Well, progress is being made. I am getting ready to change my username on this forum, because I don't think I'm that "Confused" anymore. I think I'll become "Getting It", or something like that, because I'm no long that frustrated with my DAW anymore. I don't work on it full time, but the little time I have spent on it so far has been fruitful. Here's what I've done:
I got an article someplace on how to optimize Windows for audio work. It involves setting the CPU for "background operation", turning off all those cute visual effects like "Aero Glass", shadowing, etc in Windows, shutting off system sounds, and turning off alerts to updates and system checks. HP is bad for flashing up this little diagnostic helper once in a while that offers to do a tuneup on your system, so I've shut that down. I need to remember to defrag the hard drive, set a restore point, and empty the temporary folder and recycle bin once in a while - as well as manually check for updates to keep Windows current - but that must still all help.
I took out the old WaveLab 4 that I have had for many years, because it wouldn't run, and just sat there. I also removed NI's famous Hammond emulator B4II (even though I love it), and I hate to say I broke down and bought a full package of the newest WaveLab, version 7. It comes with its own dongle, and I've got that all registered and working fine now. I wasn't sure if I could apply the licensing of it to the dongle I've already got in for Cubase 5.0, but I got it all working with two hardware keys now in the back of my PC. No biggie - I'll live with it.
I installed a second hard drive in my system, the one from my old PC. It's only got 250GB, but I will be putting my projects to it. The programs, VSTIs, and all the Native Instruments Komplete stuff is still on the main HDD. I've got the buffer settings at 1024 for now, and I think that's okay. I might tune it down a bit till latency becomes a problem. Finally, I have tried using things, and I seem to have it all working without having to strip it all down and reload it all. The only problem I'm having right now is some MIDI notes hanging, but I will keep working on that.
This is how things stand so far. Next time you hear from me, I'll have a different (and more positive!) username. I'll be happily making music. Thanks for everybody's help! I'll continue to post regularly and become part of the "community".
Comments
Regarding your 1024 buffer. The lower your buffer setting, the l
Regarding your 1024 buffer. The lower your buffer setting, the lower latency you'll experience. The less real-time plug-ins available to run without glitching. So you what buffers low when tracking & overdubbing. Then you use higher buffers when you are mixing & running any kind of real-time effects since latency is not an issue there and having plenty of plug-ins running is. Everything else you've indicated looks and sounds good.
My main laptop since 2006 has been an HP DV 8339 US. Yeah, most of their bundle of software is useless for our applications. Even worse, mine came with XP Media Center Edition which is unfortunately the most horrible OS thing since Windows ME. No professional software supports that version of XP. So I just loaded XP Pro 32-bit SP 2. I had to download all of the drivers I wanted from HP and install all the software that I wanted to use, that I use. No problems there. But if you haven't already invested in a copy of XP Pro 32-bit you will have to purchase it as you can not update Windows XP MCE to Pro with a windows XP Pro update disk. Again Bill Gates has the last laugh. I wanted this particular Pentium Duo as it had 2 separate internal 100 GB 5400 RPM, SATA drives. I ripped those drives out and stuck in a 250 GB & 320 GB 7200 RPM pair of drives. My only problem now is that the USB sockets have all but had it. Factory cost of repair/replacement probably not practical? Not sure if I'll ever purchase another HP laptop and not just for those reasons? I'm looking but I haven't really found anything I like yet and they've all got Windows 7. Although not hearing anything bad about Windows 7 except that it is more Macintosh like. Well I no Macintosh like, so that's a problem and Windows XP is coming to the end of its broadcast day.
Signing off
Mx. Remy Ann David