Vienna Ensemble Pro stress testing and questions?

Gig Performer on Windows
1

Hello,

I am currently testing VEP7 on Gig Performer to see if it would maximize my CPU usage, here is what I found out.

HP Prodesk 400 G1 - i7-4770 - 16GB RAM

I tested a super long guitar plugin chain (Fortin Nameless Suite and High Oversampling) + tons of EQs and compressor plugins. The resting cpu usage is 63% to 71%.

I then added multiple Serum instances (polyphonic pads) along side this guitar chain to see how much I could add before the CPU would clip. Tests were done running Serum inside GP3, and then on the VEP7 Server (running on same PC), and rerouted back into GP3. Multiprocessing on VEP7 server set at 7 instances.

At 1 Serum instance:

  • GP3 hosted hit 97%
  • VEP7 hosted - GP3 stayed at 84-88% - Synth runs smoothly

At 2 Serum instances:

  • GP3 hosted completely freezes out
  • VEP7 hosted - GP3 stayed at 84-88% - Synths runs smoothly (VEP usage around 80%)

At 3-5 Serum instances:

  • GP3 hosted completely freezes out
  • VEP7 hosted - GP3 stayed at 84-88% - Synths runs with moderate glitching (VEP usage around 95%)
  • The CPU clips the same no matter if I am using 3-5 instances, probably due to parallel multiprocessing

On my Activity monitor in the Task manager, when using GP3 alongside VEP7, I was able to get a more even distribution of load across all cores. If the synths are all hosted within GP3, it always usually maxes out 1 or 2 cores, and leaves the other 6 with little CPU usage, causing the CPU to clip earlier than the VEP7 routing.

Anyways, is there a way to take advantage of more multithreading efficiency within GP3?

I thought I would share this test result with everyone who was curious about this. I am currently only using the VEP7 demo, it does not have Save and Load to test out, and have some questions about it before buying a copy. Here is a question for those who have VEP7:

How do VEP7 instances load when you are switching rackspaces in GP3?
Is it instant?
Or do you need to send a midi message to VEP7 server to change settings?
Do opening Gig files recall the VEP7 server instances smoothly and consistently everytime?
Are there any other issues?

Thanks

1 Like
2

Anyone else have any experience with Vienna Ensemble Pro and windows? Always looking for more ways to get more power.

3

With that CPU, you’re not going to be able to run much smoothly alongside VEP7, never-mind multiple instances. The resting cpu percentage is far too high.

4

Yes I know, an upgrade will occur soon, but my point was there was much more utilization of all the cores evenly with VEP, as opposed to only GP3. The advancement of single core processors can only go so fast per year, but parallel processing can be limitless. Which is why I did the multithreading experiment with VEP and GP3 here.

5

Have you tried multiple instances of GP, with one synth per instance? Does your audio device support multi-client ASIO?

6

I tried that unfortunately the Focusrite Red8Pre and Dante doesnt support multiclient, nor my HX Stomp. If I did multi instance, I would have 8 different windows open which would be a bit difficult to manage. If VEP can operate smootly, it is just 2. I haven’t found a better way to operate parallel processing yet.

7

If you want to squeeze out every bit of your CPU for your plugins, try these tips: FREE e-book by Deskew - Optimize your Windows PC for the stage!

2 Likes
8

Ah awesome, I’ve been through the route of deactivating like every program need, Ill have a look at this thanks!

1 Like