Why does it use so much CPU? How is that even possible? I've uninstalled it and don't want to install 10+ gb of FX just to test 1 plugin again but iirc it used ~10% of my CPU or so, something noticeable compared to other reverbs.
Edit: Re-tested...15% CPU usage

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 30, 2023

Arturia refuses to spend money on making their stuff more efficient.

 

What are your computer specs?

 

Generally Arturia plugins are normal CPU usage for me, but there are a few that seem a bit higher than normal. None quite as egregious as high CPU usage for emulating an already digital effect.

The issue isn't my PC in this context, I think it's optimization...or flatout lazy coding. My PC isn't great, but it can still run most reverbs just fine, including other Lexicon 224 emulations.

 

it runs at high internal sample-rate, not sure the exact number but I'm guessing around 8x OS. Using an 8x OS plugin while still having the needs to play Virtual Instruments with external MIDI controller is questionable choice on its own. Most good sounding algo reverb (ie. Kush GoldPlate) with overdrive/distortion/saturation or even smasher (aggressive compressor) will do that. The LX-224 even emulate the DA/AD conversion of the Lexicon unit and it needs oversampling to get the pristine sounding result. They rather deal with "CPU usage" complaints than people complaining about "aliasing" that will hurt their sales even worse. Marketing made that decision, and it's the best choice. Also GUI takes around 40-50% that and it's a fact GUI sells. This type of reverb plugin never designed to be used in a zero-latency production but more in a mixing where latency and CPU usage shouldn't be an issue with high buffer rate settings. At my usual mixing buffer settings, LX-224 only needs 1-2% power on my octa-core AMD old (4 years now) machine. Still capable of running full blown 200 tracks with average 3 plugins on every track.

Plugin from Valhalla and other good sounding reverb that use low CPU doesn't have saturation or compression which more suitable for zero-latency production.

 

Last edited: Jun 24, 2023

Apologies but doesn't the original lexicon reverb unit have aliasing?

Edit: It appears I'm wrong and they did have antialiasing filters...but isn't this just downsampling with a steep lowpass filter?

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jun 24, 2023

i know i have some plugins that run extremely heavy for what they are but arturia plugins always treated me good the only time i'll run into issues with a arturia plugin is when i have analog lab with 2 slots filled running both samples other then that they run flawless on my machine i pulled up a instance of the LX - 24 and i'm hitting between 6-8% which is about average for a plugin that sounds this good i'll usually set it up on a buss if i need multiple instanaces .. for me kush audio plugins run horrible on my machine..i get crazy CPU spikes and what not..the audio plugin world is a strange place.. you kinda just gottta find a good set of plugins that run good on your machine and just stick with that company

 

I love Arturia products, they genuinely always sound great, but good lord they are lazy as hell when it comes to optimization compared to every other major plugin developer. Like, why tf do you need 4000 .bmp files Arturia? WHY?!

 

but processing them all at higher internal sample-rate is CPU taxing because it needed Nth times as it would without oversampling. I think it was done in stages, and atleast 3 times one after another looking at all the features it includes that weren't present on the original unit. Drive, Compressor (for ducking), Bit-Crushing (3 modes with different sample-rate) plus the graphical analyzer isn't just simple, it's pretty and should come with a cost too. As an example, the Drive and Ducking are almost certainly done AFTER the reverb and bit-crushing stage, and it needs it's own upsample/downsample for it. It would sound weird if the ducking was done altogether with the reverb stage.

I'm still trying to find the logic in this, there must be some kind of reason as none of other known big or small developers using them.

 

Yeah this is true, but I still have some crazy plugin that I know eat CPU like crazy but there's always freeze function. An example being a clipper, I'll always go for 128x OS then freeze.

but still it needs around 10% of the CPU power when I'm mixing. strange.

 

It's probably IR based, just like the SPRING-636. That one is also very CPU hungry. When you have reverbs that both use IRs for the reverb itself, plus distortion and up/down sampling algos to recreate the preamps (or AD/DA in the LX-24), it can quickly get quite CPU intensive.

 

oh boy, I totally assumed they are both algo reverb. I never checked at all.

 

If they're using IRs then there's probably a lot of room for improvement. Similar to how Kontakt's own IR effect is 10 to 12 times slower than ReaVerb, NadIR or MConvolutionEZ

 

Yeah pigments CPU performance compared to any other flagship synth is absolutely abysmal when you compare identical patches with identical routing/fx which is so sad because it sounds fantastic, but not so fantastic that it's worth bogging down a massive project with many many instances of it when you can just do that with more efficient and versatile synths like Phase Plant.

 

An impulse response for an already algorithmic reverb sounds crazy to me...other companies have managed to get the algorithm close if not exact to the original unit without IRs.

 

off topic but another plugin that has thousands of images (it's in PNG format) is the Positive Grid Bias FX.

 

I'm not 100% sure that LX-24 is IR based, but I'm guessing it is since both Rev SPRING-636 and Rev PLATE-140 are, and because it is so damn CPU heavy. If it is algorithmic, it's crazy heavy for an algorithmic one.

I'm assuming that you are referring to ReLab LX480 and Valhalla VintageVerb. They have probably put much more time into fine-tuning the algorithms to recreate the old Lexicon algos. No one knows what the original Lexicon 224 algos look like since they were lost when Lexicon sold off some archaic servers back in the day. The algos in ReLab LX480 and VintageVerb are estimates of the original algos.

 

Last edited: Jul 2, 2023