CPU
 

I have a question regarding CPU. I recently started using the SoundToys (Sie-Q, Little Plate, Echoboy Jr), Waves (CLA-2A), and Seventh Heaven reverb plug-ins and noticed my CPU has been affecting my Pro Tools sessions. While recording, the playback in my headphones of my vocals started becoming delayed making it very difficult to record. I tried lowering the latency, but then I began hearing clicking/pop noises. Does anybody know how I can fix this issue?

Re: CPU
 

Record without the plug ins active. Need more info for more specific help. See help us help you link at top of forum:-)

Re: CPU
 

Please take a look at the Help Us Help You guide, which will take you through general setup, optimization and troubleshooting of PT.

It would also help us out if we knew a little more about your system and the audio interface you are using. In general, it sounds like your computer is struggling to keep up, but not knowing what you are using, it's difficult to tell where the bottleneck(s) are.

When you say you tried lowering the latency, I'm assuming you mean by lowering the sample rate. This does offer better latency numbers, but puts more stress on your system. If you do not have enough resources to keep up with the low sample rate, click and pops are the result.

Again, give us some details and we can help point you in the right direction.

Re: CPU
 

Thanks for the help. I have a Windows 10, Pro Tools 10.3.10, M-Audio Fast Track Pro interface, etc. The sample rate is what I meant by Latency, correct. The sample rate setting is at 512 samples. When I tried going lower than that, it kept making static (click/pop) sounds. I never had this delay while recording vocals until I started using the plug-ins mentioned. By right clicking on plug-ins to make them inactive on tracks I'm not using, I'm assuming the problem would be fixed. I hadn't thought of that.

Re: CPU
 

That's not the sample rate. Its the playback buffer, and at that setting, you would hear a lot of latency. If your computer is unhappy at a 128 or 64 setting, there is something wrong or under-spec. Posting a Sandra report can often reveal the cause, so look near the top of this(and every) DUC page for the link named Help Us Help You and have a read. I track full bands at the 64 buffer setting on a Windows 10 system.

Re: CPU
 

I have pasted the Sandra report below. Thanks for the help!

SiSoftware Sandra

ID
Host Name : DESKTOP-77PBKTV
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : HP Pavilion Desktop PC 570-p0xx 103C_53311M HP Pavilion
Serial Number : CNV70*****
Chassis : HP Desktop
Mainboard : HP 82FE
Serial Number : PGCAR0A*******
BIOS : AMI (OEM) F.02 01/17/2017
TPM - Trusted Platform Module : AMD AMD 2.00 (PCR 24)
Total Memory : 7.5GB DIMM DDR3

Processors
Processor : AMD A10-9700 RADEON R7, 10 COMPUTE CORES 4C+6G (2C 4T 3.79GHz, 1.4GHz IMC, 2x 1MB L2)
Socket/Slot : 368

Chipset
Memory Controller : AMD PCI standard host CPU bridge 100MHz, 1GB DIMM DDR3 2.47GHz 64-bit

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Hynix (Hyundai) HMA81GU6AFR8N-UH 8GB DDR4 PC4-19200U DDR4-2400 (17-17-17-40 4-57-19-6)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Hewlett Packard HP w185e
(1366x768, 18.5")
Video Adapter : AMD Radeon R7 Graphics (6CU 384SP SM5.1 1GHz, 16kB L2, 512MB DDR3 2.4GHz 64-bit, Integrated Graphics)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL : AMD Radeon R7 Graphics (384SP 6C 1GHz, 16kB L2, 2GB DDR3 2.4GHz 64-bit, Integrated Graphics)
D3D 11 : AMD Radeon R7 Graphics (384SP 6C 1GHz, 16kB L2, 512MB DDR3 2.4GHz 64-bit, Integrated Graphics)
OpenGL : AMD Radeon R7 Graphics (384SP 6C 1GHz, 16kB L2, 512MB DDR3 2.4GHz 64-bit, Integrated Graphics)

Storage Devices
TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm, 23MB Cache) : 932GB (C:) (D:)
hp HLDS DVDRW GUD1N (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 16kB Cache) : N/A (E:)

Logical Storage Devices
Windows (C:) : 919GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm, 23MB Cache)
RECOVERY (D:) : 12GB (NTFS, 4kB) @ TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm, 23MB Cache)
Hard Disk : 256MB (FAT32, 4kB) @ TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm, 23MB Cache)
Windows RE tools : 980MB (NTFS, 4kB) @ TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm, 23MB Cache)
Optical Drive (E:) : N/A @ hp HLDS DVDRW GUD1N (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 16kB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller #1 : HP FCH LPC Bridge
LPC Legacy Controller #1 : T2 86-17
Audio Device : HP Kabini HDMI/DP Audio
Audio Codec : AMD HDMI Audio
Audio Device : HP High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi 0867
Disk Controller : HP FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
Disk Controller : ASMedia 300 Series Chipset SATA Controller
USB Controller #1 : HP FCH USB XHCI Controller
USB Controller #2 : HP FCH USB EHCI Controller
USB Controller #3 : ASMedia USB 3.1 XHCI Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller #1 : ATI SB900 SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Send to Microsoft OneNote 16 Driver (1200x1200, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer v4 (600x600, Colour)
Printer : Microsoft Print To PDF (600x600, Colour)
Printer : HP ENVY 5640 series (600x600, Colour)
Printer : HP Delivery Driver V4 (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (Ethernet)
Network Adapter : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network) (Ethernet)
Wireless Adapter : Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 (802.11n (HT), AES-CCMP, 65Mbps)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 10 Personal 10.00.16299
Platform Compliance : x64

Performance Enhancing Tips
Warning 225 : CPU is not a production version but ES/QS.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

Re: CPU
 

How are you using Waves plugins with Pro Tools First? What exact version of Pro Tools are you using?

Single HDD... where is your dedicated audio drive? Nowadays preferably a high performance SSD. Yes this can cause "cpu" errors.

Single DIMM will limit memory bandwidth.

8GB is a minimum memory. Get another identical DIMM and stuff it in the right other slot to better balance the memory config.

Is the system *fully* optimized?

Not much experience here with those AMD processors. Most folks would be much more comfortable with an Intel Core i7. Hopefully there will be more additional/experience gained with current AMD processors.

Re: CPU
 

Hello Darryl,

I apologize, I had read this category as Pro Tools, First Discussion, not as Pro Tools | First. Wrong section as I use Pro Tools 10.3.10 for Windows 10. How much does it cost approximately to upgrade RAM or CPU? I've never done that before. I never had an issue using the standard Pro Tools plug-ins. I've only started getting the CPU errors using the Waves, SoundToys, Seventh Heaven plug-ins.

CPU
 

uh well that does change some stuff. Hopefully one of the mods can move this the correct forum area.

Plugins are what consume cpu, you are running more plugins, maybe some plugins have problems themselves... nothing really unusual here you need to troubleshoot stuff. Maybe the computer is not properly optimized, maybe the configuration mistakes like no dedicated audio drive cause problems, nobody here can guess, you just have to work through all those things. Start at the troubleshooting steps under “Help Us Help You” up the top of each DUC web page. Start by trashing prefs and making sure all optimization’s are done and getting a dedicated audio drive. Make sure you run with ignore errors *not* checked, you want Pro Tools to fail with a DAE CPU or Disk error instead of producing clicks... then you solve the DAE error.

You need an audio drive, SATA III SSD like a Samsung 860 Pro or Evo SSD is nice, a Samsung 960 M2 SSD plugged into a adapter card a PCIe slot is even better.

Since you are only on Pro Tools 10 with 32-bit memory support 8GB should not be an issue... although only having one DIMM is not optimal. If you do upgrade that then toss out what you have and install an identical set all the same spec/model,manufacturer.

Because this is Pro Tools 10 you can control the CPU allocation to plugins. Try settings from 1 to 3 CPU. Pro Tools 10 standard also does not have disk cache (which is great, and can help you cheat with under spec disk systems... and lots of other features). Unless there is an absolute need to stay on Pro Tools 10 I would consider upgrade to 2018.1... but then upgrade memory 16GB or more.




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Re: CPU
 

Moved to PT10 legacy section.