Dune2 high CPU problems

[midiman1969]

Hello !

with Studio One 3 WIN7 X64 8GB Ram, Intel Xeon 3,2 GHZ Quadcore, Steinberg UR22, Geforce 750TI
i have trouble using DUNE2. The CPU needs sometimes 100% at one Track (crackling noises)
No other Program is running. Output Latency about 8,8ms at 192Samples input Latency about 7,8ms (Asio Options in UR22)
maybe the onboard graphic would better ?
any ideas ?

thanks !

[Mark]

Is this with all patches or just particular ones?

[Teksonik]

Wow that's definitely not normal. I don't think I've ever seen anyone either here or other forums report this kind of CPU demand and I've certainly never experienced such an issue.

I'm interested in your answer to Mark's question.

EDIT: I just remembered there is a guy who posts at KVR and also has a Xeon. He frequently reports problems with plugins (not DUNE 2) that no one else can reproduce. It's probably just a coincidence (unless you are him ) but I thought I would mention it anyway. I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with your graphics card and your system is certainly more than powerful enough to handle DUNE 2.

[midiman1969]

for example i upload a screenshot.
i think the problem persists on presets with many voices for example
Pads etc.
All other VST´s like Kontakt run without any CPU problems.
Now i will test for a while and check my PC config.

regards

midiman1969

[Teksonik]

DAW CPU meters are notoriously inaccurate. Whats the CPU Meter in Windows Task Manager say ? Do you have Multithreading "On" in DUNE 2's Main Page ?

EDIT: I can't seem to find that patch. Is it part of the Factory content ? I want to try it and see what CPU demand it has here.

[midiman1969]

yes you are right, the cpu meter in windows shows about 30% but Studio One gives me the noise crackles when the internal CPU meter shows 100%
Multithreading is on.
The patch is include in Premium EDM Vol1.
I have similar problems with factory preset 01 Angel of Paradise

[Teksonik]

Ok I'll try that patch and let you know what numbers I get. We can compare and see if we can come up with an answer..........

EDIT: OK with that patch I get between 19% and 24 % with six notes held on this computer which is an older Q6600 Quad Core running at 2.40 ghz. On my studio computer which is an i7 running at 3.50 ghz the numbers are fluctuating between 5 and 7% in Windows Task Manager.

How many notes are you using when getting your numbers ?

Oh and this computer is running at 256 samples latency and the studio running at 128 samples. Both 16 bit.

[Richard]

We have the Steinberg UR-22 here too (Windows 8.1), so that should be fine. Performance is fantastic here, the default patch (Avalon Light) uses only a few percent CPU and that is a rather CPU-intensive patch.

Check your energy saving settings, if the min CPU is less than 100% this can spoil the system performance a lot. When installing Windows 8.1, I noticed that the default was 5%, making the system feel about as performant as a C64. Luckily that is easy to change. Some other energy saving options may affect performance too, but it seems the CPU one matters the most.

Some network drivers or large virus scan packages can also affect performance substantially. There is a bunch of tips in the DUNE 2 manual to help improve system performance for audio applications, too.

[midiman1969]

thank you for your help an your detailed information!
so i will test and check the pc config.

[Teksonik]

Check your energy saving settings, if the min CPU is less than 100% this can spoil the system performance a lot.

Can you expand on this please ? What energy settings would you recommend ? I'm not having any issues but if I can tweak my Win 7 studio computer to be more efficient it couldn't hurt. (I checked the D2 manual).

EDIT: I just checked and the Minimum Processor State is 5%. Don't know if that's good or bad or if I should leave things as they are........

[balistic]

I usually make a new power profile called "super power" or something, where the minimum processor state is set to around 75%, and I use that profile when I'm working on music or art. It makes a big difference with CPU-heavy presets (especially with Toxic 3). You can even set the minimum to 100, if you still experience stuttering.

Just don't forget to switch back to a normal, balanced power profile when you're done, so you don't waste electricity and heat up your studio

[Teksonik]

Guess I don't really get what "Minimum processor state" is.....I suppose I could Google it but it's Sunday and I'm lazy...........

[Richard]

The idea is to reduce energy consumption. It makes sense to reduce the CPU performance where possible, for example it doesn't require a quad core to post a message here So Windows can choose the minimum CPU clock when doing such tasks.

Trouble is, the default setting of 5% may trash the performance of time-critical applications like DAWs. It seems that Windows does not know when it should go for the full 100%. I suppose when running a DAW, it's going back and forth between 5% and 100% all the time, effectively resulting in poor performance.

Like balistic says, it is a good idea to occassionally adjusting the settings. If you aren't going to do any audio work for a while, a lower minimum CPU setting can be used.

[balistic]

As Richard says, Windows tries to underclock your CPU when it's not heavily loaded with tasks, in order to save power (especially important on laptop computers). So the minimum processor state is the lowest speed that Windows is allowed to run your CPU at while it's not doing much work. The problem is that when you suddenly need the CPU to jump back up to full speed, this takes a few fractions of a second. That slight lag isn't a problem for something like transcoding a video file, or 3D rendering an image in a raytracer, because those aren't real-time tasks, but audio is much more time-sensitive.

[Teksonik]

So it would be a good idea to create an "Audio" Power setting and set the minimum to what ? Say 75% or 100% ? 95 percent of what I do on the studio computer is audio work with the only other task it does is tracking my financial accounts because it has the best security suite installed and hard wired internet.

I'll look into creating a new profile tomorrow. Will keeping that computer in the Audio power setting make it run hotter ? It's liquid cooled so it shouldn't be a problem. Like I said I'm not running into any CPU issues now but it would be interesting to see if a new power scheme would improve performance. Thanks for the help.

(Sorry to hijack the thread but this may indeed be the solution for the OP).