User manual

23
Setting up your system
Some program functions may “eat up” all the available
memory, e. g. recording, the use of effect plug-ins, and the
pre-loading of samples (see also
“RAM requirements for
recording” on page 92 and “Smart plug-in processing” on
page 188).
Always keep in mind the RAM limitation of your operating
system when setting up your projects.
CPU and processor cache
It goes without saying that the faster the computer proces-
sor, the better. But there are a number of factors that affect
the apparent speed of a computer: the bus speed and type
(PCI is strongly recommended), the processor cache size
and of course, the processor type and brand. Cubase relies
heavily on floating point calculations. When shopping for a
processor, please make sure that you get one that is pow
-
erful in calculating floating point arithmetics.
Note also that Cubase features full support for multi-pro-
cessor systems. So, if you own a computer system with
more than one processor, Cubase can take advantage of
the total capacity and evenly distribute the processing
load to all available processors. For further information,
see
“Multi processing” on page 24.
Hard disk and controller
The number of hard disk tracks you can record and play
back at the same time also depends on the speed of your
hard disk and hard disk controller. If you use E-IDE disks
and controllers, make sure that the transfer mode is DMA
Busmaster. Under Windows, you can check the current
mode by launching the Windows Device Manager and
looking for properties of the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller’s
primary and secondary channel. DMA transfer mode is en
-
abled by default, but may be turned off by the system
should hardware problems occur.
Audio hardware and driver
The hardware and its driver can have some effect on re-
gular performance. A badly written driver can reduce the
performance of your computer. But where the hardware
driver design makes the most difference is with latency.
This is especially true when using Cubase for Windows:
• Under Windows, ASIO drivers written specifically for
the hardware are more efficient than the Generic Low La-
tency ASIO Driver or a DirectX driver and produce shorter
latency times.
• Under Mac OS X, audio hardware with properly written
Mac OS X (Core Audio) drivers can be very efficient and
produce very low latency times.
However, there are additional features currently only available with ASIO
drivers, such as the ASIO Positioning Protocol.
Making settings that affect performance
Audio buffer settings
Audio buffers affect how audio is sent to and from the au-
dio hardware. The size of the audio buffers affects both
the latency and the audio performance. Generally, the
smaller the buffer size, the lower the latency. On the other
hand, working with small buffers can be demanding for the
computer. If the audio buffers are too small, you may get
clicks, pops or other audio playback problems.
• Under Mac OS X, you can adjust the size of the buffers
on the VST Audio System page in the Device Setup dia
-
log.
You may also find buffer settings in the control panel for the audio hard-
ware.
• Under Windows, you adjust the buffer size settings in
the control panel for the audio hardware (opened by click
-
ing the Control Panel button on the driver page in the De-
vice Setup dialog).
!
When a function has used up all the memory made
available by the operating system, the computer will
crash.
!
Again, we strongly recommend that you use audio
hardware for which there is a specific ASIO driver!