AMD Threadripper 2920X // Multi Cores Performance

[lacadz]

Hi guys, hope everybody's good, i've got a problem with my AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2920X 12-Core Processor 3.80 GHz on Win 11 with 64G DDR4 . Indeed, at the beginning, even on Win 10 and Live 10, i noticed that i can't put a lot of vst's, quickly i've got 80/90% of CPU loading and sound crackles. I tried to Put 256 in Buffer Size then 512 but nothing rellay changes. I also tried to decrease Sample Rate from 48000 khz to 44100 khz but nothing changes. more.

These days i decided to upgrade WIN 10 to WIN 11 to see what happens and same thing but using performance tools and task manager tool, i realized that when CPU % is touching 90% on Ableton Live when playing my project, it was only at 20% on the task manager.

So this is my question, why ableton doesn't use more Cores of my Cpu in order to have a good use of Ableton Live. Is there anything to do with that ? I thought that i could load more tracks and more vsts without being limited by this CPU.

Any help should be very very very great.

Thanks

[planet_b]

Do you have SMT on, meaning you'd have 24 threads? I've had this exact same issue with Ryzen 5950x (16 core / 32 thread) on Win 10, but also on i9 13900k on Win 11. It all boils down to the fact that large number of threads, with relatively low clock speeds doesn't always translate to great DAW performance. As all it takes one overloaded core to get into a crackling mess.

I have done a lot of tweaking trying to improve the situation. But in the end, Audiogridder is the only solution that helps to spread the CPU load more evenly. There are some slightly irritating issues with using it, but yet the end result is much better than without it.

[lacadz]

hi, first thanks a lot for your answer, i tried with SMT and without, same thing, i have Always the sale problem, so why ableton doesn t use full power of cores and what machine (PC) IS the best, you said that with an i9 you got the same thing, that s not normal. I think this processor is powerful enough to put vst s and effets.

But i Never Heard about audiogridder, basically it s managing dsp instead of ableton, i used to start all my tracks with my personal template with mixbus, procession and other things. IS it possible to do that with audiogridder, i mean creating template and recall it when we want ?

Thanks

[planet_b]

Yeah, it's not ideal that we are getting these high performance parts and then the DAW is not using even half of the available power. But it is really about the long audio chains that comes with single tracks' plugin chain and when the audio is output to a bus that'll just build up the chain. And once a core is overloaded, it's all over (audio playback-wise)

With Audiogridder, it is a plugin host where you will insert the VST3 plugin and load your desired plugin into that. So you cannot "switch" from your regular plugin instance to Audiogridder version on the fly. But if you like building templates, you could have a different template with only Audiogridder instances of the plugin. I do this when it comes to the mixing phase of the project, so the heavy ones (tape, saturation with oversampling etc.) are placed on Audiogridder.

It will have a significant effect on how many plugins you are able to insert, but the real magic is.. you can use any other computers on the local network to host plugins for the project too. And did I mention it's free..?

[x3000]

Your problem is not the CPU performance, but the latencies. The possible latencies determine whether your system is suitable for real-time audio processing. If one or more poorly programmed drivers block computing time, dropouts will occur - it will crack.

Install LatencyMon (LM), switch off the virus scanner. After starting the computer, wait until it has completed its first tasks.
Now start LM (no other program should also be running, as LM itself simulates a defined load). Press the "Play" button and let LM run for a few minutes. Then stop it.
Now you can see whether your system is suitable for real-time audio processing in its current configuration. You can see the problem drivers in the "Drivers" tab.

You can find information on the configuration of DAW hardware online.


The following has worked well for me and has led to lower latencies:
- Deactivate Windows search
- Disable virus scanner
- Disable firewall
- Activate flight mode
- Deactivate all security features in Windows (there are a few)
- Deactivate Hyper-V
- Deactivate Ethernet
- Deactivate onboard audio
- Deactivate Bluetooth
- Disable power saving functions / enable performance mode
- Disable hyperthreading in BIOS/UEFI

There are also many superfluous Windows services that can be deactivated - but you should know what you are doing here.
Some audio professionals do not access the Internet with their Windows computers.

This topic is relatively time-consuming, but it can be very rewarding. However, it may also be that you are simply unlucky at this point.

If the driver(s) or other relevant program code are not programmed well, you may end up with nothing but junk, depending on the intended use.

[lacadz]

Thanks so much for your answer i will try tomorrow, i have ever disabled bluetooth and wifi, but i didn t know latencyMon, many many thanks for that, i will publish the results here.

Regards.

[x3000]

Good luck