Audacity 2.x - More Resource Intensive?

[hellosailor]

Just wondering, how much more horsepower does 2.x require compared to the 1.3x betas?

I'm running Vista and upgraded mainly because I thought 2.x would be overall better for me, but if I'm doing other things on the computer I notice that 2.x will trash the audio from time to time while recording, which 1.3x didn't do--with the same hardware and tasks.

So I'm rashly assuming 2.x needs more horsepower, and wondering if I can dl the old version and install both on my computer, to choose my poison?

[Gale Andrews]

Just wondering, how much more horsepower does 2.x require compared to the 1.3x betas?

Probably none, if you are comparing to the later Betas - it's the same basic code in relevant areas.

I'm running Vista and upgraded mainly because I thought 2.x would be overall better for me, but if I'm doing other things on the computer I notice that 2.x will trash the audio from time to time while recording, which 1.3x didn't do--with the same hardware and tasks.

Are you sure the tasks are the same? Have you installed a new security suite for example which may be scanning the recorded files as Audacity writes them?

Do you mean by "trash" there are little dropouts, and what are you recording exactly? If there are skips or dropouts have you tried this link: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Manag ... nd_Drivers .


Gale

[hellosailor]

Gale, it could be that I should be comparing to 1.2.x, but I hadn't noticed the problem in 1.3x.

Of course, "everything" is always being updated. The security app (MSE) is among the less intensive ones. The email client is unchanged (I figured out the background fetches could be the culprit). But of course the OS and drivers are always seeing updates. Still, I don't think think there's been any BIG change in resource competition. I took a break for a long while, came back to find 2.0 had released (thank you!), and found the new problem.

If 1.3.9 and 2.0 are almost the same, I'll have to try 1.2 again as well to see what's going on. How does 1.2 compare to 2.0 in terms of the horsepower requirements?

Since I'm moving music to digital and "CD quality" is all that needs, I don't think I'd lose anything by using 1.2 for that. No?

[Gale Andrews]

1.2.6 can crash on Vista when you press Stop after recording. It would be a shame to have to go back to 1.2 because it is much less full-featured than 2.x.

What are you recording, and how?

System requirements for 2.x are here http://audacityteam.org/download/windows#sysreq .

We never really wrote sensible requirements for 1.2 but it is more lightweight (it usually takes only about 1/5th of the memory 1.3 / 2.0 take when running empty and idle).



Gale

[hellosailor]

Gale, I'm digitizing high quality cassettes. Using two interfaces, a Behringer USB after a Creative in a laptop card slot seemed to be a problem. (Turns out the problem was Audacity being disrupted, regardless of the hardware choice.)

System is right on the specs, a dual-core 2GHz cpu with 4GB of RAM, although of course Vista/32 never actually can use all 4 of that.

Last year--using 1.2 or 1.3--I did dozens on dozens of recordings without any problem, on the same hardware, so 2.x would seem like the major change that's bit me now. I did try bumping the priority but haven't tried checking to see if that would stop the interference.

[steve]

System is right on the specs, a dual-core 2GHz cpu with 4GB of RAM

I've got a cheap (Acer) laptop, dual core 2 GHZ cpu with 3 GB RAM and Windows Vista 32 bit. It handles recording multi-track projects with Audacity 2.x just as easily as the 1.3.x versions using either the onboard sound card or an external Behringer UCA 202 USB sound card. Your system should easily have enough horsepower to handle digitizing high quality cassettes with Audacity 2.x. If it can't then you need to find the problem on the system.

[waxcylinder]

... but if I'm doing other things on the computer I notice that 2.x will trash the audio from time to time while recording, which 1.3x didn't do--with the same hardware and tasks.

I suspect the problem lies here -doing other compute-intensive task on the computer can cause interrupts (not always but it vcn an does happen). I use my old XP desktop as my main recording engine - and do my other work on mt laptop so as not to disturb Audacity. You should be able to source a cheap 2nd-hand desktop PC fairly easily.

WC

[hellosailor]

" If it can't then you need to find the problem on the system."
So I guessed. Now, as to just HOW to find the problem? Any ideas?

Waxy-
Throwing more money at it (buy another computer) is not the solution. Of course if you want to throw the money, I'll give you a Western Union address.<G>

[waxcylinder]

Waxy-
Throwing more money at it (buy another computer) is not the solution. Of course if you want to throw the money, I'll give you a Western Union address.<G>

Believe it or not some people throw away perfectly good computers when they get a new one -do you have any friends or work-colleagues like that (Mrs Waxcylinder is getting me a redundant older XP desktop from her work - it'll come in nicely ...)

Waxy

[Gale Andrews]

" If it can't then you need to find the problem on the system."
So I guessed. Now, as to just HOW to find the problem? Any ideas?

Process of elimination. Try all the ideas here:
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Manag ... nd_Drivers .

You could even try Audacity's Audio Cache feature that causes crashes for some people:
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/di ... html#cache .

If you try it, I suggest setting Minimum Free Memory to 1500 MB and see what happens. Uncheck the Audio Cache box as soon as you have finished recording. This feature will be removed from 2.0.2, though.


Gale