Hi guys,

I am wondering how much does effect some soundtoys plugins your CPU load?
I have a i7 4790k (4,7GHz) and i noticed that with only a few plugins my load get quickly around the 45%.
The plugins that are quite heavy are PrimalTap and Radiator.

My system specs are:

-Windows 7 SP1.
-i7 4790k 4,7GHz.
-Asrock Z87.
-DAW: Ableton Live 9.5 (x64)
-ASIO4ALL v2 @ 1024 samples buffer size.

Separated:
-PrimalTap = 21%.
-Radiator = first fluctuating 13% - 27% then it stabilize at 26/27%.

Together (same bus) = 29%.
Different bus = 26%.

This is at 1024 samples latency, i tried other latencies but the overall load is not affected that much on these plugins. Keep in mind this is on 64-bit.

 

Last edited: Mar 3, 2016

Which daw are you rocking?

On a 2920i7 laptop I can run a shit load load of cpu intensive plugins with reaper.

 

Forgot to add thanks for mentioning.

 

Quad core i5-2400 @ 3.1 GHz
Soundtoys plugs are almost negligible CPU hit on my system. And that's including all the PACE nonsense. I'm running Live 9.6 and Studio One 3.1-something (haven't updated yet). both x64

I think when I check performance breakdown in S1 most of my ST plugs are 2-5% cpu depending on which one it is. Most are on the lower end of that spectrum

So I'd guess there's something going wrong for you.

 

try using a real sound card with actual drivers, instead of this ASIO4ALL nonsense.

 

i had the same CPU it's 4.00 GHZ and some cores get up to 4.4 not all of them.

 

, ty for the info will have to check what is wrong with Soundtoys 5 (other plugins have normal load compared to OSX version)

I will try, i tried also my onboard audio driver from Realtek.

All cores run @ 4,7... OC'ed ofc.(1,22V)

 

Sounds more sound toys related than anything else. Im using directsound on realtek and am able to run 30 or more instances of waves abbey road plate which is cpu heavy.

 

@focusrite: ok, but ASIO4all is problematic all the time e.g. with built-in Realtec on Surface Pro 4 i5 / i7. High CPU load, vanishing IN/Outputs and so on. With real ASIO drivers and USB Audio theses problems are gone for me.

 

...Mono or Stereo? Same bus?

Something is definitely wrong with this setup.
One instance of Waves Abbey Road Plate 25% CPU load, damn it now i am really pissed spended the last 3 days installing everything...

Edit:

I deleted some drivers which improved the load on Abbey Road Plate, but it has not changed the load for the Soundtoys plugins exactly the same...

Mono = 6% single instance
Stereo = 13%

Really weird.

 

Last edited: Mar 3, 2016

When I enable multicore CPU in Live's settings I get 23% on (PrimalTap+Radiator on one bus) when I disable multicore CPU I get 14% (deleting and re-loading the Plugins). May be problem with multithreading in Live with VST Plugins?

 

Get a decent audio card,asio4all is only good for post apocalyptic production when audio cards wont be so easily available.

 

ASIO4ALL is never the source of issues, it's always the driver, or hardware conflict.
ASIO4ALL acts only as a bridge between WDM and ASIO interface in your DAW, so it can't get better than your Realtec driver.

Buying external card is not always the best solution. Integrated audio modules are usually connected directly at PCIe Root Port, thus should run at even lower latency than "decent" USB cards. Consider roll back to Windows' internal driver for your Realtek, or if you have this capability, route audio from DAW through WASAPI exclusive mode (no pooling).
As long as your integrated DAC chip sounds fine, it doesn't suffer from clock mismatch or too audible jitter elements, and you don't need inputs, it may as well be enough.

 

@twoheart

Is this on a i7 4790k? If so it we have both the same problem or it is just normal...

To sort the issue really out, i hope more people can provide the CPU load for plugins like Soundtoys Radiator or PrimalTap or Waves Abbey Road Plate.

Even if it is not the same processor i would love to hear more, so i am sure that there is a problem.
Also please be specific (mono/stereo version, same bus, etc)

Thank you! (gave you all a like for responding/helping)

 

Last edited: Mar 3, 2016

1) Did you turn off Speedstep in BIOS?

2) Did you configure Power Settings in Windows for "Maximum Performance"?

Most probably Live is showing you CPU usage when your CPU is running at 800 MHz or so, before it throttles to a faster frequency. When you turn off Speedstep it will work at 4.7 GHz all the time, and you'll be able to see the real CPU usage which should be a few percent per plugin at the most.

Either that or your i7 is a garbage CPU [someone tricked you and flogged you i3 instead?] because all the Soundtoys plugins on my old Phenom II @ 4GHz use just a few percent of CPU, just a bit more than on my regular i7 4770/90 and FX 8350/70 PC builds.

Otherwise, you should try Reaper with WASAPI driver rather than ASIO4All. WASAPI does generally tend to use a bit less CPU than ASIO4All, but a normal ASIO driver, particularly from RME or Lynx works best.

 

Last edited: Mar 3, 2016

I have this system for 1,5 years now i just got back to Windows.
And it is really a i7.

So i tried your findings, and i just disabled all the C-states and adjusted Windows Power Settings.

Yes it worked, thank you so much, i am not a complete noob but i never had seen this issue which effected my load so bad even my clock freq was up to +4GhZ, now the Soundtoys plugins are acting normal i think.

PrimalTap (1x) = 4%
Radiator = 5%

Both on 1 bus = 9%
Separated bus = 5%

The CPU hit for Waves Abbey Road Plate is unchanged, stereo = 13%

Thank you SineWave.
(how to get the ASIO drivers from RME or Lynx? i checked their websites, just install their audio drivers to use their ASIO implementation i guess?)

 

Last edited: Mar 3, 2016

Don't forget speedstep, massive difference

 

Still i am curious how you can run 30 instances of Waves Abbey Road....

 

Good stuff.

 

Ableton works like shit with Windows Power Management. If is not set up on Maximum Performance, even 2-3 Kontakt instruments and some Synth can get it to 100%