I´m currently running a Lenovo Miix 720 with an i7 and 16GB which I hoped is a decent system to run Keyscape plus like one or two additional plugins in one rackspace. This setup is running okay with between 10-20% CPU usage and aboz 8GB Ram used.
Now I was trying to add another Instrument in parallel (the B5 organ v2) and I just get too many glitches.
My ASIO interface is running at 160 samples buffer sze right now and the windows 10 system is tweeked quiet extensively to create a constant audio stream. So I´m not sure what I can improve anymore and I think that this is just not the right hardware to go on stage. I was able to do way more with my old 2010 DAW I used in the studio.
Which kind of hardware do you guys use? I never had a Macbook for instance. Maybe MacOS is just better than a Windows based system to do real time audio on notebook hardware. I don´t know. Maybe one of you guys also made a switch from PC to Mac hardware.
I have professional experience for about 20 years of music production on PC based systems but never had a side by side comparisson between mac and PC. Maybe they can handle low latency audio simply better by default.
Generally I want to run Keyscape or Omnisphere plus the B5 v2 and 2 plugins in one rackspace with a latency roudtrip of about 5ms to keep it really playable.
You don’t mention what audio interface you’re using. The quality of the device drivers for different audio interfaces can vary dramatically and that may be a factor. If you’re using the internal audio interface, all bets are off, those things are useless for decent real-time audio.
While we obviously support both platforms, one fundamental difference between OS X and Windows is that the former has had built-in support for real-time audio/MIDI from the beginning whereas in the Windows world, that stuff was bolted on after the fact and so you have far more dependence on 3rd party products having to work together.
You might want to set it at 256 samples. Optimize your Windows. Lots of info on the internet. I have two Lenovos and an MS Surface Pro. GP runs just fine in all three. What kind of ASIO driver do you use? Some are bad. In some cases, Asio4All works better/
I´m using a Zoom UAC-2 USB-3 Interface in the Rig but I also have RME Interfaces and tested with those. There was no noticable difference in the performance. The PC itself is tweaked quiet heavily. I start GP with a Script that also switches many background services and unused software off and enables High Performance Mode in Windows.
Asio4all is not an option for me and 256 samples buffer size allready feels a bit too slow compared to my Nord Electro for instance.
I have to reduce the polyphony of Keyscape as well to ensure that is runs glitchfree.
Do you guys have any reference values which plugins you run simultaneously in your systems?
What is the cpu usage shown in GigPerformer when you get audio glitches?
I am on Mac, so cannot speak for Windows.
My “old” Mac Book Pro 2013 with 16GB of Memory and REM UFX II does not face the issues you have.
I am using Keyscape and in parallel some other plugins, no issue so far.
With Keyscape it shows like 7% when I´m not playing and it goes up to 15-25% when I play.
When i add the Organ I´m at 15% when I don´t play and 30% when I play. This can glitch as soon as I play one chord.
Did you try to reinstall B5 and all its samples?
In B5 streaming is not possible, all samples are loaded into memory, so IO on the harddisk should be no issue.
I am using it also and did not face any problems.
Not yet… but shouldn´t streaming from RAM be faster than from SSD?
I will try that anyway.
But in the meantime I´m getting a bit tired of the tweaking I have to do in windows. Running the Instruments on the notebook feels a bit like 20 years ago.
What do you mean streaming from RAM?
I know streaming from Harddisk, so not all samples are loaded in RAM but are “streamed” from harddisk to reduce RAM usage.
Hmmm, I wonder if you’ve configured it right — I think Blue3 is awesome. It’s physically modelling the Hammond rather than just using a bunch of samples.
@ djogon: I´m running it at 44.1kHz
@ dhj/paul: My intention was not discuss the sonic qualities of one or the other plugin. But personally I prefer when it just sounds good instead of having many ways to tweak it.
That´s actually the same thing that annoys me right now with my windows PC. Less tweaking -> more playing!
