xfade loop synth v3 might gobble RAM like crazy

[Francisco Cepero]

Hello, I've been enjoying Crossfade Loop Synth v3.1, but there are a couple of things which have led me to remove it from my system.

A couple of days ago, I was using the VST instrument version in REAPER. The GUI is sometimes difficult to deal with. Adjusting the knobs is a pain, it seems to like the minimum setting for almost everything. I could tolerate all of that, but for one thing: that day, I used the plug-in for about fifteen minutes when suddenly, when I called up the GUI, the system responded very sluggishly. So I opened the Windows Task Manager and discovered there was over 1GB assigned to reaper.exe!

One more bit of information about the GUI is that I used it once in ACID Pro 7, and after fifteen minutes or so using your plug-in, it ignored all mouse clicks on the knobs. I was forced to restart the whole music application in order to get another chance to use your plug-in.

As I've said before, I like the Crossfade Loop Synth, especially as VST effect, because it has great sound-mangling possibilities. However, if it's a memory hog, then I'd rather keep it off my system. I hope you could investigate this; I'm probably the only one with this problem.

I'm using a 3-year-old Toshiba laptop with Windows XP SP3, 1.5GB RAM and Intel Celeron M CPU.

Thank you for your attention.

[os]

Hi,
thanks for reporting the problem. I've not heard anyone else report the same thing.
It would be helpful if you could leave the task manager open while you use Reaper and Crossfade Loop Synth for a while. Watch the memory usage. Does it creep up? Does it suddenly jump? Does it go up quicker when you do certain things?
I think this is unlikely to be a problem in the plug-in code. Possibly it's a problem in your graphics driver. What graphics hardware do you have on the laptop? Is the driver up to date?
cheers,
os.

[Francisco Cepero]

Yes, I left Windows Task Manager running a while with REAPER and Crossfade Loop Synth active. The RAM requirements started increasing steadily from 200MB or so.

My laptop uses 32MB of graphics memory out of the system RAM.

os, I'm sorry if I sounded cruel, I really like this plug-in because it's almost impossible to re-create its antics from any effect chain or single plug-in. I enjoy using the effect version of Crossfade Loop Synth sort of like a complex guitarist delay pedal, getting quite complex textures which usually sound harsh but always interesting.

BTW, I received your e-mail about your new delay plug-in. Thank you for the info.

[os]

Yes, I left Windows Task Manager running a while with REAPER and Crossfade Loop Synth active.

When you say active, do you mean with the GUI open, or just processing audio (with the GUI closed)? I'd like to try to identify whether your problem is GUI-related or not. If so, whether it just eats memory while it's sat there, or only when you twiddle knobs etc.

[Francisco Cepero]

The last time I ran this combination was without McAfee Service Center installed. Of course, I had to re-install it before going back online.

I've conducted a couple of tests. First test:

267MB PF Usage (start REAPER v2.57)

288MB PF Usage (load in Crossfade Loop Synth VSTi)

320MB PF Usage (load in sample to use for VSTi, sample length 4MB, 24 seconds)

295MB reaper.exe
~530MB PF Usage

681 MB PF Usage after 10 minutes

660MB reaper.exe
~884MB PF Usage

after 20 minutes:
803MB reaper.exe
~1GB PF Usage

after 25 minutes+:
1 millionK : reaper.exe
~1.18GB PF Usage

after 1/2-hour:
1,140,000K+ : reaper.exe
~1.32GB PF Usage

at about 1.36GB PF Usage, reaper.exe jumped down to about 4MB usage and started increasing again from that point

after 35 minutes:
1.42GB PF Usage
memory allocation stops, Crossfade Loop Synth's GUI stops responding, CPU usage jumps when I try to adjust controls, shortly afterward CPU usage maxes out after I close the FX window (with Crossfade Loop Synth in it) and then reopen in REAPER.

After that, I tried to start a new project in REAPER with this plug but the CPU keeps going to maximum after I open the FX window.

On the average, REAPER required 7 or 8 threads.

Second test:

started ACID Pro 7.0b:
77MB acid70.exe
~345MB PF Usage

loaded in Crossfade Loop Synth VSTi:
100MB+ : acid70.exe
~365MB PF Usage

(loaded in the same sample as with the first test)

after 10 minutes:
344MB : acid70.exe
~600MB PF Usage

I closed then reopened the GUI a few times with ACID's sequencer stopped but the GUI stopped responding, but became normal subsequently during playback. However, the GUI stopped responding after I closed it and reopened it again, under any conditions. Many times when I placed the focus on the music application's window for the plug-in, the whole plug-in's GUI flashed, and when it didn't respond, it kept leaving patches of the Windows background color where I previously moved the mouse cursor.

A short time later I couldn't continue the test because the plug-in's GUI kept sticking up the system everytime I tried to open it. ACID required 25 threads or so on the mean (it's a greedy program)


In both cases Crossfade Loop Synth was the only VST plug-in used, and also I kept the music application and Windows Task Manager open on the screen at the same time. In both music programs, when the window with Crossfade Loop Synth was closed, the system stopped allocating RAM, but once that window was recalled the memory hog business would continue. The allocation was roughly 1 MB every 3/4 or 1 seconds. Also during the test, the plug-in worked just fine in sound, even when I couldn't display it. In the meantime I was checking out Windows Task Manager, I played a couple of MIDI parts: in REAPER I used the virtual keyboard far more often, and in ACID I kept playing a simple MIDI clip.

I hope this information is useful to you.

[os]

So I just tried Reaper. I see what you mean - the memory creeps up while the GUI is up. Drops back down when the GUI is closed though.

I tried it in Live too, which is what I usually test in. I believe it does the same, but much more slowly, which is maybe why nobody's noticed it before.

I'll have to look into this. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

[Francisco Cepero]

You're the best.

[os]

I did some investigation.

I'm not sure I'm seeing the same thing as you after all. When my memory is creeping up, it's only by about 4kb/s which is 1000 times slower than you reported. Also, having left it for a while, it does stop creeping after maybe a minute, and as I said as soon as the window is closed the memory is reclaimed, so this seems pretty harmless.

I also had a go with a memory debugging tool which could see nothing amiss.

So I think we're back to a problem with your system. You never answered my question about whether your graphics drivers are up to date. Could you please check?

thanks,
os.

[Francisco Cepero]

If there are any updates for the video of my notebook, I can't find them. There's nothing on Windows Update, and nothing on AMD's support website. The Windows Display properies report that the graphics driver is ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M SERIES, and AMD's website seem to have updates only for hardware graphics cards for desktop computers. I mean, all the RADEON models listed over there have 4-digit numbers.

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

My computer has a 15.4-inch screen, which isn't conventional, I suppose.

So I could just load up Crossfade Loop Synth, open the GUI and let it sit there for a minute, huh?

[os]

My computer has a 15.4-inch screen, which isn't conventional, I suppose.

Perfectly conventional for a Mac

I'm not sure how I can help you. I can't reproduce the same problem you have on any Windows machine I have access to. I know plenty of other users don't have this problem (indeed, I just came back from a festival where one of the performers played a 25 minute set using the plug-in in Bidule).

It saddens me to admit defeat, but in the crazy world of Windows software it seems inevitable that I occasionally have to.

If you bought a licence, contact me off the forum and I can arrange a refund.

[Francisco Cepero]

It saddens me to admit defeat, but in the crazy world of Windows software it seems inevitable that I occasionally have to.

If you bought a licence, contact me off the forum and I can arrange a refund.

No, I don't want you to be sad, os, actually I was kind of hoping you would come up with an update. But I don't want my money back. As I've already said, I like your plug-in, and I wanted to support you. In fact, I would buy from you again soon, but I have to decide what.

If I'm the only user which has Crossfade Loop Synth munching RAM on a laptop, then I'll use it with a workaround.

[os]

ok! thanks for your support.