1) Use fluxbox, or a similarly low-profile window manager.

2) Turn off wifi.  This actually made a huge difference.  Turn off the actual wifi interface, such that the led is unlit, not merely disconnecting from the internet.

3) Put the CPU on Maximum Performance mode.  This is obvious, but also necessary.

I never thought I would be able to get Pianoteq to run on this netbook, but it runs perfectly with no xruns.

So now I am faced with either changing the settings to have limited polyphony or avoiding the most craving instruments. But conclusion is that it did work with the Atom.

May I ask if the Atom CPU optimisations also apply to the Mac version?

I use Mac OS X 10.5 on a Dell Mini 9, and recall being rather impressed with the performance of the Pianoteq trial in the past (v3.0?).

Will I notice any significant improvement with the latest release?

(Yes, I realise that Apple never released any Atom CPU powered systems).

Cheers,
James
x

Hi,

We have just released Pianoteq version 3.5.3 , which contains a few improvements targeted at slowest cpus such as Atom. I believe this version will work much better that the previous 3.5 on your setup, using an internal sample rate of ~30000Hz (tested on a eeepc Atom N280 with windows 7 and ubuntu). But one must absolutely disable energy savings (switch off cpu frequency throttling) in order to avoid cracklings.

Hello,
good news, and good too see, that you care for us Atom-users! Great!
I upgraded to 3.5.3 linux-32bit  today.

With the former 3.5.2 I played all piantoteq-instruments at 44100 Hz / 64 samples 1,5 ms / 48 polyphony / reverb off/ without any problems on my Atom N270. The only instrument, where I had very rarely a small glitch, was the C3. I will see if it now becomes rock-stable as the other instruments with the new 3.5.3. I'll let you know.

Else, I have this new option for more "headroom" now by using the new internal samplerate of 29400 Hz, excellent.

Thanks!
- groovy

Here is what I did on Windows 7:

With these settings, I can play the embedded Chopin waltz on a single core N280 Atom with a cpu load that stays mostly below 65%

Success!

I also turned off the CPU overload detection.

I have ASIO 4 All Set at 192 Samples with Allow FullMode (WaveRT) enabled.  Also set Force WDM to 16 bit.

The performance index on the Audio Load meter is reading about 9.

I think this is the closest to getting exactly what Netbook users have been looking for.

Great work.
Best
Simeon

- select the "performance" power profile. This turns off the cpu freq throttling. You can check that it is really turned off in the pianoteq options / perf panel, which displays the current cpu frequency. On an Atom, it should be constant, and equal to the nominal freq (1.6GHz for current Atoms).

- in pianoteq, options/devices panel, select 44100 as the soundcard freq, and a 192 samples buffer size

- in pianoteq, options/perf: select 29400Hz as the internal sample rate, polyphony at 48.

With these settings, I can play the embedded Chopin waltz on a single core N280 Atom with a cpu load that stays mostly below 65%

On Linux, it is necessary to follow the instructions of the "README_LINUX.txt" file to grant yourself realtime priviledges, and turn off cpu throttling.

Hi,

We have just released Pianoteq version 3.5.3 , which contains a few improvements targeted at slowest cpus such as Atom. I believe this version will work much better that the previous 3.5 on your setup, using an internal sample rate of ~30000Hz (tested on a eeepc Atom N280 with windows 7 and ubuntu). But one must absolutely disable energy savings (switch off cpu frequency throttling) in order to avoid cracklings.

Julien,
Where are these settings under Windows 7?

Looking at the profiles I have it currently set on "High Performance".

Best,
Simeon

We have just released Pianoteq version 3.5.3 , which contains a few improvements targeted at slowest cpus such as Atom. I believe this version will work much better that the previous 3.5 on your setup, using an internal sample rate of ~30000Hz (tested on a eeepc Atom N280 with windows 7 and ubuntu). But one must absolutely disable energy savings (switch off cpu frequency throttling) in order to avoid cracklings.

Good luck, looking forward to hear about your experience.

It is a barebone they sell in Belgium for about 390€. Add a processor, memory and a small HD and you're all set.
Obviously this is not atom based but for example Core2.
i'm planning to build one, where I will take out components from my currently used platform.

To avoid cracks I have set the internal sample rate in PianoTeq to 24000, otherwise quick runs and slides may cause cracks. Polyphony is at 64, I might be able to increase it (I just adjusted the internal sample rate down from 32000).

I have tried to see if I can tell any difference from setting the sample rate and polyphony at higher values, and through my headset (rather cheap AKG set) I am not sure. I'm usually quite observant and skilled in sound evaluation, but reading the other post about how much was percieved/imagined, and how much of the sound quality that was "real", I am so far happy with this setup.

As a conclusion I am not sure I can recommend the setup on the Atom dual core. My goal was to have a setup that I could bring around together with my midi motherboard, and found out I needed the PC, a sound module and a touch screen (occasionally the PC gets stuck in a message, I need to be able to se that and fix it :-( ). The cost and ending up with three units might be compared to e.g. a Clavia Nord Electro Rack, and playing mainly rock/blues in a rock band it might have been sufficient.

So in the end I guess I am waiting for an opportunity to get better hardware, and then have a dedicated well-equipped PC to use just for playing piano at home, and then find a solution for when we play a gig.

Still very happy with PianoTeq, though - just so much wanted the easy and portable stand-alone solution.

What USB audio module are you using?
I would prefer to nave it with internal PCI module, but my experience so far with those is that they are more noisy.

I use an M-Audio Quattro.

Nope, but I'd be happy to. Will keep you posted (seems easier to test than Kees suggestions for XP optimising).