Dynamic Plug-In Processing is broken [PT-279941]

[Simon2065]

Seems to be working for me. 60 Audio tracks with instance of Pro Compressor and Pro Limiter on each and get Total 3% CPU when playing with no clips

[jeffro]

Originally Posted by tmuzik

...The dynamic processing is still broken...

Working correctly here with a similar session and setup (PT or PTU 2021.10 on a 2019 iMac with macOS 10.15.7). CPU meters fill up when clips start, then drop back a few seconds after clips end. Only real difference is the interface (built-in/aggregate or Pro Tools Carbon here - I tried both).

Can you try running on the Pro Tools Aggregate I/O -or- moving your Pro Tools Prefs out of /Users/*username*/Library/Preferences/Avid/Pro Tools and launch PT, set your prefs, then try again?

[tmuzik]

You must have one of those new type's of computers;-)

Do you have Carbon by any chance?

2017 iMac i7 64GB Catalina here
PT 2021.10 native
Best I could do with 64 Empty Audio lanes + Pro Comp + Pro Limiter on all 64 ch's.
Session settings 44.1k with 1024 buffer
Total CPU bouncing around 26-28% when I hit play in an empty session.

EDIT - We must have been posting at the same time -

I will try suggestions

[tmuzik]

I trashed all files in /Users/me/Library/Preferences/Avid/Pro Tools
Tried Pro Tools Aggregate I/O and Built-In Output.
Same results, no dynamic processing with stock AVID plugins.

Is it a Catalina Issue? - I don't think so because I spent a lot of time on this issue. I have downloaded every version of PT I could, all the way back to PT 2012 - They all had the issue. So I thought it might be a MoJave thing (that is the OS I did a couple of days worth of tests with PT on) - Next I booted from my Original OS drive which was High Sierra - I carbon copy my computer OS drive when I purchase new computers, so I can revert to new if I choose. Anyway, I installed PT on a completely Vanilla Bone Stock Original Mac OS, with a Vanilla PT install and still had the issue. I just gave up after making posts in various forums, some people had the issue, some think I must have an analog modeled plugin in the loop, most don't seem to care.

I troubleshoot php software and java all day, everyday so I do know how to methodically exclude variables, files and lines of code in order to get software or scripts communicating properly. I really don't think I missed anything. But if I am wrong, it wouldn't be the first time what "I think" and "what is" are in conflict.

Until someone else can confirm it is still broken, I am kind of out on an island, with a "just me" issue.

[Darryl Ramm]

Do you have a session that shows this problem that you can share?

What exactly are you doing... Are you instantiating these plugins on realtime (i.e. in/out armed tracks) or disk mode (i.e. playback only) tracks? (EDIT: I missed the 1024 IO buffer size setting, so at 44.1kHz yout IO buffer and playback buffer sizes are the same and whether you are actually doing IO into that signal path should not matter here).

And just to confirm you have physically removed all the .aaxplugin files from the plugin folder for all other plugin files except the few Avid Pro ones you are instantiating in the session.

And to be paranoid what version number Pro plugin are you using?

[Darryl Ramm]

FWIW I do not see this problem myself.

MacBook Pro 15,3 (15" 2019). 2.3 GHz 8 CPU core Intel with hyperthreading enabled. Discrete GPU (Radeon Pro Vega 20 4 GB) enabled.
Big Sur 11.6
Pro Tools 2021.10.0

Playback Engine: Built in Speakers, IO Buffer size 1024
Make sure Dynamic Processing is turned on
Create a new session at 44.1 kHz, 32bit float, AIFF
Create audio mono track, inset Pro Comp and Pro Lim (Pro Comp "on top of stack"), do not change plugin internal settings.
Duplicate track 63 times.


These numbers measured from the Pro Tools activity window...
I see ~19% CPU usage if I don't use dynamic plugin processing.
With dynamic processing I see the same ~19% for the first few seconds until dynamic plugin processing kicks in and pulls it back to about 2%
ignore errors on/off etc. does not seem to change this.
I have no plugin windows open on the display.

macOS Activity monitor shows...
206%/16 cores = 13% and
~70%/16 cores = 4%
Not far off, and as usual I trust Activity Monitor more than Pro Tools utilization numbers.

And these numbers were measured with no plugin GUI windows open, and amusingly opening about a dozen plugin windows lowered the Pro Tools activity monitor reported CPU use from 19% to 14% and increased the Activity Monitor reported use from ~209% to ~240%. Again showing Pro Tools Systems Usage likely has issues.

Does this actually cause problem for you?... you get Pro Tools AAE CPU errors on the latest version?

[tmuzik]

First let me thank Jeffro, Simon2065, and Darryl for taking time to try to repeat.
I think we have been comparing apples to oranges.
It is a stereo track issue, as crazy as that sounds.

I can only assume mono tracks were created in your tests, which do in fact work perfectly. HORAY!!

I found this as a repeatable issue with PT 2021.10 native on Catalina and a completely stock High Sierra OS.
STEREO TRACK TEST

• Create an empty high sample rate session, so the cpu issue is easier to see.
• Open "Window > System Usage" Meter
• Create 64 STEREO audio tracks
• Option +add enough AVID plugins to make the CPU hit noticeable. Pro Multiband Dynamics is rather heavy
• Wait for CPU to return to low level
• Hit play
• Notice CPU meter
• Delete All Tracks
• Perform the exact same test with MONO tracks
• Mono should work as expected

So if this is verified by others, at least this current fix has a stereo track work around. I can break stereo tracks into two mono tracks, like the days of analog consoles.

Thank you AVID for looking to this. I really do appreciate everybody at AVID and the great people on the forum.

[resonatee]

Originally Posted by tmuzik

First let me thank Jeffro, Simon2065, and Darryl for taking time to try to repeat.
I think we have been comparing apples to oranges.
It is a stereo track issue, as crazy as that sounds.

I can only assume mono tracks were created in your tests, which do in fact work perfectly. HORAY!!

I can confirm that mono tracks indeed release cpu power (dynamic plugin processing works) , when the dynamic plugin processing does not work on stereo tracks. How to escalate this? Jeffro? 2021.10 on Mojave

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by tmuzik

First let me thank Jeffro, Simon2065, and Darryl for taking time to try to repeat.
I think we have been comparing apples to oranges.
It is a stereo track issue, as crazy as that sounds.

I can only assume mono tracks were created in your tests, which do in fact work perfectly. HORAY!!

Nice one tmuzik, thanks for persisting with this.

I've confirmed here that dynamic plugin processing does not work as you described. Using stereo tracks and multi-channel plugins with my setup otherwise as I described above I see a 27-30% CPU load on the Pro Tools activity meter (~300% on Activity Monitor) that does not go away.

And with stereo tracks and the same plugins in multi-mono I see lower processing overhead, showing ~18-20% (~235%) but the same problem with hogging the CPU forever.

[resonatee]

DPP works on mono tracks
DPP does not work on stereo tracks (and up - tested with LCR, QUAD, 5.0, 5.1) with 3 avid plugs and many more tested

I attach a session file here, please test it for yourself:
https://www.filemail.com/d/mosehmgocpxulll