Tired of your computer clicking, popping, and throwing error messages whenever you’re mixing? If so, then your plug-ins are likely pushing your computer’s CPU past its breaking point. But before you pitch your computer out the window, we’ve got a few tips to help you stretch your computer’s resources to get the most from your plug-ins. In fact, with a bit of strategic planning and a generous helping of know-how, you’ll be able to coax more performance out of your DAW and plug-ins than you ever thought possible.
- Optimize Your Computer
- Increase Your Buffer Size
- Use Auxiliary Sends & Buses
- Freeze Your Processed Tracks
- Take Advantage of DSP-powered Plug-ins
- Supplement Your Plug-ins with Hardware
Optimize Your Computer
Of course, you want to get the best possible performance out of your computer-based recording setup. The best place to start is by reviewing the recommended hardware requirements for your DAW, plug-ins, and other music-related software. An old machine — even if it was a max-spec’d beast when it was new — will likely choke on today’s resource-intensive applications.
We recommend that you load your production machine with as much RAM as possible. Because RAM is mainly responsible for shuttling data between your computer’s CPU and your hard drive, increasing the available RAM is a dead-simple way to speed up your system.
We also recommend installing fast solid-state drives in your computer, as these types offer lightning-fast performance during every stage of music production. Ideally, you should use a separate drive for each of the following:
- Operating system and apps
- Audio Recording
- Sample Libraries
While this is less vital with today’s solid-state drives, it is still a best practice.
Beyond that, we recommend reviewing all your computer’s startup items and deactivating any that aren’t vital to your productions. The same goes for apps running in the background — if you don’t need it for music production, then close it or turn it off.
For a more in-depth look at computer optimization, check the Sweetwater resources below.
Increase Your Buffer Size
If your computer’s CPU appears to be struggling while mixing, then increasing your DAW’s buffer size will relieve that. Buffer size is the number of samples it takes for a computer to process incoming audio signals. Lower buffer sizes result in lower latency — but at the cost of CPU resources. Higher buffer sizes yield greater latency but use less processing power.
Since larger buffer sizes create appreciable and sometimes problematic latency, you generally want to use the smallest settings your computer can handle (typically 256 or less) without generating errors when you’re recording. That said, since you’re not monitoring live signals during mixing, you can get away with buffer sizes as large as 1024.
You’ll notice a slight delay when you start your DAW’s playback with a large buffer, but it won’t impact the sound of your mix. The upside is that you can pile more plug-ins in your session without the pops, clicks, and errors caused by an overtaxed CPU.
Use Auxiliary Sends & Buses
Even if you have a plethora of plug-ins available in your DAW, there’s no reason to put a dedicated reverb on every track in your session. This is especially true if you’re using multiple instances of the same plug-in with similar or identical settings. Instead of instantiating a plug-in on each track, use an auxiliary send or bus to deploy a single plug-in across multiple tracks.
Since the mixer in most DAWs mimics the functionality of a studio console, creating aux sends and buses is straightforward. Simply create an aux track, instantiate a reverb on it, assign a bus to it, and then route your other tracks to that bus.
Not only will this conserve your computer’s CPU, but it will also provide your mix with a sense of consistency; all your instruments will sound like they’re playing in the same room. Moreover, you can create entire plug-in chains on your aux track without affecting the sound of your original tracks. This allows you to shape the sound of your reverb with an EQ or to enhance it with lush modulation effects. You can also use aux sends and buses for parallel processing, enabling you to blend a heavily processed track into your unprocessed dry track.
Freeze Your Processed Tracks
When your computer’s CPU starts to choke, another easy work-around is to use your DAW’s track freeze feature. This function frees up resources by rendering a track and its associated effects as an audio file and then automatically disabling any plug-ins instantiated on the track.
For example, say you have a track containing a soft synth and several effects plug-ins. Every time you play back your session, your computer’s CPU has to generate sound via the soft synth and then process its output with effects in real time. However, after you freeze the track, your computer just reads a single audio file from your drive — no synthesis or processing is required.
The downside to freezing tracks is that you can only modify or edit them if you unfreeze them. Luckily, track freeze is nondestructive; unfreezing a track is as easy as clicking a button. Then, after you’ve made your desired modifications, you can quickly and easily freeze it again.
Take Advantage of DSP-powered Plug-ins
Another way to keep your computer’s CPU from tapping out in the middle of a session is to use DSP-powered plug-ins, such as Universal Audio UAD Plug-ins. These plug-ins conserve your computer’s resources by off-loading processing to dedicated processing chips housed in the company’s Apollo X interfaces and UAD-2 Satellite DSP accelerators. DSP-powered plug-ins not only enable you to stack effects without your computer taking a CPU hit, but they also allow you to track and monitor through plug-ins with super-low latency.
Best of all, using DSP-powered plug-ins isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition — you can continue using your native plug-ins alongside your DSP-powered ones. And since your DSP-powered plug-ins aren’t eating up precious CPU cycles, you can run more native plug-ins than you would with a fully native setup.
Supplement Your Plug-ins with Hardware
If you’re wrestling with an overworked CPU, then you can also lessen its burden by integrating analog hardware into your recording rig. This approach has two primary advantages: (1) hardware doesn’t require any processing power, and (2) analog hardware doesn’t produce latency. This means you can track and mix through hardware with zero impact on the rest of your system. Twiddling physical knobs on analog hardware is also a lot of fun!
And, thanks to the massive array of budget-friendly hardware available today, building an analog rack doesn’t need to be extravagantly expensive, either. Sweetwater stocks an endless array of hardware offerings from companies like Warm Audio, Klark Teknik, Lindell Audio, and Golden Age Project based on coveted, tried-and-true gear you’ll find in every major recording studio.
Sweetwater Is Your Recording Destination
Whether you need to upgrade your computer, bolster your plug-in library, or grow your hardware arsenal, our knowledgeable Sweetwater Sales Engineers will be happy to share their expert advice. Give us a call at (800) 222-4700 today, and together, we’ll elevate your studio to where you need it to be.