Reaper kills my computer

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JonPorobil
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Reaper kills my computer

Post by JonPorobil »

Hey everyone. I'm shopping around for a new DAW, because this free version of Cubase LE 4 is holding me back. Figured I'd give Reaper another fair shake.

Here's the deal: I'm running Windows 7, 64-bit. My computer has an Intel i7 chip, 8 cores of 2.8gHz each. It's got 6 gigabytes of RAM. In other words: if something doesn't run on my computer, you're going to be hard-pressed to find a computer that will run it.

I start up Reaper, and immediately, two of my cores jump up to 100% usage. Within Reaper I can still manipulate the program environment and such, but it will not record. Then I notice that I can't run or access any other program - including Windows Explorer. So the taskbar stops working properly, and I can't pull up any program that might be running in the background. Finally, I try to shut down Reaper, and the computer fully freezes.

I doubt Reaper is really that system-intensive, otherwise it wouldn't be so beloved by so many Songfighters. Plus, my computer still technically had cycles to spare, even while it was crashed. So what did I do wrong?
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito

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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by Manhattan Glutton »

Try loading Reaper in safe mode - it's a shortcut on the start menu.

Are your audio drivers up to date? What kind of interface are you using? What software is running in the background? Have you set your audio interface in the settings?

I've noticed the 64-bit Reaper has occasional issues with 32-bit VST effects but that's about the extent of my problems with it, and I have a similar setup. Since you have a fresh install, I'm leaning toward it being a driver/application conflict of some sort.

Actually, now that I've thought about it, it might be scanning your VST plugins folder in c:\program files or c:\program files (x86) and shitting a brick on one of them. Try temporarily renaming those folders.

As someone who paid for Reaper, I have to say I'm really pleased with it and hope it works out for you. It's written by people who love coding and music for people that love good programs and music.
If I had a dollar for every one of my songs j$ has called a 90s pastiche, I'd have $1 for every song I've written.

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JonPorobil
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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by JonPorobil »

Manhattan Glutton wrote:Try loading Reaper in safe mode - it's a shortcut on the start menu.

Are your audio drivers up to date? What kind of interface are you using? What software is running in the background? Have you set your audio interface in the settings?
The audio drivers are up to date. My interface is a Lexicon Lambda, hooked up by USB. Reaper recognized it and made me configure it with the program on first launch. The first time I launched Reaper, I had too much stuff running in the background: Chrome, Thunderbird, Steam, Pidgin, xChat, and OpenOffice Writer. I figured that was the issue, so the next time I launched it, it was the only program running. I still got the same behavior. I guess I'll try safe mode next.
I've noticed the 64-bit Reaper has occasional issues with 32-bit VST effects but that's about the extent of my problems with it, and I have a similar setup. Since you have a fresh install, I'm leaning toward it being a driver/application conflict of some sort.

Actually, now that I've thought about it, it might be scanning your VST plugins folder in c:\program files or c:\program files (x86) and shitting a brick on one of them. Try temporarily renaming those folders.

As someone who paid for Reaper, I have to say I'm really pleased with it and hope it works out for you. It's written by people who love coding and music for people that love good programs and music.
It probably found SuperiorDrummer there. If Reaper can't play nice with SuperiorDrummer, then that's a deal-breaker, unfortunately.


EDIT: Alright, I tried renaming my VSTinstruments folder, and it worked a little better. Still wouldn't record. Still crashed Windows Explorer, but other programs remained accessible. It didn't completely lock up the computer.

Hmm.
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito

Stages, an album of about dealing with loss, anxiety, and grieving a difficult year, now available on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms! https://jonporobil.bandcamp.com/album/stages
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Manhattan Glutton
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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by Manhattan Glutton »

Works fine with Superior Drummer et al. Most of the good/popular VSTs have been vetted. Is it still spinning 100% CPU?

What happens when you want to record? What's your audio interface config screen look like? Seems like that's possibly the issue.

FWIW I've had up to 40+ tracks before Reaper actually sludges along. It's supposedly got the best DAW performance out there, so we just have to figure out what's making it freak out.

The only time I have a CPU issue, aside from bad VSTs, is when I have an armed track with FX on it that I forgot about, but that results in crackling.
Last edited by Manhattan Glutton on Sun Apr 24, 2011 4:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
If I had a dollar for every one of my songs j$ has called a 90s pastiche, I'd have $1 for every song I've written.

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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by Lunkhead »

Side note: Your computer has 4 cores, but uses "Hyper-Threading" to make it appear as if it has 2x that:

http://www.intel.com/products/processor ... /index.htm
http://www.intel.com/technology/platfor ... /index.htm
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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by JonPorobil »

Lunkhead wrote:Side note: Your computer has 4 cores, but uses "Hyper-Threading" to make it appear as if it has 2x that:

http://www.intel.com/products/processor ... /index.htm
http://www.intel.com/technology/platfor ... /index.htm
That would explain why it appears to max out two at a time.
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito

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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by JonPorobil »

Manhattan Glutton wrote:Works fine with Superior Drummer et al. Most of the good/popular VSTs have been vetted. Is it still spinning 100% CPU?
Yes, it maxes out two cores at a time from the point at which the program opens until the computer crashes. Even after Reaper appears to close, there's the Reaper.exe process running invisibly in the background, continuing to suck up resources. I tried to end that process, and my computer actually froze up again (no mouse movement, even).
What happens when you want to record? What's your audio interface config screen look like? Seems like that's possibly the issue.
When I try to record, the progress line stutters in place. I'll post a screenshot of the configuration screen, but I'm not convinced that Reaper interfacing improperly with Lexicon could cause such huge issues as this.

Anyway, I'm trying it in safe mode now. I'll let you know what happens.

EDIT: Runs fine in Safe Mode. Windows doesn't recognize the in/outs from my Lambda while in Safe Mode, so recording is still impossible, but it doesn't completely crash the computer, and it doesn't take up inordinate amounts of memory.
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito

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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by Manhattan Glutton »

Whoops, I meant Reaper safe mode, but it appears we're getting closer to the solution anyhow!

So it seems like something about your interface, interface config, or another background process is messing things up...
If I had a dollar for every one of my songs j$ has called a 90s pastiche, I'd have $1 for every song I've written.

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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by JonPorobil »

Manhattan Glutton wrote:Whoops, I meant Reaper safe mode, but it appears we're getting closer to the solution anyhow!

So it seems like something about your interface, interface config, or another background process is messing things up...
How do you get into Reaper Safe Mode?
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito

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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by Manhattan Glutton »

I thought there was a link for it, but there's not... I guess it's only for opening projects in safe mode. So, ignore that!

Let's see your interface config screen. Maybe we can play with the samplerate or latency to fix it. You're using ASIO right?
If I had a dollar for every one of my songs j$ has called a 90s pastiche, I'd have $1 for every song I've written.

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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by JonPorobil »

Yes, I'm using ASIO.

Reaper freezes irrecoverably when I try to load up the config screen. Can't get a screen shot.

I'm through with this for tonight.
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito

Stages, an album of about dealing with loss, anxiety, and grieving a difficult year, now available on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms! https://jonporobil.bandcamp.com/album/stages
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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by AJOwens »

I use Reaper on an old 800MHz Dell with no problems. The other day, with around eight tracks operating, I had to disable a few of the dozen or so active VSTs to avoid a very slight latency in recording a new track.

Just a thought: could something on your system be glomming onto audio interface drivers or MIDI drivers in such a way that Reaper is knocking itself out trying to get hold of them?

Here's where I'm coming from: when I add a Reason Rewire connection from Reaper, my Reason opens automatically. But in slave mode, Reason can't access the MIDI drivers directly, and sometimes complains about it. Also if I change my Reason settings (say, to select a different synth) but forget to save the change to a Reason file, and then later I close Reaper, Reason tries to close down automatically, asks if I want to save changes, and then freezes. I assume it checks for unsaved changes, and then waits for shutdown permission from Reaper, which didn't wait around and by that time is no longer loaded in memory.

What I'm saying, in my roundabout way, is that these programs can get mixed up about who's boss. You may have a fight on your hands between Reaper and some process left resident by another DAW.
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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by JonPorobil »

Your theory holds some water, but what I can I do to confirm that, short of uninstalling Cubase?
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito

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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by AJOwens »

Generic wrote:Your theory holds some water, but what I can I do to confirm that, short of uninstalling Cubase?
Hmm. With all the computer gurus around here, I was hoping someone else could help with that.

I don't know about Windows 7, but with XP, you could run msconfig.exe from the Start > Run command to examine things that start up automatically, and then disable the ones you don't want or need. The only other thing I can think of is to hunt down and kill suspect processes in Task Manager. It would not be a permanent solution, but it might help confirm the theory.

Of course, they all have cryptic 8-character names left over from the DOS standard, so it's hard to tell what they are. With luck, you can trace them to their parent programs by finding out their installation paths (using Windows Explorer search, or good old dir myfile.ext /s /p at a command prompt). Or try Googling them.

[edit] A search for "Reaper conflicts" doesn't turn up much, but there is this:
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=69418[/edit]
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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by Manhattan Glutton »

AJ's suggestions are pretty much spot on; particularly msconfig.

Another one: Try starting Reaper with the "show interface config screen" shortcut on the start menu, and select the default Windows audio API (I'm thinking "Microsoft" something or other). I think that's possible. It'll give horrible latency and be unsuitable for recording, but at least we'd know if it's an ASIO conflict or not.
If I had a dollar for every one of my songs j$ has called a 90s pastiche, I'd have $1 for every song I've written.

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Re: Reaper kills my computer

Post by JonPorobil »

We brainstormed in the chat room and came to the following conclusions.

1.) I installed the 64-bit version of Reaper. I was hoping to have a DAW that could take advantage of all my system's RAM, but...
2.) I don't have 64-bit drivers of my audio interface. In fact, there don't appear to be any.

I've uninstalled Reaper (x64), and I'll be installing the 32-bit one later today. Case closed... for now.
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito

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