I have just updated my PC to Windows 7 (32 bit) and also upgraded to Cubase 6 (from Cubase 4); I have 4Gb of RAM (although I am told that because it is a 32 bit O/S only 3Gb can be utilised).
I am finding that I am not able to run all the tracks, plugins etc on some of my old projects… I believe this is because of a shortage of RAM; I have - somewhere - a list of suggestions with regards to setting up Windows XP in order to get the best out of Cubase with tips like: “turn off Themes, settings for Virtual memory” etc.
Because Windows 7 is supposed to be so “all singing/all dancing” o/s, I am afraid to implement all of these suggestion…
Bottom line question being is there a optimum list of setting for running Cubase in Widows 7?
I just went from Vista/Cubase SX3 to Windows 7/Cubase 6. I’ve got a Focusrite interface and they’ve done a video for optimising a Windows 7 PC for music. It’s on youtube here:
apart from fast cpu, lot of ram, etc, consider as well:
separate partition for audio than net
make shure audio partition on faster side of drive
minimum software installed,no antivirus on audio partition
use mouse with native driver,no wireless
processing set background services
account control off
defender off
firewall off
aero off
appearance set for best performance
ati graphic>3D settings>standard settings>set for best performance(set
also in power options)
power modes>high perform – modify it
indexing off for all drives even external
device manager/disable stupid stuff,cameras,dvdroms etc
disable hdmi/realtek all
win update disable
all network disable-adapters all
security center junk disable
win sounds off
remote assistance off-system
programs and features-turn windows components off
drives set for best performance
startup drive do not fill over 80%
recording set to other than boot drive if fast
power options-disk sleep cancel
don`t remove earth from powersupply
use midi not usb-midi
screensaver off,turn display off after…cancel
firewire cables audointerfaces use 4 pin cables,use magnets
make restore point,start autoruns,disable junk
disable autoplay
internet time sync cancel
remove time from dock
turn DEP off permanently
disable readyboost
Use 64 bit system and audio apps
disable all printer systems
remove network from dock
disable battery check every 15sec
after that you should get about 600mb ram usage system with about 40-something processes active and you should be okay.
Near the bottom of Fry’s list is … unfortunately for the original poster … the best suggestion: x64 O/S.
Not sure why you chose Win 7 x86. Can you install x64 instead? Then you could add memory and run all your apps better … even if you want to stick with running 32bit Cubase, as I do.
Also, under you current system google about and see if you need to set up a 3 gigabyte switch for Win 7, which you had to do for XP to get more than 2GB for any app.
“Steve Helstrip”
OMFG! Are you serious? Or you could just get a Mac! >
This are just optional things to speed up the system even more. I don’t have first hand knowledge but most of the stuff I have read suggests that even without doing any of this stuff, the PC will still outperform the MAC.
J.L.
you could go as low as 30 processes, but you risk stability of some audio apps using windows media bloatware, core audio, direct x bloatware etc. all the things that one audio pc does not need. my notebook performs on expresscard, usb and firewire audio cards like desktop, the result it is here. about 20 heavy vst channels with effects and stuff can be here without freezing on 2,2ghz core2duo. not bad. and just for info - i had on vista64 about 5% better performance. still dpc latency checker shows 0,2ms hardware latency so here were okay as well (was 0,1ms on vista64).
