DAW optimization list for Win 10

[gmp]

 

The optimization lists I have are pretty old. Does anyone have a fairly current list?

[John]

If you have a relatively up to date machine with a recent CPU, really all one needs to do is set the windows power options to performance especially on a desktop machine.   

[Gswitz]

Under power options... Advanced... Disable usb selective suspend.

On network adapters, disable power options... This is in device manager.

If you have Wi-Fi, disable it.

[Robert Bone]

54 minutes ago, Gswitz said:

Under power options... Advanced... Disable usb selective suspend.

On network adapters, disable power options... This is in device manager.

If you have Wi-Fi, disable it.

I concur with the combination of the above, and also the setting of the Power Plan to Performance.

I would add that having at least 2 hard drives, (one boot drive and at least one data drive), is important for performance, and ideally, at least one additional drive for sample libraries, so a boot drive, data drive (Cakewalk Content, Cakewalk Projects and user libraries), and at least one drive for sample libraries.

If possible, I also suggest placing sample libraries on a solid-state drive, and the use of a solid-state drive for the boot drive (or if available on your system, using an M.2 2280 NVME PCIe drive for the boot drive).

Edited to add one small tweak to the WiFi comment - WiFi would only need to be turned off or temporarily disabled during any Cakewalk session.  When not in Cakewalk working on things, having WiFi is fine.

Bob Bone

 

Edited September 22, 2019 by Robert Bone
Small added comment about WiFi

[gmp]

I'm doing everything suggested so far, but I'm wondering about the Wi-Fi. I have an AT&T U-Verse modem for my internet. It also works as a router giving internet and a wired network connection between 3 computers, including my DAW.

I don't think Wi-Fi is setup on my DAW, because under Networking and Sharing Center. and Change adapter setting - I see an Ethernet connection and not a Wi-Fi.   

I know my U-Verse modem has Wi-Fi because clients with a laptop can connect to the internet using my password. And when I first got one of my Canon printers, I was surprised that it seemed to install itself on my DAW using it's wireless connection. So is it possible I do have Wi-Fi enabled on my DAW? If so I'd like to disable it

[Promidi]

If you have an Nvidia card, in the Nvidia Control Panel | Manage 3D settings, set "Power Management Mode" to "Prefer Maximum Performance"

[martsave martin s]

on device-manager uncheck "power option on all USB hubs

 

Edited September 22, 2019 by martsave martin s

[Robert Bone]

On your computer, you can go into Windows Device Manager, and disable the WiFi drivers there.  You can always enable them again if you want to use WiFi from your computer.  Disabling the drivers for WiFi on your computer will not affect the actual WiFi functionality on the modem/router.  It would only disable the WiFi drivers on your computer. 

Many laptops have a function key (on the keyboard, where you would usually hold a Fn key down while also pressing the key for the WiFi) or a hardware switch somewhere on the laptop, to turn on or off the WiFi, but on a desktop computer, that is usually not the case, and going into Device Manager would be where to go to disable the WiFi drivers.

Bob Bone

[DeeringAmps]

Robert I have to disagree with using the M.2 drive as the boot drive.
The M.2 "shines" for your sample libraries, as I like to say "Superior Drummer loads yesterday from the M.2".
But keeping the C drive "lean and mean" is, for me at least, just good management.
C drive, SSD for sure; OS, programs, vst dll's etc. But I do believe that if you keep the C drive "clean",  7200rpm drives work just fine.
Samples on the M.2.
Projects (per project folders) I'm still running WD Black drives.
In addition I a have a couple of drives (all conventional) for "data", backups, etc.
Guys (and gals) get an M.2 1TB, put all your ToonTrack, NI, IK etc samples on it; you can thank me later.
You boot once a day (well in the studio at least) maybe twice if an "issue" arises, I'm loading samples every time I open a project...

T

[user 905133]

10 hours ago, gmp said:

. . .  when I first got one of my Canon printers, I was surprised that it seemed to install itself on my DAW using it's wireless connection. So is it possible I do have Wi-Fi enabled on my DAW? If so I'd like to disable it

Just a footnote: I believe I have a similar situation with an Epson All-in-One printer/scanner/etc. My all-purpose PC is connected via ethernet cable to an internet switch which allows me to have four wired connections. The printer/scanner/etc. is seen by a separate wi-fi capable and enabled secondary router connected by ethernet cable to my ISP provided cable modem which does not provide my WiFi.

My all-purpose PC (which has Cakewalk) gets the printer/scanner's internal address (LAN - local area network) from the network. WiFi devices can see the printer as well, but my PC doesn't have WiFi.

I'll let others comment on whether or not having the printer driver on your PC has an impact on audio.

Edited September 22, 2019 by MusicMan11712 (aka Dr. Steve)

[gmp]

3 hours ago, MusicMan11712 (aka Dr. Steve) said:

Just a footnote: I believe I have a similar situation with an Epson All-in-One printer/scanner/etc. My all-purpose PC is connected via ethernet cable to an internet switch which allows me to have four wired connections. The printer/scanner/etc. is seen by a separate wi-fi capable and enabled secondary router connected by ethernet cable to my ISP provided cable modem which does not provide my WiFi.

My all-purpose PC (which has Cakewalk) gets the printer/scanner's internal address (LAN - local area network) from the network. WiFi devices can see the printer as well, but my PC doesn't have WiFi.

I'll let others comment on whether or not having the printer driver on your PC has an impact on audio.

Thanks for the printer experience you had. My Canon MX920 is connected by USB to my DAW, but it first auto installed itself using Wi-Fi. I later tried to uninstall it and do the install on my DAW. I'm not sure either which way is best for the install, maybe no difference. I do have an external powered USB hub for things like printers and dongles

[gmp]

I did uncheck "power option on all USB hubs, but thanks for adding to the list

[gmp]

6 hours ago, Robert Bone said:

On your computer, you can go into Windows Device Manager, and disable the WiFi drivers there.  You can always enable them again if you want to use WiFi from your computer.  Disabling the drivers for WiFi on your computer will not affect the actual WiFi functionality on the modem/router.  It would only disable the WiFi drivers on your computer. 

Many laptops have a function key (on the keyboard, where you would usually hold a Fn key down while also pressing the key for the WiFi) or a hardware switch somewhere on the laptop, to turn on or off the WiFi, but on a desktop computer, that is usually not the case, and going into Device Manager would be where to go to disable the WiFi drivers.

Bob Bone

I have a desktop computer and see no reference to Wi-Fi in device manager unless it's hidden. Thanks for the info

[John]

Sorry but I do have wi-fi as well as bluetooth both on and operating. I can't see a problem with them.  I believe if you have an up to date motherboard and CPU one shouldn't have any problems with them.   

[Robert Bone]

2 hours ago, John said:

Sorry but I do have wi-fi as well as bluetooth both on and operating. I can't see a problem with them.  I believe if you have an up to date motherboard and CPU one shouldn't have any problems with them.   

You are correct - for your system, there are no WiFi driver interference issues. 

Many many folks, however, even with newer systems, DO experience WiFi driver interference.  The advice I gave should have explained this fact, and that IF one is experiencing interference and WiFi drivers are present, then it is worth trying to turn off or disable the WiFi to see if it clears up the issues, along with the notion that WiFi is perhaps not present on many desktop systems, though newer ones often include hardware support for it.  

I happen to have spent the past week trying to rebuild my monster desktop computer, which suffered a lightning strike that fried the motherboard and other electric components, even though I had everything plugged in a UPS with surge protection.  The lightning hit about 30 feet behind the rear wall of my house, and cooked several devices, despite the surge protection from a heavy duty UPS - but because of the Ethernet and coax cables coming through the ground and walls, the juice fried stuff by getting in THAT path.  I have been a tad distracted while still trying to assist folks. 

Apologies.

Bob Bone

[John]

No need to apologize. You are giving the best information you have.  It is what any of us do our best to do.   

[Robert Bone]

14 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:

Robert I have to disagree with using the M.2 drive as the boot drive.
The M.2 "shines" for your sample libraries, as I like to say "Superior Drummer loads yesterday from the M.2".
But keeping the C drive "lean and mean" is, for me at least, just good management.
C drive, SSD for sure; OS, programs, vst dll's etc. But I do believe that if you keep the C drive "clean",  7200rpm drives work just fine.
Samples on the M.2.
Projects (per project folders) I'm still running WD Black drives.
In addition I a have a couple of drives (all conventional) for "data", backups, etc.
Guys (and gals) get an M.2 1TB, put all your ToonTrack, NI, IK etc samples on it; you can thank me later.
You boot once a day (well in the studio at least) maybe twice if an "issue" arises, I'm loading samples every time I open a project...

T

For whatever the worth, I was fortunate to have been able to pick up 2 M.2 2280 NVME PCIe drives for my main desktop, so the boot drive is M.2, and the other M.2 is used for my Native Instruments sample libraries.  Both drives happen to be 2 TB, and my boot drive is indeed kept lean an mean.

My user folders reside on a different drive, which happens to be a 2TB 7,200 HDD. I have several additional 2 TB SSD's as well, and altogether, there are 8 hard drives on this computer.  My optical drive is external, rarely used, and uses USB 3.0

Bob Bone

 

[gmp]

On 9/22/2019 at 6:12 PM, Robert Bone said:

You are correct - for your system, there are no WiFi driver interference issues. 

Many many folks, however, even with newer systems, DO experience WiFi driver interference.  The advice I gave should have explained this fact, and that IF one is experiencing interference and WiFi drivers are present, then it is worth trying to turn off or disable the WiFi to see if it clears up the issues, along with the notion that WiFi is perhaps not present on many desktop systems, though newer ones often include hardware support for it.  

I happen to have spent the past week trying to rebuild my monster desktop computer, which suffered a lightning strike that fried the motherboard and other electric components, even though I had everything plugged in a UPS with surge protection.  The lightning hit about 30 feet behind the rear wall of my house, and cooked several devices, despite the surge protection from a heavy duty UPS - but because of the Ethernet and coax cables coming through the ground and walls, the juice fried stuff by getting in THAT path.  I have been a tad distracted while still trying to assist folks. 

Apologies.

Bob Bone

 

Did the lightening strike take out any HD's? I backup my 3 computers to a USB HD every night and I also run Backblaze online backup in case a real disaster happened like all HD's got fried or the house burns down or anything unforeseen. Hopefully I'll never have to use Backblaze, but it's there.

Thanks for all the info and especially alerting me of the M.2 HD - I must say I'm amazed at how much faster it is than my fast 2 SSD HD's I use for boot and samples. My computer is 4 years old. Can I get that kind of performance with my computer if I have a PCIe slot? I think I do 

[Robert Bone]

2 hours ago, gmp said:

 

Did the lightening strike take out any HD's? I backup my 3 computers to a USB HD every night and I also run Backblaze online backup in case a real disaster happened like all HD's got fried or the house burns down or anything unforeseen. Hopefully I'll never have to use Backblaze, but it's there.

Thanks for all the info and especially alerting me of the M.2 HD - I must say I'm amazed at how much faster it is than my fast 2 SSD HD's I use for boot and samples. My computer is 4 years old. Can I get that kind of performance with my computer if I have a PCIe slot? I think I do 

 None of the hard drives were damaged.  I pulled all 8 of them, and while I couldn't test the two M.2 2280 NVME PCIe drives in my spare desktop (it does not have the motherboard support for them), the other 6 drives (four 2 TB solid-state and two 2 TB 7200 HDD) were all just fine, and just to be sure I backed them all up and ran diagnostics on them - no errors and all data readable.  I now have the replacement motherboard for the main desktop that took the hit installed, and in about an hour will be booting into BIOS for the 1st time with the new motherboard, and that will tell me at least whether or not those 2 M.2 drives are still detectable by the BIOS.  If so, they are most likely just fine, and if not, then I will cry a lot, because those were quite pricey when I got them last year.

Anyways, to address your question - your motherboard has to have hardware support for the M.2 drives, so if you don't have it on the motherboard, you won't be able to add it.  Next motherboard though, I suggest you definitely look for M.2 connectors on the motherboard, because they are screaming fast.

I also belatedly learned about how wonderful also having hardware support for Thunderbolt 3 is, because the laptop that I was able to get, (Alienware 17 R5) came with both M.2 support and Thunderbolt support, and I also picked up a Thunderbolt 3 audio interface to use with quick mobile recording sessions, and also when I play my keyboards out live.  The reason I said 'belatedly', is that once I realized how insanely fast the Thunderbolt 3 protocol can transmit data (like up to 40 GB/sec or something like that), I immediately craved getting it for the monster desktop that is my main recording computer.  (the one getting repaired).  SO, it turns out that the Thunderbolt 3 hardware is only licensed for Intel motherboards, and NOT for AMD - my main desktop has an AMD Ryzen 1950x Thread Ripper CPU, etc., so in the 1st place, the AMD-based motherboard for that computer would have had to have the Thunderbolt 3 support built into it from the start, even if I were to buy a brand new AMD-based motherboard, there AREN'T any that have that Thunderbolt 3 support anyways, so I would have to have gotten both an Intel-based motherboard with the Thunderbolt 3 header/support, and an Intel CPU, so since my Ryzen is in great shape, that will have to wait until my next full computer build, at which point I will make sure to do a better job of homework, prior to selecting components.

Sorry if I ended up boring you with any of the above - the recap is this - I HIGHLY recommend your next computer build include a motherboard with BOTH M.2 support AND Thunderbolt 3 support  - and even though that seems to mean going with the higher priced Intel-based motherboard and CPU, the insane performance will be well worth it, and you will be insanely happy going that route.  (you would also need to eventually pick up an audio interface with Thunderbolt 3 support too - not cheap, depending on inputs/outputs and features - the little one I got for the laptop is a UAD Apollo Arrow, 2 mic/line ins and 4 outs and that ran $499 I believe but the more expansive units can run up to $2k-$3k or more - that said, you could always use your current audio interface while saving up for one of the big-daddy version Thunderbolt 3 interfaces, OR pick up an Apollo Arrow like I did, and use that for projects where you don't need a lot of inputs, and use your USB-connected audio interface instead, for larger numbers of inputs - assuming yours has 8.  If only 2, than the $499 Apollo Arrow would be a speedy replacement to an equivalent USB interface ).

Bob Bone

 

[Starship Krupa]

On 9/22/2019 at 4:12 PM, Robert Bone said:

You are correct - for your system, there are no WiFi driver interference issues. 

Many many folks, however, even with newer systems, DO experience WiFi driver interference.  The advice I gave should have explained this fact, and that IF one is experiencing interference and WiFi drivers are present, then it is worth trying to turn off or disable the WiFi to see if it clears up the issues, along with the notion that WiFi is perhaps not present on many desktop systems, though newer ones often include hardware support for it.

Thank you, Robert, for giving greater detail regarding the "disable Wi-Fi" advice (and thank you, @John for mentioning that you leave your WiFi adaptor enabled and observe no negative impact on your audio performance as a result).

Yes, the network adapter is sometimes the culprit when one is experiencing latency issues. But disabling it with the expectation that it will cause latency issues is, in my opinion, unnecessary and inconvenient. How can I hunt down freeware plug-ins with no network connection? What would be the point of even having a DAW if I couldn't install plug-ins that I will rarely if ever use?

I was about to ask you to explain in greater detail, exactly why one should automatically disable their WiFi, what makes a WiFi adaptor different from other hardware devices that it should be deemed guilty before proven innocent. Did Broadcom or Intel release a crappy driver a few years back? I ran Latency Mon on my Optiplex right after I installed Windows 10 and was getting these huge spikes from NDIS.SYS. Turns out the ethernet (hardwire, not wi-fi) adapter driver that Microsoft was shipping was causing it, so I tracked down the earlier Dell version.

But that's a case of a device's driver gone bad, not an entire class of driver (or brand of computer or OS, you see what I'm getting at) that I think people should shun. I might say "run Latency Mon to see if some hardware driver might cause trouble, network drivers in particular have been known to be sketchy in the past."

There's another thread in which I gave my lengthy opinion about DAW security worries in general. I used to work as a server engineer for a security company and I never encountered anyone convinced that they needed air gap (that is, total disconnection) protection from the Internet until I started hanging out on DAW forums. It's baffling and a bit amusing to me, like encountering a community of computer Amish.

Literally every company I can think of that produces DAW software (just about any software period) does so with the assumption that the computer it runs on is going to have an Internet connection, and there are entire genres called "Laptop Techno" and "Laptop Indie," yet I see people who would seemingly leave the keys in their unlocked car downtown before they would leave their DAW computer connected to the Internet (to avoid malware attacks), and other people who automatically suggest that for best performance you should turn off your WiFi.

Me, I think if we just use common sense computer security practices like having a malware solution installed, don't visit sketchy websites, don't open executable email attachments, and most importantly back up our data and be able to reinstall our important software, we will be fine and nobody  can steal the 3/4 finished Jobriath tribute album we started back in 2006.