DP CPU Usage

[tencentcat]

I'm new to DP, and I can't seem to find an answer to this searching the forums. Does Digital Performer take advantage of dual processors? I have a dual 1.25ghz G4 with 1.25 gb of ram, and it just seems that DP is extremely power hungry according to the CPU meter.

I've tried different buffer and clock settings settings, but even at 24/48khz the meter will spike just arming a track to record. Just playing back a few tracks taked the meter a third of the way up. I don't see how I can get a full project going this way. Any tips?

[Morpheo]

Yes DP is optimized for dual processors.
How many voices/busses do you have in your 'studio settings (menu setup>configure audio system>configure studio settings) ?

[tencentcat]

16 mono and 16 stereo voices, which is the default setting. I haven't really changed anything but the clock speed and bit rate.

[Splinter]

Change the buffer settings in Hardware Setup. Try 512 or 1024 and see if that helps.

[tencentcat]

I tried changing the buffer setting. It makes a noticeable difference on the meter, but I need lower settings for live tracking. I'm on version 4.52 by the way.

[midiw]

Originally posted by tencentcat:
I'm new to DP, and I can't seem to find an answer to this searching the forums. Does Digital Performer take advantage of dual processors? I have a dual 1.25ghz G4 with 1.25 gb of ram, and it just seems that DP is extremely power hungry according to the CPU meter.

I've tried different buffer and clock settings settings, but even at 24/48khz the meter will spike just arming a track to record. Just playing back a few tracks taked the meter a third of the way up. I don't see how I can get a full project going this way. Any tips?

Well according to mother MOTU @

http://www.motu.com/techsupport/technotes/document.2004-05-04.0146026746/view?searchterm=dual%20processors

Does Digital Performer 4 support multiple/dual processors?

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*

Yes, the dual processor performance bar is no longer necessary as support is already built-in to the application. Digital Performer 4 has been optimized to utilize multiple processors in OS X. You can find this information on Page 9 and 28 in the Getting Started Guide.

Hope this helps.

[tencentcat]

Thanks for the input. That's encouraging that it's not wasting power. I'm just a bit shocked at how much it seems to use for tasks that don't even register in Logic (not to make an uneducated comparision). I've heard the CPU meter in DP is not exactly accurate - any truth to this? Should I just ignore it and not worry about hitting the ceiling?

[Freddy Bloggs]

MHO
DP4.52 is very cpu hungry, so a slower processor - hard to believe but dual 1.42 is slow compared to G5 2.0 & up - you will have to use higher buffer settings for good performance.
Sucks for tracking, actually unusable imho, but works well for mixing etc.
Even tho the CPU meter is supposedly innacurate, at low buffer settings the system does crap out with minimal voices/VI's.
I have a dual 1.8 G4 gigadesign cpu. 1024 is my basic setting & that works well for mixing. I switch back & forth to lower buffers for tracking soft synths. It works, but it's not the ultimate solution.
From what i read here & on OSX Audio the G5 is much faster for DP than the G4.
Now i'm gonna eat my pizza.

[Siryne]

tencentcat: you don't say which audio interface you are useing. If it is MOTU then Cuemix is your friend. Gets you latency free monitoring so you can run the higher buffer settings.
Peace!

[EDL]

I have dual G5 (2v1.8 revision 2) and small buffer make the CPU gauge easy to fill out... In fact, no really matter the host : using small buffer is intensive.

Even with the G5, I wouldn't consider buffer less than 256 if I need juice. I mean, using 64 sample buffer, I can maxout with 4 altiverb, while with 1024 samples, it can run over 20 instances (mono to stereo 2,8s lengh) !

[aerodynamics]

Could heat be the culprit?

I'm seeing very similar behavior from my setup (CPU spikes just from record arming, pops and clicks during tracking/playback). Some days its good to me, others its not. What I've noticed is that when this happens and I call it a night, the next day it works w/o a hitch. When it acts up, I shut everything down - all hardware, hard drives, etc. I give it an hour or so and try again. I get about an hour of trouble-free work before it gets the hiccups again. This leads me to believe that heat, either on the processor or hard drive side, is causing this.

I normally record at 88.1, 24-bit. I've tried every buffer setting, cut down on voices, everything. I'm running outboard effects so it's not a plug-in issue. Assuming I'm right about my heat theory, what can be done to remedy this? I could blow a big ol' fan towards the laptop vents! While that would be okay when I'm tracking synths and drum machines, it would be a no-no recording anything live. Or am I SOL and need to pony up for a G5? If you're wondering what's in my setup, see my sig.

[motuguy]

Originally posted by Fred Bloggs:
MHO
DP4.52 is very cpu hungry,

How did you ascertain that?

I usually have DP's CPU panel open/running and really have not seen it max out unless I use far too many AU/VST virtual instruments.

I've also ran the Activity Monitor and Cunning Fox and not really seen DP hog my cpu.

So I am really interested how you ascertained that DP is a CPU HOG.

[dmshep]

I've found it fairly easy to max out our dual 1.25 with 2GB of RAM. 7 or 8 instances of UAD plugs, Waves on most channels, and some automated plugs and it starts getting woozy. I think I should be getting more power out of it than I am, but can't seem to figure out why it bogs down so quickly. I'm running it at 1024.

Off-topic, I suppose, but I've been trying to figure out a problem with the UAD card where the DP CPU meter will suddenly spike and stay full and red until I remove one or two UAD plugs, and then it's happy again.

[Tomas E]

I had a similiar problem some years ago. Below is a quote from MOTU Tech Support:

"Try setting the Disk Cache in the memory control panel to the lowest
setting (96 or 128K). This usually clears up problems with disk spiking."

DP may however alert you about the low Disk Cache setting.

[inukshuk]

Originally posted by e-snobben:
I had a similiar problem some years ago. Below is a quote from MOTU Tech Support:

"Try setting the Disk Cache in the memory control panel to the lowest
setting (96 or 128K). This usually clears up problems with disk spiking."

DP may however alert you about the low Disk Cache setting.

e-snobben

I checked and there is no Disk Cache settings in DP or Panther OS X. I did a find and no results came up.