System very sluggish with UAD card ..help?

[straticus]

Hi, I just installed my first UAD card, the project pak, and my system is very sluggish and seems a little unstable too. It was running rock solid prior to the UAD card being installed.

Symptoms:
Very long (6 seconds or so) delay time before a mixer adjustment is heard. This makes mixing a pain.

The sound has dropped out for a few seconds. This has only happened a couple of times.

I made an EQ adjustment (Samplitudes track EQ) and afterward there was no sound at all. I had to close the session and re-start my computer to get things back to normal.

Overall, the system just seems like it's stressing. I thought the UAD card was supposed to relieve stress on the system ........???

This is the first mix I've worked on using the UAD card and I like the sound very much so far. Here's something I thought was kind of odd .......... I have 5 plug-ins running, the meter reads around 51% CPU but the memory reads 0%. Why would the memory read 0%?

I'm using Samplitude Pro 7.23 and MME drivers. I haven't tried using ASIO because I've read about some problems with those drivers.

2.3 PC running XP Home
512 ram

Thanks for any help.

BC

 

[Scott Peterson]

Easy stuff first, I am no techie by any stretch.

Some of the UAD plugs use its memory, like the reverbs. Some don't. Don't sweat that, it is normal.

The reason it *might* (I am NO techie!!!) is that you are running only 512mb of ram; you need more for sure. IMHO, at least a gig.

I have two UAD cards, and have been running them since it first came out; it has never caused me any of the issues you are seeing. I run 2 Gigs of memory and the computer is a P4 300mHz.

 

[straticus]

Hey Scott, thanks for the suggestion.

I posted this at the UAD forum too and got 5 or 6 posts all saying "Go ASIO"! So, I did and now my computer is pretty dang perky! I mean, it's flat out amazing! There's probably less than a second between the time I make a change (fader, muting, whatever) and when I hear it. Making changes to the EQ is a real pleasure now. It's like a new machine. I thought I remembered trying ASIO drivers a few years ago and having problems. Oh well, problem fixed ................. and then some! Woooooohooo.

 

[Bassomatic]

Originally posted by straticus
... There's probably less than a second between the time I make a change (fader, muting, whatever) and when I hear it.

That is a bitch, imo. Why the serious lag when making changes? It should be virtually (apparently) instantaneous.

What are your audio buffers set at? Sounds like they may be on ther high side, or maybe you've got a bunch of unwanted background programs/services running?

 

[Scott Peterson]

Ahhhh, goodness then. Never occured to me that you might not be using ASIO; it is indeed the only way to fly. Rock on!

 

[straticus]

Originally posted by Scott Peterson
Ahhhh, goodness then. Never occured to me that you might not be using ASIO; it is indeed the only way to fly. Rock on!

Thanks Scott, yep, the difference is flat out amazing.


Bassomatic,
I'm not sure how to measure the lag time but I'd guess it to be around 1/3 of a second. I've read where people have measured the exact lag time ........ do you know how to do that?

I've never played around with buffer settings before. I use Samp Pro and my VIP buffer setting (the setting that effects lag time while mixing) is 1000 right now. My buffer setting for the Q10 control panel reads 32bit / 256 S. I'm not clear about how, or if, the ASIO buffer setting in the Q10 control panel effects the lag time in Samp while mixing. Any suggestions are welcome. I'll probably try setting the VIP buffer lower to see what happens.


peace ........... BC