Hello,
G5 PPC quad 2.5 mhz, OSX 10.4.11, DP 7.12
I upgraded my power suite to ver 5.51 to cure a pop when starting playback. Now I have CPU spikes when stopped but it seems to settle down some when playing. Pretty large CPU hit (just 2 uses over 25% cpu) instantiating the multidynamics plug-in.
I really like the power suite plugins, is there a cure?
Hello,
My troubles began when I upgraded from OSX 10.4.8 to 10.4.11 and upgraded Digital Performer from 5.13 to 7.12. I still have DP 5.13 on the machine but the audio engine is shared so no way to verify behavior on the old setup. IIRC I did not have spiking issues until the upgrade which then produced pops when initiating play. I then upgraded to Wavearts 5.51 to cure it and noticed the spiking CPU. Without a way to do an empirical test I cannot swear that it was not spiking before.
One thing worth trying would be to move the MAS versions of the plug-ins out of the /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/MAS and have DP re-scan the Audio Unit versions to compare behavior.
Hello,
I also have VST versions installed for PT 7.4 running on the same daw. That’s a great idea, maybe switch between versions to see which one works best in DP.
Hello,
I removed the MAS versions and tried the audio unit ones.
Results:
MAS has higher CPU spiking at idle but overall less CPU usage when playing than the audio unit version.
A higher CPU usage while idling is usually indicative of denormalized
arithmetic problems, that is, really small but non-zero sample values
being processed. We’ll likely have to reproduce the problem in order
to figure it out. Are there any other plugs running before MD?
Hello,
In typical audio fashion the answer is “yes & no.”
Yes, in that the MD plugin is an insert on the master fader so there are a lot of plugins ahead of it in the signal chain.
No, in regards to the master fader, it is the first plugin on that channel.
Should I run tests where it is the only plugin? I can create a new mix in DP and instantiate only the plugins being tested.
To add to the data set I ran the same project on my backup G4 dual 1.73ghz machine and it had the same cpu spiking.
I also ran it on a G5 dual 2.0 ghz pci machine at work which seemed more stable with the same cpu usage (DP meter) as the G5 quad 2.5. I found that a little surprising. I will double check that result tomorrow cuz’ it doesn’t seem possible.
It would be great help to us if you can create a simple project
that exhibits the problem. Perhaps start with a single track with
one MD insert. My intuition is that there is something specific
to your project that is contributing, just because we haven’t
received any denorm complaints with MD. Hard to know if the other
plugs are contributing, or if it depends on the MD parameters.
The key indicator of a denorm problem is low CPU while the audio
is playing, then when you pause the transport, or play silence,
the CPU jumps way up.
Hello,
I created a 24/96k (buffer 512) project with a single mono track with audio. With 1 MD I didn’t really notice much spiking, cpu usage is less when playing.
Added a master fader & 1 stereo MD, still seemed pretty stable, cpu usage is less when playing but more than mono (expected).
Added a second MD before the first and it began spiking. I changed to 128 buffer size to make the cpu work harder and of course the spiking is more pronounced. Substituted a Final Plug for the first MD and spiking continues. CPU usage less when playing.
Deleted audio from track, spiking continues and cpu usage less when playing.
MD was in “default” load in parameters, no changes made.
Maybe no one reported any problems cuz’ they have more powerful computers, I’m stuck in dinosaur land until 2012.
ON EDIT: I double checked the mono plugin and it too will spike when the buffer is set to 128. The spiking seems worse after running a while.
