CPU/RAM OPTIMIZATION TIPS

JJPP · 2022-06-04T17:44:14+00:00

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Hi,

I'm Kind of new to Maschine, and recently been having issue with a series of lags, crackling, and CPU overload. this occurs especially whenever I'm recording Live sessions, using external instruments with Multiple VST's or playing compositions written in MIDI.

I cant figure out what's causing this and would really appreciate any help.

here are my current specs

Best Regards,

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Comments

Kubrak

PharLight is demanding (all Light series plugins). And your CPU was strong.... Eight years ago. My current CPU which is bottom end of "performance" CPUs (AMD 5700G) is about 40-50% stronger than yours....

Concerning PharLight. Someone found out that internal effects used by plugin are very CPU hungry. And solution is to remove reverb and use external one. Sound is not as good, but it will do. Serch the forum for info, what to do.

Maybe there might be other optimizations.

Also, you do not write where the Kontakt libraries are placed and what kind of disc it is.

JJPP

Thanks for the reply.

I’ve basically came to that same conclusion that Pharlight is a bit much for the CPU, however I’ve been able to make it work with the rest of my VSTs, (ie for KONTAKT instruments with Purge button).

I guess what I’m asking is, are there any alternatives to this issue? other than getting a completely new system or are you suggesting that with my current specs. that it won’t be able to handle Maschine2+VSTs?

things I’ve looked into are

-Buffer speed

-Audio interface

-RAM

-PLUGINS & EFFECTS

-PROCESSING

I’m not sure if I’ve missed something, but if there are other ways to optimized the processing that’s a bit more cost effective, then I’d be willing to give it a shot.

best regards,

Kubrak

You may make audio buffer bigger. It introduces more latency.

And concerning Light series to modify patches as I have suggested. It should help a lot.

Your computer is not that weak, I stopped using notebook that had 1/3 of computing power of your maschine, quite recently. It just is not superpower beast as it used to be ssome years ago.

tribepop

Yeah your specs are good and should be able to run a decently-sized Maschine project. However, I’ve noticed certain VSTs are either very resource hungry or don’t always work well with Maschine. I’ve also noticed if I load a project and just immediately start playing it I’m more likely to run into glitches and pops even if that’s the only VST in the project. It’s like Maschine is doing some caching or processing in the background when the project first starts up so sometimes you need to give it a minute. If you’re using instruments that are heavily sample based then there could also be some caching or hard-drive read bottlenecks so make sure you’re running on a performant SSD.

Another issue I believe is that Maschine still does not support multi-threading like Ableton Live does. This means your CPU might be underutilized. You can do things like disabling the VST in Maschine and bouncing the track to audio but you need to remember to go back and disable the VST whereas in Ableton, you get all of that in a single freeze track operation.

JJPP

@Kubrak

I am currently in the Process of upgrading my MB & CPU. I'm planning on using more internal effects, VST instruments, mixing & mastering etc. I know these can cause lagging and a lot of latency

for my current workflow, do you have any recommended CPU & MB that are good but wont break the bank? **(current budget 1k)**

Kubrak

@JJPP

I would avoid Intel CPU. Their big.little CPU architecture they use in 12th and 13th gen may cause problems, if not using Win11 and SW used cannot handle big.little well. One can probably solve this by setting affinity of CPU cores or switch e-cores off. But why to ask for possible problems or do not use the whole CPU?

And beside that Intels are very power hungry. Higher cost on electricity and need for better and more expensive cooler... Maybe also more cooler sound (depending on cooler)...

Maybe that users of current Intels have different opinion... And would recomend it.

I would go for AMD. The only question is which generation. You may go for Zen 3 that uses AM4 socket and DDR4 RAM. That would be cheaper option but not futureproof. Or Zen 4 that uses AM5 socket and DDR5. That would be more expensive (DDR5 and motherboard), but futureproof (if using motherboard with higher end chipset, you might use it for several next CPU generations) and it is way faster than Zen 3. If you do not hurry, wait till RAM prices and AMD motherboards get cheaper.

I have minimalistic setup that I assembled over year ago. MiniPC ASRock DeskMini X300 (15x15x8 cm), Zen 3 Ryzen 7 APU 5700G (8C/16T), 2x32 GB RAM, 2 x 1TB NVMe SSD (1TB and 2TB would be better), Noctua lowprofile cooler. It is small, It was around 1000 EUR, back then, it could be cheaper now.

https://www.asrock.com/nettop/AMD/DeskMini%20X300%20Series/index.asp

Also, 2x16 GB RAM might do just fine. I use large Kontakt Libraries and wanted be futureproof for few years, so I have choosen 64 GB...

JJPP

@Kubrak

thanks for the response.

before i try and get a new MB and CPU i want to try updating my BIOS first. ive read that my BIOS version might be the one that could be causing the problem(CPU overload, lag, stutter etc._ im currently looking for what update might be compatible with my motherboard but no luck. im not sure if you know anything about BIOS updates but id take any help i can get. if you do know that would be great.

(MY CURRENT SPECS)

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/11300/motherboard-bios-update/p1?new=1

(BIOS UPDATE SOURCE)

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/5111/pharlight-100-cpu#latest

JesterMgee

My money would be on the fact that Behringer interface is the problem. The fact they cannot even be bothered to make proper ASIO drivers is the first red flag. Asio4All can sometimes be far from reliable and your system should easily be able to at least run a single instance of that synth. Hell my 10 year old machine using an old i7 4K CPU and 16GB ram can run 4x what you are trying there, with a decent audio interface.

The audio interface can really make the difference in how well a system will process audio in real-time. I assume you have already done all the perfoance tweaks for your system such as disabling CPU power saving and "ramping" and just setting the SPU to mac power in both windows power settings and BIOS?

Kubrak

Jester is right, audio interface may be problem, better said its drivers. Try your setup with different audio interface.

Tomorrow, the postman with RME Fireface 802 under his arm will knock my door. :-DDDD

JJPP

I have a (focusrite scarlett 2i2) just collecting dust. ive mainly used it for recording audio since a mixer can handle more input when using multiple external synths.

so, if it is an Audio Interface DRIVER issue. does that mean i should be able to run (pharlight, kontakt, Effects etc.) with ease and no CPU Overloading issues?

Also, do you recommend that i Update my BIOS As well?

Kubrak

Hard to say if different audio interface would make things better. It might, just try.

Your CPU is pretty old, hard to say if BIOS update would make things better. It may help, it may make things worse.

Pharlight is pretty CPU hungry.

I would try different audio interface and if that does not help try Latency Monitor SW to find out where might be a bottleneck.

JJPP

@Kubrak

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/5111/pharlight-100-cpu#latest

this guy was using I9 and was having the same problems hopefully the a BIOS update fixes it. im currently waiting on Giggabytes response on what bios update to use.

also, on my Screenshot. on Kontakt it says 100% but on my CPU monitor its only hitting 10% which is weird.

ive tried my Scarlett 2i4 and its performing decent but not perfect

RedwardMc

If you want to use high-CPU plugins, you can resample those parts to a new pad then turn off those plugins.

Kubrak

@JJPP

You have to look at individual cores, not on overall CPU value.

And also, do you have set on use of multithreading in Kontakt? Kontakt might use just one core instead of several ones, in your case....

And also, Monitor shows that ethernet line is bussy. Do not you have web browser on? Some are on (background) even if one closes them...

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