Prepping Windows 7 for the Kontrol S4
I thought I would share my experiences as a new “Digital DJ” (I really don’t like that term) who just took delivery of their S4 about 72 hours ago. I used to play on 1210’s years ago but this is my first time with a software based solution. I am however a bit of a geek and work as a product manager for a software company.
All the screenshots I am including can be directly accessed from: [ame=“http://www.flickr.com/photos/58365136@N04/sets/72157625704608947/”]s4 screenshots - a set on Flickr[/ame]
The Desktop Wallpaper used in the screenshots was created by DJTT Forum Member DJScottBahn. Many thanks for the cool backdrop and if anyone else wants to get hold of it, please check the thread at: http://djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23128
My [very basic] setup
-
Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol S4
-
Toshiba Satellite M305-S4910 (Purchased Jan 2009) http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/retail-product.jsp?poid=431241
-
Core™ 2 Duo Processor T6400, 2.0GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB
-
4GB PC6400 DDR2 SDRAM
-
320GB (5400 RPM); Serial ATA hard disk drive
-
24” ViewSonic VA2431 Monitor: http://www.viewsonic.com/products/va2431wm.htm
-
Klipsch Pro Media 2.1 PC Speakers: http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/promedia-2-1-overview/
-
Bose Quiet Comfort 2 Headphones : Bose QuietComfort 2 | PCMag – yes, I know I am 23 distinct flavors of lame for bringing these into a mixing environment but I have had them for years, travel for work, they are comfortable and I love them – get over it.
Prepping for the S4
I did some preparation prior to the S4 arriving. I had read all the issues around performance, popping, crackling and drop outs so I wanted to try and minimize the variables that could affect Traktor. I created a dual boot system with both partitions running Win7 Pro.
I created 2 partitions. The first partition was for general use as I wanted the laptop to be able to pull double duty when I wasn’t using Traktor. The 2nd partition was going to be dedicated to Traktor.
Below you can see how the partitions look post install:
Once I had my Traktor partition installed I went through and downloaded all the latest drivers for my hardware. On the subject of partitioning it might make sense to create a third partition that can be used by both the Traktor and day-to-day operating system for storage of your music etc. That way if you destroy your install or need to rebuild, the music remains intact.
The next step was to disable and strip out everything I could from the Win7. As many people have commented, Win7 is much better than Vista but still needs some work to get it running as efficiently as possible.
The following screenshots shows you the services that are currently running or disabled:
Started Services:
Disabled Services:
What you can disable greatly depends on what you need from your system. For instance, I am not going to print from my Traktor partition so I don’t need Print Spooler. The services for Remote Desktop, Bluetooth, Windows Themes and Windows Defender were also disabled. Disable anything at your own risk! My advice is to research first and then try stopping a service and see how that impacts your environment.
I know some people don’t like messing with msconfig but I did it anyway:
On this particular tab I didn’t make any changes here but you can see the 2 partitions listed.
I unchecked a good number of the startup items in the list.
Just like the Services, you need to take care in what you uncheck. Many of the items here however are from third party vendors (like Adobe) that do little more (in Adobe’s case) than accelerate how quickly Adobe Reader starts.
In Device Manger I disabled a number of non-vital items including ACPI Battery Management Device. I also have a wired network at home so all wireless devices and services have been put to bed too. The Mass Storage Controller listed with an error is simply the SD Card Reader I haven’t gotten round to installing the driver for.
Be default Windows installs a bunch of apps, tools and services I don’t need for Traktor. I took these out too:
The next step was to change the performance settings available from Control Panel > System
I ditched the Aero Desktop mode and all the other display garnishes as I don’t care about what Windows looks like.
I switched the following setting to background services to provide more resources for the communication between the controller and the software:
There may have been some other changes but for the life of me I cannot remember them. I will add them later if they come to me.
The installation of Traktor Pro S4 was painless. I installed the software on the DVD that came with the unit, activated it and then downloaded and installed the update. The latency on Traktor was set to 9ms.
When all that was done my Programs and Features list was still pretty minimal:
The desktop was even more sparse:
I hooked up the controller itself and conducted a few basic tests to see how the system would handle Traktor. Remember, this is not a brand new laptop and has not been upgraded from Vista to Win7. Prior to me blowing out the laptop it was running a bunch of apps including MS Office etc. Once fully booted it had previously consumed about 1.5GB of memory.
My stripped down version was decidedly more lightweight. The Desktop for instance (no apps running):
Less than 600KB
With Traktor open the RAM usage jumps to 960MB:
With 1 deck playing there wasn’t any real change:
With 2 decks playing there was not much of a difference again:
With 3 decks playing everything still seems to be in great shape:
With 4 decks playing the RAM usage is still pretty much static but the CPU has increased:
Overall I was pleased with the results. I did not experience any pops, crackles or drop outs and the latency on the jog wheel was great. I should mention that I was only playing 4 tracks at the same time and was not using any FX, loops or any other components. As I start to do more on the system I will update this to let people know if and when/where I encounter any issues.
As I said at the beginning, I am not a Pro or even semi-Pro DJ. I know a few things about Windows but what I have described here may or may not work in other environments. I will make a couple of pretty obvious suggestions:
Whatever system you are using, start with a fresh install. Trying to clean down a Windows install thats been used for a while is a non-started in my book. It will be far too time consuming and you will not catch everything.
The Dual Boot option is worth considering. It takes a little bit of know-how but if you are using an S4 you are no doubt technically inclined and should be able to find some info on doing this. Worst case, contact me.
Anti-virus and firewalls etc take up resources but if you are going to leave them out of your configuration use something else to browse the web and shut the machine down when you are not using it.
Once you get a base configuration installed, make a backup before you start disabling and removing items. You can do that from the Accessories / Maintenance Menu. Also spend the 5 minutes to burn a system repair disk. You will thank me for it later.
If you have other people using your S4 consider using the guest account or create a user account with highly limited rights. I would even consider preventing this user from web browsing. Let them use another machine (or even their own) for anything non S4 related. You don’t want to have to kick kid brother in the head for downloading a 100KB file that wrecks your install.
That’s all for me for now. Please let me know what you think of this post. I will probably write more as I do more. I have just started beatgridding 50 or so drum and bass tracks so we’ll see how that goes
Cheers,
SmiTTTen
.