Pops and Clicks - Cubase on a PC

[Mark Kaufman]

May 23, 2008, 7:32am, dankityd wrote:The CPU meter will not necessarily tell you everything that's going on with your audio driver. These latency/buffer related issues typically have more to do with the driver for your interface than they do with Cubase or any particular plugin. On your Firebox control panel or whatever little settings menu they give you, just play with the buffer settings. Bigger buffer means more latency but less strain on the CPU. I try to keep the buffer large unless I'm monitoring audio from a guitar amp simulator or a VST instrument. Then you'll need low latency. But if you do this early on in your project when there's fewer plugins running, you shouldn't hear too many clicks. Minimize redundant effect usage (e.g. don't run reverbs on every channel, use a send).Also make sure that you disable background applications, especially the ones that typically load at startup and run in the tray at the bottom corner of the taskbar. A lean mean music machine shouldn't have any of that kind of thing. I wish computers didn't come pre-loaded with so much of it. This alone will get you back so much of your lost memory and processor resources.Also your windows performance settings should favor "background services" over "applications." This seems counter-intuitive but ASIO is actually a background service, at least in XP. Maybe that doesn't apply to Vista.This strikes me as excellent advice and a good diagnosis. I'll look into it. Thanks!! Very well-presented, much appreciated.On the songs with all the clicks, the CPU meter isn't even nearly overloading.