Diva on Ryzen

[moscom_electronics]

Great! I am planning to update my computer, sounds like the right time to do so (or wait a bit and see what comes from Intel?)

[Urs]

I'd wait a bit longer, but it does look very good IMHO.

[malifica]

We had a brief test with Diva on Ryzen 7 1800X, and it seems to be a hell of a CPU:

• init patch
• resonance fully up
• 16 voices
• Divine mode
• no Multicore
• ... not a crackle

I don't recall any CPU that does this off-the-shelf, and not for 500 bucks.

We'll do some more intensive testing and keep you posted.

- Urs

Am I missing something? I just copied your screenshot settings to Diva 64 running in BitWig 1.3.xx and while using an i7 3770 at stock clock can get the same results with 10% CPU utilization and if I go nuts and have a midi clip hitting 20+ notes concurrently the CPU goes to 20%, but still NO audio crackles.

Edit: To clarify I am also set at 128 with 3sec latency. And by the way, your single core cpu usage is over 90% according to your screenshot.

[Urs]

Am I missing something? I just copied your screenshot settings to Diva 64 running in BitWig 1.3.xx and while using an i7 3770 at stock clock can get the same results with 10% CPU utilization and if I go nuts and have a midi clip hitting 20+ notes concurrently the CPU goes to 20%, but still audio crackles.

Edit: To clarify I am also set at 128 with 3sec latency. And by the way, your single core cpu usage is over 90% according to your screenshot.

Our test show 5.1% in Reaper. That however is 5.1% of *all* cores, including virtual ones.

Yes, it's 90% on one core according to Task Manager. That's pretty good for a single core and 16 voices.

We haven't tried a wild MIDI file though, we used a 4-Note chord with 4-Voice-Stack and 16 voices.

However, we also tried a lot of live playing, and it was generally flawless.

[malifica]

Am I missing something? I just copied your screenshot settings to Diva 64 running in BitWig 1.3.xx and while using an i7 3770 at stock clock can get the same results with 10% CPU utilization and if I go nuts and have a midi clip hitting 20+ notes concurrently the CPU goes to 20%, but still audio crackles.

Edit: To clarify I am also set at 128 with 3sec latency. And by the way, your single core cpu usage is over 90% according to your screenshot.

Our test show 5.1% in Reaper. That however is 5.1% of *all* cores, including virtual ones.

Yes, it's 90% on one core according to Task Manager. That's pretty good for a single core and 16 voices.

We haven't tried a wild MIDI file though, we used a 4-Note chord with 4-Voice-Stack and 16 voices.

However, we also tried a lot of live playing, and it was generally flawless.

It seems disingenuous to turn off multi-core in Diva and then use the Reaper calculation of 16 "cores". Imagine how awesome a 20/40 Xeon or whatever would do with the same settings.

Anyway, I do think we need more tests for the typical VST customer to be able to refer to and use to make informed DAW configuration decisions.

P.S. are you set in the OS for Background Processes to be prioritized? and I am not sure if Reaper sandboxes your .dll as BitWig and/or JBridge can do. Personally I see improved performance with many VST instruments regardless of bit in a segregated environment.

Keep up the fantastic work!

[Urs]

As I said, it was just a brief test. From rumours about Ryzen benchmarks we were very suspicious, but so far it turned out to be a very nice experience.

As this is now the fastest Windows machine at u-he HQs I expect one of the guys to adopt it and do their everyday work on it, which should give us some more real world impressions.

[malifica]

As I said, it was just a brief test. From rumours about Ryzen benchmarks we were very suspicious, but so far it turned out to be a very nice experience.

As this is now the fastest Windows machine at u-he HQs I expect one of the guys to adopt it and do their everyday work on it, which should give us some more real world impressions.

Well for everyday dev work, I think the Ryzen is a fantastic choice. Make sure you let that lucky dev know that you expect more from them and no more missed deadlines with the fastest computer.

[diaper@ky]

...

[EvilDragon]

P.S. are you set in the OS for Background Processes to be prioritized?

This is not a necessary tweak anymore since W8/10.

and I am not sure if Reaper sandboxes your .dll as BitWig and/or JBridge can do. Personally I see improved performance with many VST instruments regardless of bit in a segregated environment.

It can do that by running plugins as a separate process, or dedicated process. But generally that just adds some overheads - it's not necessary if the plugin used is running at native bitness of the host. It's only worth it for stability, but it impedes the workflow because plugins open in their own window and steal keyboard from the host. Reaper can embed bridged UIs (on Windows only), but it's again a compromise since that makes it somewhat less stable - at which point I'd say there's no reason to sandbox a 64-bit plugin if you're running the DAW as 64-bit.

[tasmaniandevil]

P.S. are you set in the OS for Background Processes to be prioritized?

This is not a necessary tweak anymore since W8/10.

Hmm, I recently installed Win10 in a virtual machine (for testing purposes) and switching to 'Priority for Background Processes' improved the performance of DAWs and plugins significantly. Thus I personally would still recommend this setting, even in Windows 10.

[EvilDragon]

Must say I didn't really notice a very big difference with Reaper/RME combo here...

[MFXxx]

Im holding off on a i7700k upgrade at the moment, although reading around theres a few mobo bios and windows10 tweaks required to et it where it should be. Saying that from urs post and what I have at the moment, it be like jumping out of a fiat 500 into a bugatti chrion for a processor costing less than a fiat 500
Diva, Nebula3/4, sand, mjuc, 2caudio are the main culprits for bouncing down and be so nice to see things moving live

[malifica]

Im holding off on a i7700k upgrade at the moment, although reading around theres a few mobo bios and windows10 tweaks required to et it where it should be. Saying that from urs post and what I have at the moment, it be like jumping out of a fiat 500 into a bugatti chrion for a processor costing less than a fiat 500
Diva, Nebula3/4, sand, mjuc, 2caudio are the main culprits for bouncing down and be so nice to see things moving live

If low ASIO latency is a priority, the 7700k is objectively the only CPU to consider for a DAW. Use the money saved to buy an NVMe SSD or save for something that really matters... like monitors or headphones.

Or you could wait for Intel X goodies to come out later this year, but then you will be paying a premium for 10% more performance.

The thread scheduling issue being demonstrated with the Ryzen chip in Windows is not something that is a bug. The scheduling bug was a Linux specific problem and was corrected in an update to the kernal. This 'fix' was already part of the Windows coreinfo, so the Ryzen is working as intended.

Will we see some performance gains through maturity? I hope so.

[timc3]

Would love to know what motherboard, sound card/interface & way of connecting it you are using to get that performance with Ryzen.

[diaper@ky]

Want to thank you for confirming my suspicions.
Caching on AMDs and smart Pre fetch algos are playing a big role in these scores, which tells me that too, will just get better with more use.