From deke@dekethegeek.com Fri Jan 17 08:59:51 2003
Subject:RE: Building a stable soft synth PC (was - RE: B4 users...)

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As promised...

1. Upgrade the BIOS on your PC / laptop. I can't begin to tell you enough stories of how weird problems have disappeared from a problem PC or laptop by simply upgrading the BIOS (or firmware). Compaq referred to these updates as ROMpaqs, and most others refer to them as BIOS upgrades. If you have a home built PC, and don't know what motherboard is in there, we have found the first problem... get the manual for your motherboard and find out all you can about it. Also, find out what kind of chipset (the core technology of the motherboard) that your board uses. Possible answers are Intel chipsets (440BX, 810, etc.), AMD chipsets (760 and others), VIA (Apollo KT266A, 333, etc.), ALI (Magick and others), etc. Knowing the chipset your board uses will become pivotal in a later step.

2. *CLEANLY* install your operating system of choice. This means you will need to format the hard drive. Do not do an "upgrade", as these installs are at best problematic and get progressively worse the further you go with them. I recommend 2000 Pro or XP (Pro or Home will both work fine).

3. Get the latest service pack for your OS. This is not an option; this is a necessity! Fixes in service packs are sometimes cryptic, but believe me it's worth the download.

4. Go to the Windows Update site and download everything except .NET framework and the Euro conversion tool. We are especially concerned about getting the latest version of DirectX, as well as any media player updates and any updates to Internet Explorer. It doesn't matter if you don't like IE or Media Player... get the updates anyway. Portions of the operating system are updated when you install the new versions of these, so don't be a wussy, just get the updates.

5. Get the latest drivers for every piece of hardware from the vendor sites. Just because you can read the screen doesn't mean you have the best video driver... just try to play a 3D game, and you'll quickly find the shortcomings of the "bundled with the OS" drivers. Nearly every internal and external device in your computer has a team of developers working on a better driver every day of the work week... take advantage of their investment of time, and make your PC work better. Remember we are building a racecar here... you wouldn't put stock tires on a Grand Prix car now would you?

6. Get the drivers for your motherboard chipset. I know this is covered in #5, but it's important enough to warrant an entry by itself. If you are using ANY AMD processor, you absolutely *have* to look into this, even if it's an older PC. Using the "bundled OS" drivers for your chipset is twice as bad as using the bundled video driver for a 3D video card. This is a deal breaker folks... you absolutely must get these drivers for your machine to run optimally.

7. Now you can install your soft synth of choice. There is sometimes quite a bit of configuration to be done to make things work well, even at this point (depending on your VST host). I use AudioMulch, and I can't sing its praises enough, but if you are only using the standalone B4, you still need to configure the latency settings properly, and configure your MIDI inputs.

Most people I know who want to try out a new piece of software (games, soft synths, etc.) start at number 7 and wonder why things don't work well. If you follow this guideline you will be well on your way to having a good working PC in general, and a great soft synth host as well. Keep in mind that preparation is the key... map it all out before you start. I do this kind of thing for a living, but I assume most of you guys don't, so do some research. Do a search on Google for "DAW tweaks" and read everything you find there. Most of it is geared at home recording studios, but they are shooting for many of the same goals we are... a low latency audio environment. If this is any help to you, let me know.

Deke The Geek