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when i try to load all komplete4 instruments on the vst panel, by the time i load the 2nd or luckily the 3rd N.I.vst Cubase4 freezes
specs are
1.-A quad core processor
2.-3.25 gigs ram
3.-32-bit operating system (xp)
& tons of space and 3 separate drives for your stuff.
it JUST GETS STUCK

Sometimes ill open up say electric piano by NI and the comp will just restart itself!

Has this ever happened to anyone using particularly NativeInstruments and Cubase ?

I am strongly considering swithing over to a 64-bit operating system

A friend recomended i reinstall windows.

what does the pro/amatuer digital recordist bloggers have to say about this ?
Greetings by the way.
i just hope to get to the bottom of this even if it means . spending more money.. thank you in advance

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Codemonkey Mon, 09/08/2008 - 11:28

"the comp will just restart itself!"
..has just cemented in my mind that you have heat issues.

Open the case, blow out the dust, preferably fit another heatsink.
I play online games, one guy was telling me he can get 300fps - but at certain explosions, the CPU chokes and it hits 15fps. He got a new heatsink that actually distributes heat properly, and now he gets over 100fps all the time.

Download [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.almico.c…"]SpeedFan[/]="http://www.almico.c…"]SpeedFan[/] and see if the temperatures are looking stupid. Anything above 50 for the CPU is not good especially if the PC is idle.

anonymous Tue, 09/09/2008 - 09:38

greetings
i do have four gigs installed however xp32 allows me to only use 3.25
thus considering my options to ugrade to 64 .
i will look into the heat issue.
however when i try load the various instruments , it just doesn't appear to be a hear issue rather a cpu issue
maybe i have two issue to deal with
thanks again

anonymous Tue, 09/09/2008 - 10:44

I used to run AMD's and had issues with heat...

The alarm thing would go mental and I would have to shut down... Then Summer came and it would be alarming constantly. I cut the wires to the PC speaker and the problem was solved.

I haven't had heat affect performance, the only thing I know heat does is if it gets too bad the CPU melts, this affects performance.

Do hot chips clock themselves back nowadays or somnat?

Space Tue, 09/09/2008 - 18:13

EricUndead wrote: [quote=Space]>2.-3.25 gigs ram

3.25 gig may point to memory parity issues or leaks (two different types OR maker of memory sticks).

I think it points out that he has XP32 but and that is all that XP32bit will register. He probably has 4 gigs but who knows

Good answer...I thought it was odd looking but didn't know there was a ceiling on memory in XP :)

There goes my certification!!

edit:

Did anyone ever ask for computer specs?

Is now a good time?

Codemonkey Tue, 09/09/2008 - 18:16

"Do hot chips clock themselves back nowadays or somnat?"

Auto-shutdown is common. I think mine is set to cut off at 74C. I know a guy who couldnt even run a virus scan or the CPU would overheat and it would reboot. Unfortunately the BIOS was password protected and he couldn't get in to change it. Nor would he let me force the issue...

Space Tue, 09/09/2008 - 19:03

Codemonkey wrote: Mine doesn't have it. It just goes ...
OFF.

There's a separate BIOS setting for a warning in mine. Unfortunately, where I put it to, it kept going off at bootup. So I got rid of it. I mean, surely it doesn't hit 50C just turning on?

Well boss, either it has an audible or it doesn't :)

If you turned it off via the bios, then it has an audible, you simply turned yours off ;)

Is that what you are saying?

pr0gr4m Tue, 09/09/2008 - 21:54

First question...and I hate to have to ask it...Is all of this software licensed or cracked? I guess if it's cracked you wouldn't say so...so I'm going to assume it's all on the up and up.

How much diagnostic work has been done on this to try and figure out what the problem is? Such as, can you load electric piano once and everything works just find and then load it again and it causes problems? In other words, is the problem random or does it happen each and every time you use one of these VSTi's?

If it's all the time, going from 32bit to 64bit is no "solution". It would just be a change that you are hoping will fix the problem.

What is the software situation when this happens? Does it happen if you create a new empty project and add in the vsti? Does this happen when adding them into an existing project? Does it happen only when you start playing the project or immediately upon loading the vsti?

What is the computer situation when this happens? What other programs are running in the background? Were the program crashes that may have happened prior to running Cubase/vsti? What is CPU usage prior to crash/lock/shutdown?

Do you have Vstack or some other VST host? What happens if you load these VSTi's into a different program?

Was all the software installed on a clean/new drive or was it installed on a drive that had some/lots of apps already installed on it?

Without knowing more, I would assume the problem to be software/os related possibly caused by a problem installation, problem patch or problem something else.

My first recommendation would be to check out the Cubase and NI forums. If there ARE problems, they will be mentioned/discusses and possible solved there.

My next recommendation would be testing the VSTi's in a different program. This can tell you if it's strickly a VST problem or combination of things. Load them into Vstack and see what happens. I would also test them out in a different DAW. If you don't have another one download Reaper and see if they work with that.

I don't know how or if the VST3 thing might play into this. My guess is that the NI stuff would be compatible but maybe there are problems with certain configs.

At any rate, if you test different scenarios and options/combinations and you still can't get the problem to happen regularly or it's just happening all the time, I'd say it would be time to start fresh...uninstalling, installing first the VSTi's, then Cubase and possibly even the OS...after a format and diagnostic check of the hard drive.

anonymous Wed, 09/10/2008 - 08:12

hello again,

i only have a few minutes before my next class so i will be quick here.

after reading what greener and a few others wrote, maybe i do have a heat issue at the root of the prob. unfortunatly i do not have any indication from my machine reassuring that heat played a factor in my comp freezing when cubase4 is open and attempts to load um.. battery 3 after or absynth after a couple of the NI vst's are loaded up.

BUT it does like a heat issue when me comp restarts, now that i have read your responses.

and now...

I used to run all hacked equip in my old comp . but my NEW six month old comp is all paid for software.

diagnostic wise is as follows
opening up a NI VST ie. battery lll standalone seldom causes the comp to restart . but i chose now not to get into that issue, that appears to me to be a heat issue

the problem at hand is this. when cubase 4 is open and no other program is running expect maybe task mgr. i open a empty file, open the vst window, and begin dropping in one vst at a time. by the time the 2nd or 3rd vst is loaded and nothing else is running cubase will get stuck in the middle of trying to load this intrument. so i simply shut down the non responding cubase 4 software.

thanks for all the advice

by the way cubase 4 is great . i havent used cubase 2 but i am sure it is just as good.

anonymous Wed, 09/10/2008 - 10:11

For heat you can fix it a few ways without spending to much coin.

Firstly drop the sides off you case. Increase airflow (and dustflow so be clean).

Get one of those tubes of that bat-shiat nasty silicone stuff you put on top of CPU's. Take the heatsink off your chip, clean the chip and the heatsink with a cloth and alcohol. Use gloves, this stuff is evil. Put AS MUCH AS YOU CAN on the chip and seat it against the heatsink leave any stuff that comes out the sides.

If the heat goo isn't on the chip properly it can cause heat issues.

Also, before you do anything. Check the bios for cpu temp readings. It should have them. It will also have settings for temp level at alarm and temp level at shutdown. Set the alarm to the current shut down temp and raise the shutdown temp by 5 deg. When it alarms put a big fan and point it at the machine and keep pushing the system and see if it stays running.

As for your actual problem I have no ideas. :P

hueseph Wed, 09/10/2008 - 11:10

I don't think it's a good idea to use too much thermal grease. That stuff can be semi-conductive depending on who makes it. Using too much can cause a short. NOT GOOD.

My other guess is that you're using vst2 plugins. They may not necessarily be fully compatible with VST3 I don't really see how this could be a problem but it's a possibility.

Space Wed, 09/10/2008 - 17:50

SeniorFedup wrote: when cubase 4 is open and no other program is running expect maybe task mgr. i open a empty file, open the vst window, and begin dropping in one vst at a time. by the time the 2nd or 3rd vst is loaded and nothing else is running cubase will get stuck in the middle of trying to load this intrument. so i simply shut down the non responding cubase 4 software.

Ah ha!

I would update the drivers for everything involved! Also...somewhere before you posted this topic, your computer ran good enough for you to work, yes?

Have you recently installed any software/hardware that could account for this issue? You should uninstall the offending software or hardware to correct this issue.

anonymous Thu, 09/11/2008 - 10:37

SeniorFedup wrote: what drivers are you reffering to ?
my computer runs fine other than the fact that it seldom shut down and restarts after a large graphics test or sometimes when i load an instrument.

Just out of curiosity what graphics card do you have? Do you have up-to-date drivers for said graphics card? Is it on-board? Sounds like maybe an issue with your graphics card. Many VST programs are GPU intensive and opening up a bunch of them or testing your graphics makes it crash, logic may point to your GPU for the first suspect.

anonymous Fri, 09/12/2008 - 09:14

hmm if i remember correctly i Used to own a pny gt8000 with 512 ram
but i switched it for a pny with 128 ram.
The old 512 ram graphics card would take those 512 mb away usable audio ram for video (which i felt i didn't need since i wont be using my comp for graphic editing.)
Now that l use this less powerful but yet effective card, my comp now reads 3.25 gigs ram rather than it reading 2.5 gig before i switched over.
But im not one hundred percent sure that i installed this card with its proper driver.
what i will do is check the status of my card or lower this pixel rate or maybe even the color rate.
thanks! i hope this gets front row seats to unfrozen comp show

anonymous Fri, 09/12/2008 - 15:24

SeniorFedup wrote: hmm if i remember correctly i Used to own a pny gt8000 with 512 ram
but i switched it for a pny with 128 ram.
The old 512 ram graphics card would take those 512 mb away usable audio ram for video (which i felt i didn't need since i wont be using my comp for graphic editing.)
Now that l use this less powerful but yet effective card, my comp now reads 3.25 gigs ram rather than it reading 2.5 gig before i switched over.
But im not one hundred percent sure that i installed this card with its proper driver.
what i will do is check the status of my card or lower this pixel rate or maybe even the color rate.
thanks! i hope this gets front row seats to unfrozen comp show

Get the latest drivers and check to see if that helps. Let me know if it works. If it helps then try going to 16bit color instead of 32bit. That's a way to lessen the strain on your GPU without a very noticeable reduction in quality. Also if your using XP change the setting for performance to "adjust for best performance" instead of letting windows choose or "best appearance". This can be found in the "System Properties" window under advanced settings tab then selecting Performance--> settings. This may look very plain, kinda like Win 2000 looked but you will stall have the functionality of XP.

These a all tricks I've used in the past for setting up gaming rigs so I can get every possible FPS (frame per second). There is a lot of services you can shut down and other tweaks that can become useful when trying to squeeze every single bit of processing power out of a PC. Window by default is very bloated and if your using it for a single application it can be stripped down very easily.

anonymous Mon, 09/15/2008 - 09:35

hello !

"I would recommend upgrading to 4.5.2. You can also freeze VST instrument tracks to lighten the load on the processor(But I can't even load them up). You may also want to increase the buffer size on your sound card(will this work?? i doubt it because i can run many of steinbergs vst's). Thank you."

this is what i got from steinberg corp.

-But anyway i changed the graphics levels everything from the colors to the pixle rate..................No dice.

-And yes i made all the mods i can to xp and stripped down most accseories and what not to have my computer dedicated to sound play.

-my specs pretty good ,Now after trying out lowering the graphics which did nothing to improve the loading of my vst's, l'm now resorting to

1.Reinstall native instruments. yuck

2.Consider that i have 3 seperate drives

{1. for XP only 80 gb
{2. cubase4 n komplete4 (which i think maybe to much load for my 160
gb drive that its on)
{3audio 300gb

or option 3. i dont know yet

- l will try the memtest for 45 min. codemonkey

Once again thank you everyone at rec.org for your support on resolving this issue with me. i am dedicated to solving this mystery and posting the solution as soon as i find it out. 8-)

anonymous Fri, 09/19/2008 - 10:33

Hello all
hope there is some one here that may be able to give me a hand here.

i am looking for a driver update for tascam fw1804
interface. which may be compatable with the
fw 1884. after doing some more online research i come to another hypothesis that my driver may not be able to run multiple NI vst's since they are kinda gluttonish on the pc.

i installed ASIO4all and noticed that the latency is greater than the original asio i have and on top of that , it will not play akoustik piano , in addition to not playing akoustic piano , it states that my analog in: 1 isnt readable.

But when i use this asio4all on another vst like Elektrik piano . it reads the analog 1 fine.

either way , if anyone has agood asio driver please link me thank you