Use Hardware Instead of Plug ins If your CPU is suffering under the load , you can also replace some plug in with analog hardware . Hardware reduces the burden on your CPU and reduces latency as well . You can do the tracking and mixing using the hardware and not impact your system ’ s performance at all .
Spruce Up Your Computer Check if your current hardware matches the requirements of the latest DAW that you have installed . Even if you had the top specced machine 5 years ago , it might not be enough today .
RAM it down . Just fill your production system with as much RAM as it can handle . The more RAM you have , the faster your data will travel between your CPU and hard drive , speeding up your system . Upgrade to solid state drives as they are much faster , making your music production seamless . If you can ’ t upgrade to solid state drives , you should at least use different drives for the operating system , sample libraries and audio recordings . Oh , and it goes without saying that apps that aren ’ t related to music production should be closed .
Use Auxiliary Sends & Buses Regardless of how many plug ins you have , you shouldn ’ t try to put a dedicated reverb on every track . This becomes more important when you are using multiple instances of the same plug-in with similar or identical settings . You can utilize an auxiliary send or bus to deploy a single plug-in across multiple tracks , smoothening your system out a lot .
Most DAWs have mixers that work like studio consoles . Creating sends and buses is quite simple because of that . All you need to do is create an aux track , instantiate a reverb on it , assign a bus to it , and then route your other tracks to that bus .
This will go a long way in preserving your CPU and providing a great sense of consistency to your mix . It will create the illusion of all your instruments being played in the same room . You also get the option to create entire plug-in chains on your aux tracks . This will also let you modulate your reverb with EQ and make it sound more lush . Aux sends and buses can also be useful for parallel processing . This will help you seamlessly blend an unprocessed track with a heavily processed one .
Freeze Your Processed Tracks When your computer ’ s CPU starts to choke , another easy work-around is to use your DAW ’ s track freeze feature . This function helps free up resources on the system as it renders a track and its associated effects as an audio file . It also disables any plug-ins instantiated on the track .
Let ’ s say your track has several effects plug ins on a soft synth layer . Every playback forces your CPU to generate sound via the soft synth and then process its output with effects in real time . However , after you freeze the track , all your CPU reads is a single audio file without the need for any processing / synthesis . However , you must remember that frozen tracks can only be edited after unfreezing . Don ’ t worry , unfreezing a track just requires you to click a button . So click , unfreeze , make the necessary changes and freeze your track again .
Boost Buffer Size Buffer size is the number of samples it takes for a computer to process incoming audio signals . Increase your buffer size . While the latency will increase , you will use less processing power .
The DAW might show a noticeable delay , but it won ’ t impact the sound of your mix . You will also be able to add the number of plug ins in your session and your CPU won ’ t be overtaxed .
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