High CPU Usage With Only A Few Tracks

[AfxTwn]

Hi, I am having issues with Mixcraft 9 Pro Studio Build 470 and high CPU usage when using plugins. Here is a screenshot showing what I mean:

MixcraftScreenshot.jpg (493.37 KiB) Viewed 3509 times

This was a test project where I recorded just 4 audio tracks and added some VST's to each track for basic mixing. I also have the Sonarworks SoundID plugin on my master track. As you can see, CPU usage is pretty high from just using these VST3's on a few tracks and increases over time. Adding more tracks or more plugins makes things worse. Here Mixcraft is using nearly 70% of my CPU.

I have experienced this with quite a few plugins by iZotope and others. The one's used here are part of Focusrite's The Plugin Collective in collaboration with Sonible. I have also tried the VST2 versions of the plugins and experience similar issues. The only plugins that seem to not have any issues are the Acoustica ones that come with the DAW and ones made by Hornet.

I downloaded a demo version of Presonus Studio One just to see if the same issues occurred there and they didn't. I set up a session exactly the same way by recording 4 short tracks of audio using my Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 (1st gen) and with SoundID on the listen bus. I then added all the same plugins to each track and did a basic mix. The CPU usage was very low at around 6% and not going over 10% (I stupidly forgot to get a screenshot and didn't save my work, I found Studio One very confusing and difficult to use compared with Mixcraft). I have an i7 9700K with 16GB of ram and Mixcraft is stored on an SSD along with all the plugins/VST's.

I have attached my log file from the latest session. Please can someone advise me on why I am having these issues. It's making using Mixcraft a real pain and really limiting my use of VST's.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Plugins are software programs, just like Mixcraft, and they require CPU to process audio data. Some plugins require more CPU than others. The Pultronic Tube EQ plugin that comes with Mixcraft can eat up a lot of CPU, for example. See if you can figure out which of those plugins is using the most CPU. You can freeze tracks, use send tracks, and so on to optimize the CPU usage.

And if the audio performance is smooth, don't worry about the CPU usage.

Greg

[AfxTwn]

It's very strange with Mixcraft. I can start a session, record multiple tracks and add plugins along the way and watch as the CPU usage goes up and up (often going into the red) and then I exit the program and restart it and then when back in my project in Mixcraft, the CPU issues have gone and it seems to have reset itself. I can play the same 4 tracks with all the plugins and have no issues, CPU usage is under 20%. Then, if I add more tracks or plugins the issue occurs again.

Sometimes I will get random crashes where Mixcraft tells me there was an error with one of the plugins and it has disabled it and advises me to save my work and restart Mixcraft. It's very hard to pinpoint it to specific VST's as it often won't be the same VST causing the problem and sometimes I can use them with no issues at all.

With my most recent example, there have been issues using the FAST plugins, specifically FAST Reveal and FAST Reverb. I tried using the Pultronic Tube EQ you mentioned and that seemed to run fine with no problems or high intensity CPU usage, unless that occurs when using it with lots of tracks.

I just can't get my head around why I am having so many issues with plugins when using them with so few tracks. I mostly just record my 80's Casio keyboard and have one track of drums, one of a bass sound, one of some chords and one of a melody line and then maybe have some vocals on another track. I don't use send tracks or buses as I don't really have enough tracks sharing the same plugin or plugin settings, I'm not doing lots of multi-tracking, just some very basic recording. I wanted to use some of the iZotope plugins and others similar to those to quickly get some basic EQ and compression settings etc for a very rough mix.

I will continue to test and see if I can find out what's going on.

[jwarv]

Did you check to see if there's software running in the background of Windows? I had mirroring program running and CPU spiked to 100%. Once I paused it, there was improvement.

That said, I do have a project using several instances of Nectar 3 on vocals and when it gets to the part with lots of harmonies the whole thing jitters and skips. So, certain plugins tend to be the biggest gremlin in the room.

[ppayne]

Sounds like a vst with a memory leak to me.

[Guaresneider]

It's very strange with Mixcraft. I can start a session, record multiple tracks and add plugins along the way and watch as the CPU usage goes up and up (often going into the red) and then I exit the program and restart it and then when back in my project in Mixcraft, the CPU issues have gone and it seems to have reset itself. I can play the same 4 tracks with all the plugins and have no issues, CPU usage is under 20%. Then, if I add more tracks or plugins the issue occurs again.

Sometimes I will get random crashes where Mixcraft tells me there was an error with one of the plugins and it has disabled it and advises me to save my work and restart Mixcraft. It's very hard to pinpoint it to specific VST's as it often won't be the same VST causing the problem and sometimes I can use them with no issues at all.

With my most recent example, there have been issues using the FAST plugins, specifically FAST Reveal and FAST Reverb. I tried using the Pultronic Tube EQ you mentioned and that seemed to run fine with no problems or high intensity CPU usage, unless that occurs when using it with lots of tracks.

I just can't get my head around why I am having so many issues with plugins when using them with so few tracks. I mostly just record my 80's Casio keyboard and have one track of drums, one of a bass sound, one of some chords and one of a melody line and then maybe have some vocals on another track. I don't use send tracks or buses as I don't really have enough tracks sharing the same plugin or plugin settings, I'm not doing lots of multi-tracking, just some very basic recording. I wanted to use some of the iZotope plugins and others similar to those to quickly get some basic EQ and compression settings etc for a very rough mix.

I will continue to test and see if I can find out what's going on.

Just based on my personal experience, as a Mixcraft user for several years, that the problem is "iZotope" plus the variables of your computer system that you are using.

I tell you this, as I have similar problems with OZONE 10, which is from the same company and when I use it, the CPU % increases considerably. If I remove it, everything goes back to normal.

The problem with iZotope is that it does the same and increases crazily the CPU usage also under Presonus and Bitwig. I have 32GB of RAM on my i7-8559U PC under Windows 11 and no other DAW works better than my beloved Mixcraft! Believe me, I have tried them all (except pro-tools).

Some important conditions to consider with: Check the latency of the ASIO Driver you are using, try to set it to 512 or 256 at least (no less).

Disable any 'antivirus' you have running in the background and close 'chrome' if it is also running in the background.

From 'Control Panel' (if you are using Windows) > click on "Power Options" and then make sure you are in "high performance", click on "change plan settings". Then click on "change advanced power settings". Now a window will open, navigate down to the option, "Processor power management" and then "Minimum processor rate" if it is at 5% raise it to 25% or 50%, (this will keep your PC processor up) and check that the "Maximum processor state" is at 100%. Then 'Apply' and 'restart'. If you followed these steps correctly, then when you open Mixcraft you will notice how much faster and more agile it runs. Good luck! Get ready for Mixcraft 10 ! Greg will surprise us all, I bet!

[AfxTwn]

Ok, I've been doing lots of testing and trying to get to the bottom of my audio issues and last week I completely formatted my PC and reinstalled Windows 10 and all the latest drivers for my Scarlett audio interface, Windows and for SoundID as well as installing Mixcraft and Reaper (I had tried the demo the week before and liked it as it's not too dissimilar from Mixcraft and I wanted another DAW to compare with).

After speaking with Focusrite's customer support and Sonarworks and following Focusrite's Windows 10 Optimisation guide (part of which included the Power Management settings you suggested) and making sure to disable any background programs while using Mixcraft, I came to the conclusion that Mixcraft itself has issues running VST's, possibly VST3 in particular and it may be centred around more intensive plugins I don't know.

But continuously whenever I run a session in Mixcraft, using various VST's (some iZotope, some of the Focusrite/Sonible FAST plugins, some others not mentioned here) with just a few tracks of recorded audio and say an instance of an EQ and compressor on each track, I start to run into high CPU usage issues and sometimes even get pops and crackles randomly occurring on the audio. It's very hard to replicate this behaviour as it can vary from project to project but undoubtedly, I always get CPU issues.

I have ran the same setup in Reaper and a demo of Studio One I downloaded a few weeks ago and had no such issues with the same VST's. I don't think it's down to my CPU not being powerful enough or issues with ASIO drivers etc. My Scarlett's buffer is set to 192 and the sample rate at 48. I have also tried with higher buffer sizes of 256, 512 and 1024 and it doesn't make much difference, in fact going above 256 seems to create more artefacts or crackles.

I have tried while using the SoundID DAW plugin (the systemwide app is ignored when in a DAW and so you have to use a plugin when using your audio interface ASIO drivers) and not using it and I get similar results, high CPU usage and some audio issues. Whereas in Reaper, it seems to run perfectly fine.

I just finished a test session in Reaper with 5 tracks, each has an instance of FAST Balancer and Compressor, iZotope Relay and a couple of the tracks also have the FAST Verb VST running (all VST3). I have a Monitor FX tab with the SoundID plugin on it and the master track has an instance of iZotope Neutron 4 Visual Mizer, FAST Balancer and iZotope Ozone 9 on it. The overall track is only 48 seconds but I imported the wav files for each track from a session I recorded in Mixcraft (without any FX or mastering etc).

The overall CPU usage with all those VST's running in Reaper is less than 3%. Reaper says 20 FX is around 5% of the CPU usage.

Reaper CPU VST Test

ReaperCPUVSTTest.jpg (713.72 KiB) Viewed 3284 times

I really don't know why Reaper seems to handle CPU/VST usage much better than Mixcraft but as I showed in my original post, with less tracks and plugins, Mixcraft doesn't seem to be able to handle them at all. There's really not much else I can do on my system as I have done a fresh install of everything, optimised Windows 10 and made sure I am using the correct drivers for the audio interface and that nothing is running in the background while using Mixcraft but at this point, I really don't think it's my PC that is at fault.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

If you're using any 32-bit plugins in the project, try substituting 64-bit plugins.

Greg

[ppayne]

I read sonible in your post. Go into the settings of these plugins and disable use OpenGL. Same with XO plugins and some others. This could solve your CPU usage problems.

Patrick

[AfxTwn]

Hi,

If you're using any 32-bit plugins in the project, try substituting 64-bit plugins.

Greg

I am using exclusively 64 bit plugins as the iZotope and FAST plugins are 64 bit only and I am using VST3 but I have had the same problem with VST2 plugins.

I read sonible in your post. Go into the settings of these plugins and disable use OpenGL. Same with XO plugins and some others. This could solve your CPU usage problems.

Patrick

I will try disabling the OpenGL option in the FAST plugins, I didn't realise that could be a thing with Sonible plugins. Although that makes me wonder why the same issue isn't present in Reaper using the same plugins and with OpenGL enabled? Plus this won't work for the iZotope plugins such as Neutron and Ozone as they don't seem to have an option for OpenGL.

I came across this thread on the forum https://forums.acoustica.com/viewtopic.php?t=28714 and the OP there seems to be having much the same issues as me. Unfortunately the discussion there seemed to get quite heated.

I understand that it's a complex issue (high CPU usage) and it's hard to pin it down to any one thing, especially seeing as some VST plugins have no problems and others do. I have tried my best to isolate the issue to one specific plugin but sometimes I can have no issues with a certain plugin and other times I do.

And at the moment I have spent a lot of time and effort trying to get Mixcraft to work with the plugins I want to use but I know that other DAW's don't have the issues I am experiencing so I am unfortunately going to switch over to Reaper for now and see how Mixcraft 10 shapes up. I am making music as a hobby for myself and the main focus for me is having fun and enjoying the process of making music and listening back to it and all of this head-scratching and hours spent trying to fix an issue I know doesn't occur in another DAW has really sucked the enjoyment out of it for me and taken me away from the whole point of having a DAW in the first place.

[ppayne]

Sonible with OpenGL enabled causes 20% CPU usage per added vst on my side. Same with XO. I don't know if this happens only in couple with Mixcraft. Maybe it has something to do with graphic cards but who knows

Edit :
I noticed an interesting point in connection with sonible vsts OpenGL and mixcraft. The CPU load increases although no playback is running. Even if I turn off the vst, utilization remains high. Only when I completely remove the plugin does the utilization go back.

This suggests that mixcraft won't unload the plugin if you just turn it off. Maybe other daws do it differently. But as I said, turning off OpenGL fixed the problem for me. At least it could be part of the problem and could explain the different behaviors of daws.

What I suspect is that MC itself uses openGL in any case, which can be a problem because usually only one thread can access it. That means the threads have to switch to access openGL. As long as you can switch it off in the vsts, the advantage of the MC workflow outweighs it. For me it were not a reason to change my daw.

I would switch it off in the vsts and try if it works. And give Mixcraft 10 a try, if you think you really need it. Otherwise you lose the great workflow of MC.

Patrick

[jwarv]

I am making music as a hobby for myself and the main focus for me is having fun and enjoying the process of making music and listening back to it and all of this head-scratching and hours spent trying to fix an issue I know doesn't occur in another DAW has really sucked the enjoyment out of it for me and taken me away from the whole point of having a DAW in the first place.

I totally get where you're coming from. It's the workflow of the other DAWs that has me scratching my head, however. I always come back to Mixcraft. That said, what good is workflow if it's not working for you? Sorry you are having that experience. Let's hope #10 proves to be better.

[ppayne]

I would consider whether I need opengl in the vsts right now or not. And I would base my decision on that. For me, do I get anything from the opengl checked to true state today? The answer is no in my case. Do I have something from the Mixcraft workflow? The answer is yes. It just depends on what you really need right now.

And if it goes in version 10 or 11, great. However, I would be more happy about a keyswitch controller right now But opengl could become important to stay on the market at some point.

Patrick

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Your mileage with OpenG would vary greatly depending on your graphics card and its drivers. Also, the release of build 470 improved our support of many VST3 plugins.

Make sure you do not have "Force Single CPU" selected in Sound Device preferences.

If that's no help, the next time you notice the problem, quit Mixcraft and send us your mixcraft-log.txt file.

To find the mixcraft-log file, highlight the following line and press Ctrl+C to copy it:

Code: Select all

%appdata%\Acoustica\Mixcraft\

Press the Windows Key+R to pop up the Run box in Windows. Click in the Run box and press Ctrl+V to paste in the line from above. Finally, click OK to go to the location of the mixcraft-log.txt file. Submit an Acoustica Support Request and attach the log file along with a reminder of this forum topic.

Greg

[ppayne]

If that's no help, the next time you notice the problem, quit Mixcraft and send us your mixcraft-log.txt file.

Hi Greg,

I have 3 plugins that have these problem. True:balance, true:level and XO. I can turn on opengl and send logs if it helps. My question would be from what exactly? An empty project where I add a plugin? Or after I have started a playback some seconds?

My true:... Plugins causes hi CPU usage after I add it even if I set it to disabled in effect section. Maybe this is interesting because they are needing permanently 20% CPU.

The XO plugin needs to be opened and edit or needs to play something to causes high cpu usage.

Patrick