Weird Macbook Pro CPU overloads

[SWAN808]

I apologise for writing such a boring post in this forum but I am trying to do a project and I know there are a lot of MBP and Live users around here so am looking for any ideas that might help...

Up until recently I was using a 2012 Mac Mini i7 and i5 MBP on Mavericks and Live 9. Both did the job pretty well without 0 crashes but the i5 MBP didn't have much headroom and I was travelling a lot...

I thought it would be clever to sell both and upgrade to a single more powerful MBP as there was a nagging need to also move on from Mavericks seeing as some software would not run on it. So I ended up with a small upgrade but more mobile - 2013 i7 2.6 MPB

I have it on the latest Mojave and Live 10. Looks nice but it experiences a massive CPU spike when running just a few instances of Diva (lowest possible settings) where the project freezes and hangs. This is not normal controllable CPU load where it slowly starts to glitch on playback and responds to buffer changes...it happens on all buffer settings and goes into a total freeze...then I might see the CPU meter at something like 783%. It eventually comes out of the freeze state without crashing, but it's hardly usable atm. Both old systems were better and could easily handle more Diva-argh!

Before anyone says 'its Diva and its a CPU intensive plugin' - I had a friend who has a 2.5 i7 2015 MBP test the project (very similar peroformance machine) and it breezed the session and was able to run all Diva easily and at higher settings...on Mojave same 10.14.6...so I know this machine should easily be able to run this session - yet its crash/hanging and CPU spiking for some reason...

Anyone have any ideas? Could I downgrade to an older OS, or even update?! It's the same on both Live 9 and 10 with and without audio interface...

[TLW]

This might help - viewtopic.php?f=4&t=230967&start=15

You can’t “downgrade” to an earlier OS than the Mac was supplied with by the way - Apple’s app store won’t make it available on that Mac. Which avoids the problem of earlier OS versions not having necessary or compatible drivers for a Mac built after the earlier OS was superseded.

It might also be worth trying resetting the SMC, sometimes that makes all kinds of odd behaviour go away.

[SWAN808]

This might help - viewtopic.php?f=4&t=230967&start=15

You can’t “downgrade” to an earlier OS than the Mac was supplied with by the way - Apple’s app store won’t make it available on that Mac. Which avoids the problem of earlier OS versions not having necessary or compatible drivers for a Mac built after the earlier OS was superseded.

It might also be worth trying resetting the SMC, sometimes that makes all kinds of odd behaviour go away.

thanks I'll take a look...

Sure I wasn't going to downgrade to a version before this was made it came with Mavericks (very solid OS)...however Im not sure if Live 10 is even compatible with Mavericks but a lot of software isnt now...I was thinking something like High Sierra...

[SWAN808]

TLW - that windoserver change make a big difference - its usable now...still has the spikes but much less....I hope to get some more performance out of this machine still....pretty sure its running below capacity...

[jestermgee]

TLW - that windoserver change make a big difference - its usable now...still has the spikes but much less....I hope to get some more performance out of this machine still....pretty sure its running below capacity...

Just keep in mind, a 7yo i7 is far less capable than a more modern one and it certainly won't be a huge leap in performance from what you were running really, still an old system. Also, there can be issues purchasing old second hand machines especially laptops in regards to dirt buildup and thermal compounds drying out that can affect the performance. You often have no real idea how someone treated their machine and they can certainly suffer if neglected especially once they are past 5 years old.

You really need to state exactly what i7 models they are because from one year to the next there can be significant improvements in a lot of areas. Would probably help to do benchmarks of CPU, Memory, Graphics and Drive performance of each machine before looking at upgrading to a slightly newer model. I'd certainly benchmark my current machine (use something like Cinebench) to get an idea of how it compares to similar systems out there and what kind of improvement there would be before setting out to replace it, otherwise you're just throwing knives into the darkness.

[TLW]

I was thinking something like High Sierra...

If the computer will run it try Mojave. Otherwise go for the most recent OS it can run. My current MBP came with Yosemite and I’ve not noticed any performance degradation through all the OSs from Yosemite to Mojave. And very little software had been declared “not compatible” after an update, though obviously Catalina changes that by only working with 64 bit software.

[Calagan]

Hi there

Maybe the problem is Live 10, not Mac OS.

But the problem may be easy to fix : just try to run Diva turning off the multicore option in the Diva settings.
I noticed that Live 10 manages multicore differently than Live 9, and with the U-he synths it works better when the multicore option is disabled.

Let me know if it's working better like that.

[SWAN808]

Just keep in mind, a 7yo i7 is far less capable than a more modern one and it certainly won't be a huge leap in performance from what you were running really, still an old system. Also, there can be issues purchasing old second hand machines especially laptops in regards to dirt buildup and thermal compounds drying out that can affect the performance. You often have no real idea how someone treated their machine and they can certainly suffer if neglected especially once they are past 5 years old.

You really need to state exactly what i7 models they are because from one year to the next there can be significant improvements in a lot of areas. Would probably help to do benchmarks of CPU, Memory, Graphics and Drive performance of each machine before looking at upgrading to a slightly newer model. I'd certainly benchmark my current machine (use something like Cinebench) to get an idea of how it compares to similar systems out there and what kind of improvement there would be before setting out to replace it, otherwise you're just throwing knives into the darkness.

yes but this is def capable of more and the crash is a crash/hang otherwise its running the instruments ok...the behaviour when you start to hit CPU limit tends to be intermittent glitches...this is essentially crashing on a massive (sometimes 9000 on CPU bar)...I never saw this on a Mac/Live combo before after 10 years of using it...

My MBP is

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macb ... specs.html

my friends is:

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macb ... specs.html

he ran the same session (also Mojave and Live 9) and it didn't break a sweat-he could turn up the Diva quality as well...mine actually has a slightly faster CPU of the same generation...

...but yes there may be some gremlins going on inside...perhaps I should crack it open...

If the computer will run it try Mojave.

its on Mojave latest (same as my friend)

Maybe the problem is Live 10, not Mac OS.
But the problem may be easy to fix : just try to run Diva turning off the multicore option in the Diva settings.

thanks I will try that...but note: I replicated the session in Live 9 - it crashed in exactly the same place...

...so far the options -windowserver has improved it a lot but its still not as it should be....

Personally Im wondering if its something to do with the graphics considering the windowserver made such a difference...

[Jay_NJ]

Hey man - I'm having the same problems with a brand new 2018 mac mini i7. My 2011 imac performed much better than this. Not sure what the problem is. Wondering if it's Catalina.

[SWAN808]

Ok - quick update - the main improvements now are to not use Diva multicore option - that is a repeatable test which crashes within 3 instruments playing...but if I turn off multicore I can get 6 playing absolutely fine...

The Windowserver may/may not have made a difference given the above to this issue but it prob helps a bit overall

I had some suppert from Ableton much appreciated, which advised me to remove the cloud based folders I had referenced, and was playing the track/project from...I did this and reset preferences/library...not sure if this helped or not, but I re-added them and then turned off Multicore in Diva -> session played fine...so probably wasn't the issue...

In conclusion - it seems like for some reason the Diva multicore option was causing massive CPU spikes...I captured one which I've attached...yes - the CPU meter does read: 35,820...

[TLW]

Cloud-based storage is pretty much the opposite of optimal for a DAW.

[SWAN808]

Cloud-based storage is pretty much the opposite of optimal for a DAW.

I mean the assets are on my machine, but the problem is the checking/monitoring for upload...its not having to DL from the cloud