Reference Guide

859
Improving Performance with Digital Audio
Improving Audio Performance
by one of the factors listed below. Read each of the topics below, in the order shown, and follow the
recommendations provided:
The CPU is being interrupted by "background" activities having nothing to do with audio
Cakewalk doesn't properly “recognize” your sound card
The "I/O Buffer Size" may not be well matched to your hard disk
Mixing latency may be set too low
Your hard disk may be excessively fragmented
Your project file may be excessively fragmented
Your sound card's driver may be obsolete
There may be a conflict with your video card or other multimedia streaming card
Your sound card may have a conflict with another device in your computer
Your project may simply be too "complex" for your computer
Upgrade your computer hardware: More RAM, a faster CPU, and a faster disk drive
The CPU is being interrupted by "background" activities having nothing
to do with audio
Turn off these other activities, so your CPU can process audio without interruption:
• Turn off the Microsoft Office FastFind option if present on your system.
• Don't use any scheduled background tasks (e.g., tasks which are part of the Windows Plus
package, or which you have scheduled yourself using the Windows Task Scheduler utility).
• Discontinue use of any networking or communications applications on your computer. For
example, don't run email programs (like Microsoft Outlook), Web browsers, or AOL client software
while you are running SONAR. These programs send and receive chunks of information over a
modem or a network connection; when one of these data chunks is sent or received, your CPU
may be unexpectedly interrupted from SONAR audio processing to deal with the modem or
network data. That interruption can disrupt the smooth processing of audio data, causing a
dropout or glitch. If possible, you should disconnect your computer from a local area network,
and/or disconnect from any dial-up telecommunications while recording or playing back audio in
SONAR.
• Turn off your screen saver (if present).
• Turn off the Auto-Notification option for your CD-ROM drive. If it is turned on, the insertion of a
CD-ROM can interrupt audio processing.
To disable it, open the System applet in the Control panel, click on the Device Manager tab,
expand the CD-ROM list entry, double-click on the listed CD-ROM device, click on the Settings
tab, and uncheck the Auto Insert Notification check box.
• Disable any kind of virus scanning program that might be running in the background. To find out
what programs are currently running, press the CTRL-ALT-DELETE keys simultaneously to
display the Windows Task Manager; if you see an anti-Virus program shown on the list of
currently running tasks, select that program and click End Task.