optimize win2k or xp for asio

[taktik]

http://service.steinberg.net/knowledge_pro…duling_win2k_xp

for those who still dont know it

[Zed (Abadonna)]

hmm… i don’t believe much about that optimization… i got win98se sblive! with 21ms asio, if i do it smaller it clicks… i wondering if it’s better than directsound somehow. and i’m not sure if i install xp i’ll get better result…

[taktik]

this tip is for those who have xp or win2k. I dont wanted to say that you should use xp to run asio at lower latencies.

[Zed (Abadonna)]

this tip is for those you have xp or win2k. I dont wanted to say that you should use xp to run asio at lower latencies.

yeh, i know, i have to use dos to get the best perfomance.

[looza]

yeh, i know, i have to use dos to get the best perfomance.

that was a joke, right ? RIGHT ?

[Zed (Abadonna)]

yeh, i know, i have to use dos to get the best perfomance.

that was a joke, right ? RIGHT ?

taktik aslo joked a bit. i like jokes with serious face, that’s a real humour. after all, everything under dos run better because there is no windows on background.

[Johan]

Thanks for the tip Taktik!

I’m running XP and performance increased vastly after this change! Not only the latency got better, but my soundcard dragged down the overall system performance making everything slow and stuttering before… now it doesn’t anymore. Great!

I could reduce latency from 42 ms to 11 ms in Renoise (testing with a song with CPU load of up to 80%). However running many applications still made Windows stutter a bit so I increased latency to 22 ms and it works like a charm. I’m happy

[evention]

for all the Xp users, check this:
http://www.musicxp.net/

and some usefull links:

http://www.studiocovers.com/articles4.htm

[Johan]

Evention,
Thanks for the link! I went through the tips and got up performance a bit I think… but I also found than my soundcard shared IRQ with a bunch of other peripherals. So I shut off ACPI (XPs IRQ sharing manager) and the soundcard got it’s own IRQ. All stuttering and clicks are gone now! wohoo!

So if you have these problems… check if your ASIO soundcard shares IRQ and disable ACPI if nothing else helps. Here’s a guide how to do it:

http://www.esi-pro.com/esi-pro/help/acpi_s…dard/readme.htm

But beware… all drivers have to be reinstalled and network settings are lost. And if you have lots of stuff connected to your computer the IRQs will run out, as this basically requires one IRQ for each peripheral. I have probably screwed something up here that I will notice later

Happy tweaking!

[Zed (Abadonna)]

after all, everything under dos run better because there is no windows on background.

The answer, my friend, is Litestep!

IF you don’t know what that is, it’s an alternate windows shell that gets the massive resource-demanding (at least in WinXP) explorer away. At least from the foreground… My performance and stability with apps increased loads.

yeh, i know, there are more shell like aston for example…

[Zed (Abadonna)]

IF you don’t know what that is, it’s an alternate windows shell that gets the massive resource-demanding (at least in WinXP) explorer away. At least from the foreground… My performance and stability with apps increased loads.

and btw, if you want to get most possible performance then just kill all bad processes (explorer & co)… with some process viewer for example…

[pulsar]

its safe to disable acpi for dual cpu machines. did that once (p2b-ds win2k acpi bug)

[nfryspys]

Hmmm. I could muster latency of 5ms with directsound.
and ca 14ms with asio.
And i dont have a soundcard! Only my motherboard chip. nvidia firestorm.

Great tip indeed!

And this acpi…
In XP…dont bother, no problem…(should have no problem…but, maybe)
windows 2000 has to set IRQ = 11 for audiocard, or IRQ = 9
It can however share the IRQ.
In windows 98, you have to assign your audiocard a unique IRQ out of 16.

nfryspys

[looza]

Surely you guys can get yours tighter than that

I can get much higher without any problem

[vvoois (vV)]

Surely you guys can get yours tighter than that

It’s tighter than my unborn sister’s virginity-tube, how much more tightness can you imagine?

[escii]

Pleas ask luca anzilotti - nobody can fit his personal tightness

[Dr_Drips]

This one is very good for optimizing XP: http://www.musicxp.net/

btw: the steinberg service link is down.

[Unik_39_s]

@Dr. Drips

This one is very good for optimizing XP: http://www.musicxp.net/

btw: the steinberg service link is down.

Thanks Great Site

[Johann]

@Dr. Drips

btw: the steinberg service link is down.

From here:

Some software vendors recommend their users to change the processor scheduling option from Programs to Background services, e.g. Steinberg [4]. We noticed that especially Cubase VST and Nuendo from Steinberg but also other programs are working better when you use small buffer settings (low-latency). Interestingly, some articles about Windows 2000 / XP audio tuning claim that this tweak does not help at all and even reduces the performance of your system. Our recomendation: try it, but if you use ASIO based software by Steinberg, your system will definitly run better with this tweak. Under Windows 2000 (not XP), goto Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance Options and select Background services. Under Windows XP, goto Control Panel > System > Advanced > Settings > Advanced > Processor scheduling and select Background services.

[…]

[4] Optimize processor scheduling for Windows 2000/XP, article on the Steinberg Knowledgebase (based on a text from audiocard vendor RME)

Was that was topic was about, or was there more in that Steinberg article?