Instruction Manual

880 Improving Audio Performance
Improving Performance with Digital Audio
“compatibility mode” which can greatly slow data transfer to/from your
hard disk and make it almost impossible to record/play audio in
Cakewalk reliably. To do this, go to the Control Panel and double-click
on the System icon. Click the Performance tab. At the top of the
Performance screen read the entries across from File Systems and
Virtual Memory. They both need to say "32-bit". If they mention MS-
DOS Compatibility Mode, then your computer has a serious problem,
beyond the scope of what a Cakewalk technician can fix. Your
computer is processing the audio data very slowly and Cakewalk will
not work properly until the MS-DOS Compatibility Mode problem is
eliminated. Help is available on the Microsoft Technical Support Web
page at www.microsoft.com/Support. Click on the Support Online link
and search for the phrase "Troubleshooting MS-DOS Compatibility
Mode on Hard Disks." This problem can arise when installing a new
hard disk in your computer; if Windows cannot find a suitable driver for
the disk, it installs a generic driver and operates in Compatibility Mode.
• If you're using a hard disk controller that employs "programmed I/O",
upgrade to a disk controller that uses "bus mastering" instead. (This is
sometimes also known as an UltraDMA IDE Controller). The former
technique relies on the CPU to transfer the data to/from the hard disk,
stealing cycles which the CPU could be sending audio data to/from the
sound card. With the latter technique, the hard disk controller itself is
primarily responsible for transferring the data to/from the hard disk,
relieving the CPU of much of that burden.
• Install a faster hard disk. If you're using an IDE- or E-IDE-type hard
drive, try to find one which has a lower disk access time (e.g., less than
9msec). Use the Win Tune test application available at
www.winmag.com, this diagnostic tool measures your hard drive's
uncached transfer rate.
Optimized Picture Cache Redrawing
There are several options in the .ini files to speed up picture cache
redrawing The biggest improvement will be seen on machines with
multiple processors. Parallel processing can yield a significant boost in
performance.
There is also an option in the Clips Properties dialog to selectively
redraw waveforms for individual clips that may have a corrupt
waveform display (see To Redraw Waveforms).