Hi folks,
I'm a long-time user through Cool Edit to the current version (skipping CS5). I've upgraded and I've been tentatively trying out CS6. Yesterday, I started my first full session in 6 for a soundtrack on a deadline. It feels now like a massive mistake. I'm just wondering am I missing out on something as regards setup or optimization because its performance is well below 3.0 which I also have installed on this machine. The project has a 48hr deadline and I'm at the point of bouncing stems and going back to 3.0 because I just can't afford to use CS6 today. Here's my issues which perhaps someone can give me advice on. It's a pretty decent new laptop running Windows 7. If there are some optimisation tricks I'm missing, please let me know as I couldn't see anything I could change in the settings.
1. Crashes - it crashed numerous times. It just stops working and that is the only error message I get. I think this is related to the number of VSTs I'm using. But it's a lot less than I use on the same machine with v3.0. It's happened sometimes even when it was an Audition native effect I was adding. Which brings me to my next point..
2. VSTs. It just doesn't seem to handle them as well as v3.0. Slowdowns, dropouts, buzzing, I'm so disappointed at how the machine seems to be slowing down after using about half the plugins I'd use in 3.0. The slowdown is infuriating and unworkable. Which brings me to my next point..
3. Pre-render. I have a group of drum tracks that I wanted to pre-render as the machine was slowing down. But after pre-render, half of the track is gone! It's muted somehow, I play up to a certain point and the tracks disappear. If I switch off pre-render, they're back again, but I can't do that as the machine slows down too much.
4. Workspace. It just seems harder to work with. Too many boxes and I just can't seem to find a right zoom level for working with clips. Moving clips just seems so much harder than 3.0. The clip properties box is so annoying because if I need to make a minute timing adjustment, if I click in the wrong place when choosing a playback position to choose from, the box changes to something else such as session properties. Which brings me to my next point..
5. Introducing lag! After I'd got to about 7 tracks, CS6 started introducing huge lag in newly recorded tracks. Really infuriating. So I'm having to re-align newly recorded tracks with the old ones, which is just not as easy as in 3.0 as I said above.
As I say, frustrating on a deadline. It's terrible that I feel I made a mistake using the newer version than the old one when something important was at stake.
