I open a DAW and load Kontakt. When the Laptop is online, the CPU Usage is 0%. When the Laptop is offline I have a CPU Usage from 50 % to 100 %.

I have a Lenovo Laptop which works very good. I made all Updates. With a new SSD I installed all new. So installed Windows. But with this new installation I have the problem with the offline CPU Usage. I run lots of antivir and all other things. There is nothing found.


When I open the task manager it starts everytime with CPU 66 %. When I see the 66 %. I know the problem is not solved.


I read the complete internet, but there is no solution. Someone wrote that this is a Windows problem from version 1709.


Do everyone have a solution for that ?


Windows 10 64 bit all updates.

 

Optimal working with contact
In the following text, I recommend a few measures with which Kontakt can work more stable and faster in a given system. The stability and performance of Kontakt is always heavily dependent on the individual hardware conditions, so every user should try various settings in order to find their own sweet spot. In addition, there is no guarantee of improvement even after all of the above measures have been implemented. However, experience shows that in the vast majority of cases it is definitely worth it. An optimized contact can run more stable and perform better in a weaker system than a non-optimized standard installation on a much stronger system.

Even if these measures and interventions are of a less serious nature, a backup of the system should always be created beforehand, which can be used in the event of a problem. In addition, it is absolutely advisable to make backup copies of the respective instruments in case you want to intervene at the instrument level. If you don't know exactly what you are doing there, it is best to keep your hands off it and work off the other points.

Contact memory server
Even when idling, a DAW with a single active Kontakt instance (mind you, without loaded samples) can take up more than 1GB of RAM. If you still run Kontakt on a Mac under 32-bit hosts and have more than 4GB of RAM available, you should activate the Kontakt Memory Server globally under "Options"> "Memory". This makes it possible for Kontakt to provide storage space beyond the approximate 4GB, which is maximally available in 32-bit systems for audio tasks. On 64-bit systems you can and should do without the KMS, as this can even have a negative impact on performance. Unfortunately, the KMS is only available to Mac users.

DFD Settings
Kontakt always loads only a certain part of a sample into the RAM. The rest is streamed from the hard drive via "direct-from-disk", or DFD for short. The ratio of pre-loaded and streamed samples can be edited and specified either globally or individually for each instrument. A greater weighting of the RAM allows the system to load more samples at the same time and to relieve the CPU by loading a larger proportion of a sample into the RAM ready for processing. If there are very large RAM reserves available (32 GB and above), it can even make sense to deactivate DFD completely, since Kontakt can work faster (at least in theory) if the RAM is used alone without resorting to DFD.

The DFD settings can be set globally via "Options"> "Memory" in the upper contact toolbar. The size of the preload buffer can be adjusted using the slider. A low preload means less RAM consumption, but more CPU load, since a larger proportion of the sample has to be streamed from the disk. A higher preload corresponds to more RAM load and causes a smaller CPU footprint. The smaller the value, the faster the hard drive from which the samples originate should be. However, if you work with a slow hard drive, you could benefit from increasing the preload buffer.

It also makes a clear difference for the performance of Kontakt whether an instrument consists of a few (and e.g. rather short) samples or whether it consists of hundreds of individual samples. Therefore, the DFD settings are ideally adapted to the conditions of an instrument at patch level. To do this, click on the wrench in the instrument header and navigate to "Instrument Options". If the option “Override Instrument's preload size” is activated in the global memory settings, the individual DFD settings of the instrument cannot be manipulated. This option should therefore be deactivated beforehand.

Multiprocessor support
Multiprocessor support can be set under "Engine" in the global contact settings. Contact is usually faster and more stable when the DAW takes over the multiprocessor management - provided, of course, that more than one processor core is available. Therefore, the multiprocessor support should be deactivated in the settings.

Nonetheless, if you have recurring performance problems, it can make sense to try different settings. For this purpose, the system should be brought to its performance limits by means of (at least) as complex and polyphonic MIDI sequence as possible, which is played at high speed, until there are audible dropouts and possibly even a freeze. Now the error should be reproduced with different multiprocessor settings (contact multicore ON - DAW multicore OFF, contact multicore OFF - DAW multicore ON, both ON, both OFF) until the most stable configuration is determined.

Voices
In the instrument header, the memory consumption of an instrument is specified in KB, MB or, in the case of very large instruments, even in GB. It is important to know that this value is only part of the total load in contact actually caused by the instrument. Kontakt knows different storage categories, the usage of which can be determined in the "Engine" sub-section in the "Monitor" tab of the Kontakt browser. The two most important are “Sample Memory” and “Voice Memory”. Sample memory corresponds to the audio load caused by the samples, which is displayed in the instrument header. Quite a few instruments, however, cause additional stress on the voice memory, which often corresponds to the size of the sample memory, without the user necessarily being aware of it. Typically, high voice memory values are caused by contact-internal modulators and effects. To make matters worse, in the truest sense of the word, the use of the voice memory is multiplied by the number of available Voices.

Therefore, even a moderate reduction in the Voices displayed in the instrument header can provide a performance boost. Even if an instrument is not played at all, every active voice leaves its footprint in the voice memory and thus eats up resources. If 256 voices are available in an instrument, while the musical events only demand a few triads, the number of voices can be reduced significantly in some cases. This is done by either pulling down the value for “Max:” next to “Voices:” with the mouse, clicking on the small arrows next to the numerical value or entering the desired new value directly by double-clicking on the value. The decisive factor here is audible voice stealing, i.e. avoiding an abrupt interruption of a tone when a new tone is played.

FX
Some contact instruments, which at first appear unsuspicious due to their manageable size, cause a very high CPU load when the RAM is not used, which hinders smooth work. Triggers are often the internal effects, which in combination can be real CPU hogs. Just to illustrate, it is not uncommon these days for a contact instrument to consist of over 100 groups. If an LP filter is now looped in at the group level, Kontakt makes more than 100 instances of this effect available - with the corresponding consequences for performance and stability.

Kontakt provides the user with a whole range of internal effects that are available either at group, instrument or send level. These effects can be viewed and edited via the instrument settings (wrench). A click on the "B" at the top left in the respective FX box activates the bypass. A click on the "x" in the top right removes the effect completely. It should be mentioned here that the removal of internal effects can change the output sound significantly in some cases. Each user must therefore decide for himself whether he can reproduce the sound he wants in other ways and whether the gain in performance is worth the extra effort.
If Kontakt is used as a multi and the internal effects are required for a specific sound, these can be placed globally on the aux channels instead of running them redundantly for each instrument, which also saves resources.

CPU profiling
In order to determine at all which instruments put more stress on the CPU than others and require appropriate maintenance, users can activate the option “CPU Profiling Mode” on the left in the browser under “Monitor”> “Engine”. The proportional CPU load of the instrument is displayed in% in the instrument header.

Purge
The purge function "cleans" the RAM of the samples of the respective instrument, or to put it the other way round: the samples of the respective instrument are removed from the RAM when the purge function is activated. This can also be seen from the fact that after a purge a 0 is simply displayed in the instrument header under Memory. If samples are now triggered via keyboard or MIDI region, the samples assigned to the respective note values are individually dynamically reloaded.

The purge function is always useful when the so-called sample pool, i.e. the entirety of the samples belonging to the respective instrument, is significantly larger than the selection actually required by the user. This is the case, for example, when a complex loop instrument with a size of several 100 MB extends over several octaves, but the user only triggers a handful of samples. In such cases - provided that the corresponding MIDI parts have been finalized and it has been decided which samples are required - the cursor / locator should be moved back to the beginning of the project. Now click on the drop-down menu next to “Purge” in the instrument header and select “reset markers”. Then let the track run through once from start to finish and then click on “update sample pool” in the same place as described above. Now only those samples are in the pool that are actually required for the project. This reduces the RAM load per instrument, sometimes drastically.
With Purge you can cut even demanding multinationals down to a manageable size. Purge also works non-destructively, i.e. with a click on "reload all samples" the entire sample pool of the instrument is restored to its original form.

https://recording.de/threads/optimales-arbeiten-mit-kontakt.202329/

 

Ok, thank you very much. That helps for Kontakt.

The Offline Problem is with all things. It is too, only loading a DAW.
The problem is when there is no internet connection. When the Laptop is online, all is normal.
But with my DAW Laptop i am only online for updates.

 

As a very first measure, I would completely disable this service. For normal internet access, this is not necessary at all and even if your home network needs a proxy to access internet, you can configure that without needing "Web Proxy Auto Discovery".
Win 10 can be stubborn when trying to disable a service so make sure you read the forums about how to properly disable it permanently.

Good luck!

 

You have to check what process is taking the CPU cycles.
Check with this
https://processhacker.sourceforge.io/
or
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

There are many tutorials about both programs.

 

PS:
> I run lots of antivir and all other things.

Antivirus software is known to often degrade audio performance so keep that in mind when you get audio crackling.

@KidPix From what I understand, he's done that already, as the thread title names the process causing the high cpu load.

 

Windows 10 : How to Start or Stop WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto Discovery Service

Windows 10: How to set-up and optimize a Digital Audio Workstation
https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/...-and-optimize-a-Digital-Audio-Workstation-DAW

Don't let audio glitches ruin your performances! PDF
https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/

LatencyMon 7.00
The LatencyMon software analyzes and identifies which device, which driver or which service is causing audio dropouts or malfunctions.
Real-time audio suitability checker
for Windows 10/8.1/8/7/2016/2012/2008 (x86 and x64)
Scroll Down to: System Monitoring Tools
https://www.resplendence.com/downloads

Deactivate C-States
1. Deactivate C-States, P-States, T-States (depending on the BIOS) or set C-States to C0 / 1.
This means that the CPU cannot go into sleep states.
2. Deactivate the enhanced halt state (C1E).
3. Leave EIST and Turbo Mode activated.
4. I just mean that you shouldn't install any additional tools for driver updates, BIOS updates, fan control, WLAN management, etc. etc. The manufacturers also provide a bunch of rubbish tools that are best not installed.
5. So I install the mainboard drivers myself, handpicked, and note which ones run well.
6. With O&O win10 shutup (I have a Win10 test installation on a different SSD) I deactivated things
7. Windows 3rd party drivers should not be updated by Microsoft.

 

Last edited: Aug 16, 2021

Ah! YES!!

With Autoruns https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns
Go to SERVICES TAB and disable the WinHttpAutoProxySvc

 

I deleted all antivirus and other software after testing. I installed all only for searching.

 

I will try the tips, thank you very much.

 

I don't have this service there. Can i stop all Lan / WLan services ?

 

No ! Please leave everything as it is. Please do not deactivate any services.

First optimize your PC, if the problem persists, we will look for a solution together.

 

Maybe the problem is the complete network ?
The Service is in the task manager , but not in the autoruns list.

 

Yes, great. I will make all what here is written and after that i will write again.....

 

Windows 10 : How to Start or Stop WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto Discovery Service

 

Last edited: Aug 16, 2021

Ah yes Windows 10 background circus so many people become software engineers because you need become one if you want this so called OS to behave somewhat ok useless background tasks that never ends even the build in micro av have problems cleaning is own cache of downloaded definitions is such a mess windows update oh man better prepare to recompile the os in order to make it work again broken drivers weird bugs missing files but the windows store is up and running eating memory cpu for those useless fake apps Solution: debloated win10 there are builds available that are heavily modified toned down and outright removed components that make win10 bearable.

 

Everybody has...
Run AUTORUNS as an administrator and in AUTORUNS>OPTIONS do not enable "Hide Microsoft Entries".

 

That worked. I hided the Microsoft Entries. Now i disabled the service and my Task manager CPU goes from 66% to 44% when i open it.
So i watch for the processes which are now using CPU.

 

I stopped the process and i wrote it. The CPU goes from 66% to 44% when opening the task manager. I will watch for working tasks with the tools which are told to me. Thank you very much !

 

Thanks to all for the very helpful tips. I am a whole piece forward. Great Forum.