Continue, or call it a day?

[User 905133]

6 minutes ago, Peter C said:

I think we need a dedicated forum section where we can post the kind of stuff we would happily do for free - a kind of collaborators section. A bit like fiver but for free. Quality not guaranteed - not from me anyway - but it sure would lead to interesting results.

Having started many musical ideas, I like the idea of sharing the ideas to see what others might do with them.  I was thinking the collaborative nature of Bandlab (the web-based platform) and the integration with CbB might be a good place to do this once I get into the groove of uploading ideas there.  That being said, a forum section here to alert others to what has been made available, to point others, and look for potential collaborators would seem complement this. Kind of like:

"I am available to do ___________________, ___________________, and ___________________.  If you want to listen to some of the musical ideas I have done recently for possible collaborations, here's where they can be found: ______________________.   Available to take tracks and try to add synthy stuff for other genres, too."

[Peter C]

Yes, I'm a bit nervous of Bandlab - there seems to be lots of youf out there. Here seems a safe place.

[Tim Smith]

3 hours ago, Mr. Torture said:

Drivers all up to date, everything optimized. I bought this computer from PC audio labs, specifically built for recording. It’s never been the same since the upgrade to windows 10.

Mr Torture If all the other bases are covered, it must be the black cloud thing. Can't do much better than RME, even their old stuff.

Have you ever loaded anything else on it that could be interfering? Just a thought.

- freezing tracks

-manually setting a lower latency if possible

-turning off FX while recording. Cakewalk has a master button for it

-If cpu is coughing due to too many tracks and you used busses, copy buss outputs only to new project for recording purposes.

-freeze computer at sub zero temps for 24 hours ( sorry I was kidding about that one) I couldn't help myself.

Edited April 29, 2022 by Tim Smith

[markno999]

Mr. T.,

If you want to breathe new life into an older computer your best investment is an SSD drive.   Samsung EVO 870 is a good choice and they are not super expensive (about $100)    Makes a huge difference, more so than RAM or other upgrades.   This is assuming everything else is working properly and you don't have any problems lingering from your Windows 10 upgrade.

Regards

[Bapu]

9 hours ago, Mr. Torture said:

It’s never been the same since the upgrade to windows 10.

Womp! There it is.

Have you tried a fresh install of Win 10 and reinstall all your apps? As suggested, do it on a 1tb SSD for your c;\ drive.

 

[Mr. Torture]

I cannot run lower than 256 on the buffers, I have 2 audio tracks going (nothing recorded) just out of my Kemper into the soundcard and one instance of superior drummer. If I try to lower buffers it’s sounds like a bag of angry bee’s when I strum a chord. It’s frustrating, especially when with windows 7 I could run buffers down to 64, have multiple tracks and instance of superior.

the windows 10 was the auto upgrade through Microsoft, is it possible to go there and redo it?

[Tim Smith]

That sounds more like an i6 chip. Maybe a 51/2.

Computer viagra? 

*seriously*  If I had another interface I might try that. The Kemper doesn't have a usb out for computers?

 

[Michael Fogarty]

its not a windows 10 issue.  Maybe you have to reset things. Go to edit configurations and choose default settings, make sure your onboard soundcard is shut off. (I am assuming you are using an external interface.) Maybe run the audio tweaks for pro audio as windows 10 probably resorted to defaults.

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/windows-music-dev/unofficial-windows-10-audio-workstation-build-and-tweak-guide-part-1/

Edited April 30, 2022 by Michael Fogarty

[Mr. Torture]

Intel core i7-3770k is my processor.

I have experienced a couple blue screen as well. This occurred when I simply left the computer idle with an open session when I went to go do something else. I just shut the computer off and back on again.

the computer came with 16 gigs of ram, upgradable to 32 max. Years after I purchased, once prices came down, I bought 32 gigs (4x8 strips) the computer was still running windows 7 at the time and I had a few issues after that upgrade. I’m really suspecting the Ram, although I ran that ram windows diagnostics and it came back ok.

regardless, for just over a $100 I am going to replace the ram and see if that changes things.

 

 

[craigb]

Just checked with Alan Parsons and he says RAM is important! ?

[57Gregy]

I think the gist of most of these posts is, don't quit. Take a break, maybe a long break. And whatever you do, don't sell off your gear. When the mood to create strikes, you won't be sorry.

[Tim Smith]

On 4/30/2022 at 8:37 AM, Mr. Torture said:

Intel core i7-3770k is my processor.

I have experienced a couple blue screen as well. This occurred when I simply left the computer idle with an open session when I went to go do something else. I just shut the computer off and back on again.

the computer came with 16 gigs of ram, upgradable to 32 max. Years after I purchased, once prices came down, I bought 32 gigs (4x8 strips) the computer was still running windows 7 at the time and I had a few issues after that upgrade. I’m really suspecting the Ram, although I ran that ram windows diagnostics and it came back ok.

regardless, for just over a $100 I am going to replace the ram and see if that changes things.

 

 

Good luck. You're still in game ?

 

[Shane_B.]

Here's a good example of writing a song on the fly. @Tim Smith is this, uh, lady, any relation to you? ???

 

[Tim Smith]

........................I do have  cousin.

No relation that I am aware of.

It's hard to tell if there is a similarity.

I would need to take away all of that stuff to see who it really is.

The playing wasn't terribly bad, the lyrics OTOH leave something to be desired.

[Lee Shapiro]

8 hours ago, Tim Smith said:

The playing wasn't terribly bad, the lyrics OTOH leave something to be desired.

Although slightly better lyrics than my hysterically gruesome "TMI (Gotta Take A Dump)" song.  ?

[Mr. Torture]

Well, I installed the new Ram and no difference at all. So, I don't know...

[Tim Smith]

You'll get there man. Sometimes it's a process to get there. You now know what it isn't.

[Mr. Torture]

So, When I installed the Ram I noticed it was really dusty inside the computer, I have not cleaned in there in years Yup, easily 8 years.. Yikes.. Anyways, I opened it back up today and took it outside where I blew it all out with my air compressor, being very careful that no condensation or anything got in there. You would not believe the amount of dust and buildup that came out.

I brought it back in, hooked it back up and opened a previous project. I found that I could easily go to 64 on the buffers with no issues at all, loaded another project with multiple guitar tracks and superior drummer, same 64 buffers and no more crackling. Could it have been dust all along?? 

[Shane_B.]

46 minutes ago, Mr. Torture said:

Could it have been dust all along?? 

It could have if it was running way too hot from vents being blocked.

It could also be that a cable was making bad contact and the air jostling things around made it make better contact again.

I used to service office equipment and PC's and lot of times reseating connectors on boards fixed a lot of odd problems.

I recently blew mine out with an air compressor. It appeared clean but a lot of crap came out. It's scary to do but on older systems it's a good idea to clean your cpu and reapply new thermal paste. Same with the video card. 

It's really easy to accidentally fry something or zap your hard drives and have to format them if you don't wear a grounding strap or make sure you discharge yourself by touching something metal that is grounded like a fridge. With plastic Pex plumbing being widely used now touching a faucet may not work anymore.

[Tezza]

1 hour ago, Mr. Torture said:

So, When I installed the Ram I noticed it was really dusty inside the computer, I have not cleaned in there in years Yup, easily 8 years.. Yikes.. Anyways, I opened it back up today and took it outside where I blew it all out with my air compressor, being very careful that no condensation or anything got in there. You would not believe the amount of dust and buildup that came out.

I brought it back in, hooked it back up and opened a previous project. I found that I could easily go to 64 on the buffers with no issues at all, loaded another project with multiple guitar tracks and superior drummer, same 64 buffers and no more crackling. Could it have been dust all along?? 

Yes, dust can be a pain, especially if it finds it's way into the ram slot grooves (aside from shorting out the motherboard). I've had 2 occasions in the past where the computer was playing up, not starting properly or the BSOD and that was due to dust in the ram slots.

You should be able to get much better performance out of your computer than you have been quoting. I still have only a 3rd gen i5 and 8 gigs of ram and I have to look for excuses to upgrade because it runs so well, I don't find any limitations except the GUI of some VSTI's is sometimes slow to load since I put KU13 on.

I can run 40 to 50 tracks and that is all I need but most of my projects are smaller that that, around 20 to 30. 2 instances of addictive drums, 2 instances of Battery 3, about 8 - 15 tracks of Kontakt and other synths and then 10 - 20 for audio.

Your system is more powerful than mine, so you should be able to do better than this. I do have 3 internal SSD's in my system and I know that makes a difference because it didn't run anywhere near as well with one HD, even 2. But the 3 SSD thing really got it going. Also, I have a 6gb dedicated graphics card which has helped me out with low amount of ram.

You say you have "standard hard drives" can I ask what you mean by that. Maybe the hard drive issue is contributing to the problem.

 

 

Edited May 6, 2022 by Tezza