Solved my 3 year problem?

[richard greenidge]

In 2019 got the fastest processor then, the 3900X. It worked great, then later Cakewalk started messing up. For months I started changing everything else, upgraded to a 5950X. Same problems. Everything I tried worked for a day. The last couple of months, while playing back a song, it didn't matter if I had a recording of mixed Audio and Midi of 4 tracks or +20. The CPU threads would start spiking at 4:04 minutes of playback, slow down for a few seconds, making noise, or just stopping no matter where you started playback on a song. Every time I tried something new, remove a virus program, it worked for a day or two then act up again. Normally my CPU with maximum channels with 3-4 effects, audio and or Midi, the CPU use was at 3-11%, and 128GB of RAM memory at only 16% usage. Hard drives are a mixture of SSD and NMVe, showing no or little visual activity. 
A few days ago. I finally ran a latency audio tester. The final results were that my computer had no problems and could practically run anything. I then ran Cakewalk with it running and when it crapped out, it said the error was due to something not turning off fast enough. I could see the spikes in the CPU threads. It recommended, that update my motherboard Bios. There have been 8 updates since I last did one. I updated the Bios, and I noticed right away on Cakewalk the thread pattern of the CPU looked different. At the +4-minute mark when the Audio engine dropped out, it was the first time I had no CPU thread spiking. 
I use an MOTU 24AO as my audio interface. I went to their website to see if they had new hardware and software updates for Win 10, and they did not. But they had a new page telling you to remove Windows Cortana. I always had mine disabled, and Windows plans to get rid of it. I always disabled most background programs, and the modem which didn't help. I followed the steps to remove Cortana. Then I went to the Presonus (I have 4 DAW programs) knowledge base, it has a page to optimize the computer for audio. It had me disable, one protection protocol I had on. 
Before when I would reach that 4:04 mark, when playing back If it did not crash or slow down. I could still see the CPU thread indicators starting to increase double or triple, and after a while go back down to normal. After getting rid of Cortana, and doing what Personus recommenced, I feel like one or both of these two things, solved my problem. Why? Because now when I get to the 4 minute mark, my CPU thread activity, remains the same. Today will be day 3 since I made the changes. Keeping fingers crossed.      

[Herky Acuff]

Good news! And we can all relate to your frustration. Being methodical like you were, about troubleshooting, pays dividends.

[Hill62]

Which audio latency tester did you use?

[Sal Sorice]

Not sure what @richard greenidge used but one highly recommended one is latencymon

https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

[richard greenidge]

Sal Sorice, you 100% right. I used latencymon. I been so frustrated I was to buy the pro one. I used Cakewalk DOS, when I built my first IBM compatible computer. I connected my Yamaha PSR-500, midi controller, (had a few), Used channel 8 on my Fostex A8 to synchronize my audio tracks with my midi tracks and never had a problem. When Cakewalk added audio tracks, I added (1) then (2)  M- Audio Delta 1010LT cards to give me 16 audio channels. It worked good until Windows 10.  After that I bought the Motu 24AO. I switched from Cyrix to AMD and finally bought an Intel processor board, all these years, trying to keep up, because I could use 8 memory slots, with Cakewalk. When Cakewalk decide to hang it up. I was having problems with some simple features I never had before. If I pasted loops, sometimes after a certain time, the timing would paste, all zero instead of quarter notes etc. They 'd fix it, then on the next update, the error would return. So I had to find a new DAW and Personus gave us CW users a great discount. It was hard for me to copy all the tracks. Today I have over 900 plug-ins, which over the last few months I took photos of audio effect ones, printed put them in a binder to remember what I have and how they work, by looking on YouTube. I think two things I did not like with Personus. I don't have the latest since Cakewalk came back. I couldn't put it on two video monitors, or really stretch the mixer board out? Plus, I can't get XLN Addictive Drum2 to load. On my latest tracks, people like the Modo drums by IK Media. I then bought the Studio One DAW, because there was a website no longer in existence (Mix The Music) and for $9.99 you could get original multitrack stems for your own personnel mixing. Later, since I use Magix video software I tried using their DAW. It was pretty good until I tried comp tracks, the software and audio went crazy. During all these last years I upgraded to an AMD 5950X CPU from a 3950X. I was thinking about going Threadripper, because the new boards needed DDR5. also. The 7950X was lower than twice the speed. Not worth the upgrade. I've changed to 4 Nvme drives, and 4 SSD drives. One of the first problems I had, while I was running Cakewalk, the old SATA drives had auto-config on, and when it started, it would go to 100% and use up all the memory. But at least I could see what the hog was and correct and later replace them. Cortana was disabled, and didn't show up as being used. Thought I had a overheat problem, always 4+ minutes of playback. But having a calmer head tells you, heat problems don't cool off by themselves. Now I can't wait for the new Cakewalk. I have my Motu 24AO with 3 ADATS, so I can get 32 channels out to the mixer, 8 to the computer, for 40 total out, and 8 in. Latencymon, said my computer could handle anything when running on it's own, until I started Cakewalk and it crashed. I'm one very happy and confident person about my DAW. I'm afraid of updating to the next Windows updates.        

 

Edited February 25 by richard greenidge
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