Audio dropouts at 50% CPU load?

ecmjazz · Post by **ecmjazz** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 10:42 am

well I'm gonna see if the problem is caused by my 5400 rpm hdd as snowtires suggests, but the problem is still strange as in both projects I have simillar amount of audio tracks.. Thanks anyway! I will post when I have some results.

Amaury · Post by **Amaury** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:41 pm

ecmjazz wrote:well I'm gonna see if the problem is caused by my 5400 rpm hdd as snowtires suggests, but the problem is still strange as in both projects I have simillar amount of audio tracks.. Thanks anyway! I will post when I have some results.

Hello Ecmjazz,

Indeed, the speed of your drive could be a problem.
What OS are you working on ? And what is your computer, what CPU, amount of RAM ?

One thing that has been found to give dropouts is HyperThreading. Does your computer use it ? If yes, try turning it off.

Kind regards,

Amaury

huffcw · Post by **huffcw** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:47 pm

Here are a few things to think about that will improve performance:

1. Use a seperate hard drive for audio files (if possible, use an internal drive - Dell laptops allow this, I am not sure about others).

2. Format your audio drive using the largest cluster size possible (you will not get as much space out of your drive, but the reading/writing performance will be much better for larger files - such as audio)

3. Make sure you defrag your drive from time to time

There are many other things to consider as well, like disabling any devices on your computer you don't use (e.g., if you are not using the modem or the network card, disable it to avoid conflicts). There are a lot of tips on this web site that are pretty good: http://www.musicxp.net/

GaryTracks · Post by **GaryTracks** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 6:47 am

i get dropouts at 50-60%, they last half a second. i'm using a 7200 rpm lacie. i'm presently searching about defragging, cuz i just filled 75% of that drive with some sample libraries.

Hyper-threading???

Meef Chaloin · Post by **Meef Chaloin** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:26 am

anyone of you actually tried or read the link i posted?

justin · Post by **justin** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 9:05 am

i had the spiking problem with Live 503 whilst using my internal 5400 rpm HD.
my system is laptop g4 867 / 640 RAM / os X 10.3.9
(crazy spikes sometimes way above 100%)

seems to be "much better" since i put audio files on Lacie 7200 rpm firewire HD.
altho i still get glitches whilst using operator in 5.2b8... generally speaking it only happens when i first load the set. once its played thru its fine.

i also uninstalled lots of accumulated junk (unused plugins and apps) from 3 yrs of intensive use. then i ran onyx to repair mac osx...

for info on how to optimize os X for audio i recommend u read this:
http://emusician.com/mag/emusic_trackin ... index.html

IMO Live is also in need of a diet, cos no other apps are as demanding.
i also use logic, reaktor, maxmsp and have had no spikes with them...

hope this helps,

justin

ecmjazz · Post by **ecmjazz** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 10:00 am

Thanks to all that replied!
My system is: Laptop: Celeron Mobile @ 1.4 GHz, 1 GB DDR RAM, HDD @ 5400 rpm, AC97 soundcard with ASIO4ALL (can achieve down to 2 ms latency), Live 5.0.3, Win XP SP2.
In the mentioned project I use several instances of Pro-53, FM7 and Discovery. There are also 3 audiotracks in the project. I do frequent defragmentations. My opinion is that in this project the load falls mainly over the CPU with only 3 audiotracks and so many soft-synths.. The most strange to me is that with the same amount of instruments/tracks Cubase SX3 does not show any problems.. I wonder about another thing - may be some settings of the audio clips may also come in hand?

@Meef Chaloin:
i was very curious about your link and tried the software there. On my desktop machine it seems to not have any effect. I will have to try it also on the laptop soon.

Amaury · Post by **Amaury** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 10:12 am

ecmjazz wrote:Thanks to all that replied!
My system is: Laptop: Celeron Mobile @ 1.4 GHz, 1 GB DDR RAM, HDD @ 5400 rpm, AC97 soundcard with ASIO4ALL (can achieve down to 2 ms latency), Live 5.0.3, Win XP SP2.
In the mentioned project I use several instances of Pro-53, FM7 and Discovery. There are also 3 audiotracks in the project. I do frequent defragmentations. My opinion is that in this project the load falls mainly over the CPU with only 3 audiotracks and so many soft-synths.. The most strange to me is that with the same amount of instruments/tracks Cubase SX3 does not show any problems.. I wonder about another thing - may be some settings of the audio clips may also come in hand?

@Meef Chaloin:
i was very curious about your link and tried the software there. On my desktop machine it seems to not have any effect. I will have to try it also on the laptop soon.

Hello,

Depending on the warping mode, you'll get different results: complex mode is demanding about ten times more than other warp modes.
Also, did you try increasing a little the latency in ASIO4ALL ? 2 ms is nice, but I guess it is demanding too much to the hardrive and processor.
Is your cubase session using the same driver with same latency ?

Best,

Amaury

ecmjazz · Post by **ecmjazz** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 12:39 pm

I will check up the different sample modes. Yes, as I already mentioned, Cubase is using exactly the same driver with the same settings..

gomi · Post by **gomi** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 4:40 pm

kineticUk wrote:Same thing here

open up terminal

run

top

this will show you the ACTUAL cpu usage..

which will differ from what live is reporting.

for instance i have a tune i am working on, which is all just wave clips
and a couple effects..

Live says - 24% of the cpu!

OSX says (which is accurate) - 43% of the CPU!

sigh...

at least make live show the cpu usage accurately.

ecmjazz · Post by **ecmjazz** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 8:19 am

Well dropouts dissappeared after removing some of the synths from the project so this lets me think it's rather a real CPU-problem than a HDD one..

haris · Post by **haris** » Wed May 10, 2006 9:25 am

ecmjazz wrote:Well dropouts dissappeared after removing some of the synths from the project so this lets me think it's rather a real CPU-problem than a HDD one..

I am getting audio dropouts on 1.33 GHz G4 powerbook with 1.25 GB ram, running audio on external HD, not sure if it is 5200 or 7400, will check that. I happens when my cpu reaches 55-60% usage. I will try some things posted here, need to get it done asap as I've got a gig on saturday... yay...