaper, (or interviewing one of the Reaper celebrities out there). I am confident you'll love it and maybe after using it after quit some time, you'll never look back :-) Thanks and keep up the great work!
People don't change their daws just because of this "freeze" function... ^^ Hint: freeze comes from times when computers CPUs were slow. Today we have very performant computers. Buy a new computer and all is fine! :) Reaper lags in so many areas, Midi and composing are really weak in this daw... Reaper is for IT nerds who have a lot of time to set up everything and adjust it according to their wishes, and above all to try out some "action scripts". But other people just want to make music! with Cubase, S1, Logic e.g. :)
@@Byron101_ Mate, you're commenting on a video with a title of "How to Optimise Computer Performance for Music", and telling people rather than do that, just "Buy a new computer", then a wee rant advertising your personal prejudices about daws. Wind it in.
3:00 I see you have a camera slider now. Congratulations :) 7:54 You do this in Studio One: Transform to Audio Track. Much the same way, but in a right-click menu on the track. We don't need no freezy-button :). Make sure to check 'Preserve Instrument Track State' so you can unfreeze it. 26:45 If you compare our mind to a computer it also contains the CPU, videocard/chip, video in, audio in/out, hdd/sdd. The heart is the power source :)
Hi Guy, great video and clearly explained. It did surprise me that you didn't (OR i missed it completely) explain the Disk issues most people face. Disk is the slowest resource, even with SSD on the internal I/O bus it still is slow compared with memory and CPU. SO, I would suggest: 1 - get rid of any "old" disks (drives) that have the spinning memory plates in it called a HD 2 - Look for the fastest SSD that you can find supported by your computer (ask specialist if you have no clue, that's OK, nobody knows everything). 3 - Use a disk-clone program (like carbon copy) and do a 1 to 1 copy of your current HD to the new SSD. Once done, replace the HD with the SSD, Google youtube on instruction videos, there are plenty available. It will show you a whole new computer. Hold on, NOT READY YET!! 4 - It would be even better to go for 2 SSD's or even 3 if you can spend the money (you don't have to do all at once). Start with replacing your internal drive at least, you can add more later and move files from disk 1 the the other(s). Most DAW's have settings for file / library locations, use those to your liking. WHY ore disks? Because using 1 SSD will still hold your computer back because it always need to access more than one file at the same time. Your OS (operating System) is in constant need of the disk ALL of the time. Your DAW program has the same need, accessing your audio files, plugin's, samples and what have you. This battle for the disk results in a LOT of waiting time for the CPU, a fast CPU even waits longer than a slow one. Solution? 5 - Spread the files over 2 or more disks. Suggestion, but anything goes: 6 - SSD 1 holds the OS and your DAW program files. 7 - SSD 2 holds your libraries, samples, audio files and plugin's. Using SSD's as external drives? Go for USB-3 or Thunderbolt 3 disks. It's easy to use external drives as they only require a cable to be connected. LABEL your disk if you have more than 1 external so you don't get confused. Last one: NEVER fill a disk till the last byte, preferred 80% or so should be max (SSD's can go higher than the old spinning ones, and BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP. Cheers Frans
As always, great and insightful video, Guy! I think it's worth mentioning that when you disable tracks from Logic using click+Alt on the power buton of the track or use global purge in Kontakt, it won't always free up the RAM from the computer. I found that typing command "sudo purge" (without quotes) in terminal tends to overrun purge and clean up purged RAM!
NB if you go to the custom setting on Logic display bar, and click on the CPU bar display it will open another window showing the CPU thread and disk drive I/O in greater detail. Also, you can in the same drop down menu select Custom as default for this info box, meaning that it will appear on opening Logic, rather than having to keep on setting into custom mode. YMMV according to how much screen real estate you have a relative to the size of the bar! Also note this also extends to the Customise display bar settings, as there are many more options that can be displayed here, should you so wish. Also, for a more detailed look at your CPU/GPU performance, launch Utility monitor, as above, then in the Window menu you can select CPU History, CPU Usage and GPU usage, and tick Keep CPU windows on top, to see a time graph of your Core performance levels.
It is important when bussing your tracks as Guy did in the video in Logic to a single reverb plug-in that you set that reverb plug-in to 100% wet. I noticed in the video example that Space Designer still had the dry slider all the way up and this only doubles the dry sound you are sending to it! I know he understands that very well but must’ve overlooked it in the video :-) He clears this up in the Cubase example to follow!
every daw handle it different!! i give you an good example: in cubase i can load psp infinistrip 20 times and the game is over i load the same plugin in reaper and can load psp infinistrip 80 times and still headroom for more plugins the same with waves plugins scheps particles plugin in cubase maby 20, in reaper i load 80 and still headroom for more plugins!! i optimise the settings in cubase and reaper to the max and the result is mind blowing!! i have a ryzen i9 16 core with 64gb ram so power is not a problem with my system, its the daw wat makes the problem with the power
Great info. Thanks! One thing I also do to lower memory footprint of sample libraries is to turn off articulations I'm not using. This works easily in Cinematic Studio series in Kontakt and BBCSO in the Spitfire player.
Because i'm waiting for my " big " new 12 Core PC..what's also useful is using in case of Kontakt libs..only the 16 bit samples instead of the 24 bits, and don't use all mic positions.. use for instance only the direct or overhead mics . Greets from Belgium. 👍
In Reaper all you have to do is mute a track and all plugins and data on that channel are disabled hence zero CPU consumption. Regarding virtual instruments when I reach CPU tolerance I just render a stem and mute the VI. Obviously a stem is more easily edited and eventually in a heavy project you’ll want to render audio tracks of your virtual instruments anyway.
Guy, thank you. As usual informative but in a way that moronsclike myself can understand! I've been using Cubase professionally since '97 and riding a motorbike for 40 years. I still only know how to pump up the tyres and put the oil in. For Cubase it's the same! So thank you so much for making my life easier. Now......any chance you could make motorcycle maintenance videos?!😉
SO HELPFUL! Hey, can we get a detailed rundown of your latest computer specs, Guy? (RAM, CPU, GPU, etc.) The most recent rundown I have is from an old (2018) forum post of yours. I assume you've beefed up your system since then (?) I mean, you already had 128GB RAM, but it was DDR4. Perhaps you have an even newer "beast" rig now, with DDR5 RAM and a better CPU, etc. (?) Do tell!
Studio One 5 have that all vst and plugins on tracks go in to sleep mode when the tracks does not play anything have helped me much. so if you use Studio One 5 it will do everything for you
I recently upgraded to 32 gigs of RAM and, you're right, I still want more. I need more as I add plugins to my DAW. I like how Spitfire audio includes a CPU monitor with its plugins. So when I get too crazy with overloading tracks I can see it immediately. BTW, disabling tracks is very helpful. My favorite function on every DAW is the 'undo/redo' button. It's a lifesaver and frustration avoided!
Great tutorial as always! I still write my orchestral stuff on my old MacBook from 2014 with only 16 gb of ram. When you're on a tight budget, you have to get really creative. 😂 Sometimes it is a real pain as it takes a lot of time, but in the end I somehow always manage to get it done. 😅 Greetings from Berlin
Thank you Guy some really good tips there. I'm sure that most people who didn't know will find freezing tracks a God send. For myself I now run Bitwig on Linux. I say this as a life long Windows developer. On the same hardware the difference is night and day.
@@ThinkSpaceEducation I've known some musicians who do a little programming also. They almost all hated and avoided doing proper memory management in their code. They wanted to write their code the same way they wrote their music. But code that does proper memory management can be complicated and frequently doesn't "flow" in natural, obvious ways. Hence things like freeing up buffers being tacked on as an afterthought.
@@ThinkSpaceEducation When you disable the track, it disables the midi etc on the track, but the instruments are still active, so you can play them, from an input assigned to the track. So live playing still works, but you've disabled midi recorded on the track. If you option click the on/off button, it also makes the plugins inactive on the track. Incidentally everybody, this is documented, in the manual. This isn't programmers not knowing how to clear buffers, because they're primarily musicians, it's a feature that was coded, and technical writers documented, in the manual, so you know how the feature works, and why you might want to use one or the other, depending on what you're trying to do, at the time.
Good tut Guy. A PC may load lots of unnecessary services at startup which may not be needed for your current session. All can load the cpu by running in the background. Stop those services; but you need to know a little about this subject or problems can occur.
Thank you for this Guy, especially for the heads-up about Bounce In Place. One of the things about being mostly self-taught is that simple but helpful little things like that can get overlooked 🤦🏻♂
Thank you Guy, for all this useful info, but you forgot to implement the link about why some processors ( CPU) should work well for audio and others don't ? I've seen indeed some threads on forums, that for example an 8 Core CPU works mostly better then a 12 Core CPU, because the half would not be used. It should also be more important to have more RAM , like 32 instead of 16, because of the buffer size. What you also can do in case of Kontakt libs, is only use the 16 bit samples, instead of the 24 bit and don't use all mic positions. Use only what you need. Thanks for all your hard work and useful vids ! Greets from Belgium.
Bitwig is fantastic for freezing. It has a second arranger (for clips). You can use this as a sort of ad-hock time machine. You drag MIDI over into this zone and it create a kind of snapshot. Then do what you want with the original data - such as bounce to preserve CPU. The original MIDI is always available. Its like freezing, but way more flexible as you can drag over full clips or small slices and preserve as many states of the data as you like.
If anyone here is using Sonar/Cakewalk, "archiving" tracks is the equivalent of "disabling" (in the DAWs shown in this video). You'll see an "A" next to the "M", "S" and "R" (mute, solo, record) buttons in the track header. Might have to widen the header to see the "A", IIRC.
Thanks guy! Much were things I knew, but it’s always good to be reminded. I have found as system and component performance is at the level it is today I have gotten lazy with making sure I’m always thinking about optimization. I can remember years ago making sure every little tweak was performed. Back when having 512 MB of Ram was a big deal and slow HDD’s were the norm.
LatencyMon for Windows, by Resplendence, is a fantastic system tuning resource for realtime/audio computers. You can hear crackles/pops long before your CPU overloads, whenever latency strikes. Think of latency as a random slowdown that lasts 1 to 3 milliseconds, and is basically a "halt" to your CPU. A red light. It's bad.
You can use a high buffer if you have direct monitoring capabilities in your audio interface, it automatically places the track you are recording in the correct place compensating for latency due to buffer/plugin latencies
Thanks Guy. Maybe one day you could show how to use certain soundcards to achieve realtime monitoring (whilst tracking) - i.e. have a bigger buffer but no latency, as this may help some people. Thanks again! PS: I remember you on Anglia TV (I think). Hahahaha.
...have been working for 5 years with an 11 year old HP Z800 workstation (about 8000 $ then, 600 now) with 2 6-core 3.3 Ghz XEON processors. Now for the first time I have a problem that the new NI Massive synth needs a newer chip generation. I got a 5 year old laptop for this. Folks, buy old workstations for 1/10th the original price and be happy. I recommend anything from the HP Z620.
Upgrading your soundcard is probably the biggest performance gain. I heard Apple has good low latency onboard sound, but it's a toss up on PC. I got the Focusrite Scarlett and it's OK, but I wonder if there are better ones. Even though it's seemingly meant for microphones, I mainly use it for low latency piano with my PC.
Absolutely brilliant. Guy, this really was excellent. I thought there wouldn't be anything I didn't know or think of before. But you proved me wrong. Fab stuff! Thenk yaw.
I find buffer size quite funny. As you said, most people will use a lower one when playing to get as little latency as possible. I on the other hand have it set to 1028, or in some more extreme cases 2056, whilst playing guitar into my pc. I’m just too used to play with whatever latency that 1028 gives me :D
Might be a little different using a guitar since you can hear it or feel it acoustically in real time. With a synthetic or controller running vst that latency is almost certainly unusable in realtime.
You can also often do real-time monitoring of audio sources with most sound cards so latency is non-issue but won't work as well or maybe at all if adding plugin effects that you want to hear realtime.
Nice informative and entertaining vid. So it seems that priority #1, is get a computer and all the accessories made for and set up for making and recording music, both in & out of the box, depending what your current & future needs might be. And get things that are used by those in the music industry already and have some track record of reliability/parts availability/service. Nothing worse than having something that is so special/hot rodded no one can or will work on it/can't get parts for it.
Guy talked about freezing tracks. In Reaper, you can unfreeze them at any time to tweak them. I assume you can in other DAWs as well? I definitely need freezing with my 15 year old Pentium D PC with 4GB RAM!
Would love to heard how you manage your files? Do you have some kind of NAS server to storage your projects, files and samples, and how do you manage Kontakt libraries for direct disk streaming?
