Tracking Latency/CPU Spikes

[Ru_C]

Hi all, I've been in PT10HD land for years but decided recently to get a PT12 vanilla licence & experiment with native tracking/mixing.

Ive been following this forum for years with folks complaining about CPU spikes etc, but I didn't realise quite how poor native PT performance was compared to (for instance) Logic X.

I created a very simple session. Just a single track of Waves guitar plugins , a click track, a master Out bus & a couple of send effects.

Fo testing purposes i used an Apogee Duet (USB)

At 64 samples buffer size, PT12 couldn't even handle this without CPU spikes.

Just leaving the machine sitting there, the CPU meter would just jump up to 100% all on its own & cause a dropout (see attached screen grab).

.f.y.i this is a new clean install of PT 12.8.2 & Waves Horizon bundle with all updates applied.

Is this just the state of things, or should I be getting better results than this?

Grateful for any simple suggestions (other than reinstall everything).

Ive got a brand new 2017 MPB sitting here too waiting for a PT install when i get an hour, so will test that too when i get a chance..

I'd be happy to send anyone the session if they wanted to test on their system.

[SigFriedChicken]

Yes. I've been seeing the same thing.

CPU will be around 20% while tracking (loop record) for a few minutes, and then suddenly a 6101 -- even though no one has even been touching the computer and no plugins were added.

I can understand if the CPU was hovering at 80%, and it suddenly spiked, but it shouldn't go from 20-30% to 100% without explanation.

This is recording to a second drive, with 256 buffers.

Hopefully, the MPB will work better for you.

[arche3]

Graphics related error

[dankin]

Same experience here since 11. I got better low latency performance out of PT 7-8 on the crappy 002 and the original 4core MacPro, than I've had since 11 on either my 12core cheese grater or 2014 MBP. I'm currently getting decent performance at 128, provided I don't have any bussing going on in the session. For vocals, I monitor through my apogee element since that is my lowest latency option. I'm about to move to the Apollo 16mkII. As much as I hate the idea of using 2 mixers, it just seems to be the most solid option outside of HDX. I mostly mix these day's with just some occasional tracking, so I think the Apollo will fit my needs. Ultimately, PT 12 still has some deep underlying issues that result in the random -9173 and -6101 errors. Who know's if they will ever be resolved.

[SigFriedChicken]

Originally Posted by arche3

Graphics related error

This too.

I have consistently found that when I click on a window that is on a second display, PT will give the 6101. It seems to have trouble with dual display support -- at least on macs.

[Ru_C]

Ok, so I tried the same thing with a *brand new* 2017 Mac Book Pro (4gb Radeon Pro 560 graphics card).

99% Identical performance to my Mid 2010 Mac Pro 5,1.

Literally no improvement at low buffer monitoring with an apogee duet

Bare in mind this is a brand new machine (still shipped with Sierra btw) that has just had PT12 & Plugins installed (& Final Cut X which is what i mainly bought it for).

I'll do one more test this week, when i'll take the laptop over to a friends house & run the same session with his Thunderbolt 2 Ensemble unit, to see if that makes any difference.

I did have a play with native audio when I got my Pro Tools 10HD license , & tbh, nothing has really improved that much since for this particular aspect of Pro Tools running on 3rd party native interfaces.

I'd be very curious to know if anyone has got a system that can run a 32sample buffer without overloads.

p.s yes I know that many can't hear/feel the difference between a 32sample buffer & much higher settings, but i'm used to a TDM system & it really bugs me. A 32sample buffer feels fine though, but no setup I've tried to date can cope in a professional environment (i.e with a paying client in a recording booth)

i'm well aware of the built in DSP monitoring solutions that many 3rd party interfaces offer, but I've been there & don't want to juggle two windows.

Do others have success stories using thunderbolt interfaces?

[SigFriedChicken]

I know you don't want to run it with more buffers, but does it at least work with 256 buffers? I think this is the default. It might be worth a test just to confirm.

I'd hope PT could run without a drop out on a new MBP, with minimal plugins running.

[dankin]

I tracked vocals last night at 64 with my apogee element on my MBP. No spikes. Simple session though, some VI's that were frozen and the vocal with, EQ3, Arouser and d-verb just for a little verb for the singer. I do think thunderbolt or pcie helps for sure at low latencies. Also, some plugins are more likely to cause spikes at low buffers than others.

[lesbrunn]

Originally Posted by Ru_C

p.s yes I know that many can't hear/feel the difference between a 32sample buffer & much higher settings, but i'm used to a TDM system & it really bugs me. A 32sample buffer feels fine though, but no setup I've tried to date can cope in a professional environment (i.e with a paying client in a recording booth)

I think if I were you, I'd record with the TDM and do other stuff with the later versions.

[Ru_C]

Originally Posted by lesbrunn

I think if I were you, I'd record with the TDM and do other stuff with the later versions.

yes i have been, but its not a great long term solution !

What would be better, is for AVID to actually fix/code their software to behave like the competition .

I bought Reason10 yesterday. Played back dozens of virtual instruments & tracked a guitar though the same 'waves GTR3' plugin at 32 sample buffer without even slightly troubling the CPU meter.

There is a free demo of Reason if anyone wants to test this quickly for themselves.

I'm not suggesting for a second that anyone switch to Reason btw (got it just for the instruments), just showing that its entirely possible to code a DAW to accomplish this.

Would anyone at AVID care to chip in on this topic?

At the moment I see native as useful only for mixing, unless you want to get into external mixers or interfaces with DSP.