XP tweaks - Scope & Logic 5.5 setup / proejcts

Terrac · Post by **Terrac** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:25 am

After 8 years of owning a pulsar I finally feel that I am able to setup windows XP in a very reliable configuration for logic platinum 5.5 and scope SFP.

I would like to share the 'tweaks" I performed in order to get my system as solid as possible as well as some observations about what software works better than others.

first off windows XP
after installation of windows, scope / sfp, and your audio apps

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Turn off extra apps and services
start -> run -> msconfig
go to the startup tab and un-check everything unessential
that means leaving ONLY nvidia, scope, and any other essential software (live Anti virus if you are on a network)
then go to the services tab and un-check the following :
telephony, terminal services, uninterruptable power supply (unless you have one), portable media serial number service, windows media player network sharing service, automatic updates, possibly more, but those are pretty safe to turn off

click apply, then close
it will ask you if you want to reboot now, I usually say no since I have more tuning to do

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check to see if any other hardware is sharing IRQ's with the pulsar
start -> run -> msinfo32
click the + next to hardware resources
then click conflicts / sharing
now look for your pulsar / scope / luna / whatever

if there are any other devices listed as using the same IRQ then turn them off by doing the following

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Disable the shared devices
start -> right click my computer -> manage
click Device Manager
now for each device that shared the IRQ of the hardware, find the exact one (for USB devices, the last 4 letters in system information are the exact identifier of the controller), right click the device and select disable. repeat for all devices that shared the IRQ

you may also want to disable your computers on-board soundcard, I find that causes noise and crackles even if it's not sharing an IRQ.

After disabling all the shared devices, ensure that DMA is on for all hard drives in device manager
Click the '+' next to IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
left click on Primary IDE channel -> Properties
Advanced settings tab
Look at the box that says the Current transfer Mode - you want Ultra DMA 5 or at least Ultra DMA
Do the same for Secondary IDE channel

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Re-route all DirectSound / MME audio through scope
it's a good idea to have some wave drivers in your scope routing window before you do this.

start -> control panels -> Sounds and Audio Devices
Sound Playback Tab :
Sound Playback : set to Creamware Play/Rec #(of wav driver you want to use)
Sound Recording: set to Creamware Play/Rec #(of wav driver you want to use)
Midi music playback : I set this to creamware as all MIDI get's routed through there, no matter where it's final destination is -your setup may differ here.

I also select 'use only default devices'

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Set the properties for those wave drivers (still in the Sounds and Audio Devices control panel)
Under the Hardware tab :
left click creamware card, then left click the properties button below
choose the settings tab, set the output preload all the way to the right (it's just safer that way)
I also change the number of Wave device to "2" and also Midi Devices to "2"
this gives me the flexibility to bounce audio and midi around between multiple applications.

Un-check the box that says 'Reset board if idle'

Logic Platinum :
Launch Logic
Audio -> Audio Hardware and Drivers -> Aydio Driver 2 Tab
Check ASIO
Select ASIO SCOPE for driver
check 20/24 bit recording (requires ASIO 24 or ASIO 2 24 object in Routing window)
Check software monitoring
Set Process Buffer Range to "Medium" (safe)
Check Universal Trackmode
Check Larger Disk Buffer

Some observations :
I really like using another WAV recording application such as Cool Edit, Soundforge, or Audition to record the output of logic, that way it's real easy for me to 'roll tape' in a session and capture all of what comes out, eve if it never makes it into the final project. It's handy and fun to go back and listen to it.

so here's the rub, with a fast compute (intel core 2 duo) I am now not able to do this with Cooledit or Adobe Audition - they are the same app underneath so that's understandable. I can now only do this with wavelab and soundforge. Which sucks, because cooledit / audition have real time frequency analyzers that I like to use. Granted this is only for recording, playback is unaffected in these applications, so I can still use them for edits, and sketching out tracks in their multi-track mode.

Hope this information is helpful to others.

Terrac · Post by **Terrac** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:51 am

I still get tons of mileage out of it :)
It's my bread and butter, work-horse, one-stop shop for creation of songs.

Terrac

MCCY · Post by **MCCY** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:14 pm

Thanks for sharing! Me too is still using LAP5.5 as I think it is a "finished" software. I feel no real need for any of the new toys... except freezing, but who needs freezing when having 45dsp+ horsepower

Terrac · Post by **Terrac** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 2:30 pm

I have to agree with your comment about ogic 5.5 being "finished". it's got every feature I want. Supports every synth I throw at it, does surround, has a superior array of built in effects that sound AWESOME! I can't give it up... plus every time I upgrade my PC it get's faster.

It seems that the Apple version of logic is going a different way - they are actually dumbing down the software for the masses. Like they are trying to make it pro-tools or garage band.

Freezing would be nice (I guess), but my core 2 duo never runs out of CPU, I am adept at building songs these days and I can tell when a track is ready to be bounced. Even then I usually only do that at the very end, just in case my PC blows up or something or I want to take the track into live, acid, or some other software as a long WAV.

Terrac

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:02 am

Great setup and tips! I have the same setup as you

Do you have any problems with MIDI not-off messages? I mean, do you have any MIDI notes that stay stuck when playing an external module?

Terrac · Post by **Terrac** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 8:24 am

paulrmartin wrote:Great setup and tips! I have the same setup as you

Do you have any problems with MIDI not-off messages? I mean, do you have any MIDI notes that stay stuck when playing an external module?

Occasionally, but only with midi out of the CW cards.
I usually start/stop playback real quick to shut everything up, but I know logic can send an all note-off message. I forget the key command though.

Terrac

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:50 pm

Yeah, but I need this problem to stop because there is no way of recording from a module adequately because of these hanging notes. Sometimes there is just no VST replacement for certain sounds...

Terrac · Post by **Terrac** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 3:00 pm

paulrmartin wrote:Yeah, but I need this problem to stop because there is no way of recording from a module adequately because of these hanging notes. Sometimes there is just no VST replacement for certain sounds...

have you tried slapping a midi monitor/ filter on the "midi seq. out" device in Scope software? maybe it's not specifically note off messages, but clock etc.. that confuse the hardware. try filtering down to just notes & cc's to see if that helps.

terrac

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 3:08 pm

I'll try once again. Active sensing is the thing that comes back more often than not when I search the Z database....

Lima · Post by **Lima** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:34 am

Thankyou!!!

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:53 am

Something occurred to me overnight. The problem may be that the module I am using just doesn't receive information fast enough, thus the hanging notes. Further research and I'll be back...

Lima · Post by **Lima** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:19 pm

paulrmartin wrote: Do you have any problems with MIDI not-off messages? I mean, do you have any MIDI notes that stay stuck when playing an external module?

I've got hanging notes in the past:
http://www.planetz.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19596
http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24512
http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18217
It was so frustrating... and to understand what was the problem I've lost nights and nights...

My solution was to use another midi interface.
Since I've installed the second hand cheap sound blaster for midi tasks I've got no midi hanging...
Now I've installed an MT4 with the same result

hope it helps!

Lima · Post by **Lima** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:36 pm

and about wich services are to disable an wich not... I've found this informative site, wich could be useful to someone:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 3:48 pm

Lima,

You installed the SB along side your Creamware card in the same computer?

Lima · Post by **Lima** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:38 am

Yes, i've got 3 PCI slot in my motherboard: 1 for the SB and 2 for the Scope.

I use also a Mt4 wich is USB. You could consider to use an USB midi interface instead of a Sound blaster tho

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 3:52 am

Another vintage sequencer user here. I want to buy a Mac for the studio but I'm too busy spending all my money on (also mostly vintage) hardware

A few small but important tips I didn't see mentioned here:

1. If you use Logic on XP, you must record to an NTFS disk!

2. If you use Logic with other apps (like Scope), you need to set priorities so that Logic has a higher priority than the other apps (otherwise Logic overloads with any kind of CPU load caused by the other app). You can either set the other apps to BelowNormal or set Logic to AboveNormal - you can do this in Task Manager or create a batch file(s) to do it.

3. Get an AMT8 or Unitor8! Used prices are very cheap - serial connection to AMT8 = rock solid timing for all my external gear. The MT4 does not have the time-stamping technology the AMT8/Unitor8 have.

4. Don't install Vista

5. Logic tends to freak out with more than 1GB of RAM in the system - this for me is the major major limitation of this dead but still great sequencer. You may think it's working ok but try using the glue tool on audio sometime

Try and stick to 1GB if you want the most stable system possible.

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:12 am

Wait! Are you saying that the 1Gb limitation only affects the glue tool? If thet's so I never use that tool so maybe I could try 1 more Gig in my machine. What do you think?

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:59 am

No, I think there are a few more instances where it causes problems. I'd say maybe try it (RAM is cheap) - the way you use Logic might not be affected. It's caused random instability for me so I avoid it. You can set a flag in boot.ini to restrict the amount of RAM used by Windows, it might be useful to use a batch file to swap versions of the file depending on whether you're using Logic in the session or not.

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:51 pm

I read that enabling Physical Addressing Extension might be of some help.

I don't know anything about this. Can someone light my lantern about PAE?

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:49 am

I tried enabling PAE and I got very bad results, audio crackling and midi stuttering....Maybe Pulsar doesn't like PAE enabled?