RE : Artist 6 to Artist 8 (reinstallation?)

Paul,
here’s my take on this.
Disclaimer: I’m not a system builder, but a musician. My experience with DAWs stems solely from researching and building my own music computer. And I know very little of you and your setup, that’s why I assume a whole lot, and I will make some general observations about DAWs. Don’t be offended by anything I’m saying… :slight_smile:
I use two computers as well, one for office work and one for production, former is an 8 year old Core 2 Duo laptop and the latter is in my sig.

Here we go: You have two laptops and need to decide what to do with them. The 3737 machine is newer and more powerful and could serve for production and you could use the 5040 for office stuff and whatnot.

Unfortunately, I cannot help you with your error messages and the system running poorly, but here’s what I would do, and it’s only partly “throwing money at the problem”, because this will clear the slate and make the system(s) predictable, because you know precisely what went in and what you can expect to get out.

  1. Get a barebones Windows 8.1 OEM x64 systems builders DVD. If the DVD supplied with the 3737 is clean, use it, otherwise forget it and use the clean new one, since you don’t want to install possible bloatware again.
  2. Get two modern SATA3 SSDs, I use 850 EVOs and love them. Maybe one 500G and one 250G.
  3. Get a 2TB 7200 rpm SATA3 HDD, since I assume you want to record all those cool keyboards you have…
  4. Get a SATA3 to USB3 cable.

DAWs benefit tremendously from discrete storage for at least audio and Samples, and the OS needs a fast drive for booting and system tasks.

Clone the existing drive in the 5040 to the 500G SSD and install it into that laptop. I did that to my ancient laptop and expect to be able to use it until I die. NO issues whatsoever.
Or: Even better would be to install another x64 Win8.1 OEM onto the 5040 as well, so that it can have a new life and the same look & feel as the other computer.
Again, I did this and no issues, except for finding a graphics driver for the Intel graphics from 2007…
You won’t recognize that computer, promise!

Then: Put the 250G SSD into the 3737. Go to the BIOS and disable all sleep states and anything related to power savings, e.g. Intel SpeedStep (EIST). On a Dell, there might be little to tinker with, but try anyway! Disable the internal audio and all networking that you don’t absolutely need. Put SATA ports in AHCI mode. You might be able to reuse the HDD from the 3737, but if it’s an 5400 rpm drive, toss it… :sunglasses:
Install your fresh copy of Win8.1. Update the system completely though MS update. Do not install a virus scanner, Win Defender is fine.
Install the new internal HDD, this will become your new audio drive.
Use the old HDD from the 5040 (or the 3737, if you didn’t toss it… :wink: ) with the USB3 cable as your external sample storage, or use an existing external drive. Sample storage doesn’t need to be really fast, if you don’t mind waiting a little for projects to load. Some VSTis use disk streaming (Toontrack for example does not!), so for Superior Drummer it doesn’t matter, for others, like Ivory, you might lose a few voices.
Do not install ANY manufacturer supplied drivers, only if Windows update can’t find them.

Then install the audio/MIDI interfaces’ drivers, then Cubase, then all your VSTi. Then the other music software.
Run Cubase in between each step and see how it behaves…

Now you have a fast Office computer and a nice DAW with three discrete drives and a bunch of RAM.

Sorry I can’t help you with your existing problems, but I wager that you’ll have much more fun after this is done. More music, less troubleshooting.

Let me hear your thoughts, please!
Sincerely,
Benji

Hi,

So in any event, your instructions will result in me having to completely wipe and start over again from fresh on at least my Win8?

Paul

Paul,
well, yes, that would be my suggestion (not “instruction”… :wink:).
I also felt that using a barebones kind of OS install DVD would force Windows to load all the minimal drivers and no extra ballast stuff. I also suggested this since you wrote that you just had installed everything fresh anyway, so why not one more time?
And the SSD will make everything really fast.

Cheers,
Benji

Hi IMP,

I spoke to my PC today shop about installing a bare-bones Windows 8.1 OS. As he interpreted it, he said it must be that DELL have bundled in tons of their own stuff and what not. And that this I what I currently have at the moment from when they REFORMATTED it last month. He said that he’s quite sure what I am asking for will be via a DIFFERENT Windows OS disc to the one they used after the REFORMAT. Therefore, I will have to purchase a LICENSE for this (because it’s not the default disc you get when you initially buy the machine). He guessed it will cost about just under £100 off the top of his head for the LICENSE/DISC.

If I get Fred-down-the-road to do it, then it VOIDS my Warranty!

I am looking at getting a 500GB SDD to go inside the machine. Again, if I purchase it from them, then they said they should be able to wangle a deal.

Whilst I am considering everything of which you very kindly suggest, I may not take you up on everything. Also, I have a budget I am trying to work within. I do appreciate your help and also fellow member LBro44 has be giving me some help alongside you.

Bloody computers! It was so much better when it was all just about a Fender Rhodes Piano and a Yamaha DX7! lol

Best,

Paul

Paul,
please don’t feel obliged to do anything just because I said so…
It’s just that I built my DAW myself and am very pleased with the overall level of insight, control and performance that this affords me.
And my recommendations were really only a conglomerate of the “best practice” pieces of advice floating around this forum (and others) anyway.
Whatever you do, don’t spend money that could better be used to take your wife out to dinner or your kids to the beach in the weekend!

Success!
Benji

Paul,
A quick observation: Steinberg Forums. Here it shows your RAM being used almost completely, which means that the system is likely using the virtual memory (aka “swapping in/out from a mechanical laptop HDD”). Not good for performance, try to reduce your memory footprint during production.
And I could make the CPU out to be running at .78 GHz, there’s some serious throttling going on there, or so it seems. Quite possibly it will up-clock again under load, but the system shouldn’t really be doing any of this in the first place!
I’d check the BIOS for the possibility of disabling EIST or related power management settings.

Cheers,
Benji

Thanks Bluzat,

I will definitely consider this when my Kaspersky expires.

Much appreciated,

Paul

Try the free demo, if it doesn’t work out for you… nothing lost.

Hi Benji,

I managed to gain some insight today mate:

My PC shop does have a pure WINDOWS OS CD. My Win8 has the (full) DELL Windows OS loaded on at the moment. So yes, I can get the bare bones version. He said they might just charge me 20 quid for that part.

Regarding the SSD, they use their own supplier where obviously they get devices at TRADE price. He looked at its but they do not have a SAMSUNG 500GB SSD. He said if I purchase a SSD elsewhere then they would not be able to fit it and also (if someone else fitted it) then it would void the WARRANTY on the Win8 PC. However, if I purchase the SSD via the store, and they fit it (which obviously they would in this case) then they will give me a extra 2 x years WARRANTY on the SSD.

However, the SAMSUNG are very expensive. The guy suggested (which he now uses himself instead of SAMSUNG) a 500GB SSD for only £180 made by a company CRUCIAL. He said these are excellent and he has never had one fail as yet. I checked with a couple of mates of mine and one uses CRUCIAL for his RAM upgrade and another uses a CRUCIAL SSD in his MAC. In fact, he said that the MAC shop actually recommended CRUCIAL for their MacBooks!

Best,

Paul

Hi,

Getting my Win8 back on Tuesday with the 500GB SSD, FORMATTED, and the bare-bones Windows OS installed.

Not looking forward to REINSTALLING all the softwares again form the bloody third time this year though! :cry:

Ta,

Paul

Paul,
good stuff!
Brand of SSD doesn’t really matter. Make sure you let those guys know that they are not supposed to install any manufacturer provided drivers, but instead let Windows find the drivers.
This is contrary to what repair shops would normally do, I guess, but it cuts down on the bloatware…
Also tell them to:

  1. disable all unnecessary network adapters and
  2. disable the on-board audio BEFORE installing Windows,
  3. switch SATA controllers to AHCI mode
  4. Then switch off ALL power savings options in the BIOS.

Install your audio interface, MIDI interfaces, and finally Cubase. Test in between every step.
Then install your VSTi and other plugins.

Good luck!
Cheers,
Benji

Hi Benji,

Thanks a lot.

Hopefully they will not have started the process yet. I only gave them the go ahead on Friday.

I will copy&paste your comments and forward them on to the PC store.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi Benji,

Will let you know what the PC store say about your kind pointers. Hopefully they should have received the copy this morning.

Paul

<EDIT: The shop performed what you asked. Luckily, the SDD delivery was delayed so they had not started the replacement. Should have the Win8 back Thurs or Fri.>

Rock on! Keep us posted, okay?
Regards,
Benji

Hi Benji,

Wow, I now really do have a stripped down version of Windows 8.1 OS! lol

But now, obviously, Windows is notifying me that there are available (and advisable) UPDATES to download (install), and there seems to be a lot of them! Do I going along with this, or do I not install any of them? Some of them are SECURITY related.

Cheers,

Paul

Paul,
yes, please, install them all!
B.

Hi,

Is that then what you meant by the above please?

Ta,

Paul

Paul,
well, there’s a bunch of different updates that Windows installs usually, some might be drivers, or security updates or added functionality. Just make sure that before you install Cubase, the system is completely up to date and all hardware works, including your audio interface.
If any piece of hardware doesn’t work or with limited functionality, find the latest driver on the manufacturers website. NOT Dell, since now it is not a Dell computer anymore… :mrgreen:

B.

Hi,

Ok, thanks a lot. So install all the WINDOWS UPDATES before re-installing Cubase/Sibelius etc . . .

I will leave it til tomorrow now as it is late, and I did not want to start installing/updating anything until you had kindly clarified my questions. I will possible not even start reinstalling Cubase/Sibelius until Monday as very often, UPDATE pop-up’s can appear a couple of days after the PC having been REFORMATTED.

Ta,

Paul

<Not sure where your last replies vanished to Benji?>