VSTCache mystery - story continues

[KrzysiekK]

As some may know, I experienced this weird behaviour of Tracktion3: the longer plugin list (found in VSTCache file, in Tracktion temp directory), the worser performance (regardless how many plugins are actually loaded in a project; the problems can be experienced with just one plug loaded).

In my big VST list I have FM8 plugin, which can be found on line 2520 of VSTCache file.

I did following test:

1. used original VSTCache (the one where FM8 plugin is on 2520th line); run FM8 and added three automation lines. Bang ... 100% of CPU use

2. modified "name" xml attrib of FM8 - changed it from "FM8" to "zFM8". This way FM8 is now on 14th line of VSTCache (Tracktion3 automaticaly reorders the plugins on startup according to "name" attrib). The plugins listed in VSTCache file are in reverse alphabetical order therefore FM8 jumped up in the list from 2520 to 14th line.

Guess what - FM8 now performs flawlessly...........


I can imagine this mess as a big pointers sequencial list in memory created by Tracktion. When Tracktion wants to access plugin number 100, it must pass through 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, ... 50, 51, ... 98, 99 - IN REALTIME. How else can I explain this phenomeon?

I would like to ask Jules (an original author) for details, maybe this issue reaches T1 (though I have no problems running this version), but - according to the statement on his website - I am affraid he does not respond to Tracktion related questions anymore...

[UncleAge]

After test #1;
Was the cpu continually 100% or was it a spike?
Do you get the same cpu increase without the automation lanes?

Next, are your vst's in folders(nested)?

[KrzysiekK]

Thanks for your questions

After test #1;
Was the cpu continually 100% or was it a spike?

No, it is not a spike. It is very high CPU consumption, sometimes reaching 100% of CPU, all the time cursor passes through variable automation curves. With no any single note played.

Do you get the same cpu increase without the automation lanes?

no. The rule is that there must be variable automation curves and the GUI of plugin must be showed after opening an edit (I can hide it then but the performance issue remain until I reopen the edit).

Next, are your vst's in folders(nested)?

the structure is following:


root (mine is D: )
_->VSTPLUGINS (dir)
__|--> Instruments (dir)
_____|--> [Instrument type] (dir)
________|---> [VSTi plugin] (DLL file)
__|--> Effects (dir)
_____|--> [Effect type] (dir)
________|---> [VST plugin] (DLL file)

(hope its clear, unless I will put a picture)

Though Tracktion has two paths in its "directories to search for VST plugins" window:

D:\Vstplugins\Instruments
D:\Vstplugins\Effects


---

I just thought I could try two things:

give Tracktion the paths to the VST plugins directly, eg:
D:\Vstplugins\Instruments\FM
instead of
D:\Vstplugins\Instruments

or, following your question - put all the plugins into one directory.

Krzysiek

[Gabriel_S]

Wow, you're certainly delving into this! Well I'm not a programmer or even close but i opened up the VST Cache with Word Pad and went to the final mix which was almost at the bottom of my list. It reads like this ...

<VST file="C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Tracktion 3\VST Plugins\Mackie Plug-ins\Final Mix.dll"
filetime="1107f6f8ed0" name="Final Mix" uid="4607320" synth="0"/>

OK so where do I change the attributes and would I also use "z". And if so, would I just add it to the begining of each of my most used plugs to move them up the chain or does each plug require a different letter?
An eg would be GREAT if you find the time

Gabriel

[KrzysiekK]

Wow, you're certainly delving into this! Well I'm not a programmer or even close but i opened up the VST Cache with Word Pad and went to the final mix which was almost at the bottom of my list. It reads like this ...

<VST file="C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Tracktion 3\VST Plugins\Mackie Plug-ins\Final Mix.dll"
filetime="1107f6f8ed0" name="Final Mix" uid="4607320" synth="0"/>

OK so where do I change the attributes and would I also use "z". And if so, would I just add it to the begining of each of my most used plugs to move them up the chain or does each plug require a different letter?
An eg would be GREAT if you find the time

Gabriel

before proceeding, some initial notes:
1. it worked for me after I removed all SUBDIR tags in VSTCache file - this causes that the plugins in T3 are visible as one big list (as opposed to categorized tree) which is not convenient to browse. But this actually allowed for moving the plugs to the top of the list - unless the plug is moved to the top of SUBDIR tag which it belongs to (eg. renamming "freeverb" to "z_freeverb" would cause that the plugin jumps to the top of "reverb" SUBDIR, not the top of whole VSTCache list). I have no idea how would it work _with_ SUBDIRs
2. my list consists of ~1750 plugins. If your list is short, the workaround may not bring much benefit (eg. when I reduced the number of plugs by half, Tracktion performed w/o noticable performance problem - this reduced the load from 100% to around 5%)

try changing name="Final Mix" into name="z_Final Mix". Make sure T3 does not make plugs scan on startup. You can use any name you wish - this is just a name displayed among plugins in T3 filters list (so do not look for "Final Mix" anymore, rather "z_Final Mix" in T3). Also, if FinalMix is nested within any SUBDIR, i.e. something like this:

Code: Select all

<SUBDIR name="Mackie plugins">
<VST file="C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Tracktion 3\VST Plugins\Mackie Plug-ins\Final Mix.dll"
         filetime="1107f6f8ed0" name="Final Mix" uid="4607320" synth="0"/>
</SUBDIR>

to make sure FinalMix will land on the top of list, I recommend putting it in root (somewhere between "VSTINFO" tags directly), i.e. outside any SUBDIR tag.

Best regards,
Krzysiek

[semiquaver]

Great work KrzysiekK! - very interesting - hope the devs are listening...

[Gabriel_S]

Excellent stuff. REALLY improved performance !!!!

Shame that T3 users have to find and fix bugs themselves. Isn't this Mackie's job?

[djsubject]

i found that removing the Tracktion 3 program folder & the vst folder from my AVG resident shield monitoring list solved all of my slowdown problems,

dont know if this info is of help to anyone else

Subz

[jas]

Posted this on the Mackie forum last week:

http://forums.mackie.com/scripts/forum/ ... 7;t=002575

Sorry if it creates a loop on the internet, but with NAMM coming up, it would be really good to catch their attention about this.

[Gabriel_S]

well opened up Traction today and the VST cache reverted back to its original self. All the modifications i made are history. Weird...but then again so is Traction !!!!!!!

So much for the performance enhancements.