Recording - February 2018 - 69

Page file settings: The page file is also known as the swap
file. Basically it's how Windows uses the hard drive as additional
RAM when it needs to. Windows dynamically chooses the size
of this swap file unless you tell it not to. That dynamic sizing
takes time, so while you're still in the performance options window, tell it not to by going to the Advanced tab. Under Virtual
Memory, click "change". Uncheck "automatically manage paging
files size for all drives". Next, for each of your drives, select
"custom size" and enter in your desired initial and maximum
size values. If your RAM is small, use about one and a half
times the size of your RAM memory. For example, if you have 4
GB of RAM, use 6 GB (6000 MB). If you have more than 8 GB
of RAM, you probably don't need a paging file that big. On
my desktop, which has 16 GB, I use a 6000 MB paging file.
Finally, pay attention to things like backup software or other
tasks that run regularly. Make sure they run when you're not
working on audio. You can use the Task Scheduler to dig into
that further, but be careful. The Task Scheduler does a lot of necessary work and it's a bit out of this article's scope to dig into it.

Testing

If you have problems, or if you'd just like to get a benchmark
before and after you do all this optimization, there are a couple of
highly recommended (and free!) programs that can help you get
a gauge on how your system is performing, what applications are
hogging memory, and even which drivers might be causing issues.
LatencyMon is a free and thorough program that monitors
latency issues and CPU load and reports on problematic

drivers and software. You can find it at www.resplendence.
com/latencymon .
DPC Latency Checker is another similar tool. It's a simpler tool
which doesn't point out problematic drivers and the like, but it's
great for checking whether your audio stream is getting interrupted.
You can find it at www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml .

Go for it!

We've covered a lot here, but it shouldn't take you long to
make these adjustments. They're foundational adjustments, and
you'll find yourself tweaking settings in your DAW and other
software to taste, but you should be in a really solid place at
this point. There are some other more advanced things I
haven't discussed, like spread spectrum, Nagle's algorithm,
and digging into Windows services and startup apps.
If you'd like to dig deeper, I highly recommend a free PDF download called Glitch Free by Brad Robinson of Cantabile. Brad goes
into great detail and gives wonderful background information on
this topic. His book is one of the best resources on this topic I've
come across. You can get the book for free (you don't even have
to sign up for anything) at www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree .
Even if you don't want to dive deep, you've got plenty here
that you can do to get your machine rock'n'roll ready. Have fun
with your new computer!
Aaron J. Trumm (trumm@recordingmag.com) is a singer, producer
and recovering developer. He's built a lot of computers, but loves
people more. Contact him on social media at @AaronJTrumm

http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon http://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml http://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree http://www.transaudiogroup.com

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