Slow to write fades

[sdi]

Hi. I have recently upgraded to 12.8.3 on a new Windows 10 machine.

The issue I see is fairly subtle, but affects my workflow which is to create fairly high volume voice-overs quickly.

Video

As you can see from the video, whilst the timeline is playing, I make a cut between two passages of audio, and drag a fade-out to the audio prior to the cut and drag a fade-in to the following audio. Repeated for the entire piece making edits just in front of the head. What I am seeing is some sluggishness in it writing the fades compared with much earlier versions of pro tools which seemed to handle this workflow fine. (I have had this problem since version 10 at least)

The system is just for fairly simple voice-over editing (single mono track), so no complex multitrack work and just a couple of plugins (Smack mainly which is up to date). The machine has separate OS and audio SSD drives and 12GB RAM. I give Pro Tools 5GB cache memory. This isn't the killer spec machine required for full studio work, but having used pro tools for 15 years, this is about the price I have paid for a modest machine for this task. the machine is just used for audio editing - I have a separate machine for office work.

I have made all the suggested optimisations in BIOS and OS.

I have also just upgraded from 12.8.2 to 12.8.3 but don't see an improvement.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Computer
Model : Lenovo 10GT004KUK ThinkCentre M700
Serial Number : PC0J****
Chassis : Lenovo Desktop
Mainboard : Lenovo 30D9
BIOS : Lenovo M05KT67A 12/21/2016
Intel vPro : 11.00.18.1002
Total Memory : 12GB DIMM DDR4

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6400 CPU @ 2.70GHz (4C 2.71GHz, 2.7GHz IMC/3.3GHz, 4x 256kB L2, 6MB L3)
Socket/Slot : FC LGA1151

Chipset
Memory Controller : Lenovo Core (Skylake-D QC) Host Bridge/DRAM Registers 100MHz, 2x 6GB DIMM DDR4 2.13GHz 128-bit

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Crucial/Micron CT8G4DFD824AC16FDD2 8GB DDR4 PC4-19200U DDR4-2400 (17-17-17-40 4-57-19-6)
Memory Module : Samsung M378A5244CB0-CRC 4GB DDR4 PC4-19200U DDR4-2400 (17-17-17-40 7-57-19-6)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Samsung S22C200
      (1680x1050, 21.9")
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1CU 192SP SM5.0 953MHz, 16kB L2, 2GB 1.6GHz, PCIe 2.00 x8)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL : NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (192SP 1C 953MHz, 16kB L2, 2GB 1.6GHz)
D3D 11 : NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (192SP 1C 953MHz, 16kB L2, 2GB 1.6GHz)
OpenGL : GeForce GT 710/PCIe/SSE2 (2GB)

Storage Devices
SanDisk SD8SB8U128G1001 (128GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD) : 119GB (C:)
Crucial_CT500MX200SSD1 (500.1GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD, OPAL, SED) : 466GB (F:)
PLDS    DVD-RW DU8AESH (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW) : N/A (E:)

Logical Storage Devices
Windows (C:) : 118GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ SanDisk SD8SB8U128G1001 (128GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD)
AUDIO SSD (F:) : 466GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ Crucial_CT500MX200SSD1 (500.1GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD, OPAL, SED)
SYSTEM : 256MB (FAT32, 4kB) @ SanDisk SD8SB8U128G1001 (128GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD)
WinRE_DRV : 1000MB (NTFS, 4kB) @ SanDisk SD8SB8U128G1001 (128GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD)
Optical Drive (E:) : N/A @ PLDS    DVD-RW DU8AESH (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller #1 : Lenovo H110 Sunrise Point-H LPC Controller
LPC Legacy Controller #1 : T2 86-25
Audio Device : MSI GK208 HDMI/DP Audio Controller
Audio Codec : nVidia nForce4 ISA Bridge
Serial Port(s) : 1
Parallel Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : Lenovo Sunrise Point-H SATA controller [AHCI mode]
Disk Controller : Lenovo Sunrise Point-H PMC
USB Controller #1 : Lenovo Sunrise Point-H USB 3.0 xHCI Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller #1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Send to Microsoft OneNote 16 Driver (1200x1200, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer v4 (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft Print To PDF (600x600, Colour)
Printer : HP Photosmart 7510 series Class Driver (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (Ethernet, 1Gbps)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 10.00.16299
Platform Compliance : x64

[mjslakeridge]

Try removing the 4GB stick of RAM from the system. Even though the timings of your 2 RAM sticks are the same, RAM of 2 different sizes (and brands) may be putting stress on your integrated memory controller. 8GB of RAM should be enough for what you described as your use of the rig.

[albee1952]

+1 for matching RAM sticks(exact same brand/model/size). You may be somewhat hamstrung by the i5 cpu(i7 is preferred).

[The Weed]

Also, why not use batch fades at the end of your editing instead of during?

[sdi]

Thanks for these ideas. I’ll extract the 4GB stick later today and report back. What is the idea around batch fades please? I’m open to a better workflow. The idea of working this way is to be able to have the opportunity to quickly adjust the fades if they sound wrong, hence editing just in front of the play head.

[sdi]

Hi. No notable improvement removing the 4GB stick unfortunately - there is possibly a small improvement since upgrading to 12.8.3 so will see how that goes. One suggestion was to downgrade to 12.4 (possibly incompatible with WIN10) but I'd prefer not to go backwards if at all possible since I have paid to have the latest version. Will use the system in the new year and see how it goes. thanks for your suggestions so far.

[The Weed]

12.4 runs just fine on W10.

Batch fades allow you to apply fades/crossfades of a specified length to any number of clips at a time. When a clip or clips are highlighted, Ctrl+F opens the Batch Fade Dialogue or "F" in Commands Focus Mode will apply the fades. Be careful, UNCHECK "Adjust Existing Fades", it's a default setting (it shouldn't be the default).

Batch Fades work properly in 12.4 and 12.8.1 and later, the versions between, did not.

[The Weed]

Just saw the video. You may want to look into Strip Silence and Batch Fades or even Waves' DeBreath plug-in. I use DeBreath a lot for narration - commercials the breaths get cut out. Before using DeBreath, the audio gets copied to a Playlist and, after using DeBreath, I listen back for quality control and just promote from the Playlist audio, any areas of the spoken audio that have been attenuated because of DeBreath's algorithm. I listen back for quality control before I send out anything anyway and, using DeBreath, I don't have to go through and lower the breaths. Promoting audio from a Playlist is so easy too.

[jeoffharris]

Has anyone figured this out? Using batch fades is not an adequate solution for my needs, but I'm running into this issue for some reason at this point. I'm losing fractions of a second every time I make an edit and that sh*t seriously adds up.

Also, it slows down when I break regions.

[The Weed]

Originally Posted by jeoffharris

Also, it slows down when I break regions.

Go into Preferences>Editing and Uncheck:"Separate Clip Operates On All Related Takes".