High CPU usage with compressor showing

[bk]

Just got the Oldskool patches today. Great work, Michael.

I do have a problem with some of them, though.
Some of them (All Purpose Lead is one of them), max out my cpu.
I first noticed that if the gui was closed, cpu was fine. Then I noticed it is only when the gui is open and with the "Global/FX" page showing, that a problem occurs. If I click on any other tab at the bottom, the problem goes away.
Anyone have any suggestions?

I'm using Zebra 2.2b6, Tracktion 3, WinXP, Athlon 64 4000+ single core, 2gig RAM.

[Urs]

Ooooph... that's nothing like I heard before... I'd usually suspect the MSEG bug, but as you use Z2.2b6...

...is it the audio rendering (cpu meter in Tracktion) or is it the cpu in general (Task Manager) where you observe the spikes?

Does it happen with Zebra 2.1 as well? There are some radical changes in the engine for 2.2, but these seemed to be rather begnign...

Urs

[tboulette]

Hmmm. Running XP SP2 on a Core Duo machine here, with Z2.2b6 in Live 6.07. Let's have a looksee....

When I load this patch, everything looks fine, until I play a note. Then, task manager reports CPU usage up at 55%. Live reports only 4-5%. Patch isn't that complex, so I'm inclined to believe Live. Closing the GUI knocks Windows Manager back in line with Live.

Nice patch, BTW!

[bk]

...is it the audio rendering (cpu meter in Tracktion) or is it the cpu in general (Task Manager) where you observe the spikes?

Task manager shows the high cpu usage, Tracktion doesn't appear to know anything is wrong. I might not have noticed except I start losing notes here and there, and having notes not release on time (short hang-ups while the cpu tries to catch up).

Does it happen with Zebra 2.1 as well? There are some radical changes in the engine for 2.2, but these seemed to be rather begnign...Urs

I'll have to look and see if I still have 2.1 hanging around. Is it possible to have both versions installed together, or is that a no-no?

[Urs]

Hi,

That's interesting. Which effect is open? Is it the compressor?

I'll have to look and see if I still have 2.1 hanging around. Is it possible to have both versions installed together, or is that a no-no?

You'd just swap the Zebra2.dll, but you wouldn't have them in Vstplugins at the same time...

Cheers,

Urs

[bk]

Live reports only 4-5%. Patch isn't that complex, so I'm inclined to believe Live.

I have to disagree. My machine exhibits all the symptoms of having no cpu headroom left. Dropped notes, notes not releasing on time, guis don't close right away (1 second or so delay), general sluggishness.
You've got another core that might help mask those symptoms, I don't. Sounds like you are maxing out one core, leaving the other untouched.

[bk]

Which effect is open? Is it the compressor?

Good call, Urs! It is the compressor showing when there is a problem. If I click on any of the other fx, the problem goes away. Sounds like you already have an idea what's wrong.

Also, confirmed that the problem doesn't exist with 2.1

[mkastrup]

Just did a little testing, that patch is not supposed to amount to anything in CPU.

Try see what the patch named Morse Lead amounts to in CPU load (with 4 finger poly its 5% on my system)

The All Purpose Lead peaks around 15% with 4 finger poly

Try remove the Reverb and see if that change something.

I tried moving from the various pages Global FX, Osc etc... and it made no difference for me.

My system is Win XP SP2, 2 GHz Core Duo, 1 GB ram, Firewire Behringer Audio Interface FC202 with ASIO Latency set at 4.32 ms.

None of the Oldskool patches are ment to be heavy in CPU unless its one of those patches which can make your coffee and look after the kids while you eat and just play with your nose.

If CPU load was an issue with Zebra i would not have been able to produce all those big arrangement demos, so i'm sure a workaround/bugfix will come to your help. Just keep reporting odd things so Urs have a better chance of locating the error.


EDIT: Whoops looks like you found the critter

/Michael

[Urs]

Okay, thanks!

There seems to be something wrong, supposedly in the ui part then. I'd guess the compressor just spits out values for the gain reduction meter. It might be a divide by zero or something.

I'll look into it... for now maybe just click away the comp...

Later,

Urs

[bk]

Sorry, Michael. I hope you don't think I was saying your patches are problematic. I was browsing through them when I first noticed this, and I knew there were MSEG probs with some of them, so I thought it might be related to that, but couldn't see where MSEG was used in this simple patch!
Sounds like Urs is on it, though, and for now I can just click over to another fx screen to solve the problem.

[mkastrup]

Sorry, Michael. I hope you don't think I was saying your patches are problematic. I was browsing through them when I first noticed this, and I knew there were MSEG probs with some of them, so I thought it might be related to that, but couldn't see where MSEG was used in this simple patch!
Sounds like Urs is on it, though, and for now I can just click over to another fx screen to solve the problem.

Nah its fine, i just saw your post and wanted to insure you that there had to be a way out of your problem and from the looks of it Urs seems to be on the right track I hope you will enjoy the Oldskool soundset when things get back to normal.

/Michael

[bk]

Oh, don't worry. I'm enjoying them right now!
Excellent work!

edit:changed thread title to more accurately descibe what's going on.