Running out of Juice - Native Plugins hogging resources ?

[[email protected]]

Hi All

I am using Pro Tools 10.1.2 on a PC and just upgraded to release 10.1.2 and now getting weird resource issues - running out of juice all the time. A typical session is 30-40 tracks and I am only using the supplied Avid plugins and instruments. I tend to use 1 or 2 plugins on each track, usually EQ, Compression, reverb - typical stuff. I have iZotope 5 which I know is CPU hungry but am not using this at all and still getting this issue with Avid only plus. WhenI load track all seems fine for a few minutes and after a few start stops the resource gauge gets worse and worse until its red.

Its as though resources are not being managed properly (released and instantiated) as you would expect.

My PC was inherited and so is not the normal choice for a music system but still aught to have tons of power.

Machine: Dell Precision 690
2 x Xeon E5345 2.33GHz Quad core CPU (so thats 8 cores)
8GB Ram
240GB SSD for OS and Program Hard Disk
500GB SSD for Session data and audio
GeForce GTX 460 Graphics card
Running Win 7 Professional 64 bit SP 1

The Windows Experience rating is 7.5

I've done all the pro tools tuning - set programs to run as background, selected 7 cores out of 8 leaveing one free for background services, turned off virus software, disabled ethernet card, and set screen to run in non aero mode.

In Playback engine I have tried increasing H/W buffers to 1024 and have Delay compensation engine set to maximum and cpu limit to 90%

any ideas ?

Ed

[philgrab]

I've read in a few places that you no longer have to set your DAW for background services in Win 7 as you may have had to in Vista and XP. Try setting that to applications vs background. Unless Pro Tools is written to rely on background services, try the other setting.

[lowlights]

Ed - try this. Insert the Dither plugin before the dVerb plugin on any track with dVerb.

Evidently - DVerb has a long-known bug that can allow it to become insanely CPU intensive when it "zeroes" out - when it reaches a moment when it must process absolute silence - this run-away CPU thing is also known as "denormalization".

I was running a small session just a week or so ago and saw my CPU jump from 20% to 99% (red) during quiet parts. In fact, I would hit Stop on the session, and the CPU would keep climbing a few moments later until I had to close and start again.

I thought it was my VIs (I had 3 running), but after reviewing this forum, I found a mention of this "denormalization". It had never happened before to me, so I had forgot all about this little DVerb "quirk"

Sure enough - I threw a Dither plugin (which adds non-audible noise to the signal) on before DVerb, and all my problems went away. This keeps DVerb from hitting that "no signal psychopath" state.

[[email protected]]

Hi Guys, thanks both for your suggestions...

I switched to Programs for best performance and no real noticable difference.

I noticed I had used a large number of DVerb instances on the track and in fact the resource issue seemed to only happen on the one session which I had recently been working on. Loading other sessions resources were fine. The resource meter was jumping suddenly from 20% to 99% wildly and would then for no reason settle down.

Lowlights I think your suggestion is the solution. Before I saw your post I deleted lots of the DVerbs and bussed them to one effect aux instead, and suddenly the resource issue seemed to go away, although I didn't know why. If it comes back I will insert the dither plugin.

Thanks again.

Ed

[TOM@METRO]

Yes, the denormalization issue has resurfaced in some systems. DVerb and SansAmp are the primary culprits. As suggested above... To avoid this issue, place a dither plug-in in an insert prior to the offending plug-in.

[lowlights]

Tom knows - I believe it was an earlier post by Tom that put me to the solution. And sure enough - worked like a charm (a very silly charm, but still). The fact that the CPU goes sky-high during times of silence on a track is what seems so counter-intuitive and makes you think you're going insane.

But your shuffling of the D-Verb plugs probably solved the problem the same way - with everything going through an aux - the plug probably never suffers the same denormalization condition.

[notedmusic]

I always use aux. I found out that if your clips are clipping, it uses up WAY more CPU power. However, PT10 uses an insane amount of CPU usage.

I have a 3.4GHZ Quad AMD PHENOM II and it goes to 80% using all 4 with only a few tracks active... very poor resource managment in PT10.

Usually I have a lot more like 12. In PT9 I was fine with a lot at a lower setting, but for PT10 had to set it to 4 cores at 95%.

[BobbyDazzler]

Just something I've noticed on my Mac (not sure if this applies to PC), CPU settings that worked well on PT9, don't work well on PT10.
I've had to drop back to 3 of 16 cores, where as PT9 had a sweet spot of 7 of 16 cores.

[notedmusic]

Originally Posted by BobbyDazzler

Just something I've noticed on my Mac (not sure if this applies to PC), CPU settings that worked well on PT9, don't work well on PT10.
I've had to drop back to 3 of 16 cores, where as PT9 had a sweet spot of 7 of 16 cores.

This is true... but it is very strange. Also, I don't know about you, but for Windows 7 x64 having the "ignore errors" turned off increases CPU usage... a lot- but removed random pops and clicks.


Optimal setting for me are 3 CPUS at 99% with 1024 buffers.