Huge problem with CPU stutter when leading and playing stems

kkm

Hello Guys and Gals.

I recently upgraded to Pro 4, so I can play around with the stems functionality.

I separated about 15 tracks (DnB, about 3-4 minutes long) so I can get a feel of how it all works with an S4 MK 3 controller, but to my surprise, whenever I loaded a stem track I got very heavy clicks as audio feedback, while loading the track. Now, this is not that much of a deal, so I continued to play tracks (only stems).

Now having two decks playing, the moment I loaded a third one, the whole software went crazy.

Audio completely stuttered, the decks went out of sync, a channel deck completely refused to react to any of my inputs, such as volume control, filters (both on stem level and master)

This went on through all the time I was playing around (about 3 hours).

Anyone got any similar problems with pro 4? I think my i7 10th gen should be more than adequate to handle this.

Sûlherokhh

Yes. And i am not surprised. You were basically playing 12 tracks at the same time. I imagine only the top-audio-optimized high end computers won't have troubles. I still work with an i5 and two tracks + 4 samples + FX on 1 or 2 channels (for a total of 8 active audio routes + recording) is the limit of my machine.

TurnedTables

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/189423#Comment_189423

I've got a dual core i5 and with TP4 I've had 3 stem tracks on the go with no issues. I notice the load tends to run a little higher on TP4 compared to TP3 but it copes. My laptop only struggles if I use multiple FX or key lock/shift.

Kubrak

@kkm

The problems may be also in insufficient size of RAM, Traktor might swap virtual memory to disc and that may slow down things a lot…. Mainly if disc is slow.

Also i7 by itself may be sufficient, but its cooling is not. So, CPU clock frequency may go down and reduce considerably computing power….

Heisenberg

Yes, in 2024 I would always recommend at least 16 GB of RAM, even if you only use it for surfing or office work.

The onboard graphics will certainly also take up RAM, Windows starts with swap at 70 to 80%, and there should still be some left for prefetch, and Windows 11 easily allows itself 4GB of RAM.

I consider 8GB of RAM to be critically low these days and a RAM specification of 4GB for the minimum requirements is completely utopian.

At OP do you have enough RAM and have you tried increasing the audio buffer?

kkm

So I have 16 GB ram, dedicated GPU set as primary, so I suppose no ram is being used for the integrated GPU. I noticed that the CPU meter that we have in Traktor goes to red, yet when I check the performance from task manager I see that it's peak is 50% (2.4 GHz). I'm confused why this is happening. At this point I'm certain that it's a software problem. But it's pretty bad, that's why I posted here, if someone else has the same issue. I mean having decks completely off for any input for 30-40 secs is pretty bad.

Heisenberg

Okay, that should be fine, have you already activated multicore support in the options?

The CPU meter in Traktor is the audio buffer, it's best to set it higher for testing.

Here are a few basics for optimal latency:

https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/de/articles/209571729-Windows-Optimierungs-Tipps-f%C3%BCr-die-Audioverarbeitung

EzxaktSounds

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/38255/huge-problem-with-cpu-stutter-when-leading-and-playing-stems

Hiya.

Been having exactly the same issue with my Pro4 and S4V3 controller when playing a track and then loading a Stems one. Was driving me nuts. Worked through all the options on here and still the same. Bought 32gb memory to help. Still had same issue. I'm running i7 32gb 500gb ssd with Win11

Finally resolved it.

System > About > Advanced System Settings > Performance

"Adjust for best performance"

Running like a champ now. 😊

EzxaktSounds

I may have spoken too soon. It's better but still there is a stutter issue