Windows provides a lot of cool tools that help you run your computer and do all those tasks on it we all do everyday. Some software you install adds additional tools that, in some cases, add additional help.
But many of these tools interfere and cause major headaches for us when we use our computer as a dedicated live sound audio center – such as when you are using MixAction during a theater performance.
All kinds of things can conspire against you to make goofs and uglies right at the moment we need them least.
This quick guide will offer you some solutions on how to overcome some of these problems and turn your computer into a Lean Mean Music Machine…
Some of these tips are so easy anybody can safely do them, providing they remember the steps (i.e. write them down so you know how to go back and change them again later) and others do require you have above average computer skills. So for this reason we’ll mark them with a smiley face if they are easy and a red angry face if they require advanced knowledge.
Note: You undertake these steps entirely at your own risk. TwoCan Multimedia Software, the staff and agents in no way warrant or endorse these tips as required and accept no responsibility if anything goes wrong. If you are uncertain at all about anything either do not do it or consult a computer professional or knowledgeable person to assist and guide you.
OK. Here we go.
Turn Off Unnecessary Applications
A lot of programs simply aren’t needed when you are performing live audio. For example, iTunes installs a lot of services (programs you can’t see but run even when iTunies © isn’t running). even if you don’t own or have an iPOD connected. You don’t need these running, so it’s safe to turn them off (instructions at the end of this section).
Anti-virus software and firewalls simply aren’t necessary during a live performance if:
- You are not connected to the Internet during the performance.
- You do not install software or access external disk drives – particularly from unknown sources.
So we can safely turn those off. Your anti-virus and firewall software help will have instructions on how to do this if your don’t know. Note that these two pieces of otherwise essential software are arguably also the two biggest culprits when it comes to audio interference (glitches, wobbles and clicks) during performance. This is because they use up a lot of your CPU’s (the chip that does the real work in your computer) resources, memory (RAM) and hard drive access times.
Just remember to turn them back on again before you connect back to the Internet or access external drives like CD’s, DVD’s, USB sticks and floppy disks – particularly if they are from unknown sources.
To turn off background tools like iTunes and others is simple – providing you know which tools you are turning off. Some tools are essential for Windows to keep running. Turning off those tools may require you to reboot or indeed may actually reboot you automatically (for example turning of Explorer.exe is futile as Windows needs this to run – stick to things that you can identify like iTunes unless you know what you are doing). Note that turning them off once means that they will be turned on automatically again next time you start Windows – so you can’t cause any permanent problems with doing this that a simple reboot won’t fix.
Note that MixAction does not install any background services of it’s own.
Defrag Your Hard Drive
Rating: Easy
You’d think that Windows would neatly arrange files in the most logical and easiest manner wouldn’t you? You’d think that’d probably be sequential, because after all computers are logical devices and a sequence in order is logical – right?
You’re forgiven for thinking that – because it is a reasonable assumption. Sadly though it’s far from the truth. Windows throws them in apparent abandon all over the place. Worse it throws bits of files all over the place. A bit of your MP3 at the start, for example, a bit of that same MP3 in the middle, perhaps, and the rest at the end. Pretty much all over the place.
This works pretty well as a general rule because most files you use can be found and read in milliseconds by your computer. But audio is much more intensive. Audio needs more resources. So we need to help out Windows by making our audio faster to find.
The solution is defragging. It’s OK, it’s not as ugly as it sounds and it’s really simple to do.
You can buy advanced specific tools to do it, and they are great, but Windows does include such a tool that’s actually pretty good at what it does for our purposes here.
NOTE: You need to do this before your live performance, not during. The process is very resource intensive and depending on your hard drive size (or sizes if you have more than one) and the number and size of your files it can take several hours to complete. One of those things you can safely leave to complete overnight – say the night before the big performance.
So – to perform a defrag all you need to do is:
- Go to the Windows Start menu.
- Go To Accessories menu.
- Choose the System Tools menu
- Select Disk Defragmenter.
Follow the directions the tool gives you and defrag your hard drives like a pro!
Turn Off Pesky System Sounds
Rating: Easy.
Windows loves to talk to us. It seems it’s always got something to say. Ping! Ding! Whoo-hoo – email’s in. Click! You chose a menu, POP! You’ve have no security installed.
Very cool and absolutely incredibly fatal during a live performance as each and everyone of those sounds is going to be broadcast by your soundcard to your audience.
We obviously don’t want that!!
Clearly we need to turn them off for our performance. Here’s how…
- Go to the Windows Control panel (the location varies on different versions of Windows).
- On XP choose “Sounds and Audio Devices”.
- On XP choose “No Sounds” from the drop down list as your sound scheme.
- Click OK.
On Vista:
- Go to the Windows Control panel.
- Select “Hardware and Sound”.
- Select “Change System Sounds”
- Select “No Sounds” from the drop down list box as your sound scheme.
- Click OK
That’s it for system sounds! No unexpected Doinks!, POPs! or TINGS!
Advanced System Optimizing.
Rating: Advanced. Computer Knowledge Needed.
OK. This section deals with the trickier tips that certainly work and work well but require you know enough about your computer to understand fully the consequences of following or using these tips. So if you’re unsure either ask a computer professional or a knowledgeable friend. If you are still unsure even then – then don’t do them…
Optimizing Performance Settings allows you to turn off features you may not need. We do not recommend most of these for people with the latest computers. It simply isn’t necessary if you have a modern, fast computer, have followed the steps above, have sufficient RAM (memory – MixAction requires you have 540 megabytes installed RAM in order to operate as intended) and are using Windows XP or Vista.
Using your keyboard use the following combination to show the dialog box below. Those keys are:
WinKey+Pause Break
To use the settings shown in the screenshot above requires that you understand their roles. This guide is not going to explain those roles here. If you don’t know there are plenty of books and website’s that do explain it in complete detail.
Turning off visual effects – again only if you are noticing major problems with your computer in terms of live audio performance – can assist in some instances. These options can turn off the “skins” in XP and Vista and make your computer look and behave similar to older versions of Windows like Windows 2000 and Windows 98.
Using the dialog you can select “Adjust for best performance options” and then in the list below that uncheck any of the visual options that Windows uses.
Soundcard Latency
Rating : Easy.
This is actually a deep subject, so we’re only going to stick with the easy stuff in this article and go into some deeper stuff at a later date in a specialized article.
You have probably experienced a form of “latency” if you use a cell phone (or mobile phone) or when you make a call overseas on your landline. It’s a gap in the sound between when you speak on the phone and the time the sound is actually heard. This is most noticeable, when using a tool like MixAction when we are using a microphone plugged into the soundcard.
This is quite different to the gap in time that exists in an audio track’s start and when, say, the music begins which is more of an editing issue. Note that MixAction automatically attempts to play a sound immediately and actually does it’s best to find the optimal starting point based on a sound being totally quiet (silence) and an actual sound (+1 db).
However, when you’re using multiple tracks at once, for example with MixAction’s automixing facilities, or you have a microphone plugged into a sound card then latency can occur and this is beyond MixAction’s control as it’s related to your computer’s hardware.
Help, however, is at hand.
As stated above, this is a deep subject and we will explore it in deeper detail in another article on soundcard’s and latency in the future. But for now here’s a few things you can do…
To show the needed dialog use the WinKey+Pause Break keyboard combination.
Click on the advanced tab and select the option for giving priority to background services.
Click OK.
Finally
- Make sure you print out or write down each step you carry out so you know what to change back.
- Don’t tweak more than you need to.
- The most important tweaks, amongst all of these, at this level, is turning off stuff like iTunes and temporarily turning off anti-virus and firewalls until you need to access the Internet or external disks.
Scott Kane
CEO TwoCan Multimedia Software