I love the sound bugs make when you squish them under a solution.

AlexP, whose blog is also a great source for multitouch and the Sony PS3 Eye Camera and Windows drivers we used in the recent hackday, has been diagnosing his MacBook under Windows Vista. Hardware problems are often the source of sound blips on computers. I’ve talked previously about using the DPC Latency Checker to find this issue.

The good news: Alexander has found the problem (the Broadcom Wireless Adapter in some Apple MacBooks) and a solution (switching off Windows’ automatic wireless network search when you don’t need it). I actually wonder if a similar problem was culpable in early problems with network WiFi on Mac OS X Leopard. Whatever is going on, check out the fix here if you’re encountering this problem. And let us know if you’re seeing this on machines other than just the MacBook revision F; I’d imagine any PC with a similar wireless adapter might have the issue:

MacBook Rev. F Audio Skipping in Vista Analysis and Solution – Part 2

And yes, hardware/driver problems may frequently manifest as what Windows terms DPCs – basically, a symptom of hardware usage that can interfere with reliable audio performance. I’m curious whether WiFi connections specifically may be a cause in other cases. The problem is almost certainly not limited to computers from Apple – especially since, in this case, the MacBook is just behaving like any PC laptop with similar specs.

I’m a big believer in open platforms, computer platforms, and the power to customize stuff. Unfortunately, there’s a simple reality: developers’ work is sometimes a bit like the proverbial bull in the china shop. (Code SMASH!)

In short: a lot of times when Windows’ file managemer Explorer is hanging, it’s not Microsoft’s fault. Misbehaved shell extensions – often installed without your permission by other tools you’ve installed – are often responsible.

If you’re like me, you’re willing to put in a little bit of effort if it saves you time down the road. For me, a few tweaks to Explorer resolve some of Windows’ biggest annoyances and make it workable, productive, and enjoyable for music making. (Greetings, FL Studio and SONAR and Reaper and Windows-only plug-ins!)

At the end of last year, I wrote up a story on troubleshooting Explorer for Rain Recording, the custom music and visual PC makers. (Rain takes care of a lot of the other Windows annoyances right out of the box, but shell extensions are added by software you might install after you get one of their boxes.) It’s not really a music story, but I think if you can solve computer annoyances, you can get on with music making – and I still believe computers are far more interesting, on balance, than outboard gear alone. Explorer oddities are not among those reasons, so I:

• Nuke bad shell extensions
• Customize the context menu so that, instead of a terrifying, moldy wasteland, it becomes a productive tool
• Stop network bottlenecks from hanging the system while it looks for disconnected file servers

Troubleshooting Windows Explorer [Rain Recording Pro]

I’m interested to hear how you work, though, and I’m sure there are tips I’ve missed.

Previously:
10 Free Non-Musical Windows Software Every Musician Should Use
12 Free and Cheap Must-Have Music Utilities for Windows

By the way, to revisit a previous story, I’m still not entirely happy with any antivirus software. Antivir is quite lightweight, but posts ads for buying the full version every time it updates. I still long for a simple, lightweight tool that doesn’t nag you and can be switched off (updates and resident protection) whenever you want. I also have to question whether viruses are the threat they once were – meaning, with other protections, what you may want is something a lot more modest.

Rain Recording make audio-ready notebooks – that is, they’re pre-tested to function well with audio software, with Windows tweaks, driver selection, and configuration all chosen and tested for music and visual production, and no crapware installed. They’re one of a handful of music-friendly vendors that does that (see also: PCAudioLabs, etc.). Given that the PC music making experience can range from awesome to awful depending on which hardware and (particularly) drivers you’re on, that’s no small matter.

Rain has always styled themselves a premium brand. But the latest Diablo really does go to extremes spec-wise. It’ll cost you – base price starts at US$4000, though that’s not as high-end as these sort of desktop specs commanded more recently. Intel and AMD/ATI really are economizing, even at the high end. But cost aside, this machine really maxes out components. You have to admire the results:

• Quad CPUs: up to 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Quad 12MB/1066 MHz “Montevina” Centrino 2 — the most powerful brain you can put in a laptop right now
• Up to 8 GB DDR3 RAM (and if you boot a 64-bit operating system like Vista x64 or – cough – Linux, you can use all of it)
• ATI Radeon MR HD3870/512M DDR3 RAM — just about the most powerful GPU (and some people do prefer ATI to NVIDIA), giving you up to two discrete GPUs
• 17″ display at 1920×1200
• Optional dual 320GB 7200RPM SATA drives with 16MB cache
• 1x eSATA, 3X USB2, 3xFireWire (yeah, you read that right – one onboard FireWire, plus two more using a bundled, TI chipset PCI ExpressCard that pops into that slot, also standard on the lower-cost LiveBook)
• 1 x HDMI, 1 x VGA, card reader, headphone out, mic in, gigabit RJ45 Ethernet, fingerprint scanner

The key specs, of course, are the quad CPU, that ATI GPU, and the maxed-out-res 17″ display. Given those specs, the weight actually isn’t all that bad – 8 lbs. with the 12-cell battery (which you’re going to want, as this machine is likely to suck up electricity in a hurry).

You can put audio on a dedicated chipset (the TI, which isn’t currently available from Apple). You can run two drives in RAID-0, or opt for solid-state drives (which have been improving in performance and value at a pretty impressive rate). And the ATI chipset means this is a pretty powerful visualist / visual production workstation – that also happens to be faster than a lot of high-end gaming laptops, for your off-hour enjoyment..

This is usually the point where someone says, “but do I need all that power to –”

No. You don’t. This is a bit like buying a souped-up supercar — and likely to be about as fuel-efficient. You might “need” this if you want to play Crysis between Pro Tools sessions. (I’ll let you bend the definition of “need” there.) That’s not to say you won’t get a lot of performance out of this, though, and it’s nice to know you have this option if you want it. The GPU only really impacts visuals at the moment, but with the push to do more processing on the GPU, that could change soon even for audio.

Actually, maybe the reason Rain keeps misspelling the GPU as “discreet” is that you can “discreetly” buy one of these and hope your significant other / the IRS / your conscience doesn’t notice you just bought a killer gaming rig as your (ahem) pro audio machine.

For mere mortals, I like the $1999-base-price LiveBook from Rain. It actually gives you a fair amount of this performance, all of the same I/O specs, and compares favorably on specs against Apple’s rival (including offering some serious FireWire and expansion the Apple lacks). And, incidentally, it isn’t a bad gaming machine, either, in case you want to join some of the CDMers the next time they fire up Left 4 Dead.

I do find all of this interesting, though, on two points. One, if any had doubts that you could buy a pre-configured PC and know that it’ll work reliably on audio tasks, Rain ought to put those doubts to rest. I’ve tested the previous Diablo and LiveBook, and out of the box they were ideal audio machines – no tweaks required. It’s absolutely possible to build or buy a mainstream PC that does that, but the luxury of knowing someone at the other end has actually tried running Ableton Live and SONAR sure is nice. (Heck, that’s not necessarily true of Apple – as people found out the hard way during some buggy early releases of Leopard, happily since fixed.)

This also demonstrates that said PC vendors don’t have to fall behind the “enthusiast” custom builders who cater to gamers – if you want to push the envelope on your laptop for audio and visuals and not just games, you can do that, too.

I certainly know not everyone can — or should — spend $4 grand and up on this particular machine. But just like that supercar, it’s sort of nice to know it’s there. And hopefully it can start to serve as a wake-up all that there are communities pushing their PC to the bleeding edge who aren’t primarily gamers.

Diablo Product Page [Rain Recording]

Diablos don’t hang around long, but I do hope to get my hands on a current-generation Rain soon; stay tuned.

Earlier this fall, we got an inside look at the various Vista optimizations in Cakewalk’s SONAR 8. It was all fairly technical stuff, but odds are you may have been puzzled by a mention of support for custom “MMCSS task profiles.” Don’t worry – the correct response here is, indeed, “say WHA?” These refer to specialized task profiles, or configurations by which Vista determines how to prioritize access to the CPU. It’s not strictly necessary for end users to ever have to touch these. You can theoretically squeeze some additional performance and reliability out of your system by using them with SONAR 8, but that would require knowing how to do so.

Well, you’re in luck. I convinced Noel Borthwick, CTO at Cakewalk, to share his personal MMCSS profile with CDM. This will only work in SONAR 8 for the moment, as far as I know, until another host implements the same feature. Now, don’t get me wrong — it’s not necessary to use this tweak with SONAR 8 and Vista; I’ve been testing SONAR without it with no issue. This is just “because you can.” Here’s how to use it:

From the manual:

The Multimedia Class Scheduler Service (MMCSS) provides Windows multimedia programs, including SONAR, with prioritized access to CPU resources for time-sensitive processing.

By default, SONAR uses the MMCSS task profile named Pro Audio. If desired, you can instruct SONAR to use a custom MMCSS task profile.

To use a custom MMCSS task profile in SONAR

1. Determine the name of the MMCSS task profile that you want to use. MMCSS task profiles are listed in the Windows registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile\Tasks. Ensure that the registry entry exists for the profile you want to use.

2. If you have added any new profiles, reboot your computer to allow the MMCSS service to see the new profiles.

3. On SONAR’s Options menu, select Audio and then click the Advanced tab.

4. Under Configuration Settings, click Edit Config File. The AUD.ini file opens in the default Windows text editor.

5. In AUD.ini, locate the entry called MMCSSTaskKey and set it to the the desired profile name. For example:

MMCSSTaskKey=Pro Audio

6. Save AUD.ini and close the Windows text editor.

7. Click Reload Config Settings to reload the current audio configuration settings from AUD.ini.

SONAR will now use the new task profile for MMCSS.

And here’s the actual file:

Cakewalk Audio.regbak

As usual, use at your own risk. It’s unwise to make Registry modifications without first backing up your Registry, just in case something goes wrong.

Side note: if you other technical types at other software developers of all the attention we’re giving Noel at Cakewalk, it’s because he plies me with large amounts of alcohol when I’m in Boston. Kidding. Seriously, it’s because Noel has put a lot of time into sharing this stuff. We’re up for bringing any discussion to CDM, so get in touch. If I owned a car and didn’t live in Manhattan, I’d want to know how to work on the engine. I think it’s just as important to know what’s going on under the hood of software. Talk to your PR reps if you have to.

Previously on CDM:

Optimizing for Vista: Inside the Mechanics of SONAR 8 with Cakewalk Engineering

SONAR 8 Preview: Instrument Tracks, Beatscape Instrument, Transient Shaper, Enhanced Performance, Other Goodies

The big news is the € 2698 ($4200) Scope XITE-1 DSP hardware system. It’s based on Analog Devices SHARC DSP chips, offering 10x more processing power than their previous high-end Scope Professional card. The new hardware is housed in a 19 inch 1U rack case that interfaces to your Mac or Windows box via a PCI-Express (desktop) or ExpressCard (notebook) interface.

The front of the surprisingly compact XITE-1 unit includes two mic inputs with switchable phantom power, a pair of Hi-Z instrument inputs and a 1/4-inch headphone jack. The back panel offers two channels of balanced XLR analog I/O, AES/EBU, 2 x ADAT I/O, Wordclock I/O, and MIDI In/Out/Thru.

The XITE-1 software pack contains 13 virtual instruments including emulations of the Roland Juno 106, Sequential Prophet 5 and Moog Minimoog along with over 50 effects, three samplers and a suite of mastering tools.

Current Scope users will be thrilled to hear that the new Sonic Core Platform 5 software finally supports Windows Vista and Mac OS X in addition to Windows XP. It will be available in May as a €198 ($310) upgrade, although most Scope 4.5 users will qualify for a free update. Details are still scarce, but screenshots show a few new devices and an appealing black and white color scheme.

So why should you consider a DSP hardware platform in 2008? The main advantage of the Scope system is that it offloads softsynth and digital effects processing onto dedicated hardware. This gives extremely low latency and glitch-free playback, even when running demanding softsynths and audio effects. Blocks of DSP horsepower are allocated to each instrument or effect, meaning that you won’t unexpectedly run out of CPU cycles on your host PC. Of course, it’s still possible to run your favorite VST plugins on the same PC in parallel and mix everything in Scope.

Another good reason to give the Scope platform a second look is the vast library of Scope modules, including a versatile modular synth and dozens of other great instruments such as John Bowen’s fantastically deep Solaris soft synth and many other world-class plugs.

The Scope XITE-1 box and Sonic Core Platform 5 software are scheduled for release in May 2008. It looks like it’s going to be a wild ride!

Sonic Core Scope: The Next Generation