Problems with large bands

Hi,

I have a relatively old computer and I have problems with large bands. When I try to use them I get a choppy response, the music stops and starts and it is not a good experience. So I normally use small bands. (what is a pity).

I have noticed that if the piece is slow, I still can use large bands, I suppose it is because the CPU has more time to adapt, but, of course, this is not a solution

Is there any “trick” to use large bands, and avoid that choppy behaviour? I have the paying version of Hookpad

I use a W7 computer (chrome) with 8 Mb RAM

Regards

Jose

Hookpad is not meant to run on 8 Megabytes of RAM. Unfortunately I don’t believe there is a work around for this because small memory isn’t meant to handle large amounts of sound playing at once.

Thank you for the prompt response

Sorry, I meant 8 Gb de RAM. Of course 8 Mb is too little. Most computers have 8 Gb. I think the problem possibly lies in the CPU Intel i5-2520M @ 2.5 GHz, (I am not sure)

I know several workarounds, besides using a small band. For instance it is possible to get a MP3 and then play it, or use Bandlab or Musescore with a MIdi file. In principle, Bandlab (on line) o Musescore can handle relatively large bands better, so it should not be impossible.

I was wondering if there was a solution, perhaps using the internal storage in Json or giving some extra time for processing before actually playing. (but I do not know how to do it)

Jose

a couple of thoughts - one - what is a “large band”? i know on my system i can have 4 separate melody instruments, and then several harmony, and drum instruments, and possibly a couple of basses - i.e. all playing together – or – i’ll have many instruments spread across several bands applied to sections.
second - what is your performance monitor telling you is happening? memory starvation? high CPU usage? some browsers are better than others at using CPU and RAM nicely, and others can readily consume way more than needed. so check and see. RAM, CPU, and any disk activity as well as network.
third - speaking of networks - if you are using a cellular network vs a broadband connection, that can be a constraint on performance. more for loading instruments but it’s possible your network performance needs more oomf.
fourthly - what other applications are you using? almost always best to turn off extraneous apps - discord and gaming apps come to mind as resource hogs, etc.

Yes, i think is a CPU problem. Large is more than 10 instruments, particularly for a fast piece. I use a fast internet connection. I use Chrome and normally I close all other windows, even if the effect seems to be minor.

I was looking for some workaround solutions if anyone can suggest any-

Hi, I think 8GB of RAM should be enough. I guess the bottleneck might be your outdated CPU and its periphery. One thing you could try is to hide the note and chord Staffs when running your playback with bigger bands.
Screenshot 2024-09-16 at 09.13.23
Rendering the score during playback also needs some amount of CPU power so perhaps removing the notes and chords will free up your CPU to render the audio correctly.

If this works, to avoid toggling those buttons all the time, you could first write notes and melodies with a simpler band and then hide the staffs and focus on instrumentation.

Please let me know if this helped!
Dennis

Thank you for the response. Unfortunately, it is not sufficient, I get a minor improvement, but not enough

Anyway, thank you everybody for your interest. I suppose I’ll have to use a smaller band :wink:

By the way, I have discovered a new trick that helps, In settings, I reduce the sample rate to 32 kbps. This reduces slightly the quality but it gives a much steadier sound.

Jose