What’s it going to be? Mac or PC? One is the toast of the creative industry with each unit being delicately hand crafted on a silk pillow by a choir of angels. The other is a clunking black hole sucking the cool out of the universe and replacing it with narcoleptic accountants and device driver errors. At least that is what we are led to believe. If you happen to fall into the latter camp you might grudgingly admit to having a PC stashed under the desk for mundane office work but you certainly wouldn’t consider taking it to a club? Would you?
REALITY CHECK
The reality is that, despite the bad press, PCs can be configured to work just as effectively as Macs, you just need to know your way around them. In this article we show you how to take the first step in understanding PC optimization for Traktor (amongst other things). You will learn how to use and customize a basic script that kills off dozens of CPU and RAM hungry Windows Services. This script is not a panacea but it is one piece of the puzzle you can play with before making more permanent changes to your setup.
Watch the video at the top of the article for a full walkthrough on using our handy optimizer script. Here is a basic glossary of terms to get you started:
WINDOWS SERVICES
Windows Services are programs that are loaded up during boot time. Each service is tasked supporting a specific feature or component. They require no user interaction, are transparent to the user and their numbers quietly grow as new applications are installed on your machine. Some Windows Services are vital, many are not and, all of them consume your system resources.
SCRIPTS
A script or “batch file” is simply a text file that contains sets of commands. Scripts are incredibly useful because they can contain multiple sets of commands that can be executed in no more than two clicks. The script that we have created enables you to stop and subsequently restart a number of common services that are not needed by Traktor and most DJ services.
GET THE SCRIPT
- Go to: http://themixtrain.wordpress.com/resources/djtt-pro-audio-optimizer/
- Copy and paste the script text into a Notepad file. Save the file as whateveryoulike.bat (Note: there is no .BAT option in the the ‘Save as Type’ in the Notepad ‘Save As ‘ dialog. By adding .bat to the end of the file name you will ensure the file is correctly saved as a batch file and not a text file.
- Watch the video in the header for full installation instructions.
SUMMARY
This script enables you to take the first step in optimizing a PC but it certainly isn’t designed to be a complete solution for applications like Traktor or Serato. Stripping you system down takes some time and know-how. In future posts we’ll cover topics like creating a dual-boot environment so you can create a stripped down system for Traktor alongside another instance of Windows that will happily support your day-to-day activities. If however, this level of OS tweaking is not for you and you are currently in the market for a machine that will run DJ software effortlessly, heading to the Apple store is still a good bet.
Special Thanks to Trancicted and Stashe for their work on the script
Hey,
I love the script and used it for over 4 years now but now i’m on windows 10 and the script doesn’t work anymore. I’m not the best with writing scripts so is there any possibility that the script could be re-written for Windows 10?
I would also like a win 10 update.
Hi guys, I’m a security professional and downloaded the script mentioned in the article. I’m sure there’s good intentions behind this and I can see a lot of value in doing this, but the last couple of lines cause some concern. Don’t disable all your swcurity, by running someone’s script that you may not understand what it’s done and then send that someone with a (hard-coded IP address) some information saying you’ve just run their script.
I’m happy to review it further, and as I say, it may be completely innocent, but please don’t download, or promote scripts, without the proper due diligence.
My browser doesn’t show any video link…
Hey, nice batchfile saves alot of time, thanks DJTT.
Does anybody know how to modify the script so i can still use my LAN/Internet connection?
I would like to broadcast live to the www when djing and using this script but how?
Does this work with Windows 8?
Definitely doesn’t matter PC or Mac, as long as it has the right hardware. Unfortunately Mac is about twice the price for the same hardware compared to alot of PC’s, which is why I went the PC route. I can say I haven’t had any problems using Traktor on Windows 7 with an Ivybridge, without optimizing the system. Plus it’s a touchscreen convertible, so it takes place of both an Ipad and a Macbook. I just think people shouldn’t overlook PC when it comes to DJing. If you do have problems with PC, most likely it will be hardware or driver related. If you aren’t good with optimizing a PC, I can recommend Glary Utilities for ease of use at clearing alot of junk up. If your not good with batch files or know what services to turn off, search “config” in the start menu. It should bring up “system configuration”, where you can turn services off one by one and still be able to reset it if you turn off something you shouldn’t have. Also, I see alot of people overlook their power settings. When using a laptop, just clicking the battery icon on the task bar and setting it to “high performance” instead of “balanced”, can make a big difference. And finally the best thing you can do to speed up a slow PC, is to change the performance settings. At the start menu or in explorer, right click “computer” and go to properties. Click advanced system settings on the left, then click “settings” under the performance section of the dialog box. Once you get to the next dialog, switch to “adjust for best performance”. That will take you back to old school Windows 95 style, but if you’d still like the Windows 7 look, just check mark; enable desktop composition, enable transparent glass, and use visual styles on windows/buttons.
doe’s this work for windows 8 too?
I deleted my script with format. I wanted to download it again and they are gone. No longer available. How can I get them?
Does anyone know if this preset script is compatible if running your system off an SSD rather than an HDD? I don’t want to run the script and end up having problems because its made for a moving hard drive rather than a solid state.
Good idea. One addition: I found Microsofts “devcon” tool usefull to disable the wireless network card (to avoid periodic latency spikes occuring every 10 seconds): http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272
I put it into the windowssystem32 folder and put a shortcut on my desktop with an adjusted shortcut target of “C:WindowsSystem32devcon.exe disable *SUBSYS_10118086”. It’s a bit nerdy to determine the device string, so it may be difficult to generalize this in the DJbatch script.
The script rocks for when you need to help folk who don’t know their way round the OS very well – A+ for usefullness.. 🙂
No idea why these comments always degenerate into a mac V pc argument though – such a waste of time (and one that will never be resolved). I’ve used a PC professionally for audio for over 20 years, and have also used macs a fair bit during that time. They both work quite well, and have come an enormous distance in that time, but neither is perfect for everything. For preference I use a PC (because the options are broader for hardware and software choice IMO), but that is all it will ever be – personal preference. Find out which one suits you, and go with it (but don’t forget to try a linux box too – it has lots of excellent audio software too nowadays 😉 )
Thats my 2 mins wasted in stating the obvious. Good job that script saved me a 1/2hours script writing and swearing 😀
This is certainly the best that I read today in the Internet.
I saved the script in a notepad as a bat file but now I don’t know how to run it. Do I use command prompt? Can you make it a bit simpler. What do I do with the script in notepad? Thanks.
I saved the script in a notepad as a bat file but now I don’t know how to run it. Do I use command prompt? Can you make it a bit simpler. What do I do with the script in notepad? Thanks.
first time run as admin and the second time run as normal user?
The system cannot find the path specified…. Where did I go wrong?
the problem i’m having is the EXE file will not open and i get an access denied prompt box after.
Thanks for the script. Its not working for me. Am getting “cannot find path specified” when running it. Tried the other scripts/options on your site but they only seem to lead to the faq for some reason. Am on 64bit win 7 if you can help?
i need my network card?? what can i make?
thx for the script
i need my network card?? what can i make?
thx for the script
I have used both Mac And PC for a great number of years… both have thier pro’s and cons….bottom line is
….its not what you use, it is how you use it
I have used both Mac And PC for a great number of years… both have thier pro’s and cons….bottom line is
….its not what you use, it is how you use it
or just switch to cdjs
I was pretty excited about this article when i first saw it on DJTT. I own a Laptop that runs Win7 and use it also for practicing with Traktor at home. Me and a friend play as DJ Team for nearly 2 years now and he owns a MacBook Pro so thats what we use for our gigs and in all the time we never had any serious problems. My friend and his MacBook were on holiday and I had to play at a birthday party alone so i thought that would be the perfect opportunity to test my Windows Laptop live. I installed a fresh Windows with just Traktor and iTunes on it and used the script. At first I was pleasantly surprised because when I ran Traktor on my old Windows with lots of user stuff installed it used to stumble after a while. CPU and RAM were fine so i took it to the gig with a clear conscience. But at the end it was the most horrible gig i ever had. At the beginning it worked fine but after a while (2-3h) it started stumbling again and at one point freezed completely so I had to restart. After that I made my decision to invest in a MacBook but to be fair I must admit that maybe its not just Windows to blame because the CPU is not that powerful (Cor2Duo T9600 2.8 GHz) but I thought thats enough to run Traktor 2 because it has 4 gig of RAM too. So thats my experience with Windows and I’m definitely not using it again when playing a gig!
Right so i haven’t watched this video yet, but i get the idea, would it not be easier to make a new user account which has everything already switched off. So whenever it’s time to shine you log out and log into “DJ X” account and you’re ready to go?
Hey,
This batch file works great on my Windows 7 operating system. However, when I try to run it in Windows XP I get this error message:
‘and’ is not recognized as an internal or external command . . .
Does anybody have any insight on that error?
Thanks, Malik
SmiTTTen is Steve Jobs for real, isn’t he? Another article Sponsored by Apple
no he isn’t 😉
no he isn’t 😉
Hey Do you guys know if there is anything like this for setrato itch 2.0 as well, that can work on Vista (64 bit)
Hey Do you guys know if there is anything like this for setrato itch 2.0 as well, that can work on Vista (64 bit)
The script optimizes your computer to use with traktor which is a music program. I doubt it that it would not work with serato!
The script optimizes your computer to use with traktor which is a music program. I doubt it that it would not work with serato!
is there such s script for a win xp users ?
is there such s script for a win xp users ?
Beware of pc laptops that have not had there motherboards ground properly there are few domestic laptop models that have had this done
you will prob already be aware of the horrific buzz and hum when the ac adapter is plugged in.
The thinkpad t61 has by far the best grounding on the domestic/business market either that or get a boutique pc or mac.
also the dpc latencies on the t61 are about the best believe me i have done my research and gone through about 5 laptops finding all this outDisable everything you don’t need including display drivers, Bluetooth, wifi anything that is unessential for audio disable in system/device manager
Removing the earth connection on the plug should cure this (aka ground lift).
Removing the earth connection on the plug should cure this (aka ground lift).
Beware of pc laptops that have not had there motherboards ground properly there are few domestic laptop models that have had this done
you will prob already be aware of the horrific buzz and hum when the ac adapter is plugged in.
The thinkpad t61 has by far the best grounding on the domestic/business market either that or get a boutique pc or mac.
also the dpc latencies on the t61 are about the best believe me i have done my research and gone through about 5 laptops finding all this outDisable everything you don’t need including display drivers, Bluetooth, wifi anything that is unessential for audio disable in system/device manager
Thank you!
Thank you!
WindowsPC?DJ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
WindowsPC?DJ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
its just the OS not the machine. In fact many PCs have superior hardware inside than macs. I have a new quadcore Sony Viao with 8gb ram. No problems with Serato at all. I also hackintoshed it so I can run Mac osX if I so feel. =) Whole thing cost less than $900. Couldnt buy a used MBP for that much less a new 8gb quadcore powerhouse. I have been using a mac to run serato for years so I respect Apple but times have changes.
Biggest problem with windows is than its not a real time operating system. It uses DPCs (delayed procedure calls) to overcome this that can stall your audio processing. There are many guides on overcoming this on the web. Poorly written drivers are often the cause of high DPC latency. I run a decent laptop but due to a poorly written video driver, cannot get rid of a DPC spike of 5mS. Funnily enough, my old laptop running a single core 1.7GHz CPU and 1GB ram performed better, due to the better written graphics driver (not to mention PCMCIA soundcard over USB soundcard).
You guys know that there is already an application that does this at the click of a button?? it is called GameBooster. Obviously designed to add performance for gaming but easily adaptable to Traktor as it pretty much kills the same services anyway. ! click to turn everything back on again. Oh and free 🙂
Most users don’t want to know how a computer works, they just want it to work. I used to have a HP laptop back in the day that always hung up with Serato Scratch Live. I used to know my way around windows very well in XP. That computer made me not like PC’s, and it was around the same time that Vista came out. I bought my first Mac ’cause I was not going to upgrade to Vista. Well, I kept it for 3 years. Worked perfect and is still working perfectly as I sold it to a fellow musician. I am now on my second Mac in 4 years. How many PC’s have you guys gone through in 4 years? Yes you pay more, but yes the quality is better, and yes the operating system is made to work with the components that are used. Everything is in perfect harmony. Plus, if you install Win7 on a mac you get a better score than with brand new PC’s so even Windows says Macs are better. So in conclusion, yes Apple computers are built better, and therefore function better. I drive a car everyday, I am not an automotive engineer, and I am not really good at being a mechanic. Same goes for computers I say.
Ok. I’m keeping this simple:
If you’re ignorant about computers & you like to be told what to do, buy a Mac.
If you know your way around a computer, you like to control the way your computer functions & you don’t mind tweaking settings, buy a PC.
I’ve used both for ages & I can honestly say that Mac’s are ridiculously overrated. In fact, if I had my time again, I would have have bought a Lenovo instead of my recent MBP.
Say what you will Mac fanboys, but Mac’s are closed & limited whilst PC’s offer a world of possibilities. (It’s ironic that I’m writing this on a Mac.)
Please ignore this post – this suggestion will destroy your machine. This comment has been reported.
HELP!! HELP!! the script ran but says access denied and and script read pc has been optimized?? wtf..
I’am 90% sure that your UAC is still on and that you haven’t ran it as administrator?!
I’am 90% sure that your UAC is still on and that you haven’t ran it as administrator?!
This is another great example and extra confirmation that getting rid of my Traktor in 2003 was the best move to do as a DJ. Serato & Mac goes together like bread and butter. You don’t have to worry about so much garbage Windows has. It’s like someone with an outdated vehicle going to a current model Mercedes Benz owner and telling them how & when to change a carburetor, so irrelevant. People Download Serato & get a Mac. Link is here to get up to speed with things
http://serato.com/downloads/scratchlive?gclid=CLfkkvPD26oCFUff4Aod_D1e8g
best usable tool i found apart from a custom script is iobit game booster dose the same to shut down all non essential win services and the bonus is it allows u to aapply the free ram, ect to particular programs and with advanced system care you can boost even further to free tools from there site also disabling the wifi it the best and simplest way to free up ram and processing all with the use of aiso4all drivers over manufactures drivers using these gives me the lowest latency and best stability I can get on pc but having a mac does it easy osx is more stable than windows period because of the unix code used sorry win users mac are slightly better in the scene they just work no need to tweek but you wana play around with your system pc is ur root ive owned both and honestly i preferred the mac for ease of use for gigs setups plug and play ur gig thats it no messing around with setups which the win platform im on now i have to do…
Yes! Thanks for the powerscript! I have only one little thing, the powerscript works on my old Acer laptop. But unfortinately not on my new Alienware M11x, the access is denied…
Right Click – Run as Administrator 🙂
+1 for Sambo’s comment.
I love the look on a mac user’s face when I ask a technical question (to troubleshoot their issue)
“I don’t know, I just clicked update”
Deer in headlights every time!!
I can appreciate the whole simplicity thing, but I just can’t seem to dumb myself down enough to “get it”
Dope, this is an awesome, next level dj tech tools (heavy on the TECH) column, so impressed at the range of content you guys drop on this site… well done!
I love how all you need to do is start talking about operating systems and the comments go *crazy*, this is one of the longest comment sections I’ve seen in recent memory.
traktor has never crashed and i use it very often @home and also @clubs so its cool fo very old laptop but if you have a mac or good pc there is no way to use this script to improve your computer capacity
Romulo
Do a right click and then “Run as Administrator”
In 15-20 years of building PCs and recording on them, I’ve never had to resort to disabling so many PC features to run audio applications. I agree … if a modern PC can’t run a program like Traktor without clicks and dropouts, something is wrong but not necessarily the PC.
I would recommend trying alternative audio hardware, if only to eliminate the audio hardware as a potential source of the problem before wrongly presuming the PC is the only possible cause. My experience tells me the hardware is the more likely culprit but you’ll never know unless you actually test with another interface.
I don’t see recognised experts like Martin Walker from SOS recommending buying an i7 powered system with 8 gB of RAM and immediately disabling all bells and whistles to achieve basic audio performance.
Reading this article gives the impression that a standard ‘out of the box’ PC is not capable of satisfactory audio performance. I’ll presume this opinion is based on limited experience, without adequately eliminating the possibility of inherent issues with the audio interface (S4, I suspect).
The only reason there is always someone who says PC sucks is because Mac people are fanatical and dont really know how a computer works. I have a PC and have been using it to DJ for awhile and with no problems at all. PCs are capable of so much more than a Mac, however Apple caters to people who dont know the technical ins and outs of computers. For the price you buy a Mac you can get an amazing PC if you know what your looking for.
Is it just me or are there a lot of angry windows fanyboys starting the mac vs. win debate here? Just stop it.
There’s crap laptops out there, and there are good ones. Good for all of you that made the wise choice to get a good one that does not need tweaking. All I know is that there are machines out there that just have hardware combinations that still just don’t work properly with close-to-realtime audio applications. My mate has some toshiba tecra with core i3, 4 gigs of ram, etc. Generally a nice machine for a lot of things, wasn’t cheap either, but it’s crap with traktor. For some reason, with a standard win7 installation, he just can’t get good latency. For him, tweaks like the ones mentioned in the article helped a lot. Deal with it: Some hardware combinations work better for some things than for others. Might be the hardware side, might be the drivers. I don’t know. It also was quite a hassle to find the Audio4 driver that worked best for him. Turned out it was some previous driver, the current one didn’t work out for him.
That, BTW, is the only reason why Macs seem to “just work”: The mac world is pretty much a closed ecosystem with a very limited amount of different hardware. Of course it’s easier to write drivers for an OS that only has to deal with a relatively limited number of different hardware combinations. The fact that Mac specs are kinda outdated compared to the newest windows machines doesn’t change that.
Again, I state my point that I made before: Choose your hardware wisely and there’s absolutely no reason whatsoever why you wouldn’t want to run DJ software on a windows machine. Some do need tweaking though, and if you’re fine with taking that risk, go for it. I’m personally not anymore, but that’s my choice, and if anyone else chooses differently, it’s his. No need to flame anybody for his OS preference. Ever.
what a pile of crap!!!!!
Every computer i’ve ever owned has needed zero tweaking and this kind of killing of services is just pointless.
He saved minimal ram = Last time i checked 99% of 32 bit apps lack ability to use more than 2gb of ram. 64bit apps are still not available mainly because you really don’t need ram.
He saved 15% cpu = Last time i checked my i7 four core beast rarely eats up more than a few CPU cycles, especially traktor which is THE least cpu intensive piece of audio software i own.
He save a few processes = I like my eye candy and have never had a slow down from having it on. Hell that’s why i have a graphics card duh.
Stability improvement? = Stopping services like bonjour etc doesn’t make sense, they don’t interfere with audio or use 100% cpu, i could understand if you were processing 24meg RAW files in the background, which i do and still never experienced clicks.
If you are getting issues with audio clicks etc you are probably looking at an old driver, old computer that should be junked, spyware/adware/viruses that anyone with the windows essentials security kit (free) won’t have any of anyway.
Macs in my opinion run worse because they don’t use the latest hardware available, many people only upgrade rarely due to expense and the latest OS has proven to be very buggy.
People you don’t need to think that the grass is greener on the other side, Mac are great but windows achieves a miracle getting windows to run so well on so many pieces of hardware out of their control.
Macs work well for people who like simplicity, windows is for cheap bastards like me who don’t need a shiny box to be creative.
In 15-20 years of building PCs and recording on them, I’ve never had to resort to disabling so many PC features to run audio applications. I agree … if a modern PC can’t run a program like Traktor without clicks and dropouts, something is wrong but not necessarily the PC.
I would recommend trying alternative audio hardware, if only to eliminate the audio hardware as a potential source of the problem before wrongly presuming the PC is the only possible cause. My experience tells me the hardware is the more likely culprit but you’ll never know unless you actually test with another interface.
I don’t see recognised experts like Martin Walker from SOS recommending buying an i7 powered system with 8 gB of RAM and immediately disabling all bells and whistles to achieve basic audio performance.
Reading this article gives the impression that a standard ‘out of the box’ PC is not capable of satisfactory audio performance. I’ll presume this opinion is based on limited experience, without adequately eliminating the possibility of inherent issues with the audio interface (S4, I suspect).
THANK YOU SmiTTTen!!! Awesome Video and a wicked tool.
Thank you for sharing this. Will be check be checking out blackViper for sure
I am guessing that the same bat can be used when running Ableton to boost performance? Or both together?
when i click to optmize all I see is “acess denied”, is someone having the same problem?
try to disable UAC (search google for the right tutorial)
if the problem still occurs, email me! sander.vanrapenbusch(a)gmail.com
Did you Right Click and Run as Administrator?
Every generation has their great consumer debates. Coke vs Pepsi…Miller vs Budweiser …Ford vs Chevy … SSL vs Traktor …Google/Andriod versus everybody else…Wormhole Theory vs Flux Capacitor … Pirates vs Ninjas…the list goes on and on. The PC vs Mac debate is no different.
The way I see it, there are 2 major groups in the technology world. On one hand, you have those who either don’t mind a bit of DIY work involved to customize what they own. This group sees a bit of maintenance and taking a look under the hood to see what makes ___ tick in order to make their own adjustments as part of the territory. On the opposite end, there are those who unbox what they bought and expect it to magically “just work”. No tweaking. No maintenance. No expected glitches in the system to compensate for. They brought it home and expect ___ to stay functioning years later exactly as it did when it was brand new. This can be seen at the core of any tech consumer debate. PC and Traktor users fall under the 1st category so their major purchase can be as unique as they are as they slowly break it in like your favorite pair of underwear. Mac and SSL users fall in the latter category.
Each of the above types of users and types of technology each would normally use can vary slightly, but in general, you get the idea. It truely does boil down to personal preference and your preferred means of workflow that will have you and your nuts and bolts weapon of choice lean towards one generalized group or another. That being said, opening this article with a “LLLLLET’S GET READY TO RUMBLLLLE!” Mac vs PC debate is poor journalism. The DJTT editors here should have known better. I completely agree with some of the other people who posted before I did – that debate has no place in this DIY tutorial for clearly only PC users only. Everyone else can wait their turn for a DIY tutorial for the way that they do things another day.
That being said, I love the tutorial video as a whole. This has been a long time coming for someone to do the research and step up for the greater good for PC users who want a way to tweak their system so that Windows does not take away resources that Traktor and other audio/visual programs need to run and run flawlessly. Image is everything to what we do. Glitchy sound and needing to troubleshoot on the fly while we are in the middle of a performance is not positive for DJs, VJs, producers and everyone else in between regardless of our skill level. A lot of forum space is dedicated to this very issue in various forms: USB drops, processor compatibility to what gear you use, etc. For this, I say THANK YOU. I eagerly wait on Part 2 of this tutorial. Hopefully, the DJTT Editors will have the article surrounding the next episode be more focused on the actual topic and how it is useful to those who want to make use of it.
I will be re-posting the video on my own blog for my fans and so I can keep it as a quick reference for my own use.
With the exception of turning off wifi, I haven’t had to make any changes to my windows laptop for T2.
Still, I tested this script and it provides a lot of headroom. I will definitely be using it.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS ARTICLE 🙂
You’re welcome! Well, the script does really more then only disabling wifi so your pc isn’t working on other things when you’re performing, so it’s going to be a lot faster and having less latency!
Such a amazing Script. Love it ^^ I just optimized my Lenovo T60. Runs like a charm.
i really had a laugh at this article. he tweaks the hell out of a 8 gig ram , i7 monstermachine with a gaming graphics card? he tweaks arund as it was a 300 gh lappi with 256 ram from ten years ago? holy crap. i own a 4 year old amd 2,0 gh notbook from acer with 3 gigs of ram . i have ableton, reason, orion, a few browsers, 3 different audio interfaces, a few little games, 2 poker programs and much more on this machine and i did not tweak anything. i work every weekend with it running traktor pro with a controler and an external hard disc. YOU KNOW WHAT? NO TWEAKING , NO PROBLEMS SINCE 4 years. i run it on windows 7 and it works perfectly. before i had the unloved vista on it and it worked well too. so this article is pointless to me.
Hello Everyone,
SmiTTTen here. Thanks for all the comments. I thought I would take a couple of minutes and try and answer some of the questions and comments that have come up in relation to the article. I posed this earlier as a response to some of the comments on the DJTT forum. Hopefully this will fill in any blanks.
There were some comments about why I would bring up the Mac versus PC issue. The reason I included this topic in the article was that I felt it was important that people understand the environment they will be dealing with should they go looking for help on PC/Windows issues. You don’t have to click too many times to read “buy a Mac” as the first or second response to PC questions raised in forums like these. In no way was the article or video arguing that PC is better than Mac. What I did say was that a) many people own PCs and are not in a position to go and purchase a new Mac and b) with the right amount of tweaking, a PC can be configured to run as well as a mac. At the end of article it says, “If however, this level of [Windows] OS tweaking is not for you and you are currently in the market for a machine that will run DJ software effortlessly, heading to the Apple store is still a good bet.” I thinks Macs are amazing systems but I use a PC as I have built, installed, configured and resolves issues on thousands of systems over the years – maybe I am just too old to change.
In regard the machine I used, I agree this was not the very best machine I could have demonstrated the script on. The script was originally written for a Toshiba Satellite M305-S4910 | Core™ 2 Duo Processor T6400, 2.0GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB, 4GB PC6400 DDR2 SDRAM, 320GB (5400 RPM), Serial ATA hard disk drive purchased nearly three years ago. This machine is currently in a pretty bad way (due to my three year old mistaking it for a basketball) and wasn’t available for me to demo on.
If you want to see what everything I did to that Toshiba go here
The Samsung RF-510 is a beast but also has its own issues such as the well documented NVidia driver problem with the S4. I have probably spent more time tweaking this machine than the Toshiba. Freeing up resources is just one element in optimizing your Windows system. I do have an 5 year old IBM Thinkpad with 2GB in a box somewhere and I may try and use that going forward (though I may need to buy a USB PCMCIA 2.0 card for it)
‘Does the script F**k anything up?’ It has the ability to disable functions on your system that you may need so the answer is yes it can – TEMPORARILY. The point of this script is to be non-invasive so it doesn’t write any changes to your Windows system. A reboot will reset everything. You’d be mad to run this for the first time at, or just before a gig but I think that goes without saying.
‘My System works fine without any tweaking’. If this is your reality – brilliant! Nobody wants to have to commit more time out of their day configuring a machine to work well with an application they thought would just…work well. It’s the almost infinite PC hardware configuration combinations that make everyone’s experience so unique. This article was designed to help those who are limited to a PC right now and those who are experiencing issues. Trancicted, Stashe and I have had seen positive results from a good deal of people using the script over the last 6-8 months.
I have more articles/videos planned. Let me know what you want to see and you may just get what you need. I am happy to answer more questions if anyone has them.
Cheers,
SmiTTTen
You are really Steve Jobs, aren’t you?
Loving the whole “Tweaking windows for a suitable Traktor environment” propaganda you got here.
I bought and installed TP and TP2 on my windows 7 machine, they both run perfect with a 5 ms latency through a Behringer BCD-3000 and Novation Launchpad, whilst chrome and facebook runs in the background.
The “mac for musicians” idea is a farce, I run Live and Cubase smoothly on windows 7, again with no tweaks. All on a 17″ toshiba laptop that was cheaper than the smallest MBP. Yeah I’ve had the occasional hiccup, but I would have had them on the Mac too.
Mac’s are the tech equivalent of fitness workout supplements. High profit margin product that, although it does what it says, there are much cheaper and easier ways to achieve the same.
Still, the script is nice for people with underpowered laptops that need all the CPU headroom they can get
This article really makes it look like Macs are ubercomputers in comparison.
More importantly, there is a difference between a problem with Windows running smoothly and problems with the laptop running smoothly. There are some ‘brands’ of laptops that are known to overheat easily, etc. which certainly is not good when using resource hungry software for djing or music making. I use a laptop, that is not Apple and it has no problems whatsoever. Sure Macs are lovely, and in the past 23 years their OS has developed really well with some neat features. But all that aside, windows has no problem running intensive software; anything that is 23 years old max should have no problem at least. I use Abelton and Reason rewired and never have problem, and my laptop is almost 2 years old now. Same goes for Traktor.
Of course its still handy to have tweaks to get rid of unnecessary windows services, just to have that extra bit of resources freed up.
I’ll throw in my 2 cents. I dont see what the problem is, Mac or Windows, its down to personal preference and what works best for you. At the end of the day haters gonna hate, simple as. Now that Apple uses the i5 and i7 chip sets, just duel boot you windows lappy and have the best of both worlds. DJTT do an article on creating a Hackintosh, just another option out there, could save people some monies thinking about switching from one platform to the other.
Hate this is you want, just an opinion.
i for one certainly will not being running any batch files from unprofessional frat kids running a grossly unsecured operation. Be worried.
It might just be the users computer that is messed up. I have a windows XP custom ordered from Dell. I DJ 4 to five nights a week. I have not had any problems with Traktor LE, Traktor 3, Traktor Pro or Traktor Pro 2. I always use my VCI 100. At times I may combine with other controllers, but not had a single problem with my pc. I have been in clubs with other DJ’s that use Mac and watch their computer crash. So Mac ain’t all that to me. Great Article, but if you have a good pc this won’t be a problem for you.
lenovo thinkpads ftw
very useful i do hate the little boxes that occasionally pop up in the corner of the my laptops monitor while im doing a gig or just practicing.
As a mac user, I paid the so-called “apple tax” (which is not as high as people think it is, BTW, but it’s there) by choice, because I don’t want to mess around with scripts. background services etc. I did cope with it for years, from the Win95 Era to XP, and although it was kind of fun, I got to the point where I just didn’t want do do that anymore.
If you’re fine with doing such things, nothing’s wrong with a windows machine, IF you choose proper hardware and not the next cheap thing. I did that mistake back then with an acer laptop, and it started to fall apart after one year. Don’t buy too cheap,there’s a reason why machines with seemingly comparable specs are hundreds of bucks apart. Buy something proper, then Windows is fine. It’s just another OS.
This script seems a little overkill for such a high-spec laptop. You get
an i7 with 8gigs just so you CAN run all the bells, whistles, and crap in the background. That
extra 15% of CPU you save doesn’t really matter considering that
Traktor shouldn’t use anymore than 30-40% CPU anyways. If you have pops and
clicks with windows, I’ve found that CPU usage is usually the last culprit…most times it’s wifi or disk indexing causing some type of interruption.
Instead of
dealing with scripts, multiboots, and partitions, I personally have
dedicated laptops…one just for DJing, one for production, and another for productivity. My DJ laptop
(dual-core/vista/2gig ram) has pretty much the same stuff disabled as
this script, but I just used msconfig and device manager. It stays setup after reboots and that way I never have to worry about it. I’ve used that same Dell laptop every weekend for almost 3 years without a single hiccup or crash. Plus…even though it’s been in smokey dive bars, on the Caribbean beaches, and everywhere in between it still looks new because I only use it 2 or 3 days a week and it goes right back in it’s case. Not bad for 400 bucks at Best Buy.
Windows 7 is such an improvement over its older siblings. A person should check out blackviper.com for more info on what you can shut down program wise. Shutting down services and programs could make your PC more stable, but honestly if you’re running Windows 7 on a newer PC (sandy bridge) your computer is such a beast that it shouldn’t even matter.
If you’re in the market for a new laptop, check out xoticpc.com. look for sager/clevo (manufacture). They make great lappy’s, but you can buy/install your OS yourself! For the ultra minimalists that want a powerful PC with just what they need for DJ/Producing; without all the bloatware.
Make sure your wifi is off.
Windows Security Essentials is a nice non-intrusive anti-virus (free too)
That’s it for me!
Ableton 8 Suite, Traktor Scratch Pro 2, Kontrol S4, Maschine, Akai APC40, Komplete 7, Korg NanoKontrol 2.
if anyone, with a computer less than 3 or maybe 4 years old with more than 2 gigs of ram, need that script to be run, then they dont know how to use a computer, nor how it works internally (and they don’t really need to in the end). But people tend to install a bat shit load of junk, and don’t know whayt a Windows service is (yeah, mac have them too), not even about Widnows Registry (the one that play with us most of the time). A win7 don’t need this today. And if you have drop outs for anything no usb related (always on), let’s say WiFi or Wired Network, then the hardware is a piece of shit and you have nothing left to do but return the computer, and buy other model. ‘Cause the problem is on the Bios, firmware of some piece (FW, USB, Wifi…), or Driver issue. And you don’t know when they will be updated and sort this problems,
if ever.
The problems with “Windows computers” as some ppl have stated befor, is that they are not prepared for realtime uses (lots of them will have problemas even playing audio 100% correctly in games), nor their builders care for it. Nor do apple (the first generation of intel iMac was a piece of shit hardware wise). Apple just won’t load almost anything on MAC OS X on start up, while Windows loads lots of things don’t needed by mere mortals (even less for audio dudes). thats the real reason “it just works”. It happens that you just dont have a pile of shit running in background from the right start.
You just have to do 2 things with a Windows Computer:
a) Run DPCLatency, if it’s wrong, try disabling Wifi/NetWork (not plug of, disabling), and restart, try again. Maybe FW… if you don’t get to get it right updating drivers, you don’t have anything left to do, you just CAN’T use it for real time things at low latency. Get your new computer back and get other different one, at least a different model with different hardware. If updating drivers, do it to WHQL if possible and ONLY WHEN NEEDED if they dont state clearly a boost of performance for it.
b) Deactivate windows services unneeded, they will activate themselves most of the times if really needed. For this, just step to http://tweakhound.com and read. You will be a happy camper after that.
and c) If you want a “Bomb proof” computer for audio, just use it like “an apple mac”, let say it: “Just install what is really needed, and don’t get it through a pile of junk”. Thats the secret of a Mac, you just can install a pile of junk because it doesn’t exist in the first place.
I must clarify that i use both platforms (i have an iMac & macbook and some Windows Computers), that i use for work and leisure. And my audio notebook (almost 4 years old now C2D Windows) works like a charm with Ableton or Traktor 2 (or mixVibes cross).
I’m saying all of these, because with this very same 4 years old notebook, i needed to return it 4 times and try 5 differents notebooks until i find one that just worked (A Sammy one). I just tried Sony, Asus, Toshiba and HP before in my price range, and all of them have problems (FW the Toshiba, the rest of them a matter of Bios or firmware).
It’s always good to optimize your computer, but lots of times, it’s just a matter related with hardware, not software.
Regards.
PS: Sorry for my bad english.
I use Traktor with a windows laptop and never had any problems. I use it every weekend for 6hr DJ gigs in a bar with controllers and timecode and its never crashed in the years i have been using it. I also use it to produce running Ableton. I have done a bit of tweaking but nothing that is anything more than common sense like making sure that usb and hardrive stay switched on and shut down background applications. sound quality is good with use of a different power adapter that does not have a ground loop. I like my windows laptop as i do gaming on it also. It’s a good all round machine and suits my needs better than a macbook. Im not going to rush out and buy a mac copying others as people might think im a rubbish DJ if i dont have a mac. let the music do the talking. I know loads of shit DJ’s and producers with all the fancy gear and no idea. DJ Endo uses windows and he is a Traktor specialist for NI so that says something about windows. Days of Mac vs PC are over both use the same chips and hardware now.
dj endo does not use windows!!! he just was promoting that dell laptop, then made a tutorial sort of like this!!! but he uses mac, obviously! i dont have a mac, coz they are too expensive! but since everybody i know uses it, i’ve never heard somebody say that it does not crash with controllers, dvs and most inportant, 6 hours long!!!!!
Kudos to you sir, I agree with everything you’ve said and my experiences have been no different. Sony Vaio Laptop, never had any problems that weren’t my own fault. And I really agree with what you said last that the days of Mac vs PC are over because neither is really “better” it’s just personal preference.
Its not about the chips/hardware buddy, trust me, i have been on window for 13 years and since I switched with mac, no coming back to windows. OSX is far more stable 😉
totally agree, there a lot of things i will miss when going to mac, its just knowing more on how windows work if you have problems, i always look at mac user are usually people that know anything about computers. generally people who stick to windows no matter what are intelectual in computers thats why hehehe
Pretty much any PC or laptop made in the last 2 years will be able to run Traktor more than well enough to use it for live performances. Even a dinky crappy $200 netbook will probably suffice for basic DJing purposes (good luck finding a new mac for that price) and something that compares in price to anything new from Apple will be just as (if not significantly more) powerful. Windows 7 fixes a lot of the stability issues PC users were plagued with for years under Windows XP and these days it really comes down to personal preference.
Mac, PC, it doesn’t matter. Use the platform you’re more comfortable with so you don’t spend your time fiddling with the computer when you should be spinning some bangin’ tunes. All the big apps are out for Windows and OSX.. plus if you buy a PC your computer won’t look the same as EVERY SINGLE DJ OUT THERE (ugh).
Traktor runs on my 5+ year old Vista machine with 2gb ram. Computers haven’t changed significantly since 2005ish anyway. I’d still strongly recommend 4gb of ram though, especially if you’re also running maschine, kore, ableton, or all of them, or whatever at the same time.
Running dual boot is bloody brilliant, and something I should start doing. Just having MS Office and an Adobe suite installed will kbar any PC.
2011 asus g73 $1300 laptop can’t run traktor without clipping. It’s more than just a simple problem believe me. As much as I love my stealth fighter sometimes I just want to give it the boot.
Yes it can. It’s just a matter of proper configuration. I have an ASUS N61Ja, and the problem in my case was the default wireless network drivers interfering with Traktor (disabling the wireless radio fixed the problem, which confirmed it as the source, and updating the driver using the one from the ASUS website fixed the problem permanently).
I have fixed a variety of Traktor problems on different Windows laptops by now. Chances are yours are fixable as well.
I hate the pervasive idea that if you want to own a computer worthy of live performance and have the money, that Apple is the only choice. The fact is that while it’s closed architecture makes the OOB experience more compelling for some, a new Apple computer is no more configured to run performance software than a new Windows computer.
That’s where specialized PC manufacturers like Rain Computers really up the ante. Unlike Apple, not only does Rain configure their computers specifically to run real-time apps like NLEs and DAWs, they also have support options that address the applications you and I use regularly. That means that if you contact them asking why you’re getting drop outs with your new installation of Traktor, they will walk you through the issue with APPLICATION SPECIFIC direction to address your problem.
They also work with the manufacturers of components used in their computers to develop customized firmware that works well for performance use. If a component can’t be made performance ready – they don’t use it. Anyone who bought a new unibody Mac and got hosed by the Agere firewire problem (for instance) know that Windows manufacturers aren’t the only ones that have little visibility into the needs of performance artists.
If what REALLY matters to you is performance, picking one of the boutique manufacturers (like Rain) makes way more sense than ANY generic computer manufacturer (Mac or PC).
THIS is 100% accurate. I’ve been saying this for years. It has nothing to do with the brand but entirely dependent on the components.
Totally agree.
I looked for that laptop but shops overhere don’t sell them..
what a pity.
Your system, albeit mac or pc is as powerful as the user who is using it.
Use XP run the script and put it on a fast T410 Thinkpad. I would say it would be as good if not better than a mac. Provided you OPTIMIZE it for djaying. Remove all the unnecessary programs (crap) off it.
i use an Alienware M11X that i reformatted and re-installed Windows 7 using the disc provided…only basic programs were installed: Traktor, VDJ7, Serato, Google Chrome, Adobe X…and this script made a huge difference. Kudos DJTT. Thanks a mil
Very useful article, certainly looking fwd to the next episode.
One thing I disagree with though. It suggests that you really need to tweak Windows in order to run Traktor anywhere near as stable as a Mac does.
I would like to see the evidence to support this bold statement because as far as my experience goes, Traktor hasn’t crashed on me a single time on my machine running Windows 7 un-tweaked.
Sure, the nature of Mac OS designed to run on Apple hardware only should make it the ultimate stable platform. However, that doesn’t mean that Windows 7 out of the box isn’t a very stable platform to run Traktor, because it actually is.
So yes, these optimization tips are very welcome but are they really necessary for a stable Traktor experience? Certainly not for most Windows 7 machines.
“Sure, the nature of Mac OS designed to run on Apple hardware only should make it the ultimate stable platform.” -> Which is not the case anymore as PC and MAC share the exact same chipsets and components. The only difference now reside in the two different OS, but as of now, there is not a single serious study to my knowledge that has shown any proof of any advantage from any of these two OS.
So in the end, Windows or Mac OS X, who cares ? It’s the same. Anybody claiming the opposite does have absolutely no proof.
Optimization is always welcome, even when you don’t have problems, it is got to work on prevention. I, for example, go as far as installing windows XP as OS of choice.
….and then…I turn off the services and stuff.
Great post.. A great pc can be bought these days for well under half of what a comparable apple will cost you. You do need to know ur way around the windows OS tho to tweak it a bit but its really not hard at all (google and just a tiny bit of tech know-how are all you need).
If you dont mind paying extra and want a pre-configured/closed off machine, apple is the answer. I just find it offensive how much they limit your ability to tweak things the way you want but thats their appeal to some people who dont have the time, patience or know-how to do it themselves.
I can tell you that i have a newer model pc and it works flawlessly with traktor scratch pro 2 at the lowest latency settings. Windows 7 is pretty stable and easy to use and i really didnt tweak it all that much outside of uninstalling some of the unnecessary programs windows seems to give u.
Great script to make optimization even easier. I know people used to enjoy hardware profiles to allow them to use traktor, etc but windows got rid of that. This is probably the closest thing to doing that.
using a 8gb laptop for the demo….anyway i used the scripts and its very very good 😉
awesome, thanks
If you know your way around windows just a little bit, you can clearly optimize your computer enough to be able to DJ/produce with it, if it is necessary at all.
I find this article incredibly biased and not very well written, even though the end result (optimizing your computer) is noble. This could however been written without any mentioning or comparing with Apple computers. Why would you? Isn’t it a simple choice everybody can make for themselves (mac vc windows) without having supposedly unbiased blogs writing articles like this?
Oh goodness gracious. It would be more than a little dishonest to not acknowledge in passing the eternal flame war that is Mac vs PC. It’s like DJTT can’t write anything without people crying foul. Find a new game… you’re boring.
Try reading my reply again. I’m NOT making this into a flame war, DJTT is by the tone of the post….
Who cares, why do people get so defensive / irritated when there platform of choice gets questioned or put under the spot light. Dude, get a life! (Or just get a mac)
*sigh* Fanboys…
I get what you’re saying and I agree with you. Why even bring it up? The article is about Windows. The way they opened the article just seemed to be enticing a fanboy “discussion.”
I fully agree. Obvious troll is obvious, but if it’s already enough a shame to see this kind of behaviour from a guest’s comment, it’s far more despisable from the respectable DJTT.
You obviously haven’t spent countless hours trying to figure out why your $1300 pc wouldn’t run traktor pro 2 smoothly… It’s a simple fact that Not all PCs are configured to be plug and play. Don’t get me wrong I have always loved PCs and have always been good with them. But I have had nothing but issues with them when going into the realm of audio… Asus g73 8gigs of ram beastly processor, I should be able to plug an external audio card into it for instance traktor s2… Complete sh*t, I get audio crackles nonstop, I’ve tried everything that is obvious… Now I have to update my trackpad driver or some bull…. Screw that. PCs have a talent for leaving a bad taste in my mouth… I want a tasty Apple.
I get all snap, crackle pops too! especially when loading a track 🙁
Asus G51 dual processor gaming laptop. should smoke it for sure
it’s funny how apple is giving problems to traktor users now lol
Great article and video.
I wish I had seen this before I converted to Apple.
Ugly ugly for sure
Here’s a trick – if you have a perfected Batch script you can convert it to an executable using a handy dandy “Bat to Exe Converter” like this: http://www.f2ko.de/programs.php?lang=en&pid=b2e
Exactly why would you want to turn a small batch script into a huge executable file that does exactly the same thing (except maybe a tiny bit slower due to the unnecessary overhead of having command interpreter built in and running on top of another command interpreter) ?
Because you can’t associate file operations in Explorer with batch scripts, only executables. For example, it allows you to add batch processes to the right-click menus.
I did a much easier way.
Open nearest window, throw PC out of window, close window.
Buy a Mac and don’t look back.
http://www.bgr.com/2011/07/14/global-pc-market-shows-growth-in-q2-lenovo-wins-globally-apple-wins-in-u-s/
Globally, Apple doesn’t even leave the “other” category.
Hardly: http://osxdaily.com/2011/03/18/mac-market-share-around-the-world-usa-15-canada-14-australia-14-and-more/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh#Market_share_and_user_demographics
They’re a big presence in the personal computer market, and are dominant in terms of tech direction and OS design, even if they don’t win on pure numbers. They’re also overrepresented in the higher-margin, higher-end PC market: the majority of computers sold by number are thin-margin machines are the bottom end, but Apple have never tried to compete here.
Apple is also currently the biggest company in the US. Possibly also the world: but there might be some Chinese mining companies that beat it.
So an “other” category? Not at all 🙂
f*cking troll. btw- If you’re going to chuck a i7 laptop out of window let me know so I can be outside to catch it.
Lmao. I too use an i7…8 core processor each running at 3 ghz, 8 mb of ram.. i bought traktor a week ago and the x1 controller. When I go into audio setup and run diagnostics tests on my output latency it shows all perfect functioning levels, but every 30 seconds or so the level spikes dramatically.. that represents a skip in the song if I were mixing.. I’ve made sure my processor is running at 100% capacity, made sure the usb plugs arnt in power saving mode, shut down all applications and I’m still having the same problem, I heard virus software messsses with traktor as well..I have macafee, but I’m obviously not running systtem scans when I’m mixin.. so does it really have that much of a significant impact on the program as the heresay is??
And I absolutely adore my laptop, it is 2000 dollars of beastliness, once I work the kinks out it will be an amazing mix platform, and I have nothing against macbook but its perposturous to say somthing as stupid and dimwitted as that….. maybe you should throw ur closeminded view out the window instead..
And gary ur the shit for sayin this, laughed so hard, keep it real against these ignorant people hahahaha. And if you could help with my problem it would be much appreciated
disable the acpi battery in hardware manager…
First and foremost.. Log off facebook, and turn off the wireless Internet adapter.. Then u may begin to mix without spikes 🙂
Macafee + Norton are both beasts for “behind the scenes” resources drainage. If you are after purely antivirus, you can get AVG free which is far less of a resources drag.
I totally agree with turning off all internet when performing, and look at the power settings closely. (screen saver off!)
My first lesson in this was playing a gig on my original laptop. Norton systemworks started a weekly scan halfway through my set, crashing everything.
These days my Windows laptop is purely built for running Traktor, and nothing else.
It was also likely that updates from Windows in the past caused additional problems, so now that I have it stable, I don’t even bother with updates.
you said it!
the easy way!
for those who know how to read; just optimize windows 😉 is easy, and the only requirement is have motivations!
yes throw money out the window like a rich person
You are an ignorant ****head.
I have both a PC and a Mac & I can honestly the Mac (2011 i7 MBP) is ridiculously overrated.
I have a ThinkPad. I wouldn’t need to buy a Mac because it would be fine.
I have a ThinkPad. I wouldn’t need to buy a Mac because it would be fine.
this is an article i have been waiting for. thank you! i already did this, but i had to do it manually. Not saying any operating system is better than another, but as a multipurpose user, i PREFER windows. like this site promotes, its not the look of your equipment, its how you use it.
i will deffinently use this script, and would Love to see more articles that dont directly have to do with DJ software/hardware.
Thanks dboynton 🙂