Help with a computer build issue with Reason / Positive Grid combo

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Fooltooth
Posts: 8
Joined: 21 Jun 2018
Location: Seattle
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21 Jun 2018

Hi all, this is my first post on the forum, and I need some help with a computer build. Hopefully this is the right section for that.

Currently, I am running Reason 10 on a Desktop with the following hardware / stats:

- Lenovo ThinkCentre M710T
- Intel Core i7-7700 Processor (Quadcore, 8M Cache, 3.6GHz base freq, up to 4.20Ghz )
- Windows 10 Home 64
- 16GB DDR4 2400 UDIMM
- 500GB Hard Drive, 7200 RPM, 3.5", SATA

My recording interface is a Behringer U-Phoria UMC404HD

My Audio settings in Reason are as follows:
- Sample Rate: 44,100
- Buffer Size: 1,072 Samples
- Input Latency: 29ms
- Output Latency: 40ms
- Recording Latency Compensation: 20ms

Finally, I'm using Positive Grid Bias Amp, Bias Amp 2, and Bias FX amp and effects emulators for my guitar recording.

With this build I've been able to get done most of what I need for the recording I'm doing. If I'm sticking to drums and other Keyboard controlled programs inside of Reason, I don't run into any problems.

I'm also able to do most of the guitar recording stuff I need to, except that when I'm recording with Bias Amp (especially Bias Amp 2) / Bias FX, and start to stack up guitar tracks on a song, certain effects and amps start to pick up that "static" / "Click-y" noise that means there's too much going on for the computer to handle.


With that in mind, I decided to upgrade my recording rig to a complete beast. Additionally, because I'd like to be mobile in my recording, and start taking some classes in Reason that my local Guitar Center is offering to up my game, I decided to go with a laptop.

So, I went ahead and bought a laptop with the following specs:

- Lenovo ThinkPad P51
- Intel Core i7-7820HQ Processor (Quadcore, 8MB Cache "up to 3.90GHz") - Base Frequency 2.90GHz
- Windows 10 Pro 64
- 64GB(16x4) DDR4 2400MHz SoDIMM
- 1TB 5400rpm HDD
- 1TB SSD PCIe TLC OPAL2


When I received the laptop, they had sent it with Windows loaded on the Hardrive, rather than the SSD, so I went ahead and loaded Reason and Positive Grid on the Solid State Drive, thinking that as long as they weren't running from the same place it should still be faster. I also matched my Audio settings in Reason on the laptop to the settings I was running on my Desktop.


When I opened up Reason and opened an audio track with Bias Fx on it, however, the computer immediately made one of those buzzy "D'oh!" noises that are all of our worst nightmare, and displayed the message:

"Computer too slow to play song. Please optimize the song (see documentation). The song can still be exported as an audio file. Audio is re-enabled by pressing play or stop." This happened every time I tried to use Positive Grid. Even just opening the add on.


That is not a message that I'd *ever* gotten on the desktop machine, and this machine had better RAM, split drives, and what I thought was a faster processor, so I'm pretty confused.

One thing that I did realize with more digging was that the Processor on the laptop, which advertised as having frequencies "up to 3.90GHz" was actually only running at a base frequency of 2.90GHz. That was the only reason I could think of for the slowness issues, since my Desktop has a base frequency of 3.6GHz, up to 4.20GHz .


I didn't want to take any chances, so I returned the laptop to Lenovo and got a full refund.

So now I'm researching computers trying to find a new machine that won't have the same issues, I'm, confused as hell. With everything so tricked out on the laptop I bought, I'm not sure what to do when I buy a different one that will fix the issue. The possible causes of my previous issue are:

- Need a faster Processor? Trouble being that the fastest processor available on the Lenovo laptops is the Intel Xeon E3-1535M v6 Processor, with a Base Frequency of 3.10 GHx, and a "Turbo" Frequency of 4.20 GHz, but if the base frequency was the issue, then I'm still gonna be slower than my relatively clunky desktop. I've looked at laptops from other companies and it's about the same. Are laptops just not machines you can do this kinda thing on?

- Was it putting Reason / Positive Grid on the SSD while running OS on the hard drive that screwed things up? Doesn't seem like it would, especially since I was running everything on one hard drive on my desktop without the same problems, but I'm a relative novice on splitting drives like that.

Or is there something else I'm missing here?

Sorry for the novel length post, I wanted to give all the pertinent info up front. Also, I realize this might be more to do with PosGrid than Reason, which I know is a beast for memory and stuff, but I figured other Reason folks might use that program and have experience specifically with issues caused by the combination of the two programs.

Any help at all here would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!

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