Mulab CPU usage is super high

[geoslake]

Hi

I just tried mulab, as I'd like something "all in one", and with a better grid edit and audio engine than Reaper.
While I'm globally impressed, the cpu usage is catastrophic here.
I'm on a i5 haswell, and with just the mudrums loaded it goes up to 5%, with an additional Moog musynth (not playing, just loaded, it goes up to 17%, so I don't quite get it...

[mutools]

What audio driver, which samplerate, which buffer size?

[geoslake]

Ok, that doesn't make sense to me.
I started with the "start" template : mme driver : 17% cpu (still very high), switched to asio : 31% cpu (whatever the latency), switched back to mme : 25% cpu (although i understand that it could be related to cpu stepping).

Then I loaded the "krafty groove" demo, looped the first 4 measures (just mudrum playing, all other racks have fx/synths offline) : 4% with asio drivers, 10% with mme.

Ive just made a test with various latencies settings, again with the start" template, empty project (no notes at all, nothing playing), samplerate is always 44100 :

asio, hi latency : 6% (when stopped, goes down to 1%)
asio, medium latency : 16 % (when stopped, same cpu usage)
asio, low latency : same as medium
mme (using hdmi audio), 8blocks, 512bs : 11% either stopped or running

My soundcard is a Tascam Us366, which works perfectly fine on fl studio and reaper.

THanks

[mutools]

Did you enable multi-core? See MULAB -> Audio Setup.

Also see http://www.mutools.com/info/docs/mulab/audio-setup.html

[geoslake]

Yes I already tried playing with those settings.
I guess Mulab doesn't like my computer

[mutools]

There must be some reason. I agree it looks like unexpectedly high figures. Note that the buffer size is a very important aspect, the smaller it is the lower the latency when playing live MIDI keyboard, but the more CPU is used. Try a buffer size of 512 samples using a 44.1 khz samplerate. That's a typical average setup that balances things quite nice, normally.

[geoslake]

Even on "highest latency" (the asio driver doesnt allow custom buffer or ms etc), cpu usage is 5% playing nothing, so it's unusable here. Thanks for the support anyway.

[quilys]

Something is wrong w your computer.Check your services running in the background, antivirus,firewall, print spooler,networking and disable them, the computer must be opti for audio only, the i5 pro is not top by the way,is just ok.Im running Mulab on my old but great xp w a duo core, not quad, but i have only 10 process running in the background and i can run and record 10 instances of Dune II without any noise and in perfect 32 bit resol. n 44100khz, Mulab is awesome and sounds pro, but chk your win config and the virtual file page,lol





m

[mutools]

Note that the MuDrum (which is part of the Start template) indeed takes some cpu. It's a complex module, with lots of options. So maybe the 5% base cpu level for the Start template, which also contains other synths and effects, is indeed a normal figure on that machine. Also note that MuLab and the MUX modular sound engine never compromise on sound quality, at the contrary, sound quality is one of the top priorities for MuLab and MUX. Naturally this may have a price needing some more cpu cycles here and there. I would recommend to work with the high latency setting on that computer and check things out some more and decide more in practice whether MuLab is usable for you or not, instead of focusing on one single figure. Luckily you also have the option to use VST plugins too, so you can choose which plugins suit you best. Quilys' tip also is a good tip.

[geoslake]

Ok got it. The (mu)synths sound very nice indeed, but I need low on cpu stuff.
Thanks for the help anyway, I'll try it again in a few years, when we'll have cheap 16 cores i7

[mutools]

Also this tip: Using samples is cheaper on the cpu than using rich synth sounds.

[Reincke]

I optimzied my Win7 (are you on Win7?) as described at
http://echoaudio.com/pages/faq
and at
recording.de/uploads/newbb/ab77c522fe54aad6d0fd8ad801cc9395.pdf (german).
I'm still working on 4 year old netbook hardware. OK, I mostly use samples and VST(i), mostly at 22 kHz, but with lots of internal effects, and it works really great. For audio export I simply switch to 44.1 kHz.
Don't give up. MuLab is a complete studio in a box.
JR

[AndreasD]

I have an old sandy bridge i7 and i get less than your cpu with 1 core only.

I have to say that i never had any issues with cpu since Mulab went multicore, even on and old Q6600. And i useh dozens of VST and Mulab instruments/effects.
I did run out of RAM with 32bit Mulab though.

Have you tried your latest tracks? Did they run out of cpu?

[sl23]

Sorry for the diversion from topic, but can I just ask about the RAM thing as you mention it Andreas? Although 32bit is limited to either 3 or 4GB, depending who you ask, I think I saw a feature of Bitwig that allows each VST and Bitwig to use up to that limit I think by making each run in a seperate process. Is that something worth thinking about for MuLab?

I only have a few 32bit plugins that don't have 64bit counterparts, but they're too good to ditch, imho at least. I really would like to make the move, just so I don't have to worry about this limitation as I have gotten close a few times, thankfully not close enough!

[AndreasD]

There is 64bit Mulab and there is the brilliant Jbridge (at a cost, but still cheap). That should cover your needs.
Personally i would not ask Jo for the 4GB per VST feature.
There are other things i want covered