PT 8 CPU spikes

[Six6NYC]

First of all, hello to all here on the forum. I've been a member here since the PT 5 days, but never had any problems or solutions to post, until now.

So I followed all the Digi guidelines for a clean install or Windows XP and PT LE 8. All goes according to plan, my Mbox 2 Pro shows up, and old sessions open up with no apparent problems. Worked on 2 projects and was amazed at how little CPU the program had taken up, then I moved on to an old nagging project that I never finished (we'll call it project X) from 2007. Suddenly, while that project was open and idle, no plug-ins or virtual synths, I had cpu spikes going from 5% to 97% in the red. Completely freaked out the system. So I start digging around, reading the forums here and found that there are a few others with similar problems, but no solutions yet. So here's the very strange part.

I take the same project, and copy it over to my Macbook and open it with the Mbox Micro, and no CPU spikes or glitches or anything. Smooth as silk. I go back to my Windows system thinking that I had a problem overall with my Pro Tools, and open up a completely different project (project Z, also from 2007), with 30 audio tracks, 10 digi rack plug ins and a a couple of V-synths. Project Z ran without a hitch. No hiccups, no CPU spikes.

I don't have a solution, but apparently there was something about project x and ONLY that project, that freaks out the cpu on Windows XP. Haven't been able to figure it out yet, but if anyone is experiencing the CPU spikes, try opening a different session and see if you get the same problem and get back to us. Maybe we can find the culprit or the bug.

[albee1952]

Did you try trashing the databases? After that, I would create a new session and start importing 1 track at a time and see if all works, or if you can pin the blame on a single file. Is the problem session the same sample rate and bit depth?

[bblue]

Also, go through project X and disable (not bypass) plug-ins one by one, or track by track to see if a plug-in or group of plug-ins in a particular order might be causing it.

Also, to prevent the spikes from overtaking the system, set your RTAS processors to three (or two if needed) in the Playback engine setup.

--Bill

[netnoggin]

It would be good to confirm that it's the PT process causing the spike and not some other process. If you open Task Manager while you have PT running, look at the Processes tab, and click on the CPU column header (maybe twice) to sort by CPU usage, can you tell which process is spiking out?

If it is in fact PT, that view still doesn't tell whether it's the main program or some errant plugin. But at least it eliminates other forces from the list of possibilities.

N

[Roy Stanton]

I had the same problem once and it was sans-amp. hope this helps

[TOM@METRO]

Are you using SansAmp?

[Six6NYC]

Thanks for the replies. After taking some time and stripping the project track by track, turns out that the DigiRack D-Verb (PT8) was the culprit. Removed it from the session, and the CPU behaved normally, hovering at or around 4%.

Still would like to know why this particular plug-in on this particular project was causing so much grief, and only on Windows XP. Same session was opened on a Mac, and had no CPU spikes with the D-Verb active. Weird.

[TOM@METRO]

How does this same reverb act in other sessions?

[Six6NYC]

Originally Posted by TOM@METRO

How does this same reverb act in other sessions?

Hi Tom,

The Dverb behaves quite nicely in any other session. In a further test, I removed the DVerb from the affected project, saved it, then reopened the project and reinserted the DVerb, with no problems. But if I open the original project session, I would continue to get the CPU spikes, so there was definitely something wrong with that project data or preferences.

I wish I had answers as to why it happens, and I can continue to open the affected project and recreate the problem, but only within that specific session. I'm happy as long as I'm able to be productive.

[The Weed]

The problem back in the day was denormalization. Try placing a dither plug-in in front of the D-Verb and see if that tames it.

Cheers,