Hi,
Check and make sure that you have updated graphics drivers for your video card.
Some plugins just use more CPU than others. If a plugin has a bunch of animation going on, that would also require processing in addition to the necessary audio processing.
I was hoping to see AfxTwn's log file.
Greg
High CPU Usage With Only A Few Tracks
Moderators: Acoustica Greg, Acoustica Eric, Acoustica Dan, rsaintjohn
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Acoustica Greg
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Re: High CPU Usage With Only A Few Tracks
Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
Re: High CPU Usage With Only A Few Tracks
I am just doing some new tests but with regard to my graphics card. I have an Nvidia RTX 2070 Super that is using the latest drivers 528.24 and those include OpenGL 4.6.
I am going to try a project with the FAST/Sonible plugins but with OpenGL disabled and a separate project using the iZotope plugins. From browsing round the internet I found this SOS forum thread: https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... hp?t=66319 which has some interesting information about the use of iZotope plugins and OpenGL. Even though iZotope don't exactly go out of their way to tell users that they do use OGL, according to that thread they do. I don't see any option in their settings though to disable it. The OP of that thread ended up buying a new GPU and seemed to see some improvement. I think my RTX 2070 should be more than capable of running OpenGL plugins but that doesn't mean to say there won't be any issues.
When I have finished my testing and if I run into any issues, I will upload the necessary log files.
Update: Ok I have just been experiencing the same high CPU usage using iZotope plugins on 4 audio tracks (Neutron 4 on each track and an instance of Neoverb on one of the tracks). After just adding Neutron 4 to 1 track, the CPU usage was already in the 20-30% range and just went up as I added the VST to each subsequent track. By the time I added an instance of Neoverb to one of the tracks, my overall CPU usage was already going into the red and Mixcraft usage was very high. From previous experience, I know once I exit and restart Mixcraft it tends to reset everything back to normal, although it always seems to have an issue with Neoverb.
Anyway, I have submitted a log file to a new support request.
I am going to try a project with the FAST/Sonible plugins but with OpenGL disabled and a separate project using the iZotope plugins. From browsing round the internet I found this SOS forum thread: https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... hp?t=66319 which has some interesting information about the use of iZotope plugins and OpenGL. Even though iZotope don't exactly go out of their way to tell users that they do use OGL, according to that thread they do. I don't see any option in their settings though to disable it. The OP of that thread ended up buying a new GPU and seemed to see some improvement. I think my RTX 2070 should be more than capable of running OpenGL plugins but that doesn't mean to say there won't be any issues.
When I have finished my testing and if I run into any issues, I will upload the necessary log files.
Update: Ok I have just been experiencing the same high CPU usage using iZotope plugins on 4 audio tracks (Neutron 4 on each track and an instance of Neoverb on one of the tracks). After just adding Neutron 4 to 1 track, the CPU usage was already in the 20-30% range and just went up as I added the VST to each subsequent track. By the time I added an instance of Neoverb to one of the tracks, my overall CPU usage was already going into the red and Mixcraft usage was very high. From previous experience, I know once I exit and restart Mixcraft it tends to reset everything back to normal, although it always seems to have an issue with Neoverb.
Anyway, I have submitted a log file to a new support request.
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Mark Bliss
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Re: High CPU Usage With Only A Few Tracks
Just to interject an experienced opinion-
The CPU monitor isn't always a useful indicator. I learned to ignore it way back at MX 6 probably...
In my experience sometimes the meter reads low and the playback buffer. Other times the meter reads high and the project runs just fine.
I don't trust it, so I ignore it. I may glance at it rarely if I suspect its part of a problem, but I can't remember the last time I even looked at it.
I have run as many as 40 tracks with many active plug-ins on a modest system. Granted the buffers must be set a bit above where I would use them for recording/low latency, but nothing ridiculous.
If you are buffering at four tracks, you either have the latency set lower than your system will tolerate, or you are running plug-ins that Mixcraft doesn't "like"
It happens sometimes.
The CPU monitor isn't always a useful indicator. I learned to ignore it way back at MX 6 probably...
In my experience sometimes the meter reads low and the playback buffer. Other times the meter reads high and the project runs just fine.
I don't trust it, so I ignore it. I may glance at it rarely if I suspect its part of a problem, but I can't remember the last time I even looked at it.
I have run as many as 40 tracks with many active plug-ins on a modest system. Granted the buffers must be set a bit above where I would use them for recording/low latency, but nothing ridiculous.
If you are buffering at four tracks, you either have the latency set lower than your system will tolerate, or you are running plug-ins that Mixcraft doesn't "like"
It happens sometimes.
Re: High CPU Usage With Only A Few Tracks
I think you are right Mark. I have been experimenting with different buffer sizes and having a higher buffer for mixing definitely helps although this can also introduce some crackles and pops so it's a fine balance. Also as ppayne pointed out, the Sonible plugins do use OpenGL which also seems to cause an issue in Mixcraft so disabling it for those plugins also helped. I think iZotope also use OpenGL but unfortunately you can't disable it with those VST's.
Overall I think Mixcraft does have some issues with some plugins but I did receive an email response from Eric indicating they are aware of it and hopefully it should be fixed for Mixcraft 10. I think this acknowledgement from Acoustica is what I needed more than anything as it seemed obvious that there was more of an issue within Mixcraft than with particular plugins or anything on my system otherwise I surely would have experienced the same issues in another DAW.
I am going to continue using Mixcraft and just use plugins that come with the program and those made by Hornet which are extremely well optimised and have no problems at all no matter how many instances of them I run. It has been interesting trying out Reaper and seeing how that workflow works and it isn't too far off Mixcraft. It is a little more complex but the main thing was that I was able to see how my system was fine with handling VST's and music production in general so I knew it was just an issue in Mixcraft.
I really like using Mixcraft and the very intuitive layout and workflow of it, I just would also like to use some of the more AI-focussed plugins out there with it. Anyway, hopefully MC10 will be a big improvement and I am looking forward to trying it out.
Overall I think Mixcraft does have some issues with some plugins but I did receive an email response from Eric indicating they are aware of it and hopefully it should be fixed for Mixcraft 10. I think this acknowledgement from Acoustica is what I needed more than anything as it seemed obvious that there was more of an issue within Mixcraft than with particular plugins or anything on my system otherwise I surely would have experienced the same issues in another DAW.
I am going to continue using Mixcraft and just use plugins that come with the program and those made by Hornet which are extremely well optimised and have no problems at all no matter how many instances of them I run. It has been interesting trying out Reaper and seeing how that workflow works and it isn't too far off Mixcraft. It is a little more complex but the main thing was that I was able to see how my system was fine with handling VST's and music production in general so I knew it was just an issue in Mixcraft.
I really like using Mixcraft and the very intuitive layout and workflow of it, I just would also like to use some of the more AI-focussed plugins out there with it. Anyway, hopefully MC10 will be a big improvement and I am looking forward to trying it out.