Anyone else see crazy cpu spikes when using the stereo version of butch vig? Seems like it needs an update..

 

Thats the VST will test in Pro Tools and report back.

 

I read that H-Verb needs a decent GPU to be able to run it well. might be the same with Butch.

I am not a computer expert but I know that the Fabfilter stuff and Studio One gives you spikes if you're gpu doesnt support the right version of OpenGL (correct me if I'm wrong).

 

Could be true..

I have an ATI Radeon HD5500 series... Does that suggest I need an upgrade?

 

To be honest, I don't know. My best guess at the causes from most probable to least would be 1) That specific card doesn't have great support. 2) Its not Nvidia, they usually have better support 3) its out-dated.

I doubt that its outdated because a 4-5 year old discrete card should still be better than an integrated one (once again correct me if I'm wrong someone).

All I know is that I'm building a PC soon and I'm not taking any chances along with it. Im putting a i7-4790k and a "gaming" $2-300 Nvidia GTX card (havent decided on what specific card yet) because I want my cpu to be just focused on audio processing and not rendering GUIs.

Even as of like 3-4 months ago, If someone wanted to put a discrete gpu in their music-production-only rig everyone would recommend against it and say to just go integrated, but I think tides are changing now.

One relatively simple thing you could do depending on what CPU you have is take out the ATI and use the integrated to see if it helps.

 

A gaming GPU really? Yea see people always suggested for audio machines to leave a basic GPU why so? if a gaming GPU frees up the CPU isnt this always better? Can some explain?

PS my Fab filters run fine. no spikes

Also butch vig is spiking in PT 10 also .. the stereo plugin..

 

I think that its because for the longest time plugin GUIs were just bitmap images, one for the background, x many for knobs, and etc, so the cpu had to do nothing but decode it, load a few kilobytes to ram and the gui was taken care of.

But now with all these crazy GUIs and re-sizeable stuff, plugins are using vectors (think FL 12), which means everytime the gui changes the cpu would have to render a new image for it. This task could be offloaded to a discrete gpu.

A cpu and a gpu are essentially the same thing except for how they're designed to perform tasks, a CPU has handful of super fast cores, while a gpu has 100s of slow cores.

Im pretty confident that the latest intel integrated gpus will be adequate for plugins, but they still would be offloading some stuff to the cpu.
However the main reason I want a discrete card is to be able to run a quad monitor setup in a 2x2 config (mixer stretched across bottom 2, top left for piano roll, top right for playlist)

 

I use 3 monitors, a AOC Q2770Pqu 27 inch @2560x1440, with a 17 inch iiyama 1024x768 on either side. The reason for that, in preference to having 2 stacked above each other, is the eye has much greater range of comfortable movement from side to side rather than up and down. I find it really uncomfortable to be looking upwards for any period of time, you find yourself having to keep moving your head up and down all the time. You end up looking like one of those nodding dogs found in the back windows of peoples cars

 

I agree side by side (by side) would be an easier layout in general, but 3 24" 1080p would not fit in between the triangle you need for proper speaker placement.

Even for your setup assuming the AOC is 24 inches wide, and each of the Iiyama are 14" wide would result in a total length of 48" add 6 more inches to the center of your speaker cones for a total of 54", You would therefore need to be sitting roughly 47" away from your monitors proper stereo imaging.

Now lets say you use monitor stands so you speakers are behind the line of monitors and your equilateral triangle is complete, your displays will most likely be blocking some of the bleed (or cross talk) to your opposite ear, so still affecting your stereo image.

My math and ideas of your speaker position are based on assumptions, but in general the math doesnt seem to work out, I strongly recommend you verify my dimensions and if the math still holds true, rethink your layout.

 

The 2 iiyama's are in portrait, not landscape so its 24+10+10=44" , sorry i forgot to say that before.

The speakers are on stands but sit slightly in front of the monitors and as they are pointing towards me, the monitors just about fit there. I also have a huge desk that everything is on, with my Panorame P4 sitting in front of me. That puts me around about the sweet spot for the speakers.Also i have a nice big office chair on castors so moving back or forth slightly is easy.

Sadly the speaker positioning in my room is the least of my worries.

Its a tiny bedroom in a flat with the people upstairs bedrooms right above me, with one guy working nights and another gets up at 4am to go to work, so hes in bed at 8pm, lol.

The room has no treatment either and its a weird shape as well.

Most of the time i'm using headphones though, just got to make the best of what i've got.

 

Alright thats fine, as long as you're aware of it and know that you need to compensate.

If you ever move your setup make sure you focus most of your attention to speaker placement because A) its the most important and B) it will dictate where to place your acoustic treatment.

I'm in the process of designing an entire studio within a given room, so I've modeled everything in 3d to plus or minus an inch tolerance so I can do all of my "head scratching problem solutions" before I even step in the room. This will be a big summer for me as I will be doing renovations to make a studio, building acoustic treatment, building a computer, and upgrading my signal chain. I'll try to take the time and document the entire process to post it on AS.

 

Waves uses OpenGL and accelerated graphics for it's UI, so you need _something_ of a GPU that can do that and doesn't have driver issues. A hd5500 will be fine.
I don't know of any native Waves plugin that actually uses GPU-processing for it's audio (very little plugins do, gpu-processing and 'low latency' don't easily mix).

 

So you dont think it is my GPU? Maybe my gpu needs driver update? My system should be able to run a instance of reaktor without hitting 25% right?

 

Hm... I'm never confident enough to say "IT IS SO" but I highly doubt it is GPU related.
Do you get cpu spikes out of nowhere while playing, or only when touching and changing the controls? In the later case, it might be driver related. If you're just playing and out of nowhere come CPU spikes, I highly doubt it's gpu related. Sounds more like a bug in the plugin or it's just the nature of the plugin.

You could always try another DAW (well.. let's say it another way. If you're not using Reaper yet, at least give the trial and small download a shot. If Reaper has the same issue you know it's not your normal DAW .

Also, what OS and DAW are you on anyway?

 

yes and no.
for what goes on there, see this link:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/2d-windows-gdi,2539-4.html
that being said, current cpus deliver more than ample power to deliver all your 2d needs.
i attribute the cpu spikes to bad joint stereo decoding within the plugin, or something like this.
just ditch the waves crap.

 

Win 7 64. I use PT 10/11 and Cubase 8 and 7.5 .. Problem is showing in all except pt 11 obviously as the plugin is not for that.

 

Can anyone else confirm if Butch Vig (STEREO) is a CPU HOG on your system? Please post DAW and tech specs..