Line 6 Online Resources ................................................................................................. 5•1
Line 6, POD, POD Farm, POD Studio, TonePort, GearBox, Line 6 Monkey, ToneDirect Monitoring, GuitarPort, FBV, FBV Shortboard, FBV Express, Variax, Line 6 Edit and CustomTone are trademarks of Line 6, Inc.
All other product names, trademarks, and artists’ names are the property of their respective owners, which are in
no way associated or affiliated with Line 6.
These are indeed great times for home recording! Modern Windows® PC’s are now very affordable and
more powerful than ever, making them more than capable of being used as Digital Audio Workstation
(DAW) machines. However, most PCs are not typically configured for optimal performance for the
specific demands of digital audio right out of the box. The following tips are offered as suggested
optimizations you might try on your Windows® system to possibly improve the performance with your
Line 6 POD Studio™, TonePort™, POD®xt, POD® X3, POD Farm™ 2 software, POD Farm™ PlugIn, as well as their use with popular DAW audio applications.
It is important to note that many of the default Windows® settings do offer some advantages,
conveniences, and even security improvements for the general use of your computer. You should
evaluate the trade-off of the security and conveniences some of these services offer to your everyday
computing work before you go disabling all of them. It is also a good idea to always back up your system and data before changing system settings, and to keep a written list of all settings you’ve
changed and know how to reset them back in case you encounter decreased performance issues.
Note: PC configurations can differ widely. The following tips are offered as suggestions only and Line 6
cannot be held responsible for problems caused to your system by applying settings changes. Please seek the
assistance of a qualified service technician if you are not familiar with these Windows® operating system
settings. So we’ll say it once again... Back up your system first before making changes!
Digital Audio Demands
A few basic understandings are helpful as you start working with digital audio hardware & software,
and the demands they make on your computer system. Here are a few helpful insights.
CPU Usage
This refers to the processing power that your computer uses to do lots of very complex math for such
things as applying all those cool effects and amp models to your sound. Once you start running other
audio applications and multiple plug-ins, this starts using more CPU (Central Processing Unit) cycles.
It is best to run only the applications and processes you need to get the most out of your computer’s
finite amount of CPU resources. And, of course, the faster processor your computer has, the better.
The newer Dual-Core and Quad-Core processors offer even better performance than earlier processors
since these multiple CPUs all pitch in and share the processing load!
Hard Disk Access
This is the “input/output” speed at which audio data can be written to your hard disk during recording,
and read from your hard disk during playback. Your hard disc access capability directly affects how
many tracks you can record/play back in a Multitrack software project, for example. Recording digital
audio also uses a great deal of hard disk space, so it is a good idea to have lots of free Gigabytes
available. The speed of your hard disk itself is important here. It is best to have a hard disk with a 7200
RPM speed or higher. Also, newer PC’s support the Serial ATA (SATA) interface for internal hard
disks - If yours does, you should purchase a SATA type hard disk rather than IDE since SATA is a bit
faster. A common practice among folks using their computer for audio work is to add a second hard disk
and use it strictly for storing and recording audio files, while the original drive is used primarily as your
“C” drive where Windows®, POD Farm 2, and all applications & plug-ins are installed.
1•1
Digital Audio and your Computer
Note that often laptops today still come standard with a 5400 RPM speed internal hard disk, which
may not be quite up to the task of more than simple multitrack audio recording projects. It is possible
to purchase an external hard disk, such as one with a USB 2 or Firewire interface, that is 7200 RPM
or faster to use as a secondary audio disk. External hard disk drives are also handy for back-ups as well
(you are backing up your data, right?)
RAM
(Random Access Memory) Many modern applications use lots of this type of memory, so the more
RAM you have, the better, up to the 3.2 GB maximum that Windows® 32 bit operating systems
support. One of the big advantages of the newer Windows® 64 bit systems is their support for more
than 3.2 GB of RAM. As RAM is getting cheaper all the time, and as hardware and software support
increases for 64 bit systems, these are likely to be the “next big thing” for DAW systems.
Note: POD Farm 2 Plug-In and standalone application both fully support Windows® XP, Windows Vista®
& Windows® 7 - 64 bit versions, so if your PC is running one of these operating systems and 64 bit DAW
software, we’ve got you covered!
If you are running a multitrack DAW application, effects plug-ins and soft-synths along with POD
Farm 2, then RAM will be used up quickly. So it a great investment to fill up those RAM slots with
all you can afford (but remember that it will not reduce these applications’ additional needs for CPU
processing). Be sure to check your PC or motherboard documentation to see specifically what type of
RAM it takes, and the capacity of RAM it will hold per RAM slot before you order the wrong type and
have to face the dreaded chore of trying to return electronics parts!
Hardware Conflicts
It is best to avoid connecting unnecessary peripheral hardware devices when working with audio on
your PC. Since POD Studio, TonePort, GuitarPort, POD X3 & PODxt devices connect to your USB
port, you especially want to avoid any devices sharing the same USB bus. It can require advanced
technical skills to track down device conflicts, and this is beyond the scope of this document – consult
a technician for assistance if needed. But you can often avoid conflicts by simply not installing or
disabling unneeded devices. For example, adding devices such as document scanners, Bluetooth
adapters, printers, a USB coffee warmer, etc. can all raise the chances of conflicting with your audio
device. Strive to keep your audio PC lean and mean, at least while running your audio applications.
Cables
Note that digital connections, such as the S/PDIF outputs on POD Studio & TonePort UX2, UX8,
KB37, PODxt Pro and POD X3, require the use of a special 75-ohm coaxial cable to effectively transmit
digital signals without loss or interference. Be sure to ask for this cable type from your preferred audio
or video gear retailer for digital audio connections to/from your Line 6 hardware. For all analog audio
connections, get yourself some good quality shielded instrument cables. Cheap cables often do not
hold up well and can be a source of noise and tone loss if not well constructed. It is a good idea to invest
in a few good quality cables and keep them away from cats and drummers. Before spending an entire
day trying to figure out why you aren’t getting a signal through your setup, check your cables!
With the above understandings, you can already see one common rule of thumb – More processing &
disk speed, more disk space and more memory is better! But you do not necessarily need to go upgrade
your PC right now. If your computer meets the recommended requirements then it is likely just fine
to get going with your Line 6 hardware and POD Farm 2 needs. To squeeze more out of your current
system, take a look at the following sections for plenty of tips and tweaks!
1•2
Windows® XP Optimizations
WinDoWs® Xp opTimizaTions
To follow is a number of settings changes that have been proven to optimize Windows® XP specifically
for better performance of audio software. It is worth mentioning once again... It is a really good idea to
do a complete backup of your system and data before making any of these system changes so that
you can restore your system to its previous state if any problems are encountered!
Making System Tweaks in Windows® XP
First, here’s a bit of information about accessing system settings in Windows®.
Switch to the Classic Start Menu Mode
Within this chapter, instructions are provided assuming you have Windows® XP set to use the Classic
Start Menu mode, which remains the preference of many computer audio geeks. To switch to this mode, right-click on the Windows® Start button and choose Properties > Start Menu tab > Classic
Start Menu option. While you are here, click on the Customize button, and then check the box for
Expand Control Panel. Click OK to close both dialogs.
The Windows® Control Panel
Many of the following settings are accessed in the Windows® Control Panel, which you intelligently
just chose in the previous step to display as “Expanded” as a convenient sub-menu. Click on the Start
button and choose Settings to get to the expanded Control Panel sub-menu as needed:
Accessing the Windows® Control Panel Menu
Disable Your Onboard or Add-in Sound Card
When using Line 6 POD Studio™, TonePort™, GuitarPort™, POD®xt or POD® X3 hardware as
your sound card device for recording and playback in audio applications, you may not need to have
any other sound card enabled. In some cases you may even encounter a hardware conflict with some
“onboard” and/or add-in sound cards. The best solution can be to simply disable any unnecessary,
additional sound card within Windows® Device Manager.
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Windows® XP Optimizations
Go to Control Panel > System > Hardware tab > Device Manager button. Click the + symbol to the
left of Sound, video and game controllers to expand it. Now right-click on your onboard sound card
device, or other sound card device that is not in use, and choose Disable. Click Yes when it prompts
you if you really want to disable the device. The device then appears in the list with a red “X” to show
it is disabled. You can come back to Device Manager any time, right click on the disabled device and
choose Enable to enable it again.
Windows® Device Manager - OEM Sound Card (a SoundMax device) has been disabled
Note that if you disable another sound card, Windows® will often then automatically assign your connected
Line 6 USB device as the Windows® “default device” for all sound playback. This means that many audio
applications such as Windows® Media Player, iTunes®, games, etc., will route their audio playback to
your Line 6 device, which may or may not be what you want. The audio capabilities of Line 6 USB
hardware are likely much higher quality than your on-board or add-on sound card, but Line 6 devices do
not support some features such as MIDI playback, 5.1 surround output, or accelerated 3D audio for games.
If you need these features, then it is best to set a sound card that does for the Windows® default playback
device, or specifically for the applications with these requirements. You can, however, avoid Windows®
system sounds playing through your Line 6 device independently of the Windows® default playback device
assignment – see the next section.
Turn Off Windows® System Sounds
These little dings and beeps can be handy alerts, but not very pleasant to hear blaring at high volume,
especially if they are assigned to play through your Line 6 audio device. To turn them off, go to Control
Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sounds tab. Choose No Sounds as the Sound Scheme. Click
OK to exit the dialog. You can always come back here and turn the sounds back on if you really miss
them.
2•2
Windows® XP Optimizations
The Sounds and Audio Devices Properties dialog - setting the No Sound scheme
Disable Error Reporting
Eliminate those pesky pop-up warnings by disabling this error reporting feature. Go to Control Panel
> System > Advanced Tab > Error Reporting and then click the Disable Error Reporting button. Keep the checkbox checked for the But notify me if critical errors occur option.
Disable the Remote Assistance Option
Some technical support departments may ask you to keep this service active, but if this is not the case
for you, then you can disable it. Go to Control Panel > System > Remote Tab and uncheck the option
for Allow Remote Assistance invitations to be sent from this computer.
Turn Automatic Updates Off
Windows® updates are actually highly recommended by Microsoft, and indeed many are for security
enhancements and offer critical fixes. But you may prefer to set the Automatic Updates feature off
and check manually at the Windows® Update web site for your updates to avoid this service kicking in
while you are tending to audio processes. Go to Control Panel > System > Automatic Updates tab,
and select Turn Off Automatic Updates. If you do choose to turn this option off, then be sure to check
manually on the Microsoft Windows® Update site for critical updates on a regular basis.
Processor Scheduling
Some audio applications recommend setting the Processor Scheduling setting to “Background
Services” rather than the XP default of “Programs”. Others claim it can be detrimental to processing, so evaluate its advantages on your system. Go to Control Panel > System > Advanced Tab >
Performance Settings > Advanced Tab, and set the Processor Scheduling to Background Services.
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Windows® XP Optimizations
Set Virtual Memory to a Fixed Size
Windows® uses a section of your hard drive as a “paging file” for storing and retrieving immediate data
when your RAM is filled. It can help to make this file a fixed size rather than let Windows® dynamically
resize it. Note that you’ll need to restart your computer after changing these settings. To make this
change, go to Control Panel > System > Advanced tab > Performance Settings button. Select the
Advanced tab and then click the Change button within the Virtual Memory section. Choose the
Custom size option and you can then type in new minimum and maximum values.
It is typically recommended to use a value that is 1.5 to 2 times the amount of your PC’s total RAM
and enter this same value in to BOTH fields so that it maintains a fixed file size. Click the Set button,
and then OK to close the dialog. Click OK for the alert and restart your computer for the changes to
take effect.
The Virtual Memory dialog - Custom paging file created on the C drive
Enable DMA Mode for All IDE Hard Disk Drives
Note: This tip is only for IDE type hard disks. The latest PCs often now come with Serial ATA (SATA)
interface controllers and hard disks for which this Device Manager setting change is not applicable.
Check to make sure the transfer mode for your IDE hard disk drive(s) is set to the DMA mode,
otherwise the disk access speed will be poor. Go to Control Panel > System > Hardware tab > Device Manager button. Expand the entry labeled IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Right click on
the Primary IDE Channel item and select Properties and go to the Advanced Settings tab. Check
that the Transfer Mode options are set to DMA if available for all channels. Repeat this for all IDE
channel items beneath IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.
2•4
Checking the IDE Transfer Mode
Windows® XP Optimizations
Disable the Indexing Service
Unless you are using the Windows® Search function very often to find files on your computer, then this
service is yet another you might consider disabling. This service basically runs through and catalogs
items on your hard disks and makes the Windows® Search function more efficient, but it can cause
some random “slow-downs” and high CPU usage when it kicks in. If you are using your PC mostly for
audio work and keep your projects well organized, then you’ll likely know where most things are all
the time anyway! To disable this service, go to the Control Panel and select Administrator Tools and
then Services. In the Name column of the Services dialog, find and double-click on the one titled
Indexing Service to launch its Properties. In the Startup type drop-down, choose Disabled. Click OK
when done.
You can of course come back to the Services at any time and set this back to Manual if you want to
allow the Indexing Service to be re-activated again.
Exit All Unnecessary Applications
This follows common sense – to free up more resources you should avoid running other programs as
much as possible when running POD Farm 2 and/or DAW applications. But many Windows® programs
and utilities are set to launch automatically when you start your system and you may not even know
it. One way to look for these is in the Windows® Taskbar, but first you may need to change a setting
to see them all:
Right click on the Start button and select the Taskbar tab. Uncheck the Hide inactive icons
checkbox. You will now likely see several little icons on the Taskbar, at the lower right of your screen,
next to your clock. Most utility applications that start with Windows® will display a little icon here.
You should know what it is you are accessing before shutting one of these off – usually hovering over
the icon for a moment will show a tooltip informing you what utility it is. If it is one you do not need,
often you can right click on the icon and choose Exit. The utility will again start next time you reboot
your machine. Or, for more advanced Windows® XP users, you can try using the System Configuration Utility (see next tip).
2•5
Windows® XP Optimizations
Disable Startup Programs with the System Configuration Utility
It is not recommended you use this utility unless you are familiar with the Windows® XP operating
system – seek the help of a technician if needed. To access the System Configuration Utility, go to
Start > Run and type in msconfig, and then go to the Startup tab. All checked items here are set to
start running when you boot Windows. If some of these are not necessary, you can uncheck them. Note
that some of these will likely be important security utilities, such as Anti-Virus software, which you
probably never want to surf the Internet without. You will need to restart your computer for changes
in this dialog to take effect.
Tip: Sometimes the name or path displayed for each Startup item isn’t very telling as to what the application
actually is. You can often find out, as well as obtain some details that can help you decide if you should
uncheck it or not, by doing a Google® Internet search using the .exe filename.
Internet and Network Connections
You’ll likely want your PC to be able to connect to the Internet or perhaps a network, but some
users find that having a connection active while using audio applications causes glitches or drop-outs,
especially if using a wireless connection or USB wireless network card. One thing you can try is to
disconnect from the Internet/network while using your audio applications if you find that it is causing
some interference. Likewise, during the times that you are not connected, you should not need to have
Internet/Networking utilities running, such as Windows® Firewall, Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware,
networking utilities, etc. It is not recommended that you exit these services while connected to the
Internet, since they are necessary security measures.
Disable Windows® System Restore
The Windows® System Restore utility can be a helpful system tool to have running, since it regularly
makes backups of important Windows® system files and drivers, and allows you to switch to the backedup version in case of problems. But this service comes at some costs - the use of a significant amount
of disk space, CPU usage and the disk access it needs when it kicks in. If you see no problems with it
active, then leave it on. But if you need to solve audio problems and want to try turning it off, then
you can access it in Control Panel > System > System Restore Tab. You can choose Turn off system restore for all partitions to completely disable it. Or, if you have more than one hard disk partition,
one compromise is to keep active for only your C: partition, and disable all other partitions. Click on
the OK button and restart your computer for the setting to take effect.
Display & Power Settings
The following items are all accessed within the Windows® Control Panel:
Turn off the Screen Saver
You likely do not want a screen saver kicking in during the middle of your perfect take when recording.
To turn this off, go to Control Panel > Display and select the Screen Saver tab and choose None for
the Screen Saver option.
2•6
Windows® XP Optimizations
Turn Off Visual Effects
By default, Windows® XP has numerous Visual Effects active. These do make the interface look pretty,
but also utilize resources. You can toggle many of these on/off individually, or one easy tweak is just to
turn all off within the Performance Options dialog. Go to the Control Panel > System > Advanced tab > Settings button, and then choose the Visual Effects tab in the Performance Options dialog.
Select the Adjust for best performance option. Optionally, you can check only the individual display
options here to turn them on if you think some are sufficiently visually stimulating to not do without.
Click the OK button when done.
The Visual Effects settings - “Best performance” option selected
Remove Background Picture
Having a high resolution photo or rotating slide show will use some resources – setting this to a plain,
boring color will be a little less demanding, and maybe keep you focused on your music instead! To
change this, go to Control Panel > Display > Desktop Tab, and for the background picture select None.
Turn Off Power Schemes
There is probably no reason for your audio PC components to ever need to power down when the
system is plugged in (although if you have a laptop, then this can conserve the battery). To avoid this
from happening, go to Control Panel > Power Options, and in the Power Schemes tab, set each
of the following items to Never within the Plugged In column; Monitor, Hard Discs, and System Standby.
Turn Off Hibernation
There is likely no need for your audio PC to ever automatically go to “sleep” on you, and this ties up a
significant amount of hard disk space. To disable this feature, go to Control Panel > Power Options,
and in the Hibernation tab, uncheck the option for Enable Hibernation.
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Windows® XP Optimizations
Maintenance Tasks
To follow we’ve listed several recommended routine maintenance tasks you should perform to keep
your system in top form for audio work.
Backup Your Data
Yes, you have heard it before, but it is easy to keep putting off the chore of backing up all that audio
data. You should just assume that your hard drive will at some point die, taking all your precious work
with it! Invest in an external hard drive backup system or DVD burner drive if you can afford it. Losing
audio data can be costly and extremely negative to the creative process. There are also “drive imaging”
software applications you can buy that allow you to back up your entire computer’s contents – data,
programs and all – and completely restore your computer back to the last backed-up state in minutes
in case of failure.
Another worthy consideration is “offsite” data storage for your backups. Even if you are obsessive in
doing your backups, theft, fire damage or other calamities might still take your computer and your
backup drives! There are now many affordable Internet sites offering affordable, online data backup
services. Another solution is simply to let a buddy hang on to an extra backup drive at his place.
Clean Up
Your PC accumulates lots of little temporary files and trash over time, so it’s a good thing to clean
house once in a while. Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and choose the Disk Cleanup utility for this. This can be run individually for each hard disk partition.
Defragment Your Hard Disks
An important practice to follow for audio is to regularly run a defragmenting application on all your
hard drive partitions, especially your audio partition, to allow more streamlined disk access. Many
3rd party companies produce defragmenting applications, but Windows® XP already includes Disk Defragmenter, which works pretty well (albeit a bit slower than 3rd party ones you can buy). To run
Disk Defragmenter, go to Start > Programs > System Tools. If you first click the Analyze button, it
will tell you if your disk needs to be defragmented.
Windows® Disk Defragmenter
2•8
Windows Vista® Optimizations
WinDoWs VisTa® opTimizaTions
To follow are a number of settings changes for optimizing Windows Vista®, specifically for improved
performance with POD Farm™ 2 and other audio software. It is worth mentioning once again... It
is a really good idea to do a complete backup of your system and data before making any of these changes so that you can restore your system to its previous state if any problems are encountered!
Windows® Update
Before making any tweaks, it is a very good idea to run the Windows® Update utility and install any
recommended updates for your system. This, of course, requires that your computer is connected to the
Internet. To run Windows® Update, go to the Start button menu, click on All Programs and you’ll
see Windows® Update appear near the top of the list of programs above. Run Windows® Update and
be sure to install all “Critical” and “Driver” updates that are found.
Windows® updates are highly recommended by Microsoft, and indeed many are for security
enhancements and offer critical fixes. But, after you’ve run Windows® Update, you may prefer to set
the Automatic Updates feature off and check manually for your updates to avoid this service kicking
in while you are tending to audio processes. Go to Control Panel > Windows® Update. Choose
Change settings at the top left of the dialog. Select Never check for updates to turn this feature off.*
If you do choose to turn this option off, then be sure to check manually on the Microsoft Windows
Update site for critical updates on a regular basis.
®
*Note: Another option to consider is to simply disconnect from the Internet altogether when doing audio
recording work. This way you can leave Automatic Updates on the recommended “automatic” setting and
not worry about it trying to download or install updates while you are doing critical audio work.
Making System Tweaks in Vista
First, here’s a bit of information about accessing system settings in Windows Vista®.
®
Administrator Privileges
To be able to access many of the system settings, you’ll need to be logged in to Vista® with a user
account that has full Administrator permissions. Please check your Windows® Help if you need to
learn about User Accounts and permissions.
The Windows® Control Panel
Many of the following settings we’ll be covering here are accessed in the Windows® Control Panel.
Note that we’ve “customized” the Start menu so that the Control Panel appears as a menu to make
things easier to find. To set your Vista® Start menu this way, right-click on the Start button, choose
Properties, then click on the Customize button for the Start menu. In the dialog, choose the Display
as menu option for the Control Panel. Click OK to exit both dialogs.
3•1
Windows Vista® Optimizations
Customizing the Start menu
Click the Windows® Start button and you’ll see that you can click on Control Panel here to display
the menu of all items.
Accessing the Windows® Control Panel menu from the Start button
User Account Control
The User Account Control (UAC) feature in Vista® is what keeps prompting you for permission
when you go to configure system settings and access some directories and programs. UAC is a security
measure, but it can also be really annoying when trying to do system tweaks, such as many of the
ones listed in this document. Keep in mind, Microsoft implemented UAC to prevent tampering with
important settings, and you could expose some security vulnerabilities disabling it, but if you prefer
to disable it you can do so. It is also possible to enable UAC again, should you just want to disable it
temporarily. Note that you will have to reboot for this setting change to take effect.
Go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools and select the System Configuration utility from the
list of tools. Select the Continue button at the prompt (ironically, this prompt asking you to continue
is launched by the UAC service!). In the System Configuration dialog, select the Tools tab. Scroll
down and find the Disable UAC item - select it and then click the Launch button to execute the
command to disable it. If you are left with an open black-background command dialog, close it when
the command completes. Select OK in the System Config dialog to exit when done. Restart your
computer for the change to take effect.
3•2
Windows Vista® Optimizations
Disabling UAC
Performance Information and Tools
The following instructions in this document take you to various settings dialogs in Vista® to make the
necessary tweaks. But one handy dialog where you can alternatively get to lots of Vista® settings is the
Performance Information and Tools, which you can select from the Control Panel menu. As its name
suggests, this dialog also displays performance ratings for your system, as well as some tips and info on
how to improve overall performance. If a button appears at the top of the new screen to “Refresh Now,”
then click it to allow it to check your computer and update the info. The results are listed in the dialog
to rate elements of your system for running Windows Vista®.
Performance and Information Tools - Assessment results
Essentially, if you see any component’s results here score less than 4.0, you might have some issues
running applications or Vista® features. But note that some of these ratings are less critical for
using your computer primarily as a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). For example, games and 3D
graphics intensive applications often require the fastest system components - especially graphics.
DAW applications typically do not require a super high score for Graphics or Gaming Graphics. The Processor, Memory (RAM) and Primary hard disk scores are helpful scores. If you see any of these
lower than 4.0, you might indeed want to look into upgrading some hardware on your system for better
DAW performance!
3•3
Windows Vista® Optimizations
Disable Your Onboard or Add-in Sound Card
When using Line 6 USB hardware as your sound card device for recording and playback in the POD
Farm 2 standalone application and DAW applications, you may not need to have another sound card
enabled. In some cases you may even encounter a hardware conflict with some “onboard” and/or addin sound cards. The best solution is to simply disable any unnecessary, additional sound card within
Windows® Device Manager.
Go to Control Panel > Device Manager. Click the + symbol to the left of Sound to expand it.
This should show your Line 6 USB device (if connected) as well as any other audio device currently
available on your computer. Now right-click on your onboard sound card device (often listed here
as High Definition Audio Device or other generic name), and choose Disable. Click Yes when it
prompts you if you really want to disable the device. The device will then appear in the list with a little
downward arrow icon to show it is disabled. You can come back to Device Manager any time, right
click on the disabled device, and choose Enable to enable it again.
Note that if you disable another sound card, Windows® will often then automatically assign your connected
Line 6 USB device as the Windows® “default audio device” for all sound playback. This means that many
audio applications such as Windows® Media Player, iTunes®, games, etc., will route their audio playback
to your Line 6 device, which may or may not be what you want. The audio capabilities of the Line 6 POD
Studio, TonePort, GuitarPort, PODxt and POD X3 devices are likely much higher quality than your
on-board or add-on sound card, but Line 6 devices do not support some features such as MIDI playback,
5.1 surround output, or accelerated 3D audio for games. If you need these features, then it is best to set
a sound card that does as the Windows® default playback device, or specifically for the applications with
these requirements. You can, however, avoid Windows® system sounds playing through your Line 6 device
independently of the Windows® default playback device assignment – see the next section.
Turn Off Windows® System Sounds
These little dings and beeps can be handy alerts, but not very pleasant to hear blaring at high volume,
especially if they are assigned to play through your Line 6 device. To turn them off, go to Control
Panel > Sound. Choose No Sounds as the Sound Scheme. You can also uncheck the Play Windows®
Startup sound if you want to also disable it. Click OK to exit the dialog. You can always come back
here and turn the sounds back on if you really miss them.
3•4
Windows Vista® Optimizations
The Sound dialog - setting the Scheme to No Sounds
Turn Off Visual Effects
By default, Vista® has numerous Visual Effects active. These do make the interface look pretty, but
also utilize resources. You can toggle many of these on/off individually, or one easy tweak is just to
turn all off. Go to Control Panel > System and choose Advanced system settings from the Tasks
list. In the Advanced tab, click on the top-most Settings button within the Performance section. In
the Visual Effects tab, select the Adjust for best performance option to turn of all Visual Effects.
Alternatively, you can keep only the individual Visual Effects checked that you want if you prefer to
have things look a bit prettier. Click the OK button to exit.
The Visual Effects settings
3•5
Windows Vista® Optimizations
Disable the Remote Assistance Options
Some technical support systems may ask you to keep this service active, but if this is not the case for
you, then you can disable it. Go to Control Panel > System and choose Remote settings from the
Tasks list. In the Remote tab, uncheck the option for Allow Remote Assistance invitations to be sent
from this computer. In the lower portion of the dialog, you can also choose Don’t allow connections
to this computer.
Disabling Remote Assistance options
Processor Scheduling
Some audio applications recommend setting the Processor Scheduling setting to “Background
Services” rather than the Vista® default of “Programs”. Others claim it can be detrimental to
processing, so evaluate its advantages on your system. Go to Control Panel > System and choose
Advanced system settings from the Tasks list. In the Advanced Tab, click the Settings button in the Performance section. In the Performance Options dialog’s Advanced tab, set the Processor
Scheduling to Background Services.
Disabling Remote Assistance options
3•6
Windows Vista® Optimizations
Set Virtual Memory to a Fixed Size
Windows® uses a section of your hard drive as a “paging file” for storing and retrieving immediate data
when your RAM is filled. It can help to make this file a fixed size rather than let Windows® dynamically
resize it. Note that changing this setting will require you to restart your computer. To make this change,
go to Control Panel > System and choose Advanced system settings from the Tasks list. In the
Advanced Tab, click the Settings button in the Performance section. In the Performance Options
dialog’s Advanced tab, click the Change button within the Virtual Memory section. Uncheck the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives option, then choose Custom size. You can then
type in new Initial size and Maximum size values.
It is typically recommended to use a value that is 1.5 to 2 times the amount of your PC’s total RAM and
enter this same value in to BOTH fields so that it maintains a fixed file size. Click the Set button, and
then OK to close the dialog. Restart your computer when prompted for the changes to take effect.
The Virtual Memory dialog - A Custom paging file created on the C drive
Enable DMA Mode for All IDE Hard Disk Drives
Note: This tip is only for IDE type hard disks. The latest PCs often now come with Serial ATA (SATA)
interface controllers and hard disks for which this Device Manager setting change is not applicable.
Check to make sure the transfer mode for your IDE hard disk drive(s) is set to the DMA mode,
otherwise the disk access speed will be poor. Go to Control Panel > Device Manager. Expand the
entry labeled IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Right click on the first ATA Channel item in the sub-
list and select Properties from the context menu. In the ATA Channel 0 Properties dialog, go to
the Advanced Settings tab. Make sure the Enable DMA box is checked. Click OK when done. Now
repeat the above steps by right-clicking on each ATA Channel 0 and each ATA Channel 1 item
within the IDE ATA /ATAPI controllers sub-list to make sure all are set to DMA mode. You may
need to restart your computer if you change any DMA settings for them to take effect.
3•7
Checking the IDE Transfer Mode - DMA is enabled
Exit all Unnecessary Applications
Windows Vista® Optimizations
This follows common sense – to free up more resources you should avoid running other programs as
much as possible when running POD Farm 2 and your DAW software. But many Windows® programs
are often set to launch automatically when you start your system and you may not even know it. One
way to look for these is in the Windows® Taskbar, but first you may need to change a setting to see
them:
Right click on the Start button and select Properties from the context menu. In the Taskbar and Start menu Properties dialog, select the Notification Area tab. Uncheck the Hide inactive icons
checkbox.
Taskbar and Start Menu Properties - configuring the Taskbar to show the active program icons
You will now likely see several little icons on the Taskbar, at the lower right of your screen, next to your
clock. Most utility applications that start with Windows® will display a little icon here. You should
know what it is you are accessing before shutting one of these off – usually hovering over the icon for a
moment will show a tooltip informing you what utility it is. If it is one you do not need, often you can
right click on the icon and choose Exit. The utility will again start next time you reboot your machine.
Or, for more advanced Windows® users, you can try using the System Configuration utility (see next
tip).
3•8
Windows Vista® Optimizations
Disable Startup Programs with the System Configuration Utility
It is not recommended you use this utility unless you are familiar with the Windows Vista® operating
system – seek the help of a technician if needed. To access the System Configuration Utility, click
on the Windows® Start button and type in msconfig in the Search field. In the System Configuration
dialog, go to the Startup tab. All checked items here are set to start running when you boot Windows.
If some of these are not necessary, you can uncheck them. For example, the Windows® Sidebar and
Welcome Center items are nice conveniences, but can be disabled here to free up some resources.
When you install new software applications and hardware, you’ll often see more items get added here
that will be checked and loaded automatically on Windows® startup. Often these items can be disabled
as well.
Disabling Startup Programs
Note that some of these startup items will likely be important security utilities, such as Anti-Virus
software, which you never want to surf the Internet without. You should probably keep these items
checked unless they are causing problems with playback or recording. You will need to restart your
computer for changes in this dialog to take effect.
Internet and Network Connections
You’ll likely want your PC to be able to connect to the Internet or perhaps a network, but some
users find that having a connection active while using audio applications causes glitches or drop-outs,
especially if using a wireless connection or USB wireless network card. One thing you can try is to
disconnect from the Internet/network while using your audio applications if you find that it is causing
some interference. Likewise, during the times that you are not connected, you should not need to have
Internet/Networking utilities running, such as Windows® Firewall, Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware,
networking utilities, etc. It is not recommended that you exit these services while connected to the
Internet, since they are necessary security measures.
Display & Power Settings
The following items are all accessed within the Control Panel:
3•9
Windows Vista® Optimizations
Disable Aero
Aero is the name Microsoft has given to the new, slick “Glass Transparency” look of the Vista® display
Themes. It does make the Vista® experience cool and visually interesting, but systems with slightly
older display hardware may struggle with or not run the transparency engine very well. To free up some
memory you can switch the transparency off, or switch to the Windows® Classic theme. Sure, this will
make Vista® look about as exciting as Windows® XP, but it’s leaner and meaner if that’s your priority.
• To switch off the transparency effect, go to Control Panel > Personalization and select Window Color and Appearance. Uncheck the Enable transparency box. Click OK when done.
Disabling “transparency” effect
• To switch to the Windows® Classic theme, go to Control Panel > Personalization and select
Theme. In the theme drop-down box choose Windows® Classic. Click OK when done.
Choosing the Windows® Classic theme
3•10
Windows Vista® Optimizations
Turn off the Screen Saver
You likely do not want a screen saver kicking in during the middle of your perfect take when recording.
To turn this off, go to Control Panel > Personalize and select Screen Saver. Choose None for the
Screen Saver option.
Disabling the Screen Saver
Power Options
There is probably no reason for your audio PC components to ever power down (although if you have
a laptop, then this can conserve the battery life). To configure your power options, go to Control Panel > Power Options. Choose the High Performance plan, and then click on the Change plan settings
link below it.
The Power Options dialog - setting the High performance plan
In the Edit Plan Settings dialog, choose a time value or Never as preferred for the Turn off the display
option. Be sure the Put the computer to sleep option is set to Never, then click on the Change advanced power settings link.
3•11
Windows Vista® Optimizations
The Edit Plan Settings dialog
Click on the + box at the left of the Hard Disk item to expand it, and then also expand the Turn off
hard disk after sub item. Click on Setting and enter a very high time value, such 999 minutes so that
your hard disks effectively never power off. You can also optionally expand other items and change
them if you like.
The Advanced Settings tab - Changing the Hard Disk power-down setting
When your changes are complete in the Advanced settings, click OK, which should take you back to
the Edit Plan Settings dialog. If you made changes here, click the Save changes button and then close
the dialog - if the Save button is not available, simply close the dialog.
3•12
Windows Vista® Optimizations
Maintenance & System Tools
Here are several recommended maintenance tasks you should perform regularly to keep your system in
top form for audio work.
Backup Your Data
Yes, you have heard it before, but it is easy to keep putting off the chore of backing up all that audio
data. You should just assume that your hard drive will at some point die, taking all your precious
work with it! Invest in an external hard drive backup system or DVD burner drive if you can afford
it. Losing audio data can be costly and extremely negative to the creative process. There are also
“drive imaging” software applications you can buy that allow you to back up your entire computer’s
contents – operating system, data, programs and all – and completely restore your computer back to
the last backed-up state in minutes in the event of a failure. Vista® includes the free Backup Status
and Configuration utility, which you can find by going to All Programs > Accessories > System Tools.
Of course, you’ll need a drive with plenty of free space to hold your backup data, and you’ll need to
configure your options before using this utility.
Another worthy consideration is “offsite” data storage for your backups. Even if you are obsessive in
doing your backups, theft, fire damage or other calamities might still take your computer and your
backup drives! There are now many affordable Internet sites offering affordable, online data backup
services. Another solution is simply to let a buddy hang on to an extra backup drive at his place.
The Backup and Status Configuration
3•13
Windows Vista® Optimizations
Clean Up
You accumulate lots of little temporary files and trash over time, so it’s a good thing to clean house
once in a while. Click the Windows® Start button. In the Search box, type in Disk Cleanup - in the
list of results above, double click on Disk Cleanup. When prompted with the Disk Cleanup Options,
choose Files from all users on this computer. Choose the drive you wish to clean up and click OK.
When you are presented with the options, check all items you want to clear out.
The Disk Cleanup utility
If you choose your C drive, you will typically see may options here (as shown in our screenshot above).
You should at least clear the Recycle Bin, but may also want to check all others as well if yo are sure
you don’t need to keep any of the files stored in them (click the View Files button to see what the
specific files are that will be cleared for each category). Repeat the process and run Disk cleanup on
each of your hard disk partitions.
Defragment Your Hard Disks
An important practice to follow for audio is to regularly run a defragmenting application on all your
hard drive partitions, especially your audio partition, to allow more streamlined disk access. Many
3rd party companies produce defragmenting applications, but Windows Vista® already includes Disk Defragmenter, which works pretty well (albeit a bit slower than 3rd party ones you can buy). To run
Disk Defragmenter, click the Windows® Start button and in the Search box, type Disk Defragmenter
- in the list of results, double click on Disk Defragmenter to launch it.
3•14
Windows Vista® Optimizations
Windows® Disk Defragmenter
Disable Windows® System Restore
Windows® System Restore can be a helpful system utility to have running, since it regularly makes
backups of important Windows® system files and drivers, and allows you to “roll back” to the previous
versions in case of problems. But this service comes at some costs - a significant amount of hard disk
space, CPU usage and the disk access it needs when the service kicks in. If you see no problems with
it active, then leave it on. But if you need to solve audio problems and want to try turning it off, then
you can access it by going to Control Panel > System and choosing System protection from the Tasks
list. In the System Protection tab you’ll see a checkbox for each hard disk partition on your system you can uncheck each partition to disable System Restore individually for each. One compromise is to
keep it active for only your C partition, and disable all other partitions. Click on the OK button and
restart your computer for the settings to take effect.
Disabling Windows® System Restore for all partitions
3•15
Windows Vista® Optimizations
Disable the Indexing Service
The new Windows® Indexing Service is indeed more capable in Vista® and provides the user with
improved search capabilities. But once again this enhanced service comes at the cost of resources
you might prefer to keep available for your more demanding audio projects. If you don’t find yourself
relying all that much on the Windows® Search, then you might try disabling the Indexing Service to
free up more resources.
Go to Control Panel > Indexing Options and select the Modify button. Select the Show all locations button if it is available. Double-click Users in the Summary of selected locations pane, and then
uncheck the Users directory in the upper pane. Double click Start Menu in the Summary of selected
locations, and the uncheck Start Menu directory. Click the OK button when done.
Modifying the Indexing Service options
3•16
Windows® 7 Optimizations
WinDoWs® 7 opTimizaTions
To follow are a number of settings changes for optimizing Windows® 7, specifically for improved
performance with audio software. It is worth mentioning once again... It is a really good idea to do a complete backup of your system and data before making any of these system changes so that you
can restore your system to its previous state if any problems are encountered!
Windows® Update
Before making any tweaks, it is best to run the Windows® Update utility and install any recommended
updates for your system. This, of course, requires that your computer is connected to the Internet. To
run Windows® Update, go to the Start button menu, click on All Programs and you’ll see Windows®
Update appear near the top of the list of programs above. Run Windows® Update and be sure to install
all “Critical” and “Driver” updates that are found.
Windows® updates are highly recommended by Microsoft, and indeed many are for security
enhancements and offer critical fixes. But, after you’ve run Windows® Update, you may prefer to set
the Automatic Updates feature off and check manually for your updates to avoid this service kicking
in while you are tending to audio processes. Go to Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Update. Choose Change settings at the top left of the dialog. Select Never check for updates to
turn this feature off.* If you do choose to turn this option off, then be sure to check manually on the Microsoft Windows® Update site for critical updates on a regular basis.
*Note: Another option to consider is to simply disconnect from the Internet altogether when doing audio
recording work. This way you can leave Automatic Updates on the recommended “automatic” setting and
not worry about it trying to download or install updates while you are doing critical audio work.
Making System Tweaks in Windows® 7
Here are a few tips for accessing system settings in Windows® 7.
Administrator Privileges
To be able to access many of the system settings, you’ll need to be logged in to Windows® with a user
account that has full Administrator permissions. Please check your Windows® Help if you need to
learn about User Accounts and permissions.
The Windows® Control Panel
Many of the following settings covered here are accessed in the Windows® Control Panel. Note that
we’ve “customized” the Start menu so that the Control Panel appears as a menu to make things easier
to find. To set your Start menu this way, right-click on the Start button, choose Properties, then click
on the Customize button for the Start menu. In the dialog, choose the Display as menu option for the Control Panel. Click OK to exit both dialogs.
4•1
Windows® 7 Optimizations
Customizing the Start menu
Click the Windows® Start button and you’ll see that you can click on Control Panel here to display
the menu of all items.
Accessing the Windows® Control Panel menu from the Start button menu
Performance Information and Tools
The System panel is a handy dialog where you can see information about your computer system and
easily access system settings. Go to Control Panel > System. Here are a few tips for items in the System
panel.
Click the Performance Information and Tools link at the bottom left of the System dialog. If a button
appears at the top of the new screen to “Refresh Now,” then click it to allow it to check your computer
and update the info. The results are listed in the dialog to rate elements of your system for running
Windows® 7.
4•2
Performance and Information Tools - Assessment results
Windows® 7 Optimizations
Essentially, if you see any component’s results here score less than 4.0, you might have issues running
some applications or Windows® 7 features. But note that some of these ratings are less critical for
using your computer primarily as a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). For example, games and 3D
graphics intensive applications often require the fastest system components - especially graphics.
DAW applications typically do not require a super high score for Graphics or Gaming Graphics. The Processor, Memory (RAM) and Primary hard disk scores are helpful scores. If you see any of these
lower than 4.0, you might indeed want to look into upgrading the related hardware on your system for
better DAW performance!
User Account Control
The User Account Control (UAC) feature in Windows® 7 is what prompts you for permission when
you go to configure system settings and access some directories and programs. UAC is a useful security
measure introduced back in Windows Vista®, and it can also be real annoyance when trying to do
system tweaks, such as many of the ones listed in this document. Keep in mind, Microsoft implemented
UAC to prevent tampering with important settings, and you could expose some security vulnerabilities
by altering some settings. One option is to make the following change temporarily, configure some
Windows® settings, remove programs, etc., then go back and reset the UAC settings back to their
default when done.
Go to Control Panel > Action Center and select Change User Account Control settings from the
options at the top left. Adjust the slider down to a setting lower than the middle (default) position
to ease the restrictions of the UAC service. You’ll see the text in the Window explain the setting’s
changes. Click Apply when done.
4•3
The User Account Control settings
Windows® 7 Optimizations
Disable your Onboard Sound Card
When using Line 6 USB hardware as your sound card device for recording and playback in the POD
Farm™ 2 standalone application and DAW applications, you may not need to have another sound
card enabled. In some cases you may even encounter a hardware conflict with some “onboard” and/
or add-in sound cards. The best solution is to simply disable any unnecessary, additional sound card.
Go to Control Panel > Device Manager. Click the arrow to the left of Sound, video and game controllers to expand this item. This should show your Line 6 USB device (if connected) as well as
any other audio device currently available on your computer. Right-click on your onboard sound card
device (often listed here as High Definition Audio Device or other generic name) and choose Disable.
Click Yes when it prompts you if you really want to disable the device. The device will then appear in
the list with a little downward arrow icon to show it is disabled. You can come back to Device Manager
any time, right click on the disabled device, and choose Enable to enable it again if needed.
Note that if you disable another sound card, Windows® will often then automatically assign your connected
Line 6 USB device as the Windows® “default device” for all sound playback. This means that many audio
applications such as Windows® Media Player, iTunes®, games, etc., will route their audio playback to your
Line 6 device, which may or may not be what you want. The audio capabilities of the Line 6 POD Studio,
TonePort, GuitarPort, PODxt and POD X3 devices are likely much higher quality than your on-board or
add-on sound card, but Line 6 devices do not support some features such as MIDI playback, 5.1 surround
output, or accelerated 3D audio for games. If you need these features, then it is best to set a sound card that
does as the Windows® default playback device, or specifically for the applications with these requirements.
You can, however, avoid Windows® system sounds playing through your Line 6 device independently of
the Windows® default playback device assignment – see the next section.
Turn Off Windows® System Sounds
These little dings and beeps can be handy alerts, but not very pleasant to hear blaring at high volume,
especially if they are assigned to play through your Line 6 device. To turn them off, go to Control Panel
> Sound. In the Sounds tab, choose No Sounds as the Sound Scheme. You can also uncheck the Play
Windows® Startup sound if you want to also disable it. Click OK to exit the dialog. You can always
come back here and turn the sounds back on if you really miss them.
The Sound dialog - setting the Sound Scheme to No Sounds
Turn Off Visual Effects
By default, Windows® 7 has numerous Visual Effects active. These do make the interface look pretty,
but also utilize resources. You can toggle many of these on/off individually, or one easy tweak is just
to turn all off. Go to Control Panel > System. Select Advanced system settings at the top left of the
System dialog. In the Advanced tab, click on the top-most Settings button within the Performance
section. In the Visual Effects tab, select the Adjust for best performance option to turn of all Visual
Effects. Alternatively, you can keep only the individual Visual Effects checked that you want if you
prefer to have things look a bit more snazzy. Click the OK button to exit.
4•5
The Visual Effects settings
Windows® 7 Optimizations
Disable the Remote Assistance Options
Some technical support providers may ask you to keep this service active, but if this is not the case
for you, then you can disable it. Go to Control Panel > System and select Remote settings from the
top left of the System dialog. In the Remote tab, uncheck the option for Allow Remote Assistance
connections to this computer. In the lower portion of the dialog, you can also choose Don’t allow
connections to this computer.
Disabling the Remote Assistance feature
4•6
Windows® 7 Optimizations
Optimize Processor Scheduling
Many DAW applications recommend setting the Processor Scheduling setting to “Background
Services” rather than the Windows® default of “Programs.” Others claim it can be detrimental to
processing, so evaluate its advantages on your system. Go to Control Panel > System. Select Advanced
system settings at the top left of the System dialog. In the Advanced tab, click on the Settings button in the Performance section. In the Performance Options dialog’s Advanced tab, set the Processor
Scheduling to Background Services.
Configuring the Processor Scheduling option
Set Virtual Memory to a Fixed Size
Windows® uses a section of your hard drive as a “paging file” for storing and retrieving immediate data
when your RAM is filled. It can help to make this file a fixed size rather than let Windows® dynamically
resize it. Note that changing this setting will require you to restart your computer. Go to Control Panel > System and select Advanced system settings at the top left. In the Advanced tab, click on
the Settings button in the Performance section. In the Performance Options dialog’s Advanced tab,
click the Change button within the Virtual Memory section. Uncheck the Automatically manage
paging file size for all drives option, then choose Custom size. You can then type in new Initial &
Maximum size values.
It is typically recommended to use a value that is 1.5 to 2 times the amount of your PC’s total RAM and
enter this same value in to BOTH fields so that it maintains a fixed file size. Click the Set button, and
then OK to close the dialog. Restart your computer when prompted for the changes to take effect.
The Virtual Memory dialog - A Custom paging file created on the C drive
4•7
Windows® 7 Optimizations
Enable DMA Mode for IDE Hard Disk Drives
Note: This tip is only for IDE type hard disks. The latest PCs often now come with Serial ATA (SATA)
interface controllers and hard disks for which this Device Manager setting change is not applicable.
Check to make sure the transfer mode for your IDE hard disk drive(s) is set to the DMA mode,
otherwise the disk access speed will be poor. Go to Control Panel > Device Manager. Expand the
entry labeled IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Right click on the first ATA Channel item in the sub-
list and select Properties from the context menu. In the ATA Channel 0 Properties dialog, go to
the Advanced Settings tab. Make sure the Enable DMA box is checked. Click OK when done. Now
repeat the above steps by right-clicking on each ATA Channel 0 and each ATA Channel 1 item
within the IDE ATA /ATAPI controllers sub-list to make sure all are set to DMA mode. You may
need to restart your computer if you change any DMA settings for them to take effect.
Checking the IDE Transfer Mode - DMA is enabled
Exit all Unnecessary Applications
This follows common sense – to free up more resources you should avoid running other programs
wherever possible when running POD Farm 2 and your DAW software. But many Windows® programs
are often set to launch automatically when you start your system and you may not even know it. An
easy way to look for these is in the Windows® Taskbar, but first you may need to change a setting to
see them.
Right click on the Start button and select Properties from the context menu. In the Taskbar and Start menu Properties dialog, select the Taskbar tab and click the Customize button. In this dialog you can
individually choose the behaviors for application notifications to appear in the Taskbar - you can just
leave these all to the default setting for “Only show notification.” But you should check the box for
the Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar. This allows you to always see and access
these applications when launched.
4•8
Windows® 7 Optimizations
Customizing the Taskbar to show the all active program icons
You will now likely see several little icons on the Taskbar, at the lower right of your screen, next to your
clock. Most utility applications that start with Windows® will display a little icon here. You should
know what it is you are accessing before shutting one of these off – usually hovering over the icon for a
moment will show a tooltip informing you what utility it is. If it is one you do not need, often you can
right click on the icon and choose Exit. The utility will again start next time you reboot your machine.
Or, more advanced Windows® users can try using the System Configuration utility (see next tip).
Disable Startup Programs with the System Configuration Utility
It is not recommended you use this utility unless you are familiar with the Windows® 7 operating
system – seek the help of a technician if needed. To access the System Configuration utility, click
on the Windows® Start button and type “msconfig” in the Search field, and double-click “msconfig.exe” when it is listed above. In the System Configuration dialog, go to the Startup tab. All checked
items here are set to start running when you boot Windows. If some of these are not necessary, you can
uncheck them. For example, the Windows® Sidebar and Welcome Center items are nice conveniences,
but can be disabled here to free up some resources. When you install new software applications and
hardware, you’ll often see more items get added here that will be checked and loaded automatically on
Windows® startup. Often these items can be disabled as well.
4•9
Windows® 7 Optimizations
The System Configuration utility - Startup
Note that some of these startup items will likely be important security utilities, such as Anti-Virus
software, which you never want to surf the Internet without. You should probably keep these items
checked unless they are causing problems with playback or recording. Click OK when done - You will
need to restart your computer for changes made within this dialog to take effect. Upon restart, you can
check the box to “Don’t show this again” when alerted that changes were made to your system. (This
is simply informing you of the Startup program changes you just made.)
Internet and Network Connections
You’ll likely want your PC to be able to connect to the Internet, or perhaps a network, but some
users find that having a connection active while using audio applications causes glitches or drop-outs,
especially if using a wireless connection or USB wireless network card. One thing you can try is to
disconnect from the Internet/network while using your audio applications if you find that it is causing
some interference. Or, if drop-outs still persist, go to Control Panel > Device Manager and right-click
on your Network card (or Wireless network car) and select to disable it (you can come back and enable
it again here when you need to reconnect to the network/Internet). Likewise, during the times that
you are not connected, you should not need to have Internet/Networking utilities running, such as
Windows® Firewall, Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware, networking utilities, etc. It is not recommended
that you exit these services while connected to the Internet, since they are necessary security measures.
Display & Power Settings
The following items are all accessed within the Control Panel.
Switch to a Non-Aero Theme
“Aero” is the name Microsoft has given to the “Glass Transparency” look of the newer Windows® 7
display themes. It does make the Windows® experience cool and visually interesting, but systems with
slightly older display hardware may struggle with or not run the transparency engine very well. To free
up some memory you can switch Aero “off” by switching to the Windows® Classic theme. Sure, this
will make Windows® 7 look about as exciting as Windows® XP, but it’s leaner and meaner if that’s your
priority. Go to Control Panel > Personalization. Select the Windows® Classic theme.
4•10
Selecting the Windows® Classic (non-Aero) theme
Turn off the Screen Saver
Windows® 7 Optimizations
You likely do not want a screen saver kicking in during the middle of your perfect take when recording.
Click the Start button and type Screen Saver in the Search field to get to the settings dialog. Choose
None for the Screen Saver option.
Turning off the Screen Saver
Click Apply (rather than the OK button), and you can access the next settings option in this same
Screen Saver options dialog...
4•11
Windows® 7 Optimizations
Change Power Settings
While still in the Screen Saver dialog from the previous item, click the Change Power Settings
link in the bottom of the dialog. There is probably no reason for your audio PC components to ever
power down (although if you have a laptop, then this can conserve the battery life). Choose the High Performance plan here to optimize your PC components so that they do not power down on you
unexpectedly.
The Power Options dialog - setting the High performance plan
Maintenance & System Tools
Here are several recommended maintenance tasks you should perform regularly to keep your system in
top form for audio work.
Backup Your Data
Yes, you have heard it before, but it is easy to keep putting off the chore of backing up all that audio
data. You should just assume that your hard drive will at some point die, taking all your precious work
with it! Invest in an external hard drive backup system or DVD burner drive if you can afford it. Losing
audio data can be more costly and extremely negative to the creative process. There are also “drive
imaging” software applications you can buy that allow you to back up your entire computer’s contents
– operating system, data, programs and all – and completely restore your computer back to the last
backed-up state in minutes in the event of a failure.
Windows® includes the free Backup and Restore utility, but you’ll need to configure its settings to
start using it. Of course you’ll also need a drive to store all the backed up data. Go to Control Panel > Backup and Restore. In the dialog, click the Set up backup link. Please read through the Help in
Windows® for this feature since there are several options you can configure to best suit your needs.
4•12
Windows® 7 Optimizations
Set up the Windows® Backup and Restore utility
Even if you are obsessive in doing your backups, theft, fire damage or other calamities might still
take your computer and your backup drives! Therefore, another worthy consideration is “offsite” data
storage for your backups. There are now many affordable Internet sites offering affordable, online data
backup services. Another solution is simply to let a buddy hang on to an extra backup drive at his
place.
Clean Up
You accumulate lots of little temporary files and trash over time, so it’s a good thing to clean house
once in a while. Click the Windows® Start button. In the Search box, type in Disk Cleanup and select
this utility once found in the list above. In the Disk Cleanup window, select the disk partition to clean
and click the Clean button. This will scan the disk and offer a number of selectable items to delete.
Check all items you want to clear out. If you chose your C drive, as we have in the above example, you
will typically see may options here. You should at least clear the Recycle Bin, but may also want to
check all others as well if yo are sure you don’t need to keep any of the files stored in them (click the
View Files button to see what the specific files are that will be cleared for each category). Repeat the
process and run Disk Cleanup on each of your hard disk partitions.
The Disk Cleanup dialog
4•13
Windows® 7 Optimizations
Defragment Your Hard Disks
An important practice to follow for audio is to regularly run a defragmenting application on all your
hard drive partitions, especially your audio partition, to allow more streamlined disk access. Many
3rd party companies produce defragmenting applications, but Windows® already includes Disk Defragmenter, which works pretty well (albeit a bit slower than 3rd party ones you can buy). To run
Disk Defragmenter, click the Windows® Start button and in the Search box, type Disk Defragmenter
- in the list of results, double click on Disk Defragmenter to launch it. Select any partition use the
Analyze disk and Defragment disk buttons to check and defragment each partition as needed.
Windows® Disk Defragmenter
Disable Windows® System Restore
Windows® System Restore can be a helpful system utility to have running, since it regularly makes
backups of important Windows® system files and drivers, and allows you to “roll back” to the previous
versions in case of problems. But this service comes at some costs - a significant amount of hard disk
space, CPU usage and the disk access it needs when the service kicks in. If you see no problems with it
active, then leave it on. But if you need to solve audio problems and want to try adjusting it or turning
it off, then you can access it by going to Control Panel > System and choose System protection from
the list at the left. In the System Protection tab you’ll see a list of all hard disk partitions on your
system - you can select one and configure its System Restore settings. There are a few options here:
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Windows® 7 Optimizations
The System Restore options
In the Setting dialog above (on the right), you can choose “Turn off system protection” to completely
disable System Restore for the selected partition. Or, you can keep it active, and use the slider to lower
the amount of space it will use for storing backup data. If you plan on keeping the system protection
active for the partition, you should not click the Delete button, since that will remove any currently
saved Restore data!
One compromise is to keep System Restore active for only your C partition, and disable all other
partitions. Click on the OK button and restart your computer for the settings to take effect.
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Additional Resources
aDDiTional resourCes
There are, of course, still many more things you can learn about Windows® operating systems, and
upgrades you can perform on your system if you care to spend some time doing some reading. Be sure to
check the site of the manufacturer of your DAW software for some application–specific do’s and don’ts.
If you do some Internet searching you can find countless web sites dedicated to offering Windows® and
PC tuning tips, as well as active user forums where you can argue endlessly about things like AMD® vs.
Intel® and Mac® vs. Windows®. Thankfully, there are some very helpful folks out there in cyberspace,
and you can learn from their wisdom and mistakes.
Helpful Computer Optimization Sites
To follow are some very good sites dedicated to computer optimization, software and hardware tips
- these are also mostly focused on using computers for audio-related tasks as well!
• TweakXP - http://www.tweakxp.com/
• Sound on Sound Magazine - http://www.soundonsound.com/
• Computer Music Magazine - http://www.computermusic.co.uk/
• Tom’s Hardware - http://www.tomshardware.com/
• Black Viper - http://www.blackviper.com/
• MusicXP - http://www.musicxp.net/
Line 6 Online Resources
Hungry for more info? We’ve got extensive Help documentation, User Forums and Product Manuals
for your Line 6 gear just a click away.
• Several more Help documents covering computer recording, MIDI Control, product Release
Notes and more are available here - POD Farm Online Help
• For technical support, choose from the many options listed on the Line 6 Community Support
page - Line 6 Support
• Official Line 6 hardware Product Manuals can be downloaded here - Line 6 Product Manuals
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