Buffering?

[irpacynot]

Am having trouble with one particular plugin with regards to CPU usage. As soon as I add it to a track, the CPU light in Tracktion Waveform turns yellow, and everything pretty much becomes non-functional within the project until I either mute the track or remove the plugin from the track.

Was wondering if raising the buffering would help, or if that only pertains to sound quality.

Thanks

[BertKoor]

What is your current ASIO buffer size? Which plugin are you having this issue with?

It is worth the experiment to raise your buffer size (double or 4x), and see whether that solves the problem.

Sound quality will remain the same, the only effect of a larger buffer is a bigger latency which you will only notice if you are recording yourself playing live. With a very large buffer you will hear it delayed.

Another solution is to 'freeze' that track. That will render it as audio so it won't use the plugin during playback, thus lowering CPU demands.

[osiris]

What Bert said. Also check and see if the plugin has a 'Mode' option. Sometimes things will have an option for Draft mode that frees up CPU. (Just don't forget to set everything back before you render. FL does this auto. Don't know about Traktion)

[Pictus]

Some plug-ins require higher buffers, an example from
https://www.zynaptiq.com/design/design-specifications/
"We recommend setting your playback buffer size to at least 512
or ideally 1024 samples for optimum performance."

BTW, if are using a PC, some good tweaks at
viewtopic.php?p=8667750#p8667750

[irpacynot]

What is your current ASIO buffer size? Which plugin are you having this issue with?

It is worth the experiment to raise your buffer size (double or 4x), and see whether that solves the problem.

Sound quality will remain the same, the only effect of a larger buffer is a bigger latency which you will only notice if you are recording yourself playing live. With a very large buffer you will hear it delayed.

Another solution is to 'freeze' that track. That will render it as audio so it won't use the plugin during playback, thus lowering CPU demands.

Right now, the buffer size is showing 480 (10ms).

I only use Waveform for utilizing MIDI tracks, mixing, editing, etc. All of my acoustic tracks I record on old Roland hardware (VS-880EX). So, latency shouldn't be an issue for me, I guess, with regards to delay. But I do need to be able to hear the plugin while the track is playing.

[irpacynot]

What Bert said. Also check and see if the plugin has a 'Mode' option. Sometimes things will have an option for Draft mode that frees up CPU. (Just don't forget to set everything back before you render. FL does this auto. Don't know about Traktion)

Will do. Not familiar with it. Does it still allow me to hear the affects of the plugin? It's Goyo, and I'm trying to use it for noise reduction.

[BertKoor]

Some ideas:

Save the audio track with noise reduction effect applied as a new audio file. You need to do it only once.

It's always better to cure noise at the source, prevent it from happening. With less noise you're not so distracted by it, so you can work without the noise reduction effect active, and apply it as a finishing touch afterwards.

A little noise is ok, but sometimes it gets unbearable with aggressive compressor settings with high gain. Do you really need that?

[osiris]

If it's an effects plugin it probably won't have that option. I didn't know if you meant a synth/sampler VST. If you're going to do noise reduction maybe record then do it in something like Audacity. Some plugins I use that have high CPU in FL doesn't even phase Audacity.

[zerocrossing]

What Bert said. Also check and see if the plugin has a 'Mode' option. Sometimes things will have an option for Draft mode that frees up CPU. (Just don't forget to set everything back before you render. FL does this auto. Don't know about Traktion)

Will do. Not familiar with it. Does it still allow me to hear the affects of the plugin? It's Goyo, and I'm trying to use it for noise reduction.

Try setting it to 1024 and see if that helps. Since you’re probably not playing live into it, the actual amount of latency is irrelevant. 2048 would be fine.

[irpacynot]

What is your current ASIO buffer size? Which plugin are you having this issue with?

It is worth the experiment to raise your buffer size (double or 4x), and see whether that solves the problem.

Sound quality will remain the same, the only effect of a larger buffer is a bigger latency which you will only notice if you are recording yourself playing live. With a very large buffer you will hear it delayed.

Another solution is to 'freeze' that track. That will render it as audio so it won't use the plugin during playback, thus lowering CPU demands.

Hmm...I don't think that would work. I need to hear the noise in order to reduce it.

If it's an effects plugin it probably won't have that option. I didn't know if you meant a synth/sampler VST. If you're going to do noise reduction maybe record then do it in something like Audacity. Some plugins I use that have high CPU in FL doesn't even phase Audacity.

That's very good to know. I didn't realize that. I was using Audacity strictly to normalize tracks before bringing them into Tracktion, but don't bother with that now that have some understanding of gain staging.

What Bert said. Also check and see if the plugin has a 'Mode' option. Sometimes things will have an option for Draft mode that frees up CPU. (Just don't forget to set everything back before you render. FL does this auto. Don't know about Traktion)

Will do. Not familiar with it. Does it still allow me to hear the affects of the plugin? It's Goyo, and I'm trying to use it for noise reduction.

Try setting it to 1024 and see if that helps. Since you’re probably not playing live into it, the actual amount of latency is irrelevant. 2048 would be fine.

Yeah, didn't work, unfortunately. It seized up as soon as I unmuted the track.

[osiris]

It's probably got a lookahead function. My Fx plugs that do that always behave badly. Sometimes I can use them in Audacity much easier. I have a Transient/compressor plugin I love but it chews CPU in FL because of its readahead audio buffer.

[zerocrossing]

Try setting it to 1024 and see if that helps. Since you’re probably not playing live into it, the actual amount of latency is irrelevant. 2048 would be fine.

Yeah, didn't work, unfortunately. It seized up as soon as I unmuted the track.
[/quote]

Sounds like a bug. I’d report it.

[irpacynot]

Try setting it to 1024 and see if that helps. Since you’re probably not playing live into it, the actual amount of latency is irrelevant. 2048 would be fine.

Yeah, didn't work, unfortunately. It seized up as soon as I unmuted the track.


Sounds like a bug. I’d report it.

All right, will do. It's worth reporting if they can fix it because I've seen this sucker in action, and man, it's pretty impressive as a noise reducer.

[osiris]

What is the name of the plugin? Audacity has a great noise reduction plug. It's a PITA to use but it workis.

[BertKoor]

What is the name of the plugin?

It's Goyo, and I'm trying to use it for noise reduction.

https://goyo.app