help with RECORDING through old computer

[bassAddict05]

ive been recording some stuff for a while but it seems my computer cant handle better quality, i have to go down to like 56 bits to record, couple times i had it to 128 but forgot how it didnt slow donw on me, can anyone give me some tips on how to record clear and nice quality on a crappy computer , using a program like AUDIACITY, tahnks

[Freighttrain451]

Exactly how crappy is this computer? Maybe more memory would help?

[Herkimer]

I have a "crappy" computer and I use Audacity. My computer is a Celeron 466 MHz with 128 Mb ram. I find that the processor simply can't handle more than 4-5 tracks. It gets even worse if you I start using VST plug-ins.

I have found that I can boost performance by hitting "crt-Alt-Del" and closing ALL programs that are non-essential. (Try closing your internet portal, shutting down your virus protection, stopping all scheduled tasks, turning off any spyware, turning off Norton Utilities, etc.)

[bassmutant]

When you say you have to drop the quality down to 56bits, are you dynamically converting to mp3/ogg on the fly? If you are, thats what is sucking your processing power. Actual recording shouldn't burn much cpu unless your using plugins, or using some form of driver acceleration, i.e. asio, to lower latency by increasing priority, it's the hard drive speed and audio latency that are the biggest issues. I used to do stereo recordings at 16bit/44.1khz/CD quality with a sony stereo mic into my computer, at the time it was a cyrix 100mhz with 32mb ram, and a couple of 1g hard drives, then take the hard drive out to my work place to use the cd burner because they were still expensive and scsi based .