KVR Audio

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Sat May 14, 2005 10:54 pm

Here's something I've been wondering for awhile about Cubase SX:

I can be plugging along with a normal-size project, with Kontakt, probably another synth, about 10-20 insert FX and about 3 FX Channels, and the CPU will be averaging about 40%. But as soon as I hit "Solo" on any track, the CPU spikes to the top and the audio engine breaks up, like in a bad crash.

Then I hit solo again, and everything's back to 40%.

Is this denorm? If so, how do I tell which plug is causing it?

Specs: Intel P4 2.6ghz, Cubase SX 2.2, Echo MIA PCI card, 1G RAM, WinXP Home, Kontakt 1.5, Hardcore Bass
Most common FX: TC Compressor/De-esser (v3.1), TbT plug-ins, Bionic Delay

ford442 · Post by **ford442** » Sat May 14, 2005 11:37 pm

what audio interface you usin.?

Bas · Post by **Bas** » Sun May 15, 2005 9:26 am

It could well be that a plugin suffers the P4 denormal problem, where it uses more CPU when not in use (or dealing with small values, than when it is in use processing audio.

You could try bypassing plugins (which stops them processing) and then test the solo, that would probably confirm the theory.

Bas.

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Mon May 16, 2005 4:20 am

So that is the denorm problem? Damn. I guess there isn't a list somewhere of denorm plugs...man, that sucks. Remind me why I don't use a Mac again??

ford442 wrote:what audio interface you usin.?

I use both an EchoAudio MIA and (at work) and EchoAudio Darla24. I'm not terribly happy with either of them, but I'm not sure if that's got anything to do with it.

cold c · Post by **cold c** » Mon May 16, 2005 4:26 am

bduffy wrote:Remind me why I don't get a Mac again??

Because it would be easier and cheaper to simply get a CPU and updated plugins that don't suffer as badly from denormal problems than it would be to replace an entire machine + software??

xanda123 · Post by **xanda123** » Mon May 16, 2005 12:39 pm

I had this problem it was superwave performer that did it on my setup every time in cubase, so I uninstalled it and sold it.

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Mon May 16, 2005 3:58 pm

cold c wrote:
bduffy wrote:Remind me why I don't get a Mac again??
Because it would be easier and cheaper to simply get a CPU and updated plugins that don't suffer as badly from denormal problems than it would be to replace an entire machine + software??

Yeah, that would be the reason.

Superwave Performer...isn't that SynthEdit? I'm beginning to suspect Bionic Delay... Are there a lot of problems with SynthEdit stuff, or is it the SE programmer's fault?

cold c · Post by **cold c** » Mon May 16, 2005 8:27 pm

bduffy wrote: Are there a lot of problems with SynthEdit stuff, or is it the SE programmer's fault?

I don't know, most of the synthedit stuff I use is MIDI only, and I use an AMD based machine so it is probably less noticable when it happens with any plug.

As Bas suggested above, try isolating the problem with bypass or the off button to see which plug (if any) is causing the 'spike' on solo.

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Mon May 16, 2005 8:40 pm

I'll check it out, thanks all.

Cubase SX CPU spikes when soloing only?