[windows] My S4 Diary: Prepping for and setting up my S4

**smiTTTen** · 01-22-2011, 08:27 AM

The irony is that the performance monitor is a resource hog itself and most of the spikes are as associated with the pull from that. Outside of that, even if there are no applications running there may be services which are doing things including checking for/downloading/installing product updates, performing scans or executing other housekeeping tasks. We all install any software far too rapidly and generally click through the default install options. Saying OK to updates, sending anonymous usage information or agreeing to any option that forces the product to periodically check itself and call home is a bad thing.

Running msconfig from the run box and looking at your startup items will give you an idea of what's loading up with Windows. These items won't show up in your Running Applications List but they will show up in the processes or services list.

It's a total cat and mouse game. My advice to anyone looking to extract max performance from their Windows is system is this: Unless you REALLY need it, don't install it.

**jeroentje** · 01-22-2011, 12:33 PM

Smitten, what happens when you turn key lock on ?
When I turn it on CPU load is much higher

**smiTTTen** · 01-22-2011, 01:20 PM

Let me run a test. I will post a screenshot when it's done.

**Scaper7** · 01-22-2011, 02:54 PM

How then, do you explain that the CPU spiking disappears as soon as the NI unit is disconnected from the computer? To me it seems very wrong .... without the unit connected my CPU performance reads about 5% max .... after reconnecting the NI unit the CPU load would spike to 50%+ (as soon as I engaged the NI drivers) and continue until I physically disconnected it. I'm fairly certain your system would not be spiking without the S4 connected ... out of curiosity would you care to test that?

I've never seen this behaviour with any other hardware. It seems totally wrong ... and unique to NI hardware/drivers. Little wonder the system was prone to dropouts and glitches ... the CPU struggling even with the software sitting idle.

**smiTTTen** · 01-24-2011, 10:29 AM

Full size, higher res screen shots can be found at
[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58365136@N04/sets/72157625896037018/"]Kontrol S4 and Windows Perfmon - a set on Flickr[/ame]

This is the with the S4 physically disconnected:

With the S4 Connected and powered up:

Same state a minute (or so) later:

This is where some cyclical spiking occurs although the spikes aren't that high in themselves.

Now with Traktor on but idle:

Same state a minute or so later:

3 track decks playing, 4 samples playing on sample deck:

S4 Disconnected: no cyclical spiking
S4 Connected, Traktor not running: cyclical spiking
S4 Connected, Traktor running: cyclical spiking

It would "seem" (I am not a coder, nor do I play one on TV) that the S4 driver is causing the spike - so surprises there. On my particular system the spiking does not appear to be serious nor is affecting the performance of Traktor. The machine I am using has some quirks of its own outside of Traktor. Right after this this test the machine was working much hard uploading photos to Flickr that running Traktor. It doesn't make a huge amount of sense but it is what I am seeing.

The bigger issue is that it is unlikely that any two people are running the exact same hardware and software configuration so what might work for me may not for you. With Macs there are a finite number of models on the market, less upgrade options and generally a much more controlled environment to code against.

I would be interested in seeing how other DJ apps consume Windows resources. Has anyone done a true apples-to-apples comparison?