3 Simple Ways To Optimize Your Computer For Live Performance

If you did a google search on this subject you would find more information than you would know what to do with. The goal of this article is to help you get the most performance out of your computer without needing to be a computer genius.

Nothing here involves adding more RAM or installing a faster hard drive, though those things will help immensely, but rather I'll provide some simples tweaks that should give you overall better performance. I will cover both Mac's and PC's so if you read this and know of a great trick I didn't cover feel free to leave a comment with your suggestion. Alright, let's get to it!

1. Turn Off Programs That Run In The Background

Often times this is the number one thing that makes your computer run slow even if you aren't trying to use it in a live situation. Lots of programs, when installed, will make it so that they start running when you boot your computer. Pretty soon you have tons of little programs (and some that aren't so little) all running at the same time using processing power and ram which are a high commodity for audio applications.

Anti-Virus Software (PC)
If you are on a PC the biggest culprit is anti-virus and spyware software which is constantly scanning your hard drive and uses a huge amount of resources. Typically there will be an icon in the toolbar in the lower right hand of your screen. Right click on it and select disable. If it gives you a warning that your computer will be at risk just select ok as you won't be surfing the web or checking email while you perform (at least I hope not). If you press Ctrl+Alt+Del on your PC it will bring up the Task Manager window which will show you all the programs that are currently running. This is a useful tool in helping you know what programs are actually running and you can close them right from there.

Time Machine (Mac)
On the Mac side no one uses anti-virus software but that doesn't mean you don't have programs running in the background. If you use Time Machine to keep your computer backed up (which is always recommended by the way) it is constantly scanning your drive for any changes that might occur. This is great but again, you aren't going to be performing a backup during a live performance so it's best to turn it off until you want to backup your computer again.

Dashboard (Mac)
If you happen to use Dashboard a lot and run lots of programs this can also have an impact on your performance. I never even use it so I just closed all running applications in Dashboard so it doesn't eat up any resources. Also look up in the top toolbar for any program icons that may be running and right click on any you don't deem necessary for audio such as Dropbox and turn them off. If you press Command+Space Bar and type Activity Monitor, you can open the program which is just like the Task Manager for Windows and it will show you all programs that are running and how much of your resources they are consuming.

Disable Non-Essentials (Mac & PC)
Last but not least you should disable your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. They're just another thing using up valuable resources that could be dedicated to your audio application.

2. Close All Applications You Aren't Using

This seems like a duh statement but really it's not. Mac users are usually the worst offenders in this category because they often believe that if they closed the window of an application that they closed the program, when in fact they just closed the window. The reason this happens is because in the PC world it typically DOES close the program so a quick way to check for all you Mac uses out there is to hold down the Command key and then press Tab and you'll see icons of all running programs on your computer. Keep pressing tab to select the different programs and then press Q (you should still be holding down the Command key) to close the program that is highlighted. When you're done nothing should be left except the Finder icon, which looks like a square smiley face, because it will always be running.

3. Hard Drive Maintenance

Clean It Up!
Your drive should not be over 80% full. This can be a challenge for people who have all their pictures and music on their laptop so just make sure that if there are things you can backup and get off that drive do it. The less data your computer has to search through to find a file the better. This is also why I recommend installing samples or large audio programs to a secondary hard drive as this will make your computer run much more efficiently. Also, make sure to empty your trash! I can't tell you how many people literally have gigabytes of data just sitting in their deleted file and they just need to empty it.

Defrag Your Drive
Second, if you are on a PC you should Defrag your hard drive. Bits of data that make up a single file can be in several locations on the hard drive making it much slower to read the file so Defrag goes out and re-organizes the bits of data so they are all together. This is something you should do on a regular basis and you should include defraging on any external hard drive you use for audio as well. If you're on a Mac it's a bit different but you should run the program Disk Utility which is located in your Applications > Utilities folder. For the sake of this article it's best described as a similar program to Defrag for Windows. Just select the drive you want and click "Repair Permissions" which will correct any errors it finds.

You're done! Now wasn't that easy? Hopefully that helps your computer move a little faster. If you have other great tips or suggestions on how to improve your computer's performance feel free to leave a comment.

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So You Want To Use Your Computer Live

So You Want To Use Your Computer Live!

With everything getting faster and cheaper these days it's easy to think that if you just dust off that extra computer you have laying around the house then you have what you need to use it in a live application. Let me just say that if you have to dust it off it's unlikely it will be able to perform the way you need it to and even if it can it is only one piece of the puzzle. So the question I want to answer in this segment is:

"What do I need to use my computer live in an audio application?"

The answer is much simpler than you might think but many people tend to overlook at least one of the 4 crucial components: the computer, software, audio interface, and MIDI controller. Let's take a look at each one and explain why it's necessary in creating a great audio computer rig.

1. The Computer

This is obviously the heart of your setup since the entire topic surrounds using a computer live but what kind of computer do you really need? Do I have to have a Mac or will a PC do the job? Does it have to be the fastest computer on the market or will a computer that is a year or two old do the trick? Here are some general rules of thumb to help you know if what you have will hack it or guide you to making a good purchase if your looking for a new computer.

1. The debate between a Mac (Apple) and PC will live on for eternity. I actually enjoy using both platforms but for this type of application I have found Mac's to be much easier to work with. Truthfully the biggest reason is that the software that I use is Mac only so that makes my choice pretty easy. There are lots of PC programs as well and if you have one you love a PC will do the job. We'll leave this topic at that.

2. Generally, computers that are within the last two years most likely will work for this application. They should have enough processing speed, support enough ram, and be able to run the most current operation software platforms so that you can run the software you need to. Some general specs to look for would include a dual core processor, at east 4 GB's of ram, and a 320GB hard drive or larger. I also recommend using an external hard drive to store your samples as this will take a lot of strain off of your internal hard drive and improve your overall performance.

2. Software

Software is extremely important because it's really what dictates what you can do and how you do it. The computer is just a processor at this point so software can make or break your experience. Since we are talking about a live application I believe Apple's Mainstage is the best at what it does. For the PC side there is a program called Ableton Live (which also runs on a Mac) which is uniquely good at what it does. It's feel is very different from Mainstage however. Other than Ableton many people will use an audio sequencer like ProTools, Cubase, or Sonar to accomplish a similar task. Mainstage by far out shines the other applications for a live performance platform as that is it's specific intent, but people have different workflow preferences and may feel a program like Ableton Live is better suited for the task. Remember it's about you, the user and what you are trying to accomplish.

3. Audio Interface

This is just a fancy term for external sound card but it is VITAL to making your computer capable of pulling off it's job in a live application. So why do you need one when you already have a sound card built into your computer? There are many reasons why it is necessary:

1. Latency - All computers have what's called latency which basically is the time it takes the computer to process the audio signal passing through it. Built in sound cards are very slow typically. Since you will be using this live you don't want any weird delay because it will make it almost impossible to play a sound or run your vocals through effects. It would be like hitting a note on your keyboard and having it play a second later. Almost all audio interfaces have special drivers (called ASIO drivers) which are super fast and allow you to get the audio through the computer without noticeable delay.

2. Professional Connections - You might need a way to plug your microphone or guitar into your computer so you can use the effects inside it. Depending on the audio interface you choose you will have the ability to plug in multiple things as once as well as feed multiple outputs to different channels on the board or snake. For example I use an M-Audio Profire 610 which has 4 analog inputs and 8 analog outputs. That might sound like overkill at first but it doesn't take long to starting using them. With my setup I use Output 1&2 for my stereo keyboard sounds and I use output 3 for my direct vocal send. There are many more scenarios to could be cover here but trust me when I tell you it's better to have a few extra than not enough!

3. Sound Quality - There is no question that an external audio interface will sound 10 times better than your build in sound card. This stands to reason when you consider the internal sound card probably costs less than $5 to make and is not a core component to your computer, yet a decent audio interface starts at around $99. Hardcore Mac fans will tell you they use their internal sound card with great success but I'm telling you, you don't know what your missing until you get professional sound card. The result is dramatic and it can make the difference between you cutting through the mix and being heard by the audience or get buried in the mix because you lack sonic definition.

4. MIDI Controller

The MIDI controller is a key component because it's the piece of hardware you will be interacting with in a live performance and it brings to life everything else we have talked about. There are lots of options for MIDI controllers these days and most of them have more knobs and buttons then you'll know what to do with until you start seeing the potential and assigning it to your software. I currently use the Edirol PCR-500 49 key controller pictured above and almost every single thing you see on the face of it has a label of some kind. Just to give you an idea of how powerful it is here are some things my controller does for me:

* I can change patches (aka sounds) with the push of a button
* I use one of the sliders to control my master volume
* I use 8 of the drum pads to play and stop different loops I have assigned to them
* I use the 8 knobs above the pads to control the individual loop volumes
* I assigned Tap Tempo to one of the buttons so I can make all loops and effects play in sync with the tempo of whatever song is being played in real time
* I assigned another button as a mute for my keyboard sounds
* I assigned one of the sliders to control how much delay you hear on my voice

The possibilities are endless!

In Summary

As you can see all 4 parts are vital to turning your computer into something that you can perform with. Now that you have a good understanding of what you need you can focus on buying products that fit your work flow and personality so that your rig is your own. Please feel free to post any questions you might have.