Why multicore processor? Help appreciated

[Artistlife]

Hi Everyone,

I am relatively new to Ableton. I've had it for a couple of weeks now including a new 64 bit Windows 7 machine with 12 gigabytes of ram. Intel Core i7 2.2 gz processor

I loaded a STOCK guitar sound into one midi track today
Granted the guitar sound included a ping pong delay, compressor, reverb, EQ and maybe one more thing that escapes me. Again all STOCK.

With just a hand full of notes the CPU is very taxed.
Just to test what would happened I smashed my hand into about an octave of keys
or ran my hand down the keys like a glissando.
That maxed out the CPU.
Assuming my computer has at least four cores then why is the first core the one to takes the brunt of the processing?
I mean whats the point of multicore for this program? VST's?

I am primarily a midi musician. But when I got the program I was really intriqued by the possibilty of chopping and looping samples as well as recording midi instruments combined.
I thought it would be a great hybrid program. Am I wrong? Am I $600 wrong?
Is it just suited for DJs and sample triggering?

Now before you all respond. Let me try and head off any responses right here.

I am aware that this sound is doing a LOT of stuff for each note that is played.
I know there is a button in settings for mulitcore use.
I have been to the threads that say increase the buffer size and decrease the sample rate.
Put the effects on the returns and not on the individual instruments.
Antivirus is off and WIFI.
I have tried it on the 32 bit Ableton and the 64 bit beta.
I know about freezing tracks.

Considering that I am mainly a Midi musician and not a samples based musican, would I be better off with another program?

Why entice me with a sound in the library that is already taking up to 30% of my processing just to play a few notes?

It REALLY kills my creative flow to have to stop to consider the processor usage and the sounds crackling in the speakers because of the processor maxing out.

Is there a way to get the other cores to take a lot more of the load?

If you all could help me fine tune my PC to run Ableton as efficiently as possible.
I would greatly appreciate it.
Or fine tune Ableton to run as efficiently on my PC, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Artistlife

[pepezabala]

There are STOCK sounds that tax ridiculously on the CPU. There are others that don't. I guess they added stuff like those guitar sounds to the library in order to show off a bit, going to the limits of what is possible. I also was kind of frustrated when I got a puremagnetik pack with a drumset and my 2Ghz dualcore macbook wasn't able to play more than four notes in a row without starting to collapse. What the fuck!

But:
If your creativity gets stopped by the impossibility of using this sound, then you have to change your attitude. Creativity usually gets evoked by limitations. The less possibilities you have, the more creative you must get.


You got a great computer, you have a great DAW with a great library, now do something good with it. Yes, you might need to freeze or to bounce stuff. You might need to turn off the efx-chain while recording your midi-guitar-melody. Then turn it on again and freeze it.


Remember the Beatles recorded Sgt. Peppers on a four track machine and I never heard them say in an interview how much it sucked to have to wait for the engineers to bounce stuff etc.

[andydes]

1. How multiple cores are handled- Each track is assigned to a core. Live can't divide processing for a single track between cores. Routing tracks together, including side chaining and returns also ties these tracks together. So using send effects can put all the load onto one core, depending on situation. Worth remembering later.

2. Some instruments are heavier than others. A stock sampled guitar sound uses very little CPU. If it's a tension instrument in there, that's a hungry little patch. Don't be fooled by the uninteresting GUI.

3. Keep playing around, if you always have high cpu load, something maybe wrong with your set up.

4. People manage to do a lot with less powerful computers than yours. We're not all DJs.

[Komodovaran]

My projects usually max out at 40-50% CPU on a 2.2 GHz i7 MacBook. I have no idea how you can tax your computer so hard by doing so little.

Are you sure it's not a problem with your buffer size? Try changing it.

And have you enabled multicore support?

[pencilrocket]

Why don't upload your test poject and let people test how the CPU usage will be? You could get more precise and expected answer.

[stoersignal]

waht samplerate are you using? and what buffersize?

[Komodovaran]

Why don't upload your test poject and let people test how the CPU usage will be? You could get more precise and expected answer.

+1 for this. It sounds very abnormal for a few plugins to instantly max your CPU.

[fishmonkey]

please provide more info: what audio interface, and what kind of driver? are your drivers up to date? and as others have mentioned, what sample rate and buffer size? and yeah, put the set up somewhere...

[Punky921]

Yeah, if you're not using a decent audio interface, that may be the root of your problem.

[Artistlife]

I don't know where to load the project to.
Here it is though.

Open Ableton Live 8 64 bit beta> Instrument Rack> Guitars and Plucked> Acoustic Guitars> Guitar-Wide Acoustic.

I have no recording done. Just playing around with the sound.

As far as specs.

M-Audio Fast Track Pro
Sample Rate 44100 (lowest)
Buffer size 4096 (Set to highest as test)
Generally have the buffer set to 512 which seems the minimum the computer can handle. It can go as low as 128 but sound breaks up
Set to 4096 and there is a lot of latency.

Drivers are up to date.
Multicore support is enabled.

When I get done messing with the sound, the cpu meter in ableton hangs out at about 38% after all the notes have been played.
So far I far I have been sitting here for about a minute and it is still hanging at 38%
Granted I'm typing is post on the internet while I have Ableton open. But I don't think before that made a with everything close besides Ableton.
The only way to get the CPU usage to stop is to delete the track or change the sound in the track.

[Punky921]

What are your computer specs?

[Artistlife]

64 bit Window 7 Home Premium sp 1
Intel Core i7 2.20 Ghz 4 core(8 logical processors)
12 gigabytes of ram.
Don't know if the graphics chip matters
but its a Geforce gtx 560m 3gb.
This laptop has two hard drives built in.
The sounds for ableton are on a separate drive
from the program itself.

[Komodovaran]

My CPU is a 2.2 GHz i7 quad core (Late 2011 MBP) and CPU usage goes down to zero just a couple of seconds after stopping the playback.

Sample buffer is 512. While it doesn't exactly sound harmonic, there are no pops or crackles. This is the 32 bit version.

[Punky921]

I hear GeForce GPUs can cause some nasty latency issues, but that's secondhand at best.

I have a very similar computer, with less RAM that doesn't have those kinds of problems.

Get DPC Latency Checker. Google it, download it, and run it while you're running Ableton and see if you get any spikes.

[Artistlife]

I downloaded Latency Checker. At its highest test latency was 1007us
It's greek to me. But I hope that helps.