KVR Audio

Suavo · Post by **Suavo** » Sat Feb 29, 2020 1:33 pm

I would say this is definitely not normal usage. I'm working on Mid 2012 2,5 GHz i5 with 8gb RAM and I can easily run several instances of Serum. I would say 3-5 of them. Of course, it depends on the presets and whether I play complex chords or simple melodies but still. Only once I stack multiple effects on each of them my CPU starts to choke. One thing I noticed can help is manually rising the fan speed. For some reason, my mac keeps the fan around 2000 RPM almost all the time. It probably prioritize the comfort of the user and tries to keep it as silent as possible. Once the temperature reaches over 75 C it slowly starts to spin faster but not nearly fast enough for the CPU stay effective, so I usually put it on 3000 RPM when I work in FL and make it even faster if needed to keep the temperature at 65 C max. It definitely lets me squeeze more out of my pretty old hardware.

Dombaeb · Post by **Dombaeb** » Sat Feb 29, 2020 2:10 pm

I never felt any CPU problems with Serum on late 2013 2.3 GHz i7 too. 5 instances without a problem (there wasn't a case when I need more before). So I don't understand these memes with "Serum eat your CPU' etc.

skank · Post by **skank** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 2:41 am

dionenoid wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2020 11:14 pm Windows on a MacBook ?

Anyway, are you using Serum in draft mode (no oversampling) ? Or another mode ?

Even in draft mode, still peaking with dropouts, it's odd because as mentioned I have this nowhere else.

skank · Post by **skank** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 2:43 am

Suavo wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 1:33 pm I would say this is definitely not normal usage. I'm working on Mid 2012 2,5 GHz i5 with 8gb RAM and I can easily run several instances of Serum. I would say 3-5 of them. Of course, it depends on the presets and whether I play complex chords or simple melodies but still. Only once I stack multiple effects on each of them my CPU starts to choke. One thing I noticed can help is manually rising the fan speed. For some reason, my mac keeps the fan around 2000 RPM almost all the time. It probably prioritize the comfort of the user and tries to keep it as silent as possible. Once the temperature reaches over 75 C it slowly starts to spin faster but not nearly fast enough for the CPU stay effective, so I usually put it on 3000 RPM when I work in FL and make it even faster if needed to keep the temperature at 65 C max. It definitely lets me squeeze more out of my pretty old hardware.

What version of Serum are you using and 64 or 32 bit? Right now I'd love to have 3-4 instances (chords are triads with a bass root)

skank · Post by **skank** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 2:49 am

Teksonik wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2020 7:10 pm I wonder if this will help:

https://splice.com/blog/optimizing-seru ... fficiency/

"Optimizing Serum for better CPU efficiency".

Thanks Teksonik, read some of this and some solid stuff, but there still seems something awry I can't quite put my finger on..

skank · Post by **skank** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 2:52 am

PieBerger wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2020 7:26 pm Workarounds:

Increase buffer size, reduce voices, reduce amp release, reduce oversampling settings.

Tried some of these - practically though the workarounds may end up being a blocker if I have to do them per preset (

Anyway thanks

Teksonik · Post by **Teksonik** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 2:53 am

Your CPU Benchmarks at over 10,000 so it should be able to handle just about anything. Does Serum have a Multi-Thread option ? I don't own Serum....don't ask me why. Just one that never made it into the collection.

karrikuh · Post by **karrikuh** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 10:04 am

Dropping my test results here as they differ quite a bit from those reported by others.

Set-up:
2 oscillators per voice, each 11 voice unison. All filters and FX disabled. No modulation.
3 poly voices playing.
96kHz host samplerate
Intel Haswell CPU

Results (Plug-in CPU usage reported by REAPER):
Dune3 1.5% (*)
Phase Plant 11.9% (**)
Rapid 3.5%
Serum 6.7% (***)
Vital 4.0% (***)
Zebra2 1.9%

(*) WT osc was used.
(**) Phase Plant unison voice count only goes to 8. Wavetable osc was used.
(***) Draft mode was used.

Draw your own conclusions from this...

EDIT: Added result for Vital

e-crooner · Post by **e-crooner** » Sun Mar 01, 2020 12:08 pm

karrikuh wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2020 10:04 am Dropping my test results here as they differ quite a bit from those reported by others.

Set-up:
2 oscillators per voice, each 11 voice unison. All filters and FX disabled. No modulation.
3 poly voices playing.
96kHz host samplerate
Intel Haswell CPU

Results (Plug-in CPU usage reported by REAPER):
Dune3 1.5% (*)
Phase Plant 11.9% (**)
Rapid 3.5%
Serum 6.7% (***)
Zebra2 1.9%

(*) WT osc was used.
(**) Phase Plant unison voice count only goes to 8. Wavetable osc was used.
(***) Draft mode was used.

Draw your own conclusions from this...

Your high sample rate might multiply the differences.

skank · Post by **skank** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 7:41 am

Teksonik wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2020 2:53 am Your CPU Benchmarks at over 10,000 so it should be able to handle just about anything.

That's essentially what I thought, I just cannot repeat the spikes/cpu usage with any other CPU at the moment

Teksonik wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2020 2:53 am Does Serum have a Multi-Thread option ? I don't own Serum....don't ask me why. Just one that never made it into the collection.

If I does I don't see it, yet

skank · Post by **skank** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 7:42 am

karrikuh wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2020 10:04 am Dropping my test results here as they differ quite a bit from those reported by others.

Set-up:
2 oscillators per voice, each 11 voice unison. All filters and FX disabled. No modulation.
3 poly voices playing.
96kHz host samplerate
Intel Haswell CPU

Results (Plug-in CPU usage reported by REAPER):
Dune3 1.5% (*)
Phase Plant 11.9% (**)
Rapid 3.5%
Serum 6.7% (***)
Zebra2 1.9%

(*) WT osc was used.
(**) Phase Plant unison voice count only goes to 8. Wavetable osc was used.
(***) Draft mode was used.

Draw your own conclusions from this...

Thanks. Informative

Elektronisch · Post by **Elektronisch** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 7:44 am

karrikuh wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2020 10:04 am Dropping my test results here as they differ quite a bit from those reported by others.

Set-up:
2 oscillators per voice, each 11 voice unison. All filters and FX disabled. No modulation.
3 poly voices playing.
96kHz host samplerate
Intel Haswell CPU

Results (Plug-in CPU usage reported by REAPER):
Dune3 1.5% (*)
Phase Plant 11.9% (**)
Rapid 3.5%
Serum 6.7% (***)
Zebra2 1.9%

(*) WT osc was used.
(**) Phase Plant unison voice count only goes to 8. Wavetable osc was used.
(***) Draft mode was used.

Draw your own conclusions from this...

im curious if you have these plugins answel, can you add Avenger, Hive 2, Synthmaster 1/2 aswel?

DJ Warmonger · Post by **DJ Warmonger** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 8:03 am

skank wrote: ↑Tue Mar 03, 2020 7:41 am
Teksonik wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2020 2:53 am Does Serum have a Multi-Thread option ? I don't own Serum....don't ask me why. Just one that never made it into the collection.
If I does I don't see it, yet

No it does not, Steve said it explicitely that multi-thread synchronization would be inefficient. It's a single thread always.

HcDoom · Post by **HcDoom** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 8:46 am

Serum only eats lots of cpu when using lots of voice (high polyphony) plus longer release times. If you manage to get around that you could get with 10 instance per project easily!

DJ Warmonger · Post by **DJ Warmonger** » Tue Mar 03, 2020 8:50 am

Serum only eats lots of cpu when using lots of voice (high polyphony) plus longer release times. If you manage to get around that you could get with 10 instance per project easily!

You don't seem to understand... plugin instances are independent and work in parallel in multi-core system. 10 instances per project is nothing special after all, I've run much more already.

Serum vs CPU