Performance: no hybrid buffering? And plans to add that in the future?

[jens]

I've been using Cubase for years, and I discovered the ASIO Guard literally few days ago. It's a miracle. Now I wish, we could get something like this in Waveform. But I doubt, it would be possible in the near future because of the complex routing possibilities within Waveform.

Reaper has it and Reaper has the most extensive routing capabilites of all DAWs - it's super modular (it even (optionally) allows feedback)

But I always felt, Waveform is lighter on CPU than Cubase (without the ASIO Guard). Furthermore: Waveform has those unique freeze points, which are also a miracle

I've never used freeze and I'm a little old for starting to do that now...

I hate everything that's getting in my way of working quickly and efficiently.

[UnionS8]

I hate freeze too, but sometimes it's necessary. Luckily, Waveform has this amazing system of freeze points, so I can freeze plugins that are "done" and still leave a room for creativity But yes, the hybrid engine would be a huge step forward. A huge!

[jens]

I hate freeze too, but sometimes it's necessary. Luckily, Waveform has this amazing system of freeze points, so I can freeze plugins that are "done" and still leave a room for creativity

Yeah, I have to look into that since it's the only sort of freezing that would be acceptable for me - but then again: this thread exists (i.e. what made me look into CPU consumption in the first place) because I started building my default project in Tracktion and all of a sudden noticed that the CPU-display thingamajic started to get really nervous and I was like "Hang on - I didn't even do anything yet!?"
- and the track that seemed to be the biggest issue was my drum-channel:
Superior Drummer 3, IK Tape Machine 24 (I use this religiously on (nigh) every track, Softube FET MK2 (that one is quite new, otherwise it'd be ACME Opticom or so, maybe somewhat less then), V³ - so there's no way I could freeze anything on that track.

My answer to performance-issues has always been to upgrade my machine. But I just purchased my current one last BF and I still haven't even installed all my plugins yet

(Within the last six years or so I went from an 8550U over a 1065G7 and 4800H to a 12700H (meaning my CPU ressources more than tripled))

But yes, the hybrid engine would be a huge step forward. A huge!

Yes, it sure would!

[UnionS8]

This is really strange. Several users here complain about CPU spikes, but I found W13 the smothest version in couple of years.

[Purpan]

This is really strange. Several users here complain about CPU spikes, but I found W13 the smothest version in couple of years.

Are you using a powerful computer? The performance is dreadful on my 2017 Macbook. I know that's old, but Studio One, Reason and BItwig run very well on it, with great responsiveness. I'd prefer to use Waveform, as I'm a Tracktion user from T1, but it's too jumpy and crackly, even at big latency settings.

[Teksonik]

This is really strange. Several users here complain about CPU spikes, but I found W13 the smothest version in couple of years.

And I'm impressed with WF 13's CPU performance here so there is some reason why some are reporting problems and others are not.

It can come down to differences in system specs (even which OS they are running). Or it could be different use cases such as running different plugins, different production techniques, and so on.

I've used all the plugins that are in my starting line up with WF 13 without any CPU issues and again they seem to run better in WF than FLS.

So is there a particular plugin that's causing high CPU demand that I could test? Perhaps I can confirm the issue here by using the same plugin(s).

Obviously if there is a bug or flaw in WF 13 I would like to help find a fix but as of the time of this post I simply can not find anything to complain about with regards to CPU demand in normal usage and again my Win 10 studio system is an old i7 8700k so certainly not a modern powerhouse i9 etc.

Are you using a powerful computer? The performance is dreadful on my 2017 Macbook. I know that's old, but Studio One, Reason and BItwig run very well on it, with great responsiveness. I'd prefer to use Waveform, as I'm a Tracktion user from T1, but it's too jumpy and crackly, even at big latency settings.

That could be a clue. I've seen many times a piece of software will have issues with one OS but not another. Often that's because different people are programming the Mac and Win versions.

[jens]

It can come down to differences in system specs (even which OS they are running). Or it could be different use cases such as running different plugins, different production techniques, and so on.

I've used all the plugins that are in my starting line up with WF 13 without any CPU issues and again they seem to run better in WF than FLS.

It's all relative and a matter of requirements. I'm set on using a T-Racks Tape Machine on every track, whereas many others say one just can't do that as they just use too much CPU.

I could easily run hundreds or a thousand instances of a huge variety of plugins - just not of many of those I prefer to use. If you don't run in to any problems on your old machine it's quite possible that your projects wouldn't even use 10% of my CPU.

I did my first productions on a Celeron Tualatin 1300 - without freezing - no idea how I did it - but I still remember that from some point on I was constantly maxing out that CPU.

Let me see if I manage to dig out some old mp3 from 20years ago...

Anyway: as long as you don't make systematic 1:1 comparisons with others DAWs (which I did), your personal experiences are mere anecdotes and contain - enteertainment aside - zero information.

[jens]

Oh, I just looked up your CPU on the Geekbench 6 browser and people still get 6000-7000 multicore points out of it, so it's really not that bad actually, i.e. depending on what you do with it that machine is still gonna fly - no surprise there - my 4800h which I used until last autumn isn't actually that much more powerful (but I ended up maxing it out either way ).

[Teksonik]

Anyway: as long as you don't make systematic 1:1 comparisons with others DAWs (which I did), your personal experiences are mere anecdotes and contain - enteertainment aside - zero information.

You mean like the zero information you've provided here? Your reports are no more valid than mine...to anyone else.

Ok brother whatever. The only information I care about is that Waveform is very light on CPU here.

But then I don't do silly things like using a CPU hog gimmick plugin on every track but hey you do you. I own some of the TRacks tape plugins from various group buys and they are insane CPU hogs and wanting your audio to sound like tape on a digital system is an order of magnitude more insane.

CPU demand and CPU demand compared to other DAWs are two different things. If you own a DAW that's more efficient for the way you work then use it. Or spend all your time complaining about Waveform. Your choice but I think everyone here would prefer you do the former as opposed to the latter.

[jens]

Edit: not worth it, really not worth it - better to ignore than to feed...

[UnionS8]

This is really strange. Several users here complain about CPU spikes, but I found W13 the smothest version in couple of years.

Are you using a powerful computer? The performance is dreadful on my 2017 Macbook. I know that's old, but Studio One, Reason and BItwig run very well on it, with great responsiveness. I'd prefer to use Waveform, as I'm a Tracktion user from T1, but it's too jumpy and crackly, even at big latency settings.

I use an i7-13700H laptop with 16GB RAM and SSD with Windows 11. Nothing fancy. But when I compare W12 and W13, the newer one runs much smoother.

[jens]

You actually have quite a similar system to mine then, it seems...

[UnionS8]

You actually have quite a similar system to mine then, it seems...

This doesn't tell much unfortunately. When I compare this one to my former i7 11th gen. laptop, it's much more powerful, but when I open plugins in cubase, the previous one was 'smoother'. Even though the newer one runs much faster, when working in a DAW.

[vitocorleone123]

If Waveform had this feature I’d probably switch back to it from Studio One. I was thinking of paying for W13 until all the crackling began - which doesn’t happen in S1 with the same settings and plugins and hardware routing (except with default dropout protection).

It also needs a built in Listen Bus.