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Assuming your computer has an IDE
hard disk (most do), enabling Direct
Memory Addressing (DMA) on will
improve performance. Some
programs (such as Cubase VST)
allow you to configure the DMA as
enabled on install. If you’ve not
already done this, here’s how to
configure the DMA transfer mode:
On the Windows desktop, go to the
Start menu, Settings, Control Panel,
System. In the System Properties
window, select the Device Manager
tab. Click on the plus sign next to
Disk Drives, and highlight the IDE
disk listing, then click on the
Properties button. Check the DMA
box under options. (see illustration
3.03)
In addition, a number of simple
hardware modifications and
enhancements can substantially
improve your computer’s handling of
audio, as well as your track count and
DSP capability.
Increase the amount of RAM in your
system. While most digital audio
software will function with a
minimum of 32 MB, increasing your
computer’s RAM to 96, 128 or even
256 MB will markedly improve
performance.
Consider the addition of a dedicated
hard disk for audio; preferably one
with a high spindle rate (over 7200
RPM is recommended for most
audio applications). Using different
drives for program and audio data
speeds up the seek time for the
audio track data. (Note that simply
partitioning a large drive will not
have the same effect, as the
computer will still be accessing the
same physical drive.) For best
results, add a SCSI or Wide-SCSI
drive and SCSI controller card. SCSI
(and particularly Wide and UW-SCSI
protocol) are capable of
considerably higher data transfer
speeds; you’ll notice a dramatic
increase in track count and in the
amount of signal processing plug-ins
your computer can handle. Note
that some of the recent UDMA-66
drives have proven to be almost as
fast (and certainly cheaper);
however, they are still limited in the
amount of physical drives allowed
and the bus length.
If you’re presently using a PCI-
based graphics card, and your
motherboard has an AGP slot,
consider getting an AGP-based
graphics card. This will decrease
traffic on the PCI bus and allow for
faster screen redraws.
Special Note:
For even more detail on
optimizing your PC for audio, please
refer to the PDF document
PC_Optimization.pdf
included on the
US-428 CD-ROM. This document is
also available on the TASCAM website.
Illustration 3.03 - Enabling DMA on your IDE drives
