well, the notes are fixed but now the output is stuttering.

it doesn't seem to be drivers, because it stutters at the same spots through multiple sound cards. and, the last track i was working on is also stuttering, so it doesn't seem to be the file, either. i reinstalled cubase to no avail. it might be a plugin, but it actually renders fine in quick mode so that doesn't really make sense. i think i've unfortunately actually reduced it to a processor issue, which is going to be very bad news if it becomes a serious problem.

for now, i'm going to leave the machine off for a bit, eat breakfast and try it again. i don't turn the machine off very often. it doesn't seem like it's overheating, but maybe it just needs a rest.

sending it out through a canned out isn't really a solution. i can hear the difference.

the thing is that this shouldn't really be a load issue. everything's frozen, and it was working fine before. i haven't touched anything. if it's overheating, it would have to be environmental. but it's not warm in here.

unfortunately, fighting with computers is part of being an electronic musician....

i don't really want to reinstall. i couldn't imagine what could have broken besides maybe a soundcard conflict. but i can't see how/why.

the one thing i can say i did was copy a large file over to an external drive, and that xp update has made the process slow. maybe the cache was jumbled up or something. i think that requires a hard rather than soft reset?

whatever. eat, then worry about it.