Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
SUPPORT
EXPLORE
Contact
English (GB)
2. Optimisation
3. PC Optimisation
Follow
Windows is designed to suit many different users and, as such, has features that are best applied to
All of the tuning tips below are designed to promote better performance with regards to audio
devices at the expense of some of the other functions in Windows. If you are experiencing
pops/clicks when recording or playing back audio please try following as many of the instructions
*Please note that some of the steps below assume that you have the view in Control Panel set to
General optimisation:
If your computer is set to conserve energy, the CPU may not be running at full speed all of the
time. This can have a detrimental effect on your computer's audio performance. To set your
- Then click the "Change plan settings" button. Make sure both power options are set to "Never".
System sounds can interrupt audio applications. Ensure that they are disabled by doing the
following:
This will improve the performance of your audio drivers on your computer. To do this:
Windows 10, by default, runs a number of Apps in the background, regardless of whether you are
using them.
Select 'Settings' from the Windows Start menu, select 'Privacy', then select 'Background Apps'.
From here switch 'Off' the apps that you do not believe you are using, or that you do not wish to
run in the background when you are not using the program.
Then select:
Update & Security -> Advanced Options -> Choose how updates are delivered -> Turn the slider
USB optimisation:
If you're using a USB interface then we'd also recommend checking the following settings:
1) In the device manager (Right-click the Windows icon > Device Manager), in the Universal
Serial Bus controllers section, right click each USB Root Hub, choose Properties > Power
Management and untick the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power option.
2) Next, right-click the Windows Icon > Power Options. Set both "Screen" and "Sleep" options
here to 'Never'.
Set the Power Scheme to High Performance (if this setting is not available, click on "Additional
Then click on Change plan settings. On the next page set both "Turn off the display" and "Put the
3) Then click Change advanced power settings. In the window that opens make sure you have the
following settings: Hard disc > Turn off hard disk after > Setting (Minutes) = Never
Display > Turn off display after > Setting (Minutes) = Never
Processor power management > Minimum processor state > Setting = 100%
Processor power management > Maximum processor state > Setting = 100%
Advanced optimisation:
If you wish to optimise your system further, or you are using a system that is particularly lacking
in resources you can follow the tips below for advanced optimisation.
Sleep and Hibernate mode can cause problems on some systems. There are various sleep/hibernate
states that different computers use and some system/device drivers may not work well when the
computer comes out of these modes. If at all possible, it's worth disabling these modes to see if
Sleep mode can be disabled by following steps 2 and 3 in the 'USB Optimisation' section above.
This will prevent your computer automatically going to sleep (you should then avoid deliberately
If you're able to run your system without connecting to the internet then these should all be
disabled to ensure that no interferences occur during audio recording or playback and to ensure
that maximum resources are available. To remain secure while your firewall and antivirus
disabled, it is advisable to disconnect from any internet connections when working with audio.
This will also make sure that no network adapters are conflicting with any audio drivers.
The visual features in Windows 10 can use resources that could otherwise help to improve audio
performance. As a start, it is good idea to disable some of the visual features by doing the
following:
- Bring back up the "Performance Options" window by following step 3 above and clicking on the
- Untick: "Animate windows when minimising and maximising" to help prevent glitches when
minimising and maximising. You can also experiment with disabling other visual effects in the
If you wish to optimise your Windows 10 graphics for the best performance use the "Adjust for
Sometimes, network card drivers can cause problems with audio. A good troubleshooting step is
to try disabling your network adapters in Device Manager, and then test local audio (like an .mp3)
and see if you continue to have issues. This is also a good optimisation step in general. Disabled
One way in which you can make more resources available to improve audio performance, is to
disable unnecessary Windows 10 services as these use valuable resources. The following site has a
comprehensive guide to the services running on Windows 10 and helps locate the services that are
Please note that we would recommend that disabling Windows services should be done only by
advanced users.
If you are still experiencing audio performance problems after optimising your computer for
computer. This is fixed by disabling fast boot. For instructions on this and further information
DPC Latency can cause audio issues on some systems, please see this article.
RELATED ARTICLES