BUG: Plugins causing great CPU load even if playback is stopped

[don_ortalion]

Waveform Version 11.1.0 (Built: 29 June 2020) (64-bit) Kubuntu 18.04

It happens with sandboxing on and off. Caused rather by effect plugins than instruments.
Doesn't matter how big audio buffer size is.
I was trying to record screen, but strange thing happened - CPU load lowered when i pressed record in screen recorder.

[fde101]

Plugins are allowed to run with playback stopped if the "Run audio engine when stopped" option is enabled under the "Options" menu. This is by design, as some plugins may produce audio with nothing coming in, and some users might be working "live" - for example this allows you to play sound through a MIDI keyboard controlling a VI in the DAW while playback of recorded media is not taking place.

Plugins are in effect running with silence coming in as their input. Some will still produce sound under these conditions. This is not a bug in Waveform, but it might be that the specific plugins you are using are not written efficiently.

[astey]

Plugins are allowed to run with playback stopped if the "Run audio engine when stopped" option is enabled under the "Options" menu. This is by design, as some plugins may produce audio with nothing coming in, and some users might be working "live" - for example this allows you to play sound through a MIDI keyboard controlling a VI in the DAW while playback of recorded media is not taking place.

Plugins are in effect running with silence coming in as their input. Some will still produce sound under these conditions. This is not a bug in Waveform, but it might be that the specific plugins you are using are not written efficiently.

Example: Waves plugins got an "analog" knob, which is basically a knob for noise. This runs constantly.
Vst 2 api does support to stop inactive plugins... but its more or less optional. vst3 api has it as an requirement... but seems to be buggy. Steinberg disabled this feature by default in Cubase now.

If your specs aren't sufficient freeze point is your best friend. Some plugins require too many resources. Example: This is why I stopped using Izotope despite their quality.
"Stop audio engine" in Tracktion caused problems with my plugin library, so I can't recommend it for everyone.

[don_ortalion]

I understand processing when playback is stopped, but the cpu load is greater just since last update.