MuLab 10.0.85

[MuTools]

/fabrecord

Nice

[MuTools]

Some others could start a group company or sort kind of grow / expansion...
But is your decision and I respect that.

Is this a concrete suggestion?
How do you mean?

[syntonica]

I'm using the latest versions of 9 and 10 and am monitoring the system level CPU usage. I'm starting from a fresh boot and waiting until mds/mds_workers have finished. The only changes made to my machine have been updates from Apple, purportedly security updates, which is why I tend to blame them.

I just wanted to confirm that Mulab was more or less consuming about the same CPU. The project uses a lot of basic automation, mostly on volume and panning. I'm also looking at just an empty New project to rule out rogue plugins. The Audio settings are at their defaults of 2 audio threads (i5 CPU).

This is all on my original MBP 2014, where I have a number of plugins that, for various reasons, cannot be used on my newer MBA 2020, where if Mulab does use any more CPU, it's negligible.

It's all very strange to me what could be causing this issue.

[MuTools]

So this huge cpu issue happens with both M9 and M10?

And even an empty new project uses a lot of cpu in both M9 and M10, right?

[syntonica]

Correct. I'll explore it some more today as I find time.

Is Apple punishing Mulab for not being signed? I wouldn't put it past them... /Conspiracy theory mode off

[FabBad]

Some others could start a group company or sort kind of grow / expansion...
But is your decision and I respect that.

Is this a concrete suggestion?
How do you mean?

I'm not the one to tell you what you do with your company and staff (never) but for what I saw, if the things start to grow and you still working as the first day... I only see a some kind of block or even fear of changes, yes, changes can be terrifying but if one knows very well his stuff and his strengths and weak (in other words know yourself), the probabilities that something went wrong is... low.
Again, your creation needs more recognition by the mainstream, so when this happen you gonna have to expand your company.
Just toughs. Maybe someone is wise in this area.
I bough this software 5 years ago, and the only grow i see is the development, which is not few! (fortunately), but still in some kind of underground.
Maybe I'm wrong... but is what I see.

[sl23]

Hey Jo, have you ever thought of trying to team up with a plugin dev, like u-he, TAL, etc?

[MuTools]

Hey Jo, have you ever thought of trying to team up with a plugin dev, like u-he, TAL, etc?

Yes that thought has passed my mind already a couple of times.

[sl23]

The only thing is, you've been at this, on your own for what, 20 years or more? Through no fault of your own, you've not really gotten far, no disrespect, but you are fighting against big companies and fighting alone. I would say your closest rival is Reaper, and look how much better that is doing. I know you've been burnt, but I bet you're burning yourself out doing this alone.

None of us want MuLab to die, but at the rate it's going, it'll never thrive either. More customers means more incentive, for sure, but without more developers, the speed of development can never increase. I think it's time to team up with someone. My favourite would be the u-he team. Great developers who are interested in listening and making good reliable products. But they may, of course, not be interested!

I say this with encouragement, not criticism, hope you see that.

[syntonica]

So this huge cpu issue happens with both M9 and M10?

And even an empty new project uses a lot of cpu in both M9 and M10, right?

There's two things here. On Big Sur, if I set it to NOT use hi-res, I get a lot of CPU back, although not all of it. Isn't all of this handled by the GPU? Anyway, the project plays back until it hits the reverb + distortion on some old plugin that's not not showing it's GUI. CamelCrusher, maybe?

I tried v9 on my other potato running Monterey and it runs properly, barely sipping any CPU cycles at idle. There is no option to use hi res since it's not a Retina display. I'm not able to test my project as I cannot install all off the plugins and it's actually slower than the Big Sur computer.

I guess I'll have to put the whole thing over to my M1 and find substitute plugins. Anyway, it appears to be Apple slowing my computer down for... reasons...

[Michael L]

This is all on my original MBP 2014.... It's all very strange to me what could be causing this issue.

You might need to analyse your system. I also run MuLab on an old 2018 Mini with no issues BUT I don't upgrade the OS (for compatibility reasons).
So many things could cause problems.
In your case, Big Sur is the most demanding OS you can run on that old CPU. Does it run Intel binaries automatically under Rosetta (which uses more CPU) even with your Intel CPU? DAWs need a lot of processing because they host other apps elsewhere. Is MuLab the only host you have used for a long time that would show issues? Is your hard drive full? Do you swap RAM? Does MuLab read your external drives and are they SSD with APFS? Are all old plugins entirely uninstalled, like with Audio Plugin Uninstaller? What kind of old temp files, caches and dead links have accumulated in your system? Do you occasionally open in Mac 'Safe Mode' which does a file system check?
You are correct that security upgrades both fix and create problems!
I am in the middle of a cleanup now, from kernels to caches
I use the industry standard EtreCheck Pro diagnostic. It is excellent!!
It might be easier to just migrate to new hardware, because you can't upgrade the CPU.

[syntonica]

This is all on my original MBP 2014.... It's all very strange to me what could be causing this issue.

You might need to analyse your system. I also run MuLab on an old 2018 Mini with no issues BUT I don't upgrade the OS (for compatibility reasons).
In your case, Big Sur is the most demanding OS you can run on that old CPU. Does it run Intel binaries automatically under Rosetta (which uses more CPU) even with your Intel CPU? DAWs need a lot of processing because they host other apps. Is MuLab the only host you have used for a long time that would show issues? Is your hard drive full? Do you swap RAM? Does MuLab read your external drives and are they SSD with APFS? Are all old plugins entirely uninstalled, like with Audio Plugin Uninstaller? What kind of old temp files, caches and dead links have accumulated in your system? Do you occasionally open in Mac 'Safe Mode' which does a file system check?
You are correct that security upgrades both fix and create problems!
The user is the only person who can find his unique system issues. I am in the middle of a cleanup now, from kernels to caches
I recommend the industry standard EtreCheck Pro diagnostic. It is excellent!!
It might be easier to just migrate to new hardware, because you can't upgrade the CPU.

I went over the computer with a fine-toothed comb. I threw out about 50gb off junk and the 500gb drive is now only half full. I rebooted and made sure there was nothing else running.

Basically, the heaviest OS process is the Window Server and Mulab has always matched it, or been lower, when idling. Now, it uses 2-3 times more CPU than the Window Server does, which can amount to 75% of one thread (out of four).

I've noticed Apple did a lot of work on their processes. They used to be heavy, but steady in the CPU usage. Now, they are lower, but tend to spike often. Less CPU usage average now, but unpredictable when they spike.

Unfortunately, I really can't touch that computer. There are plugins (like Dagger from BeepStreet) which will no longer install since they shut off the authentication server. (A-holes. Not buying another thing from them...) Big Sur is the highest it can go. I have access to a 2015 that I can swap my drive into and then update to Monterey, but that's the only benefit. The CPU is only maybe 5% faster at best. Definitely not worth the hassle.

Either Apple cranked up the security and it's slowing Mulab down, or Jo made some changes under the hood, probably to the graphics, that needs more power.

I should just sample the crap out of the dead plugins and let them go. Use the samples on my M1 and stop fussing.

[Michael L]

stop fussing.

That's it.
We need to draw a line when we spend more time serving the computer
I will connect my current Mini as a slave when I get another, one of these days . . . . .

[syntonica]

I don't require features. I used to think I did, but I wasted all my time chasing features rather than doing the work of composing. That's why I use Mulab. Simple, to the point, and bug-free (relatively ). I was most productive on Logic 5 with a 1024x768 display. Logic 6 was okay-ish, but 7 was abysmal. Spent some time with DP, got nothing done. Tried to go back to Logic X, hated it even more than when Apple first started monkeying with it. I demoed Bitwig, Studio 1, Reaper. What a huge mess of crap they show. Mulab easily won, even at version 6! If I have to drop the high res on my Retina display and look at a furry Mulsb, then so be it.

[Michael L]

I don't require features. I used to think I did, but I wasted all my time chasing features rather than doing the work of composing. That's why I use Mulab. Simple, to the point, and bug-free

That has also been my experience.
Do you think many have learned that, and are looking for a more efficient DAW like MuLab?