Some Kontakt libraries use more CPU than others - RESOLVED

David Polich · Post by **David Polich** » Tue May 05, 2015 7:07 pm

I have the very latest version of Kontakt 5 (5.5). Running DP 8.07 in 64-bit mode, OS X 10.10.3, Quadcore Mac Pro 5.1 with 32GB of RAM. I'm experiencing a very weird issue with
"some" Kontakt libraries.

Certain libraries, when loaded, cause the Performance meter to show about 70% to 90% usage. This is with buffer set at 256. Specifically, Vir2's Electricity (18 GB data footprint), and all Orange Tree libraries (averaging about 1GB of data per library).. Yes, I have the latest versions of these installed. Loading any of these and then trying to play them usually causes the audio to stutter and drop out intermittently. Changing the Buffer size to 1024 helps a bit, but not much.

What's odd is that my largest K5 library, Soniccouture's Hammersmith piano, weighs in at over 45GB, and yet loading it does not peg my Performance meter, even at 128 Buffer setting. And none of the NI libraries (Session Strings Pro, Session Horns, Studio Drums, etc.) cause any problems.

Wondering if anyone else is experiencing this with certain Kontakt libraries.

Gravity Jim · Post by **Gravity Jim** » Tue May 05, 2015 9:25 pm

I've seen some variation, but nothing so dramatic as one instrument eating 70% of the bandwidth. I've read online that Kontakt libraries with heavy scripting can do what you describe.

labman · Post by **labman** » Wed May 06, 2015 5:04 am

Jim is correct. Heavy scripting can peg DP (or any other DAW)

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Wed May 06, 2015 6:17 am

And one solution is to use more instances of Kontakt with less instruments is each. Large sample count and/or heavily scripted instruments should be in their own instance. Lighter weight one can share instances.

According to Magic Dave, this distributes the CPU load across more of the cores. This is true of any VI, but you're probably seeing it more in K since more 3rd party instruments are (in my experience) available for it. I also see better results in MachFive with that method but don't see as much of a problem with a newer Mac Pro trash can. In fact I've yet to see much of a CPU hit at all in anything done since upgrading. That might also be the SSD.

David Polich · Post by **David Polich** » Wed May 06, 2015 7:04 am

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:And one solution is to use more instances of Kontakt with less instruments is each. Large sample count and/or heavily scripted instruments should be in their own instance. Lighter weight one can share instances.

According to Magic Dave, this distributes the CPU load across more of the cores. This is true of any VI, but you're probably seeing it more in K since more 3rd party instruments are (in my experience) available for it. I also see better results in MachFive with that method but don't see as much of a problem with a newer Mac Pro trash can. In fact I've yet to see much of a CPU hit at all in anything done since upgrading. That might also be the SSD.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I never run more than one instrument at a time in Kontakt. In fact
I never run more than one VI at a time. SonicCouture's Hammersmith involves some fairly extensive scripting. So does Sample Modeling's Trumpet. Neither of those cause this Audio
Performance overload.

I contacted Greg at Orange Tree, he says he's stumped. This is a weird issue. So far, my only workaround is to make a quick mix down, take every other audio track offline, and then record the part, bus K5 to an audio track and record it as audio, then remove the instrument from Kontakt.

David Polich · Post by **David Polich** » Wed May 06, 2015 10:53 am

After loading some more libraries that "used to work fine" in the previous version of Kontakt, I
now believe that this is an issue with the latest version of Kontakt and DP 8.07 running in Yosemite.
Because now almost all of my libraries peg the Audio performance meter, even at a buffer setting of 1024.

This sucks. Well, I don't recommend downloading the latest version of K5.

Anyone know how to get older versions of Kontakt?

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Wed May 06, 2015 11:12 am

Not seeing that. How are your hard drives?

Michael Canavan · Post by **Michael Canavan** » Wed May 06, 2015 11:49 am

I get some issues with certain libraries, Cinesamples takes far more CPU than any other library for instance. I definitely have to run that one as separate Kontakt instances.

I'm not seeing all my libraries running high CPU though, only Cinesamples, and it does have heavy scripting. Sounds amazing though.

David Polich · Post by **David Polich** » Wed May 06, 2015 7:57 pm

Ok, I think I've found the culprit. I turned off Kontakt's Memory Server and Multi-Processor support.
That reduced the CPU usage greatly. I still have some libraries that are more CPU intensive than others, but I can still load an instance of them at a buffer setting of 256 and DP doesn't fall over.

So, lesson learned, at least for me - when running Kontakt 5 in DP 8.07 in Yosemite 10.10.3, disable
Kontakt memory Server and Multi-Processor support.

I just upgraded my Mac Pro to Yosemite this past Friday. I didn't encounter this issue running Mountain Lion 10.8.5. So it's a Yosemite thing - maybe just specific to my system. I still advise DP users to dsiable Memory Server and Multi-Processor support in Kontakt if you're on Yosemite.

kgdrum · Post by **kgdrum** » Wed May 06, 2015 8:14 pm

I'm glad you figured out the problem,from my hazy memory Memory Server was designed to get past the 3 or 4 gig limitation that existed in the 32 bit kernel,from my understanding it's no longer needed in the 64 bit kernel.
If I remember correctly I stopped using Memory Server after the move to 64 bit & DP8.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Wed May 06, 2015 8:22 pm

Sounds right to me.

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Wed May 06, 2015 8:45 pm

rom my hazy memory Memory Server was designed to get past the 3 or 4 gig limitation that existed in the 32 bit kernel,from my understanding it's no longer needed in the 64 bit kernel

My hazy memory is agreeing with yours. 4G is the max that a 32bit app can use without a kluge like Memory Server. 64bit sets you free.

Gravity Jim · Post by **Gravity Jim** » Thu May 07, 2015 1:11 pm

Your Hazinesses are correct. I was told when going to 64-bit to turn off the Memory Server to avoid problems. Didn't hear about Multi-Processor Support.

kgdrum · Post by **kgdrum** » Thu May 07, 2015 9:45 pm

Gravity Jim wrote:Your Hazinesses are correct. I was told when going to 64-bit to turn off the Memory Server to avoid problems. Didn't hear about Multi-Processor Support.

I still have multi-processor support on..............
may the haze be with you

DanielCoe · Post by **DanielCoe** » Mon May 11, 2015 1:05 pm

David Polich wrote:
So far, my only workaround is to make a quick mix down, take every other audio track offline, and then record the part, bus K5 to an audio track and record it as audio, then remove the instrument from Kontakt.

That sounds quite cumbersome. I run into similar issues with rev. It just gobbles up my CPU. But with any such gobblers what I do is freeze whatever is on that instrument instance. Then I simply disable the instrument in the tracks window using that little blue button. It's a task but simpler than what you are describing. The freeze function automatically solos the necessary information without having to manually change anything. It's quite handy. Plus, it makes it such that you can revisit the MIDI easily at a later point. Everything is still there but it's just disabled and not using any CPU.

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