Acustica Audio Plugins are killing my computer.

[HcDoom]

Extremely cpu inefficient plugins, I avoid AA only because of that.

[MadDogE134]

i agree AA plugins will eat up cycles but i also know that most any plugin that uses heavy impulse responses also eats more cycles than algo plugs (strictly code) so it is kinda idiotic to claim they are 'inefficient' especially when no one but AA actually know the complete inner workings of the plugins or the code used.

the reason they are 'slow' is because of having to load impulses into RAM when you make adjustments. i agree with many they don't really need to the overbearing graphics of the GUI's but they are AA's and they can do what they want. i just love the sound i get from them and just deal with the rest. i too have to use sparingly and render/print/bounce things down if needed to free up demand.

to compare efficiency between algo and impulse based plugins is a bit asinine... they are two different beasts. i know i don't have a leading edge computer by no means but those that claim they use AA plugs on every track (channel strips not just pres) or running very few tracks... they are probably blowing a little hot air and not to be believed. i have liked them (AA) from the start but was unable to use them for years and when i built this new system years back i started using AA. if you want the sound then you have to deal with it the best you can. AA development has gotten better over the last few years but they will never be low latency because of the technology being used. even years back most convolution reverbs that only used one impulse could wear out a system of the time. impulse responses are basically .wav files and you can't shrink them... all you can do is tweak the code surrounding their use imo. all this has gotten better but imo it will never be great.

cheers

[briefcasemanx]

I'm not worried about CPU usage with my 5950x, but some of the plugins just don't work. If you start messing with all the settings and knobs in Cream2, stuff stops working correctly. This is true on multiple computers. Some of the plugins from the factory library also are buggy or don't work as advertised. I think the person making the plugins is maybe good at engineering or math, but terrible at computer programming.

Also in the past when they first came out they made it seem like they had a patent on some mathematical concept from the 1850s that's used in other engineering fields already.

[dionenoid]

Some Aquas are extremely cpu hungry, some are not that bad. But you sure need a decent system and have to work at higher buffer settings.

I would like them to implement vst3 dynamic bypass tho, that would help a lot.

[AKJ]

So why not kill the Acoustica Audio plugins ...? There are more than enough good and CPU efficient plugins.

[plexuss]

So why not kill the Acoustica Audio plugins ...? There are more than enough good and CPU efficient plugins.

To my ears, nothing sounds as good as Acquas in terms of smoothness and soundstage and a general analog-y vibe. Nothing. Unfortunately.

[AKJ]

Well, peronally I do not care for exact modelling. If it sounds good it is good. My preference is, soundwise for Voxengo, Klanghelm, and Toneboosters plugins. Actually, Marquis and HarmoniEQ, for example, are imo hard to surpass soundwise and offer a great feature set. The same applies for SDRR.

[plexuss]

Well, peronally I do not care for exact modelling. If it sounds good it is good. My preference is, soundwise for Voxengo, Klanghelm, and Toneboosters plugins. Actually, Marquis and HarmoniEQ, for example, are imo hard to surpass soundwise and offer a great feature set. The same applies for SDRR.

Yes those plugins are nice sounding as well.

[kvaca]

So why not kill the Acoustica Audio plugins ...? There are more than enough good and CPU efficient plugins.

To my ears, nothing sounds as good as Acquas in terms of smoothness and soundstage and a general analog-y vibe. Nothing. Unfortunately.

sounds smooth like a shit...
1.thank god I dont have your ears
2.thank god I can have any analog hw I need

[plexuss]

So why not kill the Acoustica Audio plugins ...? There are more than enough good and CPU efficient plugins.

To my ears, nothing sounds as good as Acquas in terms of smoothness and soundstage and a general analog-y vibe. Nothing. Unfortunately.

sounds smooth like a shit...
1.thank god I dont have your ears
2.thank god I can have any analog hw I need

Excellent. Post some of your audio/music work so we can hear the quality you create. I'd love to learn from you.

[dasoundjunkie]

Yeah, I fell down the Acustica rabbit hole about a year ago and finding ways to make it work has become more than a little challenging.
I started with a decent laptop (was out of the audio world for almost 4 years) and now I have an 18 core i9 with 128 of ram and AA STILL knocks it to its knees. I've found that this https://audiogridder.com/ helps quite a bit. It basically takes the processing off the DAW and puts it directly on the CPU leaving the DAW to work without the load.

It isn't prefect (it is free after all) and there is quite a bit of version trial and error to get it working but at the end of it all to me at least, it was worth the hassle. YMMV and all that.

Ideally you should have the server part on another computer but it does help using it natively. I did an entire mix and mastering session using only SNOW (a plugin that is particularly brutal on resources) and it worked very well, albeit with the occasional crash but at the very least I didn't have to freeze every 2 tracks like before.

I've been using gridder for all my AA plugins and already plan on building a dedicated computer just for that application. Kinda like a giant UAD card for AA plugins.

Hope this helps

[dionenoid]

Yeah, I fell down the Acustica rabbit hole about a year ago and finding ways to make it work has become more than a little challenging.
I started with a decent laptop (was out of the audio world for almost 4 years) and now I have an 18 core i9 with 128 of ram and AA STILL knocks it to its knees. I've found that this https://audiogridder.com/ helps quite a bit. It basically takes the processing off the DAW and puts it directly on the CPU leaving the DAW to work without the load.

It isn't prefect (it is free after all) and there is quite a bit of version trial and error to get it working but at the end of it all to me at least, it was worth the hassle. YMMV and all that.

Ideally you should have the server part on another computer but it does help using it natively. I did an entire mix and mastering session using only SNOW (a plugin that is particularly brutal on resources) and it worked very well, albeit with the occasional crash but at the very least I didn't have to freeze every 2 tracks like before.

I've been using gridder for all my AA plugins and already plan on building a dedicated computer just for that application. Kinda like a giant UAD card for AA plugins.

Hope this helps

Unfortunately Audiogridder is extremely buggy. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It is still work in progress tho, maybe it will work better in the future.

[The Noodlist]

When Audiogridder works, it works well. Network settings and firewalls may cause issues.

[dasoundjunkie]

Been working with the latest beta from Audio Gridder (beta4) for the last 2 hours or so and it seems more stable than previous versions. I haven't had a single hiccup so far. Will continue testing but at least on my system it looks promising...so far

[MogwaiBoy]

Is AudioGridder safe? Is there a catch? What's in it for them?