Teac GigaStudio User Manual

GIGASTUDIO 3 - Frequently Asked Que stions

General:

What are the minimum system requirements to run GigaStudio 3 Orchestra?

The performan ce of this system depends largely on how ful l your start up drive is. T h e best way
to increase the polyphony of this system would be an additional hard drive just for your
samples:

• Wind o w s XP SP1

• Pentium® 4 1.7GHz processor or AMD 2100 XP processor (SSE-compatible processors
required for GigaPulse™)

• 512MB RAM

• DVD-ROM drive

• 1024 x 76 8 monitor res olution

• 100MB application hard drive space

• MIDI interface

• GSIF-compatible sound card or ReWire-compati ble hos t applicat io n

What are the recommended system requirements to run GigaStudio 3 Orchestra?

This system should g et you 2 00+ voi c es of po lyphon y and several instances of Gi g a P ulse (your
mileage may vary due to several factors):

• Wind o w s XP SP1

• Pentium® 4 2.8GHz processor or AMD 3200 XP processor (SSE-compatible processors
required for GigaPulse™)

• 1GB R AM

• DVD-ROM drive

• 1024 x 76 8 monitor res olution

• 1GB application hard drive space

• Dedicated sample drive with many free gigabytes or sample storage space; 7200 RPM with
8MB cache , 8.9 ms seek tim e

• MIDI interface

• GSIF-compatible sound card or ReWire-compati ble hos t applicat ion t o p

Will a computer with a Pentium 3 processor be able to run GigaStudio 3?

It will open, but you probably won't be able to run GigaPulse and polyphony performance will
be limited. Also, you might not be able to open some of the larger sound libraries included with
GigaStudio.

Page 1 of 11

What about Athlon processors, which ones can I use with GigaStudio 3?

GS3 will work fine with AMD processors so long as they support SSE processing. The Athlon XP
line does support SSE processin g. If you are using a processor of a differen t cl ass, please
check the AMD website to see if your AMD processo r su pports SS E processing.

Can I run GigaStudio 3 with Windows 2000?

It may open and run, but this operating system is not supported by TASCAM.

Any more tips to get more performance with GigaStudio 3?

You'll see higher polyphony counts when you use 16-bit samples than with 24-bit samples.
Higher sampling rates (96kHz) will also make your system run with less polyphony. Longer
reverb con vo lu tion impulses will be less efficient than short ones ; so you mig ht be able to use
five room imp u lses but four hall im pulses.

How about the ultimate GS3 system? What if I want to get crazy polyphony and
multiple Gig aP ul se insta nc e s?

The limiti ng facto r for pol yphony is har d dri ve speed , so you'll get the bes t perfor mance with a
RAID array for your drives. The below system was tested with over 600 voices of polyphony
(using 16-b i t samples), o f cours e your mileag e m a y vary.

• Wind o w s XP SP1

• P4 3GHz or faster

• 2GB R AM

• DVD-ROM drive

• 1024 x 768 monitor r es olution

• Two-drive RAID using 10,000 RPM SATA drives

• MIDI interface

• GSIF 2-compatible sound card or ReWire-compatible host application top

What is t he b e st co n figurati o n fo r Windo ws XP and Gig aSt ud i o ?

The best “recipe” for setting up Windows XP for GigaStudio or any serious audio work is to:

1. A fresh install of Windows XP

2. Verify in “Device Manager” that all devices (AGP, PCI, FW, USB etc…) are happy. (No
“yello w exc lamation marks” or “ot her device” cate g orie s.)

3. When at all possible verify that in “Device Manager” “View/Resources by type/Interrupt
requ est (IRQ)” t hat your audio card is s itting on its own I RQ number and that this number is
not assigned to any other devi ces.

4. Now it is recommended that you turn off any services or programs in Windows that run in
the back ground. TASCAM Recommends the following XP tweaks:

Page 2 of 11

For consistency, before carrying out the tuning tips suggested below, switch to classic view in
the con t rol panel as well as for t h e start menu .

* Start > Control Panel > "Switc h to Cl a ssic View".
* Start > Contro l Panel > Ta s kba r and S tar t Menu > S tart Men u Tab > Class ic Start Menu

* Switch off Desktop Background Image
Right Click Desktop > Properties > Desktop Tab > Background None
* Disable Screen Saver

Right Click Deskto p > Properti es > Screen Saver > None
* Switch off Power Schemes
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Power Options > Always On > Set: Turn off monitor and

turn off hard discs to Never
* Disable Automatic Desktop Cleanup
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Display > Desktop > Customize Desktop > Untick "Run

Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days
* Disable Hide Inactive Icons

Start > Settings > Taskb a r a nd Start Menu > Taskbar TAB > Unche c k " Hide Inact ive Icons"
* Set Visual Effects to “Best Performance”
Start > Settings > Control P a ne l > System > Advanced > Perf ormance Settings > Visual

Effects Tab > Adjust for best performance
* Disable Remote Assistance
Start > Settings > Control Panel> System > Remote > Untick Allow remote assistance

invita tions to be sent fro m this co m p uter
* Disable Automatic Updates

Start > Se ttings > Control Panel> Syst em > Automatic Upd a tes > Turn off auto matic
updating. I want to upd ate my computer ma nually

* Disable System Restore

Start > Settings > Control Panel> System > System Restore Tab. Tick the "Turn off System
Restore on all Drives"

* Disable Internet Synchronize Time
Start > Settings > Cont r ol Panel > Date a nd Time > Interne t Time > Untick "A utomatic ally

synchronize with interne t time server"
* Disable Windows Sounds
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sounds Tab > Sound Scheme

to None.

Page 3 of 11

* Disable Fast User Switching
Start > Settings > Control Panel > User Accounts > Change the way users log on or off >

Untick Use Fast User Switching
These are the tweaks that we use on our systems here at TASCAM and they have proven

effective through the beta testing cycle of GS3 as a good starting point. Our Value Added
Retailers (VARs) take system tweaks to the next level by fine tuning these tweaks to get every
last ounce of power out of a PC. They are you best sour ce for a gli tc h free co m pute r cr eativity.

A good resource to learn more about these tweaks and how they affect your operating system
can be found at: http://www.musicxp.net/tuning_tips.php

How do I connect my Mac running my sequencer to the PC that I am running Giga
on?

Think of your PC running Giga as you would any hardware sampler or synthesizer (as far as
connecting it) . I f you are using a contro ller ke yboard, that would go to the MIDI i n on the Mac,
The MIDI out of your Mac would go to the MIDI in of your Gigastudio PC. (So you will need a
MIDI interface on your Mac and one on the PC).

If yo u are recordi ng your audio on y our Mac then you w ould just brin g the aud i o outs of the
GSIF compatible audio card on the PC to the inputs of the audio card on your Mac. Simple as
that!

*Note: Make sur e if you a re co nn ecti ng yo ur aud io ca rds with D igita l connections that yo u s et
up the word clock properly. Check with your audio card manufacture for proper word clock
settings.

GigaStudioInterFace (GSIF):

What is GSIF 2?

This is TAS CAM 's new hardware comp atibility specificatio n, or driver, for sou n d c ar ds . GSIF 2 is
an update of GSIF that adds both kernel level midi and audio input into GigaStudio. GSIF 2
allows you to route audio from your sound cards inputs into GigaStudio for either real time
processing or recording. The kernel level midi input means that from midi trigger to audio
output will be even faster than before. When purchasing a sound card for the computer that
will run GigaStudio, make sure it's GSIF compatible.

I alread y have a G S I F c a rd. Do I n e ed t o b u y a ne w GS IF 2 sound card to u se
GigaSt ud i o 3 ?

No, GigaStudio 3 runs great with GSIF 1 cards, you just won't be able to take advantage of the
kernel level midi or audio input. However, most manufacturers who make GSIF 1 cards are
updating them to GSIF 2. Check the Hardware Compatibility page to see if your GSIF card is
GSIF 2 compatible yet.

Page 4 of 11