Jim Roseberry

@abacab Thanks for the run-down! I will go for Max... as that seems to be significantly more complete.

Those who have installed ST4, how are you liking the sounds?

Most major DAW applications have what's called Automatic Plugin Delay Compensation (automatic PDC). If a latent plugin is inserted *anywhere* in the project, all other audio is delayed by that amount to maintain sample-accurate sync. If you have several latent plugins inserted in series, the latency adds up quickly. The workaround is either to avoid latent plugins when tracking... or use the Global PDC Bypass option in the Control Bar. Latent plugins are often Mastering, Linear-Phase, Convolution, or Look-Ahead type processing

If you're like many general-purpose users (Surfing the Internet, Facebook, Email, Office apps), you may get along just fine with 4GB RAM (even though it's running lean). FWIW, I think you'd find the VM Swapfile (even on SSD) is **FAR** slower than DDR4 RAM. 😉 DDR4/2400 has a transfer rate of 19.2 GB/Sec M.2 Ultra (NVMe) SSD sustains 3.4 GB/Sec. SATA SSD sustains 0.54 GB/Sec

Agreed... but not running Win10. If you're left with 1.5GB RAM (or less depending on how well it's optimized), that's running super lean. It wouldn't take much of anything to get the machine hitting the VM Swap-File (and that'll kill performance on any machine).

A well-configured lean install of Win10 will use about 2.5GB RAM when idle. That leaves a whopping 1.5GB for CbB and any plugins. Even if the OP was recording audio/MIDI only (no virtual instruments), that's running too lean and most likely hitting the Virtual Memory Swap-File (which absolutely kills performance).

With 4GB RAM, the machine is likely getting "ram-starved" in which case it'll hit the Virtual-Memory Swapfile (which absolutely kills performance). You need enough RAM for your largest projects. Additional unused RAM doesn't buy any additional performance. Also, check the laptop's DPC Latency using Latency Mon. High DPC Latency can cause audible glitches and transport drop-out.

Mastering, Linear-Phase, Convolution, and "Look-ahead" style plugins are often latent (add additional latency).

@Morten Saether It's good to see you here!! Been a long time... 😉

Latency has but two sources. Audio Interface Latent Plugins Use a dedicated audio interface that has a proper ASIO driver. If you've inserted latent plugin/s anywhere in a project, all other audio is delayed by that amount to maintain sample-accurate sync (Automatic Plugin Delay Compensation). If you're using latent plugins in series, the latency can pile up quickly.

FWIW, Those are the same parameters that are on the Kemper Profiler. 😉 Steven Slate alluded to TH-U being able to load Kemper profiles. What's been released thus far (at least to the general public) doesn't allow directly loading Kemper Profiles. Allowing the user to load Kemper Profiles (assuming they sound identical to the Kemper) would be huge.

The end of the video where he's going thru the Rig Player: He left the tone controls at extreme settings (set when he switched to Cab off and tried using the stock "MESA" Cab)... then discovers that all the profiles sound bad. 😉 With Kemper style profiles, they're a "snap-shot" of an entire Amp/Cab/Mic rig at a specific amp setting. The Kemper (and Rig Player) have a Gain control... but if you get this too far from the original amount, the profile no longer sounds accurate. If you want an accurate profile with Gain 25% higher, you have to go back and profile that setting on the Amp.

I agree with the static nature of IRs... and that the Cab section needs to evolve/progress. BTW, The UA Ox Amp Top Box has dynamic Cab sim (not using IRs). It's not cheap... but it's a great recording solution if you have a quality tube amp/s.

FWIW, I don't like the stock Cabs... IMO, TH-U starts to sound a whole lot better if you use quality Cab IRs. What I think is ideal (if you have the Cabs/mics)... is to create your own Cab IRs (your favorite Cab/s, mic'd the way you like). This helps bend the sound (tone) to being more "you".

If you've got an off-the-shelf laptop, it may not expose the BIOS parameters necessary to stop all performance throttling. The cooling in a laptop (in such a tight space) is not ideal for locking a CPU at the highest TurboBoost frequency. With a tower, you can use over-spec'd cooling (much more significant heat dissipation)

Disabling C states, EIST, etc.

Don't use DPC Latency Checker in Win10... use Latency Mon instead (accurate and lists more specific information). Regarding M.2 drives and SATA ports: Many Z370/Z390 motherboard have two M.2 slots. Typically, if you run the second M.2 slot using 4 PCIe lanes, the motherboard will disable the last pair of SATA ports. If you don't have two M.2 Ultra SSDs, put the M.2 SSD in the first M.2 slot... as most motherboard will run this slot with 4 PCIe lanes... and not disable the last pair of SATA ports.

Hi Noel, Great to have you here! You can certainly disable CPU throttling. That should be the case (already) with your machine (assuming the BIOS settings haven't changed). If throttling is happening, let me know... and I'll PM settings to eliminate it. Whether you can lock all cores at the highest TurboBoost frequency depends on the specific CPU. ie: The latest i9-9980xe is pushing the limits of that design/architecture. You may not be able to lock all 18 cores at 4.5GHz (and achieve 100% stability). Same with earlier designs Designs with higher core counts typically can't be clocked as high. You've got adequate cooling. In the BIOS, you can change the TurboBoost multiplier to 35 (for all cores). If there's any instability, go back into the BIOS and drop that number down.

If you're building a DAW with a i9-9900k, a 550w power-supply is definitely on the lean side. You want to leave yourself the opportunity to add a GTX video card (video editing), more internal drives, use of bus-powered MIDI controllers, etc.

Not every process in a DAW can be multi-threaded. Performance increase is not a 1:1 ratio when adding cores. (Doubling the number of CPU cores doesn't double performance) Thus, clock-speed is king when choosing a CPU for a DAW. What you don't want to do is sacrifice significant clock-speed for more cores. Xeon CPUs often have significantly slower clock-speed... and can thus result in a significant performance hit. In a perfect scenario, you want highest clock-speed... and maximum number of CPU cores. This is why the i9-9900k is such a great choice for DAW purposes. 8 cores, 16 processing threads that can all be locked at 5GHz With the right air-cooler, it runs near dead-silent To best the i9-9900k, you're talking high-end socket-2066 i9 CPU... which is significantly more expensive. Higher-end socket-2066 i9 CPUs require water-cooling with large radiator. ie: Noctua air-coolers (NH-U14s, NH-D15s) can't dissipate enough heat from an i9-9980xe when all cores are under heavy load. More expensive CPU, Motherboard, Cooler, Power-Supply (it adds up quickly)

I don't partition drives either... haven't for years I have a dozen separate drives in my main DAW. Two conventional HDs Eight SATA SSDs Two M.2 Ultra SSDs

I completely agree with using a smaller boot drive. 😉 Just mentioning the size of the drive itself (unused space) won't affect backup size/time Rather than using a single large drive partitioned Boot/Samples, the best coarse of action is to use two separate drives. With two separate drives, you've literally doubled the performance (vs. a single partitioned drive). Each of two HDs would sustain 190MB/Sec Each of two SATA SSDs would sustain 540MB/Sec Each of two M.2 Ultra SSDs would sustain 3400MB/Sec

M.2 Ultra SSDs use 4 PCIe (x4) to achieve full performance. If the motherboard has two M.2 slots, running the second using 4 PCIe lanes almost always results in the motherboard's last two SATA ports being disabled. You can work around this... Put the second M.2 Ultra SSD on a PCIe host card... and place that card in a PCIe slot that has 4 or more PCIe lanes. 😉

You want to keep the OS drive clean/lean. If you're using a 1TB SSD for boot drive... and only using 200GB of that 1TB of space, backup won't be slow/tedious. Unused drive space won't increase the size of backups.

If you were going socket-2066 with high-end i9 CPU, you'd need large-radiator water-cooling.