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Setting up your system
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 dialog.
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).
Optimizing processor scheduling (Windows only)
To get the lowest possible latencies when using ASIO un-
der Windows (on a single-CPU system), the “system per-
formance” has to be optimized for background tasks:
1. Open the Control Panel and select the System settings.
2. On the left, select the “Advanced system settings”
option.
The System Properties dialog opens.
3. Select the Advanced tab and click the “Settings…”
button in the Performance section.
The Performance Options dialog opens.
4. Select the Advanced tab and activate the “Adjust for
best performance of: Background services” option.
5. Click OK to close the dialogs.
Multi processing
On the VST Audio System page you will find the “Ad-
vanced options” section. Here you find advanced settings
for the VST Engine, including a Multi Processing option.
When this is activated and there is more than one CPU in
your system, the processing load is distributed evenly to
all available CPUs, allowing Cubase to make full use of the
combined power of the multiple processors.
About the VST Performance window
The VST Performance window is opened from the De-
vices menu. The window shows two meter displays: The
ASIO meter, which indicates CPU load, and the Disk me
-
ter, which shows the hard disk transfer rate. It is recom-
mended that you check this from time to time, or keep it
always open. Even if you have been able to activate a
number of audio channels in the project without getting
any warning, you may run into performance problems
when adding EQ or effects.
!
Again, we strongly recommend that you use audio
hardware for which there is a specific ASIO driver!