My Quad Core Multiprocessing CPU problem identified-I think!

york909

I have been having problems with my Q6600 Core 2 Quad whenever multiprocessing was enabled. This was driving me mad and I spent a long time updating drivers, software, further streamlining my already optimised system, then swapping out and disabling hardware. I even had the system on soak test, playing a long looped project for 24 hours with a range of different plug ins used. No problem that time - everything rock solid. And the problem occurred independently of latency and other settings.

Finally I went through the rigmarole of trying out every single plug in in my system individually. I discovered that Reaktor 5 VSTi (and Reaktor FX VST) seemed to be the 'culprits'... whenever one or the other is loaded, CPU spiking would start. And given the fact that I have been using Kore 2 to browse NI patches, every time I chose a Reaktor patch this was happening. And every time I switched to a project containing Reaktor / Reaktor FX this was happening, hence the intermittent nature of the 'fault'. Can anyone replicate this......?

Now I dunno if this is a Cubase problem or a Reaktor one - but I did find a workaround. Once the spiking is started, it stops if I disable multiprocessing, Reset the VST system, then reenable multiprocessing. OK not ideal but possible if I have to! Basically if you are having the same problem maybe you should think about checking all your plug ins like I did! Seems like it was good advice to check every single plug-in - - I wasted a long time on other hardware issues and it seems like all that was OK.....well at least I have up to date everything in my system now! I will update if I spot any other problems.

John Rolling Eyes

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John
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C5.5 / WL6.1 / Delta 66 on Core 2 Quad 6600 / Asus P5W DH+ Deluxe / 8GB DDR2 PC6400 / / Win 7 64.
All Software - NI Kore 2 + Komplete 6 / Sonnox / Arturia / Waves SSL400 / URS / Altiverb etc etc...

Heathcliff · New Member Joined: 29 Aug 2008 Posts: 6

Hi,

I'm also having ASIO Spikes and crackles when using Kore Player with Reaktor Presets (Core 2 Duo, Cubase Essential 4.5.2).
And the crackles persist even if I unload Kore Player...I usually deal with it by freezing the Tracks and restarting Cubase,
but that's pretty annoying.

Can anyone else confirm ? Maybe we should take it to the NI Forum.

Regards,
Steve
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Cubase Essential 4.5.2 / WinXP Pro SP2 / Core2 E6750 / 2 G RAM / Creative Audigy 2 (yeah I know)

york909 · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 7:11 pm Post subject:

Thanks for your report....I have already put a support ticket in to NI- I will let you know if I hear anything. Perhaps you should do the same? The NI forum has a nuendo user reporting the same thing. I can't add to that thread because I am not registered for the community forum and their registration confirmation email system seems to not be working today.

John
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John
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C5.5 / WL6.1 / Delta 66 on Core 2 Quad 6600 / Asus P5W DH+ Deluxe / 8GB DDR2 PC6400 / / Win 7 64.
All Software - NI Kore 2 + Komplete 6 / Sonnox / Arturia / Waves SSL400 / URS / Altiverb etc etc...

plectrumboy · Member Joined: 06 Jan 2005 Posts: 987 Location: London, UK

Thanks for posting this york - thanks for your patience in tracking it down and for raising it here. It never ceases to amaze me how specific and how unexpected the sources of cpu difficulties can be...I'm looking forward to seeing if there's a response from NI.

Steve
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moopyhog · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:18 pm Post subject:

I have had a similar problem with Korg Legacy Analogue.

http://forum.cubase.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=107569&highlight=

This device also exibits dropouts when used in standalone mode.
It appears there is a limitation with ASIO and multiprocessing. This is the only VSTi I use that makes the ASIO meter
jump to overload.

Also have the 'Legacy Digital' edition, but this works without a hitch.
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york909 · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:18 pm Post subject: Thanks Steve.....

Unexpected is the word for me here ...... basically anything up-to-date from NI is usually the last place I would look for problems, I think this is why I took a while getting round to checking this and was concentrating on the hardware side for so long. I think when tracking these things down you just have to take your time and be very methodical Sad

I only have NI, Waves, PSP, Kjaerhus, Wavearts, Arturia, Izotope, AudioEase, URS and Sonnox and usually stay away from the free stuff now.
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John
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C5.5 / WL6.1 / Delta 66 on Core 2 Quad 6600 / Asus P5W DH+ Deluxe / 8GB DDR2 PC6400 / / Win 7 64.
All Software - NI Kore 2 + Komplete 6 / Sonnox / Arturia / Waves SSL400 / URS / Altiverb etc etc...

Hippo · Guest

"It appears there is a limitation with ASIO and multiprocessing"

I bet its a VST2.3 or 2.4 standard plugin, they all have multiprocessing problems with cubase 4 to some extent.

Many NI instruments have problems with multiprocessing effiency even in standalone mode.

Put the two together and............

Hippo

Rick77777 · Member Joined: 17 May 2008 Posts: 132

If you are using XP and have a second sound card installed in your PC, create a new User Account and open a second instance of Cubase 4 in it. Make sure Fast User Switching is turned on. Hold Windows key + L to quickly toggle back and forth between Cubase Master and Cubase Slave profiles in realtime. Assign CPU Affinity 0 to the Slave (while in the Slave Uaser Account), and assign 1, 2, 3 cores to the Master Cubase (in the Master profile) in Task Manager. Now you can run any NI plugin with its own RAM and CPU resources with single processor in conjunction with Cubase 4. (Again, this is done on the same PC) Put the physical outputs from the second card to the Inputs on your mixer or route them directly into the inputs of your Primary soundcard. Its No different than using FXTeleport except way more efficient. Another perk is that you can over some the 32-bit RAM limit this way. You will need to route the MIDI messages directly to the second (slave) sound card in your PC from your synth/controller as well.

Hippo · Guest

Rick77777

Thank you.

Hippo

s_j_e · Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:16 am Post subject:

Make sure you check *all* background processes and applications, even ones you'd think are no harm. Eg I found the Gigabyte easy overclocking utility caused massive irregular CPU spikes if just sitting in the background. No probs since I switched it off.
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Steve

Desktop: SX 3.1.0.944, WinXP Home SP3, Q6600 EP35-DS3P 4GB, Cosmos case, 2xGeForce 8400, 3x20" LCD, Tascam US-428, ART SLA-1, Blueroom Minipods. Laptop: SX 3.1.0.944, WinXP Home SP2, Dell 6000 PM 2.0 512 DDR2, Echo Indigo DJ. Posts: +400

Gooddog · Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:53 pm Post subject:

Howdy,

I have Reaktor. Will check it out. The system is a new build, and I haven't really used Reaktor all that much. Apparently, there are multiple issues with multicores It's a bummer that's for sure.

GD
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Cubase 5.0 build 82
RME9652, UAD-2 Quad, UAD-1
Spirit328; Q9550; P5Q-E
4gigs Corsair Ram, Vista64
Geforce 9500 with 22"/19" monitors
Antec P182 case; Corsair 650w psu

york909 · Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:43 pm Post subject: Todays results

Have been doing some stuff today with Cubase and have had a great, glitch free Quad Core multiprocessing day! So great performance is possible with my system, as long as I stay away from Reaktor, or so it seems.... Smile

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John
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C5.5 / WL6.1 / Delta 66 on Core 2 Quad 6600 / Asus P5W DH+ Deluxe / 8GB DDR2 PC6400 / / Win 7 64.
All Software - NI Kore 2 + Komplete 6 / Sonnox / Arturia / Waves SSL400 / URS / Altiverb etc etc...

orchetect · Junior Member Joined: 06 Jul 2008 Posts: 28

I have the same CPU and noticed similar problems with Pianoteq and moreso with Wallander Instruments. They both happen to be CPU intensive physical modeling instruments. Haven't noticed this issue with any other plugins.

If I turn off multiprocessing, the issue seems to evaporate completely. I have been operating with multi-proc off and seems to be OK (thankfully my template is mostly a big MIDI sequence with outboard PCs as samplers)

Anyone know if this issue is fixed in Cubase 5?
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Cubase 5.5.1 -- Quad 3Ghz Intel MacPro / OSX 10.6.4 / 16GB RAM

york909 · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:33 am Post subject: Reaktor problem and C5

I spent ages trying to sort this one out. I've posted on it a few other places too... Upshot is I have 2 issues with Reaktor on an otherwise very solid system....

First one, reaktor makes the priority of cubase change from high to normal. This is confirmed by Ni and can be worked around by putting the priority back in taskmanager. Ni told me it's awaiting a fix (yet to be scheduled).

Second problem is Asio spiking whenever Reaktor is launched in cubase under vista only. Doesn't go away if you unload reaktor, only when switching the multiprocessing off then on. If you do this, Reaktor works ok then until opening a new instance. (Sometimes a vst reset is needed too). This issue does not happen in XP on my system.

Both issues still occur for me in C5.0.
_________________
John
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C5.5 / WL6.1 / Delta 66 on Core 2 Quad 6600 / Asus P5W DH+ Deluxe / 8GB DDR2 PC6400 / / Win 7 64.
All Software - NI Kore 2 + Komplete 6 / Sonnox / Arturia / Waves SSL400 / URS / Altiverb etc etc...

audiomesh · New Member Joined: 18 Jul 2007 Posts: 5 Location: germany

Hi There,
I noticed this thread is a bit older but i just upgraded my System to a Q9550Quadcore and Vista 64. Using Cubase5 32 Bit everything works smooth as charm, except for my best of Reaktor Soundpack with Kore Player. As soon as i load a presets Cpu Spikes appear and stay even after disabling Kore Player.
Someone mentioned a support ticket to Ni and i wonder if there was any reply.
Thanks a lot,
audiomesh
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Q9550, Gigabyte P43,Vista64, Emu 1616m, cubase5 32bit, Live6,sampletank2,Battery 3, CSR,amplitube2,T-racks, Kontakt3, Maschine, Nocturn

york909

Steinberg's 5.0.1 version history PDF confirms the issue - it says:

"Certain 3rd party instruments, e.g. Reaktor from Native Instruments, may produce ASIO overloads on multi core CPU systems. Toggling the Audio Priority in the Device Setup > VST Audio System from Normal to Boost resolves this issue temporarily. Please look for an update from NI for a permanent solution to this."

I wrote to NI referring them to this statement and they told me that this issue is in their bug database but no fix is announced yet. I've spent ages on this bug with reports to both NI and Steinberg and there's still no fix many months down the line. I wonder if there is anything that Steinberg could do, since the workaround they mention does stop the issue here.

My guess is that it will be fixed in Reaktor 6 - whenever that is. And who knows when Komplete owners will get the fix? A shame because it is very disruptive for me on Kore / Komplete! If I had known how long it would take I would have gone back to XP - on my system (at least) this issue only occurs under Vista.

audiomesh · New Member Joined: 18 Jul 2007 Posts: 5 Location: germany

Thanks a lot for the reply. A bit of a shame that there´s no fix, but at least my other soundpacks work fine. An with all my other plug ins my new pc still makes me a very happy camper.
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Q9550, Gigabyte P43,Vista64, Emu 1616m, cubase5 32bit, Live6,sampletank2,Battery 3, CSR,amplitube2,T-racks, Kontakt3, Maschine, Nocturn