Good DAW that can take advantage of modern computers?

[YoungProdigy]

As much as I love FL Studio; it just seems incapable of handling a lot of modern VSTs well. I have 8gb of ram, a 3.5ghz quad core and still get audio issues like popping. It seems like FL Studio is just incapable of using a lot of ram without popping or crackling problems. It also stutters despite using only 1 core of the CPU.

That being said, can you guys suggest a DAW to me that is more capable of using a multithreaded CPU and lots of ram?

[Kat]

Personally, I suggest Cubase. In the years I've used it I don't think I've ever had any problems with it. The biggest issue you'll have is having to pay for updates. For example, if you have Cubase Pro 8 and want to update to 8.5(the latest version)? That'll be $50. I'm still using Cubase 5, so for me it would be more like $300.  The entry level version of Cubase, 'Elements', is $99 and probably superior to FL Studio's 'Fruity Edition'(also $99).

I would mess around with FL Studio before jumping the gun and switching DAWs though. I use it regularly, as Cubase 5 doesn't always meet my needs and is often relegated to recording duty. Try upping your buffer length and maybe using ASIO drivers and see if that helps. I'd hold off on switching until you're absolutely sure, as learning the ins and outs of a new DAW can really mess with the creative process.

[YoungProdigy]

21 minutes ago, Kat said:

Personally, I suggest Cubase. In the years I've used it I don't think I've ever had any problems with it. The biggest issue you'll have is having to pay for updates. For example, if you have Cubase Pro 8 and want to update to 8.5(the latest version)? That'll be $50. I'm still using Cubase 5, so for me it would be more like $300.  The entry level version of Cubase, 'Elements', is $99 and probably superior to FL Studio's 'Fruity Edition'(also $99).

I would mess around with FL Studio before jumping the gun and switching DAWs though. I use it regularly, as Cubase 5 doesn't always meet my needs and is often relegated to recording duty. Try upping your buffer length and maybe using ASIO drivers and see if that helps. I'd hold off on switching until you're absolutely sure, as learning the ins and outs of a new DAW can really mess with the creative process.

Thanks I might check out Cubase.

My main problem with FL Studio is it can't seem to handle projects with a lot of ram. If I have Sampletank 3 loaded with some of the larger samples; a project can easily take up 3GB of ram. But when projects take a lot of memory; FL Studio seems to pop or crackle. Regardless of how much memory you have free.

I might try the ASIO drivers and see if that helps. But if that doesn't work; I'll definitely be looking elsewhere.

I just want a DAW that can handle ram and CPU intensive projects without popping or crackling.

[Kat]

Just now, YoungProdigy said:

Thanks I might check out Cubase.

My main problem with FL Studio is it can't seem to handle projects with a lot of ram. If I have Sampletank 3 loaded with some of the larger samples; a project can easily take up 3GB of ram. But when projects take a lot of memory; FL Studio seems to pop or crackle. Regardless of how much memory you have free.

I might try the ASIO drivers and see if that helps. But if that doesn't work; I'll definitely be looking elsewhere.

I just want a DAW that can handle ram and CPU intensive projects without popping or crackling.

 

I'm positive it can handle the larger projects. I have 16GB of RAM and a quad core i7, and I often have 10+ tracks running Kontakt and large orchestral samples, and that's pretty small on the orchestral scale. My current project is using a cool 4.3GB with no issues(and a lot still to add), and I've had other larger projects run with few issues.

[Flexstyle]

1. Which version of FL Studio are you using?

2. Is it pirated?

3. What are you using for your audio? (built-in, USB box, etc.)

4. What kind of CPU usage are you seeing? That's going to be a big killer right there. RAM isn't as much of an issue if you're hitting CPU bottleneck.

5. What is your actual CPU? A quad-core processor from five years ago is not going to be anywhere NEAR as efficient as a brand-new one. Clock speed doesn't matter, but CPU efficiency does.

6. You say you're using things like Sampletank, etc. Where are your samples located? Are they on the same drive as your DAW? What speed is that drive? That is also another huge potential bottleneck, and definitely WON'T be solved with another DAW.

 

I'm running the latest version of FL Studio on a new computer with a current-gen 6-core i7 processor, 32 GB of RAM, and using SSDs to stream my Kontakt / EWQL / UVI / Spectrasonics libraries. Zero issues for me, even in a project using several instances of multi-instrument patches. It's incredibly unlikely that the issue actually lies with FL for you -- more likely a combination of your CPU and hard drive.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

Sounds to me like you're using a 32-bit version of FL Studio. Any 64-bit DAW on a 64-bit system will be able to "take advantage of modern computers".

That being said, Cubase and Reaper are great and I recommend the hell out of them.

[YoungProdigy]

22 minutes ago, Flexstyle said:

1. Which version of FL Studio are you using?

2. Is it pirated?

3. What are you using for your audio? (built-in, USB box, etc.)

4. What kind of CPU usage are you seeing? That's going to be a big killer right there. RAM isn't as much of an issue if you're hitting CPU bottleneck.

5. What is your actual CPU? A quad-core processor from five years ago is not going to be anywhere NEAR as efficient as a brand-new one. Clock speed doesn't matter, but CPU efficiency does.

6. You say you're using things like Sampletank, etc. Where are your samples located? Are they on the same drive as your DAW? What speed is that drive? That is also another huge potential bottleneck, and definitely WON'T be solved with another DAW.

 

I'm running the latest version of FL Studio on a new computer with a current-gen 6-core i7 processor, 32 GB of RAM, and using SSDs to stream my Kontakt / EWQL / UVI / Spectrasonics libraries. Zero issues for me, even in a project using several instances of multi-instrument patches. It's incredibly unlikely that the issue actually lies with FL for you -- more likely a combination of your CPU and hard drive.

1. The latest one. FL Studio 12.2 64-bit. But I have the same problems even in 11.

2. Nope.

3. Built-in.

4. Less than 25% on my actual CPU, but FL reports near 100%.

5. i5 3570k@3.5ghz, a fairly current quad core.

6. Sampletank 3 is on the same drive.

Even with ASIO4all turned up to the max buffer; it will still make a random popping noise on large projects.

[Flexstyle]

 

This is what my settings look like in FL right now. The big ones to pay attention to are probably  "Multithreaded generator processing," "Multithreaded mixer processing," and Resampling quality. Bump it down to 6-point Hermite if needed, don't know if that's usually a default or not. You'll also benefit from getting a good external audio interface, as that will ease a bit of the load off your CPU for audio processing.

 

 

Also, check and see what your animation settings are at. Lower them if needed, as that will free up unneeded CPU usage.

Finally, unless you're using an SSD for your big samples, that's also probably a huge issue. Streaming stuff off a mechanical hard drive will bring even a supercomputer grinding to a halt, and it's generally better to run your DAW and your samples off separate drives. My C: drive is where I've installed FL Studio (and all my VST plugins), and it's a Samsung 840 SSD. That D: drive is a mechanical hard drive, so it only houses things like short samples (individual drums, breakbeats, etc.) and stems that don't get used often. The E: drive is where I've installed all my EWQL, Kontakt, Omnisphere, UVI, etc. libraries to. It's a Crucial MX200 SSD, and does a fine job keeping those libraries from being a bottleneck.

[timaeus222]

Those 150 undo levels though.

[Nabeel Ansari]

Real-time computer performance is dependent on how fast your devices in the computer communicate with each other. You have a good processor, and 8GB RAM is plenty, so it is likely that if with max ASIO buffer you audio dropouts, something is deficient in your computer.

 

 

[YoungProdigy]

On 2/2/2016 at 11:31 AM, Neblix said:

Real-time computer performance is dependent on how fast your devices in the computer communicate with each other. You have a good processor, and 8GB RAM is plenty, so it is likely that if with max ASIO buffer you audio dropouts, something is deficient in your computer.

 

 

Yes, but what? My computer works fine outside of FL Studio. No slowdowns or anything. I only have audio problems in FL Studio when it uses a lot of ram.

The fact is, FL Studio lags for me even though I have a decent CPU. When I have projects with a lot of ram there will be a random pop. This is with resampling set to 2-point linear. It uses less than 1 core of the CPU.

My PC works great outside of FL Studio so it is NOT my computer.

Perhaps I'll just use FL Studio for midi sequencing and add VSTs in other programs.

[Chimpazilla]

I switched to Cubase two years ago for all the reasons you listed.  For me FL just didn't cut it, and I was tired of having to change buffer lengths etc. only to still have pops and stutters, and crashes in my bigger files.  I have a new computer too, not quite as awesome as Flexstyle's but still pretty good (quadcore, i7, 3.4GHz, 32 gigs of ram).  I have my Windows 7, Cubase 8, and all VSTs on a 500 gig SSD and all my samples on a 2TB HDD, and everything runs smooth as buttah using Cubase, even with Omnisphere, Alchemy, etc. loaded up.  I'm also hearing very good things about Studio One though, and I'll bet you'd get very good performance out of that too.

[Flexstyle]

I still think you need to look into 1) multithreaded processing (you haven't addressed whether or not you've tried that fix), and 2) a better drive for your large sample banks. If it's the latter, switching DAWs will not help. Maybe try the demo of another DAW and see what happens?

The issues you're describing are just not matching up with my experience in FL Studio, though. Yes, of course I've had to deal with pops and such before, but I've never seen it ignore multiple cores. Something's gotta be up.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

Are you bridging a lot of plugins by any chance? Perhaps it's an issue with the plugins you're using within FL and not FL itself?

4 hours ago, Chimpazilla said:

I switched to Cubase two years ago for all the reasons you listed.  For me FL just didn't cut it, and I was tired of having to change buffer lengths etc. only to still have pops and stutters, and crashes in my bigger files.  I have a new computer too, not quite as awesome as Flexstyle's but still pretty good (quadcore, i7, 3.4GHz, 32 gigs of ram).  I have my Windows 7, Cubase 8, and all VSTs on a 500 gig SSD and all my samples on a 2TB HDD, and everything runs smooth as buttah using Cubase, even with Omnisphere, Alchemy, etc. loaded up.  I'm also hearing very good things about Studio One though, and I'll bet you'd get very good performance out of that too.

I've heavily debated buying Cubase or Studio One, but after using the trials and 1st party plugins aside, I'm unsure of what significant advantages they offer over Reaper aside from better support from the community and manufacturer.

[Kat]

5 hours ago, AngelCityOutlaw said:

Are you bridging a lot of plugins by any chance? Perhaps it's an issue with the plugins you're using within FL and not FL itself?

I've heavily debated buying Cubase or Studio One, but after using the trials and 1st party plugins aside, I'm unsure of what significant advantages they offer over Reaper aside from better support from the community and manufacturer.

 

The biggest advantage Cubase has, in my opinion, is that it just doesn't crash. It's a solid, stable and trusted DAW and it's that way for a reason. If there's a problem with Cubase, it's most likely a problem with something you did rather than the software itself. It was also considered one of the best DAWs when it came to recording and working with recorded audio, but that gap has been considerably shortened lately. As I haven't used the latest version I can't really say how it holds up in that area. On the flipside, as I mentioned earlier you'll be paying to upgrade each time a new version is released, but these are generally significant updates.

Back on topic, I agree with Flexstyle that something else has to be going on. I haven't had any such problems with FL Studio that couldn't be solved with a couple minor setting changes. If your PC works great outside of FL Studio, that doesn't necessarily incriminate FL Studio. Trying out another DAW's demo first is probably the best thing to do, rather than assuming FL is the issue.

[Nabeel Ansari]

On 2/4/2016 at 1:07 AM, YoungProdigy said:

Yes, but what? My computer works fine outside of FL Studio. No slowdowns or anything. I only have audio problems in FL Studio when it uses a lot of ram.

The fact is, FL Studio lags for me even though I have a decent CPU. When I have projects with a lot of ram there will be a random pop. This is with resampling set to 2-point linear. It uses less than 1 core of the CPU.

My PC works great outside of FL Studio so it is NOT my computer.

Perhaps I'll just use FL Studio for midi sequencing and add VSTs in other programs.

Tell me, what other applications in your computer process real-time audio? Clearly a lot, because the video explained the difference between real-time computations and normal computations.

"My computer works fine outside of FL Studio" because non-audio programs don't demand real-time processing. I'm not going to explain how it's different; I already linked you an excellent explanation.

[YoungProdigy]

On 2/5/2016 at 4:24 PM, Neblix said:

Tell me, what other applications in your computer process real-time audio? Clearly a lot, because the video explained the difference between real-time computations and normal computations.

"My computer works fine outside of FL Studio" because non-audio programs don't demand real-time processing. I'm not going to explain how it's different; I already linked you an excellent explanation.

It is what it is. At the end of the day; I'm going to switch DAW's. For whatever reason FL Studio struggles to run Sampletank 3 with a lot of orchestral samples loaded up. You can blame my set up all you want; but the fact is that I ONLY have these problems in FL Studio.

I have great ideas; but the stuttering [despite only using one core of the CPU and less than 1gb ram] with a max ASIO buffer in FL Studio holds me back.

[timaeus222]

On 2/4/2016 at 8:09 AM, Flexstyle said:

I still think you need to look into 1) multithreaded processing (you haven't addressed whether or not you've tried that fix), and 2) a better drive for your large sample banks. If it's the latter, switching DAWs will not help. Maybe try the demo of another DAW and see what happens?

The issues you're describing are just not matching up with my experience in FL Studio, though. Yes, of course I've had to deal with pops and such before, but I've never seen it ignore multiple cores. Something's gotta be up.

Have you even read Flexstyle's reply?

[Nabeel Ansari]

There's something else entirely that's actually holding you back, but it's bad form to say it in public. 

Here's an attached image that uses facts and simple experimentation to blast your claim. As you can see, it has loaded 7.6GB of samples (more than your computer can actually hold) from resource-intensive library METROPOLIS ARK 1, playing a thick voicing of Cmaj7#11 sent to all 12 ensembles that totals around 228 voices. Also, this is Kontakt DFD, which only stores sample attacks in memory. When notes are played, actual full samples are called directly from disk (DFD). That places strain and load on my disk path, so I got an SSD (what Flex said earlier) to make that not an issue.

My CPU usage sits at 16%. All 8 threads are being used just fine because I enabled multi threaded processing, on an i7 that predates your i5. Assuming losing hyperthreading means the usage per core doubles (that's not actually how computers work, by the way), that's still 36% for a big RAM heavy sample project in FL Studio. No pops, no clicks.

So to answer your question: "good DAW that can take advantage of modern computers?" Try FL Studio. It's pretty cool, lots of people use it. Handles big samples and multi-core processors really well. Decent learning curve, lot of remixers and professionals use it.

[Flexstyle]

5 hours ago, YoungProdigy said:

I have great ideas; but the stuttering [despite only using one core of the CPU and less than 1gb ram] with a max ASIO buffer in FL Studio holds me back.

Judging by your reading comprehension in this thread and the quality of the tracks you've posted in the past, FL is not what's holding you back. Come back when you're willing to take advice from professionals--we'll still be here.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

On 7/28/2015 at 1:06 AM, SnappleMan said:

I feel like someone who calls themselves YoungProdigy should not need such assistance. 

 

[Nabeel Ansari]

32 minutes ago, AngelCityOutlaw said:

Quote

I find it ironic that you quoted that considering how you responded to it in the source thread.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

8 minutes ago, Neblix said:

I find it ironic that you quoted that considering how you responded to it in the source thread.

Yeah, but it's appropriate now more than ever.

[YoungProdigy]

13 hours ago, Neblix said:

There's something else entirely that's actually holding you back, but it's bad form to say it in public. 

Here's an attached image that uses facts and simple experimentation to blast your claim. As you can see, it has loaded 7.6GB of samples (more than your computer can actually hold) from resource-intensive library METROPOLIS ARK 1, playing a thick voicing of Cmaj7#11 sent to all 12 ensembles that totals around 228 voices. Also, this is Kontakt DFD, which only stores sample attacks in memory. When notes are played, actual full samples are called directly from disk (DFD). That places strain and load on my disk path, so I got an SSD (what Flex said earlier) to make that not an issue.

My CPU usage sits at 16%. All 8 threads are being used just fine because I enabled multi threaded processing, on an i7 that predates your i5. Assuming losing hyperthreading means the usage per core doubles (that's not actually how computers work, by the way), that's still 36% for a big RAM heavy sample project in FL Studio. No pops, no clicks.

So to answer your question: "good DAW that can take advantage of modern computers?" Try FL Studio. It's pretty cool, lots of people use it. Handles big samples and multi-core processors really well. Decent learning curve, lot of remixers and professionals use it.

Let's keep things mature here now. Let's not make subtle jabs like children. We're all grown men here and shouldn't have to resort to that. Come on now .

It's like I said. It is what is man. It works for you but not for me. It's whatever.

Let's again look at the facts. Sampletank 3 with certain samples will lag when I try to adjust the piano roll. I recently made a project that was 1GB[Out of my 8GB ram] and couldn't finish it because the CPU usage [in FL Studio, not my CPU] was unbearable. This is with the maximum Asio4All buffer with all multi-threaded options enabled. I've said this over and over but people seem to keep ignoring that.

If you have nothing better say to say than "It works for me, but not for you haha!", then do not reply. I don't want to hear it. If you're just going to blame my computer [with a quad core i5]; which works perfectly fine outside of FL Studio, I don't want to hear it.

If you're just going to troll[You know who you are]; again, you're wasting your time.

Unless you have a solution to FL Studio only using 1 core with Sampletank 3 or can recommend a better DAW; you're wasting your time replying.

[Flexstyle]

To be very precise, you haven't said anything about whether or not the things we've been posting have been helping, or whether or not you've been following the advice given. The only thing you've been doing is insisting that there's a problem with FL Studio, which is a claim that is not corroborated by anyone else who owns the software here. If you've been investigating the things we've posted, you haven't acknowledged that fact, and we have no way of seeing what you're doing on your end besides what you post here. The people posting in this thread (all of whom have a long history of giving very good advice in this forum) have been giving you very sound advice, and you appear to have been ignoring it completely.

Do whatever you like in whatever software you like, dude. It's your life. Just don't bother us anymore, please. This thread is no longer a productive one.