Positive Grid BIAS FX 2 plugin

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mtntracks
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Positive Grid BIAS FX 2 plugin

Post by mtntracks »

Has anyone used the Positive Grid BIAS FX 2 vst plugin? Positive Grid does list Mixcraft as being a compatible DAW.

I get great guitar tones from the plugin, and I can record, but if I have more than one BFX2 track enabled during playback my cpu spikes and I get a lot of stutter/crackle, even with no other software running at the time, other than Mixcraft.

I'm on Windows 10-64, and plugin is 64-bit as well. Using MX9 Prod Studio-64, build 469 .

Is there something I need to be aware of regarding vst setup with Mixcraft to make it perform better? Anything to do with 64-bit? When I look in task manager, I see a lot of "Mixcraft 32-Bit VST Host" processes.


Thanks
cactus-head
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Re: Positive Grid BIAS FX 2 plugin

Post by cactus-head »

Hi,

Just do an internet search for "positive grid bias fx2 resource hog" and you'll see many forum complaints on multiple DAWS regarding it overburdening the CPU.
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Acoustica Greg
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Re: Positive Grid BIAS FX 2 plugin

Post by Acoustica Greg »

Hi,

You could freeze the tracks you're not currently working on. (Ctrl+F).

Or, put it on a send track and route multiple tracks through one instance of it.

Note: the Pultronic Tube EQ that comes with Mixcraft is also a CPU muncher.

Greg
Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
mtntracks
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Re: Positive Grid BIAS FX 2 plugin

Post by mtntracks »

cactus-head wrote: Thu Dec 09, 2021 9:35 am Hi,

Just do an internet search for "positive grid bias fx2 resource hog" and you'll see many forum complaints on multiple DAWS regarding it overburdening the CPU.
Thanks for the reply. I saw those complaints, but I also saw responses to those complaints from others who said they had no issues. So that's why I posted here - hoping that some of the tech-sperts here might have some tricks for me to try. :-)
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Acoustica Greg
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Re: Positive Grid BIAS FX 2 plugin

Post by Acoustica Greg »

See my post above.
Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
mtntracks
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Re: Positive Grid BIAS FX 2 plugin

Post by mtntracks »

Acoustica Greg wrote: Thu Dec 09, 2021 9:40 am Hi,

You could freeze the tracks you're not currently working on. (Ctrl+F).

Or, put it on a send track and route multiple tracks through one instance of it.

Note: the Pultronic Tube EQ that comes with Mixcraft is also a CPU muncher.

Greg
Hi Greg. I believe I've effectively reduced the cpu used on other tracks by making their effects lists inactive, but I'll try the freeze option and send option as well and see if it gets any better.

Thanks!
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Rolling Estonian
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Re: Positive Grid BIAS FX 2 plugin

Post by Rolling Estonian »

As a hack guitarist who's tried pretty much all of the sims out there I recall Bias being very cpu heavy. Having said that, I think all of the higher end ones are, especially when you start messing with impulse responses and such. I've used Amplitube for years and got a new system last year so have had no issues. All of the sims out there have trials, you could spend years trying to decide..... Have fun! lol

M
mtntracks
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Re: Positive Grid BIAS FX 2 plugin

Post by mtntracks »

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions everyone.

In the end this is what resolved my issue, found on Positive Grid support site here:

https://help.positivegrid.com/hc/en-us/ ... ping-Noise

Specifically, I only increased the buffer size in my case:

Increase the Buffer Size under File>Preferences>Sound Device>ASIO Options>(uncheck "Use Device's Preferred Settings")

Unchecking "Use Device's Preferred Settings" allowed me to Increase the Buffer Size from 256 (latency ~5ms) to 512 (latency ~11ms). I left the
sample rate unchanged, at 48000. I am using a Gen 1 Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interface.

My ear really can't tell the difference between 5ms and 11ms latency, but the buffer change made a real difference to the cpu, and I
have no more cpu spiking, or crackling/noise on playback while using the BIAS FX 2 plugin ; (tested with BIAS FX 2 on 3 tracks).

Hope this helps someone else.
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