CPU Errors at 50-55% [RESOLVED]

[WorldOfNoise]

Hello, all, I'm a long time lurker but have a nagging issue. I've done a TON of research on this and I couldn't find anything quite like this. I've noticed CPU errors are common with Pro Tools, but not at this low of a level of usage. Everyone seems to be able to max out their systems.

I'm currently running ProTools 10 on a 2012 Mac Mini i7 2.6ghz 8 GB RAM on 10.8.5. RME Fireface UFX with updated drivers and firmware. I'm at a bit of a loss.

7 processors engaged at 99% and 1024 buffer, and I am NOT ignoring playback errors and such as I've been told that introduces more latency if that makes the difference.

Every plugin is at it's latest version besides a mixed bag of Waves V8 and V9 plugins. I use pretty much everything from slate, some sound toys, etc, but this is system wide in Pro Tools, not just in this session. Any advice on possible settings or things to try would be greatly appreciated!

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by WorldOfNoise

I'm currently running ProTools 10 on a 2012 Mac Mini i7 2.6ghz 8 GB RAM on 10.8.5. RME Fireface UFX with updated drivers and firmware. I'm at a bit of a loss.

7 processors engaged at 99% and 1024 buffer, and I am NOT ignoring playback errors and such as I've been told that introduces more latency if that makes the difference.

Checking the Ignore Errors During Playback/Record box makes Pro Tools behave more like other DAWs (Logic, etc.) in terms of how many missed or dropped samples are "important" before bad things start happening. If you have it unchecked, your latency will stay the same, and the drop of a single audio sample will result in an error message.

How many processors are listed in the Playback Engine window? You may also want to reduce the percentage to 80%.

Originally Posted by WorldOfNoise

Every plugin is at it's latest version besides a mixed bag of Waves V8 and V9 plugins. I use pretty much everything from slate, some sound toys, etc, but this is system wide in Pro Tools, not just in this session. Any advice on possible settings or things to try would be greatly appreciated!

Mac Guide - Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Optimizations and Troubleshooting

[WorldOfNoise]

I'm using 7 of 8 processors and of course the mini is a quad core, so I was never really sure if I should engage the others as I assume that's hyper threading. My logic with 99% CPU of the cores engaged was that processes can't be split amongst cores, so that would give me the theoretical best shot if pro tools shoved a high CPU use plugin on a core already doing a lot of work. I could be mistaken of course. I'm trying checking minimize errors today and I already did the OSX optimizations. Thank you!

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by WorldOfNoise

I'm using 7 of 8 processors and of course the mini is a quad core, so I was never really sure if I should engage the others as I assume that's hyper threading.

It is hyper threading. If you want to limit yourself to real cores, set it to 4.

[WorldOfNoise]

Is this a subjective kind of setting or would you recommend keeping it on real cores? I remember years ago reading to stay away from hyper threading at all costs, and then in recent years reading from the same people that it's ok now. Keeping up with all of this is impossible for me with how busy I general am in my studio. Thank you!

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Chief Technician

It is hyper threading. If you want to limit yourself to real cores, set it to 4.

And if you continue to have errors set it to 3 to guarantee a whole core to Pro Tools itself. In fact going straight to 3 is often a good debugging step. If it gets better, leave it there why you try other things.

And stop looking at performance meters, they really just don't tell you what is going on, not at the ultra short timeframe/latency that affects Pro Tools/causes errors, and not with the hyperthreading behavior of the processor.

[Darryl Ramm]

Besides that your debugging should start with your plugins, remove all third party plugins from the AAX and RTAS folders and restart Pro Tools. And make sure only standard Pro Tools plugins are loading at startup. Sometimes you just need a plugin installed to cause problems, it does not need to even be instantiated or under load. Run some sessions/workload with those standard plugins and see if you can get what looks reasonable before adding in third party plugins in batches and seeing they don't destabilize the system. *always* suspect plugins.

Make sure your system is absolutely fully optimized, every single last thing done (be paranoid - e.g. spotlight off on every drive, not just session drives), regardless of how annoying it is, or how much you've gotten away with before. You may be able to back off some optimizations once you get the system running best.

Any more problems post detailed specs of your system, including details of every disk drive. Underspec/crappy audio drives lead to lots of CPU related problems.

[drewbixmusic]

What is temperature of computer (using istat menus or something similar)? If it is constantly much above 90C the intel processors throttling themselves to prevent overheating is probably your issue.

[Hugh-H]

Hello WoN,

I'm using 7 of 8 processors and of course the mini is a quad core, ....

As the Chief hinted at, using that many cores is not advised. You still need cpu for the OS, graphics, and disk I/O, and leaving only one hyper-thread for that is not enough. Everyone has their own formulae for what that should be, including Avid, so I won't recommend a setting but I would recommend to reduce it as the Chief said.

Hugh

[WorldOfNoise]

http://audioundone.com/starting-the-engines

This is where I got my previously mentioned information about ignoring errors adding latency. I just want to provide this and double check that this is apparently wrong. Adding 128 samples of latency obviously isn't a ton, but can start to get noticeable to the pickiest of clients if I'm already at a 128 buffer (thus making it 256).

I've checked the ignoring errors box, left the minimize i/o latency unchecked, and reduced cores down to 6 which in my mind means that 3 cores and 3 hyper threads are being used, allowing a full core for other processes.

I haven't gone through plugins with a fine tooth comb, but I also don't have ANYTHING installed that I don't need…soooo…kind of screwed if it's a plugin.

I have disabled all things that could interfere, however I didn't disable spotlight, so I just did that today as I will err on the side of caution.
Thank you all for the help and opinions.