Got this from one of the Yamaha sites:
Wndows XP and music.
When working on a PC with Windows XP there are a few things to consider if you want to use the PC as professional music workstation.

On an ideal professional music system you do not need any games or office programs, any software you do not need for making music should not be installed on the computer. You also should be cautious when using internet on your music PC – regarding virus attacks and downloading unsafe software programs.

Windows XP installs a few things in the startup folder that you do not need. First you should get rid of the Windows Messenger, as this program likes to run always in the background. You can open the windows messenger when clicking with the right mouse key on the messenger symbol in the taskbar and choosing “open”. You can also find the windows messenger in the program files folder on drive C. Once opened choose the menu “tools” and then “options”. Choose “preferences” and uncheck all options, especially “run this program when windows starts” and “allow this program to run in the background”. Click on OK and close the program choosing the menu “file” and then click “close”.

The windows messenger is most probably not the only program running in the background. To check, what programs are running you should do the following:

Click on start in the windows taskbar and then “run”. Type in “msconfig”. Choose “startup”. Here you will find a list of programs that are started as soon as you run windows. It does not make a difference, if you uncheck all – your computer will work without any problem. We suggest to leave the programs related to your sound devices, e.g. the mLAN manager, and eventually virus scanning software checked and uncheck all that you do not seem to need, especially Office programs. You can do nothing wrong when trying around different settings here. Every time you have made new settings and clicked on OK you have to restart your computer to make the settings active. After restart a Windows message appears. Check the box to avoid that this message appears every time you start up Windows XP.

It also helps to deactivate virus scanning programs when working with your music software. We suggest to turn it off directly in the taskbar and not to uncheck it in the startup configuration. Most virus programs can be deactivated when clicking on the respective symbol in the taskbar and the choosing “exit” or “close”.

Every program running in the background uses CPU power and memory of your computer – CPU power and memory that you need for your digital audio workstation. But even a bigger problem is that any programs running in the background can cause serious audio dropouts or crackle noises.

There are more things you can do to optimize your PC. Click on start, select the control panel and click on “system”. Choose the “advanced” file and click on the performance settings button. Check in the upcoming window “Adjust for best performance”. After that choose the “advanced” file. In the processor handling settings check “background services”. This setting is recommended by most audio software manufacturers for optimal performance when running their programs. Click on OK to apply the settings you have made.

Choose the file “Remote” and uncheck “Allow remote assistance invitations to be sent from this computer”. After that choose the file “Automatic Updates” and check the box “Turn off automatic updating”. Click “OK” to apply the changes.

On an optimized audio computer you also do not need a screen saver. Right click on the desktop, choose “screen saver” and set to none. Then select the monitor power options, choose the file hibernation and uncheck the box.

These are some fundamental settings to run Windows XP optimized for audio applications. More useful tips can be found here: www.musicxp.net.
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

What a fantastic post Terry, I've printed it, it's a keeper. Your thought of keeping the pc just for performance never came to me.
And to clear all that stuff that does not pertain to preforming--wow, good!!

Terry, I bought a laptop 2 years ago with the thought of using it with my keyboard.
How many ways can one ude the pc for hie work. So far I have heard of;
1-Midi files
2-Lyrics
3-Written music

Before I start working with my pc I would like an overview of the possibilites.

I play my music live, but since I bought a Tyros, I want to expand. Any ideas will be appreciated. Thanks, John C.

Good stuff Terry.

Terry. Very sensible information. An ideal method is to have an additional partition on the hard drive with a separate OS that has no additions like Internet and other none music programs.
As an example my wife's PC has the normal WinXP Pro to run as normal with all the bells and whistles, but she has the option of booting to another OS on another partition that is delicate to here sewing machine programs with nothing else installed.
At any time she can boot from one OS to the other.

Graham UK

Thanks for reminding me of this. I had clipping and pop issues when I ran my old system ( 800 mhz PIII with 256 mb of ram ), so I went to msconfig and turned everything off that I didn't need. Voila.. the problems were gone.

AJ

Bruno & all,
You're welcome guys glad it was of use.

Bruno,
Certainly your audio files, i.e., wav's & mp3's, the different softwares, sampling, sequencing, cd burning, mastering, wav editors. There are a wealth of soft synths you could install on your pc and control with the Tyros to give you an enormus pallette of sounds to choose from too.
Terry


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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Great post, Terry... thanks for sharing.

A tool I discovered some time ago is End-it-all. It's a utility that shuts down all programs, including those always running in the background. It's on my desktop and always applied before opening my software sequencer. I't a freeby and can be downloaded at:
http://home.ptd.net/~don5408/toolbox/enditall/

HI Terry,
This is really good info you have posted here. I have seen a lot if it before in bits and pieces but this is the first time I have seen it all in one article. Would you be so kind to post it on the Technics Forum also. I am sure everyone there would also appreciate having this info printed and along side their keyboards. I don't want to be though of as plagarizing your material. I read most of what you post and they are always good stuff
thank you Terry,
Bebop

Glenn & Bebop
Glenn thanks for your link, although it does not say it is XP compatible. Hmmm I wonder if it is?

Bebop, thanks and consider it done.
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 11-06-2003).]

How about Linux???

I am going to give it a try as soon as i am moved into my new place. Linux does not have all the overhead, spyware, Gadgets like windows has.

I found some interesting software on the net that runs under linux.

Anybody has any experience???

Thank you Terry, You are appreciated.
Best to you
Bebop

I have used Linux arnothijssen. But it has been awhile since I have used it. The Last Linux I used was Red Hat 6.0 My opinion then was it was not ready for prime time. No matter how hard I tried I could not connect to the Internet using Red Hat 6.0 But Linux has come a 'long' way since then. It is a 'very' stable OS and worth considering to use for your Audio needs. But my advice would be not to use Linux as your sole source for your Music needs. Not at first anyways. Have your Computer Hard Drive 'partitioned' to where you could use Linux 'and' Windows XP, etc. That would be a good way to compare the two OS's also as to their ability, reliability, performance, etc. Or if you have 2 computers use one for Linux and one for Windows XP/MAC OS X, etc. That way if Linux doesn't work out or if you find Linux is not as good of an OS as, let's say, Windows XP or MAC OS X for Audio production and or performance wise, then you have your other Computer or other 'partition' to fall back on if need be.

Best regards,
Mike