VST overload in cubase SX

ogandou · Oct 14, 2003, 01:13 AM

This is a sort of follow-up for the preceding thread concerning cracks when playing MIDI VST instruments in cubase with a controller keyboard. To sum it up, I have a SB Live with kX project ASIO drivers. I don't have cracks anymore when I play, instead, the sound from the VST instruments is cut every once in a while, and the VST performance meter shows a CPU overload (it's red!), although the rest of the bar is not over 70% max. No sound comes out for 2 or 3 seconds, then it comes back, and I have no idea why it does this. The HD performance meter does not budge. Ever.

Here are my settings for the VST multitrack panel: 12 disk buffers, 256 k of disk buffer size, kX ASIO driver, internal clock source, release ASIO driver in the background unchecked. 21.33 ms latency, 48000 Hz sampling rate. I don't use any audio, just MIDI and VST instruments (d'cota, groove agent and virtual guitarist). Therefore, the expert settings are low audio priority, and 6 seconds of preload amount. Everything else is unchecked. I don't know what setting of the ASIO driver I set wrong, does anybody have an idea? COuld it be something else?

Any help would be very appreciated!!

Olivier

TravelRec. · Oct 14, 2003, 06:38 AM

Hi!

Maybe it´s better to give a little more priority to audio. My system works well with equal priority for both, MIDI & Audio. Which kind of PC you are using (CPU, Speed). If you use a lot of plugins it could be better to increase latency (while playing) to higher values - this gives the CPU more time to render expensive sounds. Or you record the plugin one, before you start applying a second. 70% in VST-Usage is relatively hard on the limit, if you play with high polyphonie. A single peak in calculation can crack your sound.

CU

TravelRec.

ogandou · Oct 14, 2003, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TravelRec.
Hi!

Maybe it´s better to give a little more priority to audio. My system works well with equal priority for both, MIDI & Audio. Which kind of PC you are using (CPU, Speed). If you use a lot of plugins it could be better to increase latency (while playing) to higher values - this gives the CPU more time to render expensive sounds. Or you record the plugin one, before you start applying a second. 70% in VST-Usage is relatively hard on the limit, if you play with high polyphonie. A single peak in calculation can crack your sound.

CU

TravelRec.

Hi,
thanks for your answer. I'm going to try that. I have an athlon 750 MHz, 512 megs SDRAM. Actually, looking at the VST performance meter, when it overloads, the bar is always on less than 30% of CPU usage. Plus, the HD one never lights up, is that normal? One last thing, I recently had to put my HD on the secondary IDE channel and the DVD/DCRW drives on the primary channel (the length of the cables...

). Could that be a problem?

Olivier

ogandou · Oct 14, 2003, 03:45 PM

Well, changing the audio priority does not really make a difference. Only using very high latencies like 170 ms helps, but of course that is hardly an option!! Basically, if I set the latency to 170 ms, no more cuts. If I go down, cuts, even if the CPU meter never exceeds 30%. I just don't know what to do!!

TravelRec. · Oct 15, 2003, 11:24 AM

Hi again!

In the past I had a problem with crackles and also no negative HD-activities. Then I found out, that the DMA for the harddisks wasn´t activated. So I´ve activated it (ignored all the windows messages) and voila, all the crackles are gone. But this only works with newer IDE-disks with DMA support. Let me know, if there is a solution for you.

Bye!

TravelRec.

ogandou · Oct 15, 2003, 02:34 PM

Hi,
Well, I looked and (I'm using XP), DMA is activated. It's XP, so it says 'DMA if available'. Here is the situation: I have a motherboard that won't support more than ATA33. My HD is a Maxtor ATA133, so I'm using a RAID PCI controller card for the HD and CD drives. But, my connectors not being long enough, I had to put the HD on the secondary IDE channel and the DVD/CDRW drives on the primary channel. Could this be the problem? Also, according to nero, I have a speed of 40 000 kb/s on the hard drive. Is that typical of an ATA133 drive? I can't say I found a big difference when I switched from the ATA33 to the ATA133 hard drive. Could it hurt the drive if I tried to connect HD and DVD/CDRW drives directly to the motherboard? Would it just slow them down? This way I could try to see if how the HD is connected is the source of my problem.

TravelRec. · Oct 16, 2003, 07:31 AM

Hi!

Yes, unfortunately there could be disk problems and cubase says nothing about it. This could be a reason for full CPU activity (peaks) and no HD activity. Do you have the virtual memory fixed at double RAM-size (for both min. and max.)? And do you have routed the virtual memory away from C:/ on any quick disk? Has the HD-Controller card an own IRQ, newest drivers? Is there a way for you to check the CPU activity while HD accesses (with a plot-monitor)? There are so many possible ways to slow down your system.......
Please let me know if something is changed.

Bye!

TravelRec.

ogandou · Oct 17, 2003, 03:01 AM

Well,
A friend just loaned me Reason 2.0. Good bye cubase, you're going back to the store!! No more cracks, no more latency issues, great sounds, works without a glitch, why did I ever bother with Cubase?!! I just don't know...

Now I know some sounds in reason are based on samples, so that could maybe explain the absence of latency, but the sounds from the synths sound awesome too, no latency, no cracks... I must be dreaming...

Oct 14, 2003, 01:13 AM	#1
ogandou DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Florida Posts: 14 Rep Power: 0	VST overload in cubase SX This is a sort of follow-up for the preceding thread concerning cracks when playing MIDI VST instruments in cubase with a controller keyboard. To sum it up, I have a SB Live with kX project ASIO drivers. I don't have cracks anymore when I play, instead, the sound from the VST instruments is cut every once in a while, and the VST performance meter shows a CPU overload (it's red!), although the rest of the bar is not over 70% max. No sound comes out for 2 or 3 seconds, then it comes back, and I have no idea why it does this. The HD performance meter does not budge. Ever. Here are my settings for the VST multitrack panel: 12 disk buffers, 256 k of disk buffer size, kX ASIO driver, internal clock source, release ASIO driver in the background unchecked. 21.33 ms latency, 48000 Hz sampling rate. I don't use any audio, just MIDI and VST instruments (d'cota, groove agent and virtual guitarist). Therefore, the expert settings are low audio priority, and 6 seconds of preload amount. Everything else is unchecked. I don't know what setting of the ASIO driver I set wrong, does anybody have an idea? COuld it be something else? Any help would be very appreciated!! Olivier

Oct 14, 2003, 06:38 AM	#2
TravelRec. Alternative Audioproductions Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Germany / Sachsen-Anhalt Posts: 1,710 Rep Power: 0	Hi! Maybe it´s better to give a little more priority to audio. My system works well with equal priority for both, MIDI & Audio. Which kind of PC you are using (CPU, Speed). If you use a lot of plugins it could be better to increase latency (while playing) to higher values - this gives the CPU more time to render expensive sounds. Or you record the plugin one, before you start applying a second. 70% in VST-Usage is relatively hard on the limit, if you play with high polyphonie. A single peak in calculation can crack your sound. CU TravelRec. __________________ Always take a look behind.

Oct 15, 2003, 11:24 AM	#5
TravelRec. Alternative Audioproductions Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Germany / Sachsen-Anhalt Posts: 1,710 Rep Power: 0	Hi again! In the past I had a problem with crackles and also no negative HD-activities. Then I found out, that the DMA for the harddisks wasn´t activated. So I´ve activated it (ignored all the windows messages) and voila, all the crackles are gone. But this only works with newer IDE-disks with DMA support. Let me know, if there is a solution for you. Bye! TravelRec. __________________ Always take a look behind.

Oct 16, 2003, 07:31 AM	#7
TravelRec. Alternative Audioproductions Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Germany / Sachsen-Anhalt Posts: 1,710 Rep Power: 0	Hi! Yes, unfortunately there could be disk problems and cubase says nothing about it. This could be a reason for full CPU activity (peaks) and no HD activity. Do you have the virtual memory fixed at double RAM-size (for both min. and max.)? And do you have routed the virtual memory away from C:/ on any quick disk? Has the HD-Controller card an own IRQ, newest drivers? Is there a way for you to check the CPU activity while HD accesses (with a plot-monitor)? There are so many possible ways to slow down your system....... Please let me know if something is changed. Bye! TravelRec. __________________ Always take a look behind.

Oct 14, 2003, 03:45 PM	Thread Starter #4
ogandou DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Florida Posts: 14 Rep Power: 0	Well, changing the audio priority does not really make a difference. Only using very high latencies like 170 ms helps, but of course that is hardly an option!! Basically, if I set the latency to 170 ms, no more cuts. If I go down, cuts, even if the CPU meter never exceeds 30%. I just don't know what to do!!

Oct 15, 2003, 02:34 PM	Thread Starter #6
ogandou DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Florida Posts: 14 Rep Power: 0	Hi, Well, I looked and (I'm using XP), DMA is activated. It's XP, so it says 'DMA if available'. Here is the situation: I have a motherboard that won't support more than ATA33. My HD is a Maxtor ATA133, so I'm using a RAID PCI controller card for the HD and CD drives. But, my connectors not being long enough, I had to put the HD on the secondary IDE channel and the DVD/CDRW drives on the primary channel. Could this be the problem? Also, according to nero, I have a speed of 40 000 kb/s on the hard drive. Is that typical of an ATA133 drive? I can't say I found a big difference when I switched from the ATA33 to the ATA133 hard drive. Could it hurt the drive if I tried to connect HD and DVD/CDRW drives directly to the motherboard? Would it just slow them down? This way I could try to see if how the HD is connected is the source of my problem.

Oct 17, 2003, 03:01 AM	Thread Starter #8
ogandou DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Florida Posts: 14 Rep Power: 0	Well, A friend just loaned me Reason 2.0. Good bye cubase, you're going back to the store!! No more cracks, no more latency issues, great sounds, works without a glitch, why did I ever bother with Cubase?!! I just don't know... Now I know some sounds in reason are based on samples, so that could maybe explain the absence of latency, but the sounds from the synths sound awesome too, no latency, no cracks... I must be dreaming...