I’ve done some optimizing of Vista now, got rid of the lovely but unnecessary Aero and some other audio specific optimizations. I can now run my new piece with roughly 7% CPU usage, all as MIDI. Remember that this uses incredibly powerful sample libraries that required freezing on the old machine in order just to play back. This is a wonderful thing…
Well, last night was beyond frustrating – major issues with using my Saffire on the new computer. Still not sure what the problem was – it would just cut out, something like the driver crashing, requiring uninstalling, restarting, installing. But among what was an unbelievable exercise in patience (I didn’t win), I discovered a way to use my old CME keyboard with the new computer (MIDI connects the old computer through my old US-122 to the Saffire. The keyboard is connected to the old computer (Win XP) through USB, and MIDIOX sends the signal without any noticeable latency through to the Saffire. Seems to work like a dream. I also connected the audio from the old computer to the Saffires inputs 3-4, so I have everything going through the same speaker system. The down side is that to use MIDI my old computer MUST be turned on, and to hear audio from my old computer, my new computer MUST be on. Not quite what I was hoping for, but will do the job until finances allow for more purchasing.
This morning, the Saffire seems really stable on the new machine – gave it a quick test drive once again with a really intense set of plugins, and everything’s working well. My latest piece (on the home page – called Disguised) which won’t run on the old machine at all without freezing tracks to save CPU load, runs nicely on the new machine with a 12% CPU load with nothing frozen and using Vista’s Aero graphics (something I don’t intend to live with for long – they’re really nice, but an unnecessary drain). This has some intense plugins – Superior 2.0, Reverence Reverb, several instances of Guitar Rig and Voxengo Elephant among others. I’m pleased to see this kind of performance… that is the whole point of the upgrade. And I’m still not totally utilizing the new computer to its potential since I’m running Cubase in 32 bit mode.
Well, its arrived. The thing is everything as big as people say – it really dwarfs my old machine, being at least 30% bigger front to back, and in height.
The week has been a slow one of installing libraries, some twice. I gave Windows 7 64 bit a try for a while, but the drivers for my Saffire audio interface don’t seem to play nice. This surprises me a little since I thought anything for Vista would kind of work in Windows 7, but alas, there are issues, too significant to work through. I also found that the drum sequencer that comes with my drum library (Toontracks Superior 2) doesn’t like Cubase 64 bit either. So, for now, I’m trying out Windows Vista 64 bit and Cubase 32 bit.
There have been some issues with the Saffire even in this set up – it seems to disconnect sometimes and the only way to resolve the issue is to disconnect the Saffire, restart the computer, uninstall the driver, reinstall the driver, reconnect the Saffire. I’ve now disabled the onboard sound, and haven’t had any issues since, but its early days.
Still figuring out logistics. My CME keyboard won’t work with any 64 bit OS (note to everyone – never buy CME – they have no regard for customers whatsoever), so I will not be able to use it on the new machine, except by connecting the MIDI cable and this reduces functionality a little. Maybe I’ll be doing most of my composing on the old machine and then doing only minor editing and mixing on the new one… for now.
Priorities have changed a little – Kontakt 3.5 has moved down the list a shade, and a new keyboard has moved up. Both are a little while away as I recover from the cost of the computer!
A quick test with Superior 2.0, Guitar Rig and Reverence – three resource hungry applications, inside Cubase 5 reveal a 3% CPU use. This makes me smile. It would have been 30-40% on my old machine.