Laptop maxing out with 2 midi tracks?

[maestroejb2000]

Hi,

I just purchased the Project SAM orchestral Rack extension, sounds ok, BUT I'm trying to play a basic sequence (since it didn't come with any midi demos) after 1 track, while trying to record another, my laptop gets the dreaded "CPU overload.....I have an i5 with 8GB RAM 512 SSD, Focusrite 2i2 2nd gen. This is pathetic, it should not crap out after 1 track, any ideas?

Thanks,
Edward

[chimp_spanner]

No idea why that should be. I'm on an i7 4th gen with 12GB so not too different to your setup and I can chuck several instances of SAM at Reason. Obvious question but have you checked your laptop's power setting? It should be on High Performance, not Balanced. Caught me out a few times.

[chimp_spanner]

Also what's your buffer size and sample rate?

[WillyOD]

You should probably upgrade you CPU (I know it sucks with laptops...). i5 sounds bad, especially since you don't seem to know your actual CPU speed or number of cores.

Could be just that some rack extensions require more CPU power. I was surprised that recently my laptop (first time in about year I've used Reason on my laptop for live jams) crapped out just with a stereo audio channel + 3-4 added rack extensions of which only two were in use at the same time.

[Koncide]

Also what's your buffer size and sample rate?

This.

Plus effects. Any particularly large effect chains? Things like reverb especially can be CPU hogs.

[aeox]

Raise your buffer size. I'll go all the way up to 8000 samples if I need to. Which is rare, but sometimes I'll have 20+ eXpanses running through with max quality( I despise bouncing) . I keep it at 512 until things start to max out. If your sample rate is not at 44.1, make sure it is for better performance.

[maestroejb2000]

First, thanks so much to each of you for your tips and suggestions!
I am using an i5 2.5GHZ processor (2 cores) 8GB RAM and 512 SSD. I just bought a new computer case to build an awesome DAW piece by piece but for now this is all I have to work with, I have all my settings maxed out for DAW performance, but I was shocked that I could use more than 1 track. Can I use 1 instance of Project SAM for multiple tracks? I haven't found a way yet, if anyone knows please let me know. thanks!

[Aquila]

I have an i5 with 8GB RAM 512 SSD, Focusrite 2i2 2nd gen.

What model is your i5 processor? i5s come in a wide variety of flavours ranging from absolute beasts to gutless farts in bottles.

If you don't know what it is, you can look it up by going to your Control Panel and hit System (in Classic View). You'll see your processor model number there.

[Gulale]

write down dxdiag on your start menu search and done.