Effect Performance and how it might change workflow.

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Michael Canavan
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Effect Performance and how it might change workflow.

Post by Michael Canavan »

Was thinking about this. We now have access to what uses the most CPU on our systems. :headbang:

Assuming you're not having PreGen (PG) issues, PG is working exactly like freezing your tracks does for me, to the point to where the CPU difference between rendered audio and PG tracks CPU wise is negligible! The clincher is all the Real Time (RT) tracks in a sequence: busses, multi out instruments, audio or record enabled "live" tracks, side chained tracks, and plug ins on the Master fader track. All these are the CPU hogs on my system, none are able to use PreGen.

Basically the exact opposite of what I see people complaining about, that RT is better, that PG is 'hosing the system' etc. I think it's possible that some tweaking under the hood to accommodate the huge CPU improvements I see in PG has added to the cost of Real Time plug ins, or that there are/were some glitches in the performance of RT tracks etc. Here's the clincher though, the massive difference in CPU is uncanny, and I for one am going to take it into consideration with new projects, basically save the sweetening of tracks with side chain, bussing etc. until the end, and avoid multi out instruments in general.

More testing is needed for sure, but the immediate thoughts are that single track instruments and bussing for the most part at the end is the most logical way to go on projects that hose the CPU in the future IMO. Interesting stuff! :)
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HCMarkus
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Re: Effect Performance and how it might change workflow.

Post by HCMarkus »

Good thoughts Mr. Canavan!

I've been very pleased with the added effective horsepower PG has given me.
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Effect Performance and how it might change workflow.

Post by James Steele »

You're right. The other night I was switching various plug ins in and out of real time mode and watching the result in the Effect Performance window and it's really impressive how the load is reduced on some plugs with NextGen PreGen. It also started me thinking of a feature MOTU might add, and that's similar to what early versions of Photoshop had: the ability to designate which volume is the "scratch disk" that is used for memory swapping, etc. From what I understand DP is pre-rendering the result of the effect to an audio file in advance of the playback position. Makes me wonder if you designated a fast SSD as the volume where all this takes place it could make it even more efficient. Or better still, maybe you could tell DP as a preference how much RAM to designate as a RAM disk (remember those?) for all the pre-gen audio rendering?

Dunno. Just thinking aloud.
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philbrown
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Re: Effect Performance and how it might change workflow.

Post by philbrown »

I haven't delved into the Pre-Gen Real-time comparisons yet, so I can't comment. But per the the thread title...
Just simply knowing what plugs tend to be CPU hogs and letting that info gradually sink in over time will certainly help when your computer is getting taxed on a project. "Do I really need this CPU hog EQ on this track? Maybe MWEQ would be fine." - that sort of thing. Just making more informed choices. If things have already gotten out of hand then you could make an informed choice as to what could possibly be swapped out plug-wise to lighten the load.

The other thing I mentioned in another thread was UA plugs using WAY more CPU than I ever dreamed. I have 2 cards installed - a total of 12 DSP cores and UA plugs are using as much and sometimes more than "comparable" native plugs (quotes because I know it's apples and oranges). I expected the UA plugs to be at the bottom of the list with the Trim plug etc. but that is far from the case. I'm out of town at the moment but I plan to get some discussion going on the UA board and/or talk to them directly about it.

Hats off to MOTU for providing this tool. I don't know if it was their idea or a suggestion but it's one of those 'sleeper features' a lot of us will come to depend on I suspect.
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bayswater
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Re: Effect Performance and how it might change workflow.

Post by bayswater »

James Steele wrote:From what I understand DP is pre-rendering the result of the effect to an audio file in advance of the playback position. Makes me wonder if you designated a fast SSD as the volume where all this takes place it could make it even more efficient. Or better still, maybe you could tell DP as a preference how much RAM to designate as a RAM disk (remember those?) for all the pre-gen audio rendering?
I assumed pre-rendering is written to RAM, not a disk. If not, then yes, we need the option to make that setting.
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Re: Effect Performance and how it might change workflow.

Post by James Steele »

It probably is then. I have no idea. Makes sense. I was just guessing.
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