Optimisation tips for your windows laptop...

I was also suspicious, perhaps because djstx2003 was so friendly and casual!

Smithson Martin is an interesting company. This is their page on getting Windows working quickly (probably nothing new on there to people on this thread) http://www.smithsonmartin.com/free-tools/

Here's a page on the company website saying they're legitimate - always worth checking when downloading a zipped executable.. http://www.webutation.net/go/review/smithsonmartin.com

Can I find ANYWHERE how this little piece of magic works? Looks like it's a trade secret, very good way of establishing the company credibility. I thought maybe it prioritizes audio driver DPCs, but given it doesn't work for everyone, perhaps it just implements a set of common sense tweaks, or a bit of both, or something else entirely.

 

Mmmm Interesting stuff and a good read on their free tools link.... if it does what it claims its could be the answer to stability for some windows 8 users...!!
If anyone else tries it let us know how you get on...!!

 

good news!!! I played 2 hours with DPC-Enhancer active and I felt Traktor running more smoother and with less load.
DPC Latency Checker maximum value was 628ms. when with no DPC-Enhancer active the smaller value was 1024ms.
its very impressive. i'm very happy with it. I don't know what it does or how it does it but i'm happy that I found it.
running in Windows 8.1 Pro RTM final build 64bit.
my regardz
djstx2003

 

That is because most apple users belives the preacherman and therfor dont think that the system they bought can/needs to be be better optimized than apple delivered it

Not trying to say MAC isnt running smoother than win 7 64bit because ive never tried traktor on mac. would love to try it out some day

Same as when some people or nation think they are in the best in the world
it makes me angry everytime on internet when a mac vs pc discussion gets closed because of ignorance and intolerance
It is really not that difficult to meassure and make tests. the complicated part is to find out what parameters should count or not

Pc users dares to ask questions about ther systems because the cheap pc was more an internet surfing/protection out of box experience when bought than an pro audio experience and that is why a thread like this is very much needed

was about to say the same except that windows xp 32 bit run that bit more smoothly than any other windows os I have tried out. Also 32bit OS is an smoother experience than 64bit

Has any one compared win 8.1 vs win 8 yet??

 

Maybe you should try using a Mac before making ignorant sweeping statements like that. As for Windows 8, it works fine on my Mac without any optimisation.

 

Microsoft hasn't published a full release notes for Windows 8.1. Though one feature which I will be digging deep into is the enhanced boot features.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/09/20/reengineering-the-windows-boot-experience.aspx

Otherwise, I see most of the updates made will provide a better user experience for the general user using touch enabled devices while providing a safe environment free of malware or viruses. This will be a bit more of a challenge when optimizing for Traktor. There will likely be more Services and Processes that will be running that will need to be disabled. I'm sure the knowledge article will be updated to address these updates.

 

Anybody else had good results with DPC Enhancer..?

 

DPCLat is not yet fully compatible with Windows 8 so it's hard to say whether the Enhancer helps or not.

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

 

this one ? ... http://www.smithsonmartin.com/filebase/DPC-Enhancer.zip

 

Dpc enhancer seems to run well for me

 

DPCLat runs fine, but it gives incorrect values on Windows 8. Use LatencyMon to see if your changes are making a difference or not.

 

Thanks for everyone who added info to this thread... its got some great feedback... even if I can't understand half of it...lol.
windows 8 is a whole new ball game by the sounds of it...!!

 

No, Windows 8 is really not. Being in the IT industry for almost 20 years, I've had a very strong understanding of Microsoft Windows even before Windows 95. The core OS build of Windows 8 is essentially Windows 7. The key areas Windows 8 has changed was the modern interface to support new technologies (touch interface). Updated drivers and applications are the basic changes with any revision, but this is a not an overhaul of the operating system. The biggest challenge for those that are not computer experts is managing the modern interface. There are so many web sites devoted to management or even near elimination of this (it's almost negligible as of the 8.1 release). My recommendation is to handle any optimization as you would with Windows 7. I've posted on this thread the additional steps to get a handle on the modern interface. As long as NI supports the OS, this forum should be sufficient information for those looking to upgrade.

Windows 7 will be supported by Microsoft for several years, but experienced users shouldn't fear upgrading.

 

Brilliant..... its great to have IT specialists on here to ease peoples worries about upgrading... so is it really worth upgrading from Windows 7 .?

 

Yes, upgrading to Windows 8 will generally perform better. What most people forget are the basics of pc computing. ALWAYS have a backup that you KNOW can be used for recovery. It's one thing to say you copied everything or backed up everything using the "best tools", but unless you've actually tested and verified, then you don't know what can happen.

In my case, I purchased a solid state drive and replaced the original hard drive once it was configured. I started from scratch with the solid state drive and copied my data files. This gave me practice and a baseline how long it would take to rebuild if the worst case scenario were to occur.

Everybody has become very impatient because technology advances so quickly. Prepare before doing the upgrade and you will be successful.

 

Windows 7 will be supported by Microsoft until january 14 2020
Windows 8 will be supported by Microsoft until january 10 2023

6 years left before the need of upgrading windows 7

 

I just spent $1200 on a new laptop... Acer 2.2 ghz i7 , 12gb ram, 120ssd, 1tbhd, windows 8. I have to disable my wifi. I have a friend that just built himself a new pc. It was for audio production so he tried to save money by getting a cheap graphics card, and cheap wireless internet card. Both items had to be replaced so he could find ones whos drivers didn't interfere. What i'm getting at is the price of your computer has nothing to do with these issues, they are completely unrelated. The only thing I have heard, which i'm not 100% sure on yet, is that Macbook pros are specifically made for doing work with live audio among other media, while pc's are made for office work and gaming most of the time... the result being less issues with driver compatibility... if i can verify this I will be switching to Mac.

Next - disagreeing about the battery makes no sense. first off, if disabling the battery means playing your set without the audio turning into some half time bit crushed mess from hell... your going to do it. Second.. where are you playing that there is even a slight chance of some drunk chick tripping over an extension chord?? some house party while mom and dad are away?? any club or bar setting is going to have a dj booth, and if not it is their/your responsibility to set up in a way that isn't hazardous to your equipment or their patrons, so this should be a non issue really.

Finally - What are you doing downloading requests in the middle of your set?? Call me crazy but shouldn't you be busy controlling the dance floor? If anything wifi is a distraction... I'm kinda glad i have to turn mine off because now when i mix or get into ableton there is no face book notifications drawing me away.

I don't mean to go all HAM on you.. and I doubt you'll even see this since you joined in 2011 and have only got 13 posts... but that's my two cents.

 

CoreAudio, being a native OSX protocol, is much more stable+reliable than using 3rd party ASIO drivers in Windows - hence the lack of a 15 page thread on Mac optimisation. Both Windows and OSX have their advantages, and low latency audio is one of OSX's best.

Driver incompatibility can be an issue with certain new devices so try and verify your setup will work before making a big purchase.

 

Interesting replies...

Im not having any issues, bar my latency is bad...the performance is perfect other than that

So i dont need to re install or update anything...

I just need to know how to reduce latancy without putting preferences on high speed

 

Go into "Preferences" and in the Audio Setup section click on the "Settings" at the end of the "Latency" section.