This is a golden age for those of us who use digital audio workstations (DAWs) to compose and/or record music. Computers are more powerful than ever, DAWs have more features than ever, and software processors and virtual instruments have never sounded better. But those processors and instruments take a lot of horsepower, so it’s a good idea to optimize performance wherever you can. Here are a few tips that will help you get the most out of your DAW.
Use Solid-state Drives for Audio Projects, Files, and Samples
Let’s start this list with some basic tips for setting up your computer for optimal performance as a DAW. First is the speed of your storage media. When you use a DAW, it’s going to be constantly reading and writing to disk every time it streams, loads, and records. That means that you want the absolute fastest hard drive possible, so that it can read and write large numbers of tracks without issue. The fastest drives of all, solid-state drives (SSDs), are almost as fast as random-access memory (RAM). Get an SSD for your audio projects, audio files, and sample libraries, and you’ll be capable of playing a large number of tracks and samples simultaneously. Whether you buy an internal or external SSD, purchasing the largest one you can afford will give you a significant performance boost.
Max Out Your RAM
Speaking of hardware improvements, once you have an SSD, you can get another hardware boost by putting as much RAM in your machine as it can hold. Virtual instruments load the sounds that are being used in your open project into RAM first, before relying on disk swapping (which means reading some samples from RAM, and others from your hard drive). The more RAM you have, the less disk swapping. Also, complex real-time processing and editing tends to take more RAM as well. The more RAM you have for your DAW, the more seamless its editing and processing will be.
Don’t Run Other System Services or Software When Using Your DAW
When using your computer regularly, it’s normal to have your email app, a web browser, maybe some graphics or productivity apps, and a music player all running at the same time. And that’s not to mention all the system services you may not even think about — your laptop may be constantly using location services to update its geolocation, looking for available Wi-Fi networks, and so on. This is fine for daily use. But when you’re getting down to business with your DAW, all that other stuff can reduce your computer’s performance. Before you launch your DAW, get in the habit of shutting down all nonessential applications and system services for best performance.
Adjust Your Buffers for Best Performance
Every DAW has adjustable buffers — there will definitely be an audio buffer for buffering samples of audio for recording and playback, and there’s usually a processing buffer as well, which determines how much audio is processed by your DAW at a time. The smaller your buffers, the faster your DAW performs, but the more CPU power it takes to keep filling and emptying those buffers, which can lead to crackles and stutters if your computer is overtaxed. Higher buffers avoid performance glitches in recording or playback but can cause noticeable delays when recording and processing. You want to experiment with your DAW of choice and your audio computer to find the highest buffer settings that meet the processing and real-time requirements of your task at hand. And that setting may change numerous times during the course of a project. At first, when you’re recording audio, you may want the smallest audio buffer you can get away with for lowest latency; however, when you are mixing your project, you may not be recording anymore, so a higher audio buffer will be fine.
Create Templates
Some people love creating templates and get a real feeling of accomplishment setting up their default project as perfectly as they can, with everything they want it to have, in the organization they want, and no more. Other people find it a waste of time; they’d rather just compose and record and not bother with organization. But when it comes to optimizing both your DAW’s performance and your own performance when using it, making templates is a timesaver. It not only saves you from having to do the same repetitive setup tasks each time you want to start working, but it also lets you turn off those elements and options that you never use, so that your template is as streamlined and performance-optimized as can be. If you’re not currently a template builder, give it a try — you won’t regret it.
Create Separate Projects for Every Song
It might be tempting to use the same DAW project file for an entire album, score, game soundtrack, etc. But that will result in enormous files with a huge number of audio files, a massive number of plug-ins loaded in the mixer, and so on. Performance will truly suffer. You’ll get far better performance if you stick to only having one project file for each song, soundtrack cue, and so on. It may seem less convenient to not have everything for an entire release in one single file, but your DAW will thank you for it.
Keep Your DAW and Plug-ins Updated
Finally, remember that software is constantly being updated. These updates are sometimes vital for system compatibility; other times they offer cool new features, and nearly always they offer new optimizations and bug fixes. You always want to be using the absolute latest and greatest version of your DAW and plug-ins to ensure the best possible performance and compatibility. If you have a lot of third-party plug-ins, this might mean you’ll have to do some searching to determine if they’ve been updated, but it’s worth taking the time
If you have any questions about DAW performance or DAW products, don’t hesitate to reach out to your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700.