V5 CPU Load ?

[AlfSiochi1]

I just ran a test where I had the Sample Tank Electric Grand with all effects on in Studio One 5.4.2. I watched my resources in the task manager. Closing the GUI, believe it or not, reduced the CPU performance significantly. I then added a second track with the Hammond B-3X. Everything ran fine, no pops, no clicks, no crackles. I tried to break it, so to speak, but never really saw the CPU in the task manager go more than 30%. It rarely went above the 2.8 GHz base speed, though when I was recording with the Electric Grand, it sometimes went up to 3.5 GHz.

Memory hardly budged. With the OS and others at about 6GB Ram usage, opening studio one and adding these tracks only bumped it to about 7 GB. I'm a hobbyist with a home studio and I doubt I'll exceed 8 tracks. I think I'm safe with 16 GB for now.

I think I'm going to hold off on a new computer. I'm going to continue optimizing this one and keeping CPU draining apps and GUIs down to a minimum.

By the way, if you turn off the effects rack in SampleTank 4 on your instrument, the CPU load decreases significantly. However, with all the other optimizations, I was able to leave the effects on while recording.

[xargxarg]

Great to hear, AlfSiochi1 !

In Pro Tools, when I don't show the GUI, the usage seems to drop from 93 to 91%, still with some jumps over 100% and clicks. But it does seem to help a little.

It would be great if Amplitube did not take up so much of the DAW resources, but I wouldn't want them to dumb it down for my old CPU. It is an Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1650 v3 @ 3.50GHz 3.50 GHz, with 64GB RAM. I just hope that when I get a new PC that it solves this for a while. Just one track one plugin, and can't. Could try recording like a direct box, but you lose the feel of the amp system.

I tried Reaper, and FL Studio, same issue. Haven't tried Studio One, maybe it has better processing load distribution. WIll plan to try.

It is the Leslie that really slams it, even the T-RackS Leslie does. I bet that the Leslie effect could be parallelized, with maybe 1000 threads, for 1000 angular positions around the cabinet.

I'm just getting into SampleTank, thanks to that excellent 25th Anniversary deal.

[xargxarg]

After recording a rhythm track with amplitube, I bounced it to an audio track (Studio One 5.4.2 lets you do it non-destructively, in the same track, so you can restore the original if you wanted to). That saved CPU for me, by 20 to 30%. I also found that mixbox seems to be lighter on the CPU than amplitube, and it has some nice amp/cab/fx settings.

I tried your bounce technique, it seems to be the same as freeze in Pro Tools, and recorded an instrument through Amplitube without the Leslie. It did pop, but after freezing, which is not a real-time operation, there was no pop. Then I applied T-RackS Leslie in a separate aux track. That worked great, only 50% resource usage. Not sure how that will work for guitar (non-MIDI), maybe just have to find any pops and re-record those points, or smooth over them with some processing.

[AlfSiochi1]

After recording a rhythm track with amplitube, I bounced it to an audio track (Studio One 5.4.2 lets you do it non-destructively, in the same track, so you can restore the original if you wanted to). That saved CPU for me, by 20 to 30%. I also found that mixbox seems to be lighter on the CPU than amplitube, and it has some nice amp/cab/fx settings.

I tried your bounce technique, it seems to be the same as freeze in Pro Tools, and recorded an instrument through Amplitube without the Leslie. It did pop, but after freezing, which is not a real-time operation, there was no pop. Then I applied T-RackS Leslie in a separate aux track. That worked great, only 50% resource usage. Not sure how that will work for guitar (non-MIDI), maybe just have to find any pops and re-record those points, or smooth over them with some processing.

Maybe you could record your instrument without amplitube, freeze the track, apply amplitube to it, freeze the track, then add the Leslie. I had no issues recording my guitar rhythm track with amplitube on, but I used a preset that was relatively light. You can always try recording the guitar dry, no effects, then add amplitube and you won't have to deal with latency and monitoring issues, which can increase your CPU load. You can play it without freezing to have an idea of what it sounds like, make your adjustments, then freeze it.

Do you have a lot of background apps that could be using up your CPU? You might want to open up task manager and see how it is being used, even without any of your recording apps open, so you can see if anything is competing with it for resources.

[magwa101]

This thread is tragically hilarious for me at the end of a long week of MBP CPU/fan fighting.

My MBP has been giving problems since I started using Amplitube 5.3 with Orange. I suspect they do big long IR /convolution. I had similar issues with Acustica SILVER reverb, which I had to stop using.

Anyway Amplitube is chewing CPU and I ended up researching for a new machine. I also ended up on that 'so now we build a computer' thread as well. HILARIOUS!

Anyway, yes, Intel has the lowest fetch latency, supports Thunderbolt, has the highest single CPU speed and is the winner. I am not going AMD or M1 I'm staying on Intel (also with the AVX instruction set which many plugs use for optimzation).

This MBP gets couch duty.

[xargxarg]

Hi Magwa101,

Wouldn't it be even more funny if after shelling out $4-5k for a new machine that it didn't help?

If you do buy one, please post if it helped, or if anyone else has this experience. I would like to experience the full Amplitube IK Multimedia power and sound, and if it takes a new PC, then so be it.

I like the Intel processers best too, as they seem to be most mainstream. AMD is making Intel step up their game. I'm partial to the HP workstations too. It is surprising that that audio workstation thread is still active.

Lately, I've been doing more orchestral sounds, but plan to get back to guitar again soon, and this issue will probably become noticeable again. Thanks for reminding me

Good luck!

[magwa101]

I will let you know for sure, I have about a $3K system scoped out, but you could get same power (less memory) for about $2K. It will take me a couple of weeks.

[mod redacted - please review the rules (as well as the accuracy of statements about AmpliTube's inner workings)]