Carbon and CPU Spikes
 

Hi everyone.

I can’t seem to find the answer to this…

If I am currently experiencing CPU spikes and have done all the optimizations that are recommended… will the new Carbon interface help with this problem?

From what I’ve read so far is that it can help with offloading some of the work of RAM - but not been able to find a definite answer to the CPU issue…

Pro Tools 2020.12.0
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013)
2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Mojave

Thanks

Sparky

Re: Carbon and CPU Spikes
 

Hi friend if i was you i would start looking at the cause of it and no for something that " can makeup it " ?

Remove all your plugins from the aax plugins folder and try PT without them. Carbon is great imo but i dont think it would really fix a current issue.
And last double check your OS optimizations and pay special attention to the automatic graphic switching that i think apllies to your mac. ( I may be wrong ).

Hope this helps

Re: Carbon and CPU Spikes
 

The problem is at least partly that each new version of Pro Tools takes more processing power just to get the wheels spinning. You're running a relatively old machine (2013 MBP) which just doesn't really have sufficient power beyond tracking and simple mixing.

The Carbon needs a recent version of PT to work (I think 2020.11 is the earliest). And it doesn't have a huge amount of DSP power - if I run 16 channels at 96KHz (which is effectively 8 analogue inputs and both ADATs running SMUX at 96KHz) then I can put the bx_console_N channel strip and the McDSP channel strip on 15 of them, and that's it. I'm out of DSP. Of course, there's no need to run two channel strips on each track - but instead I could put a chorus or an extra compressor, and then add a reverb or two to auxes. But there's not a lot spare at 96K.
At 48K there's a bit more headroom - I can run 24 bx_console_N strips - one for each channel with about 50% DSP spare. But my point is, there isn't a huge amount left over for a complex mix.

Dominic

Re: Carbon and CPU Spikes
 

Greetings.

Thank you for the advice...
Should I have the automatic graphic switching on or off?
My current system has it unchecked...

Thanks,

Sparky

Re: Carbon and CPU Spikes
 

O would say off but check both ways . Who knows :-)

Re: Carbon and CPU Spikes
 

Yes - you are 100% in that my system is relatively old...

I was initially going to purchase one of the last remaining Intel MacBook Pro's with additional RAM - but am now second guessing my decision - as I think the future will most likely centre around the M1 chip

Doing a bit more research... it's starting to appear that my current MacBook Pro may not even be compatible with Carbon... which I understand because it is an older system

All this aside... do you think that Carbon will make tasks requiring CPU power easier?

Thanks,

Sparky

Re: Carbon and CPU Spikes
 

I think waiting for an M1/M1X/M2 machine is a good idea.
Quite honestly, my guess is that running an AVB interface on an older Mac will be a disaster. It seems to cause a lot of processor overhead - which will probably result in your fans running the whole time. And your present machine is not on the list of approved machines, so it either can't run AVB at all, or it isn't powerful enough as far as Avid is concerned.

Dominic

Re: Carbon and CPU Spikes
 

Yes... definitely leaning this way... I think I'll wait for an upgrade and just do the best I can for now...

Thank you for your insight...

Sparky

Re: Carbon and CPU Spikes
 

So… I’m still not certain what impact using Carbon - has on the CPU load specifically….

Sparky

Re: Carbon and CPU Spikes
 

1) Running Carbon requires a recent version of MacOS and PT. Both generally require more CPU than earlier versions.
2) Running Carbon uses AVB, which puts a strain on the CPU which is not generally present with USB or thunderbolt interfaces, except at very low latencies.
3) Running Carbon moves plugin processing from the CPU to the Carbon ONLY for AAX-DSP plugs, and ONLY for tracks that are DSP enabled.

So, two things are probably worse for the CPU, one is better under certain circumstances.