CAKEWALK SONAR - Getting the most out of Your PC

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Getting the Most Out of Your PC
The maximum number of audio tracks you can expect to play on your computer
depends on the audio sample rate, the speed of your hard disk, and the speed of
your computer’s CPU.
The effect of your CPU on audio track throughput is much more difficult to
quantify. Throughput is affected by the type of chip, clock speed, the number and
type of real-time effects in use, cache size and settings, and many other factors.
There are a variety of things you can do to increase the number of audio tracks and
effects you can play on your computer, as outlined in the following table:
Approach… How it works…
Avoid compressed disks If you use DoubleSpace, Stacker, or some other disk
compression system, it will slow down playback of audio
tremendously. Configure your system so that the Data
directory is on a hard disk that is not compressed.
Exit other programs The more programs you have open, the more CPU
cycles you are taking away from your project. Exit any
programs unnecessary to the task at hand.
Refrain from other activity during
playback
If you open and close windows or do lots of editing while
playback is in progress, you may steal CPU cycles that
would otherwise be used for playback.
Apply some audio effects offline If you are happy with your real-time effects, consider
using the Process-Apply Audio Effects command to
apply those effects offline. Then remove those effects
from real-time use and free up lots of CPU power.
Archive unused audio tracks Audio tracks that are muted continue to place a load on
your processor. To lessen the burden and free up cycles
to handle more audio, archive all unused audio tracks.
See “To Archive or Unarchive Tracks” on page 126 for
more information.
Mix down your audio tracks If your project contains many different audio tracks or
many real-time effects, you can use the Edit-Bounce to
Track(s) command to reduce all of this content to a
stereo track. Having done this, you can archive the
original tracks (in case you need them later) and play
only the new tracks, lessening the computational
burden on your computer.
Change I/O Buffer Size on the
Advanced tab of the Audio Options
dialog box
The default setting is 64 KB. Yours may work better with
128, 32, or 16. If those values don’t help, try 256, 512,
or move on to another remedy.