Topic by lovelovemale

  • Avatar
  • lovelovemale
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 07-11-2017
  • Posts: 51

Topic: CPU overload with i7 and i5 processors?!

Hi there,

I play Pianoteq with two MacBooks.

Early 2014 MacBook Air i7, 1.7GHZ base (turbo boost to 3.3 GHZ) with 8GB RAM, 512 SSD, Sample Rate 48k, 128 Samples (2.7ms)
Early 2015 MacBook Pro i5, 2.7 GHZ base (turbo boost to 3.3GHZ) with 8GB RAM, 128 SSD, Sample Rate 48k, 128 Samples (2.7ms)

On both laptops I experience CPU overloads playing Pianoteq intensively with 5 MIC presets, for instance the Steinway Player Wide or the Grotrian Wide.
If I play "For Elise" and play the last run with pedal that goes from bottom to top and back of the piano I experience some CPU overloads and dropouts.

This happens to both, built-in sound using and using an audio interface (Mackie Onyx Artist 1.2. or the Scarlett Solo).

Is this normal? Shouldn't these processors with 8 GB ram not be strong enough? What specs would one need to have no CPU overloads to play a song like "For Elise" or the "Moonlight Sonata" with 5 Mics and pedal without any CPU overloads and with that, hence dropouts?

Reply by johnstaf

  • Avatar
  • johnstaf
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Dublin
  • Registered: 25-06-2018
  • Posts: 27

Re: CPU overload with i7 and i5 processors?!

lovelovemale wrote:

Hi there,

I play Pianoteq with two MacBooks.

Early 2014 MacBook Air i7, 1.7GHZ base (turbo boost to 3.3 GHZ) with 8GB RAM, 512 SSD, Sample Rate 48k, 128 Samples (2.7ms)
Early 2015 MacBook Pro i5, 2.7 GHZ base (turbo boost to 3.3GHZ) with 8GB RAM, 128 SSD, Sample Rate 48k, 128 Samples (2.7ms)

On both laptops I experience CPU overloads playing Pianoteq intensively with 5 MIC presets, for instance the Steinway Player Wide or the Grotrian Wide.
If I play "For Elise" and play the last run with pedal that goes from bottom to top and back of the piano I experience some CPU overloads and dropouts.

This happens to both, built-in sound using and using an audio interface (Mackie Onyx Artist 1.2. or the Scarlett Solo).

Is this normal? Shouldn't these processors with 8 GB ram not be strong enough? What specs would one need to have no CPU overloads to play a song like "For Elise" or the "Moonlight Sonata" with 5 Mics and pedal without any CPU overloads and with that, hence dropouts?

Perhaps your latency is set too low. I have a 2013 dual core i5 (1.8-2.8 gHz) Samsung laptop and Pianoteq ran perfectly well on it. I can't remember what latency I was using, but Pianoteq is a very easy program to run. Power management caused glitches when running on battery power, but I never got around to changing the settings.

Last edited by johnstaf (12-07-2018 13:43)

Reply by Groove On

  • Avatar
  • Groove On
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 14-09-2017
  • Posts: 199

Re: CPU overload with i7 and i5 processors?!

I can definitely overload the CPUs of my two MacBook Airs - 4th and 5th generation mobile Intel i5s from 2013 1.3 GHz and 2015 1.6 GHz. Even then, the CPU overload I get is imperceptible to most listeners. Overall I’m happy with the performance of both machines, I’ve used them both in gigs and if I were to get another machine I’d still get a Macbook Air.

I also have a mini-PC with a 7th generation desktop CPU - a lowly Pentium G4560 at 3.5 GHz. It handles CPU overloads much better than the older i5 mobile processors. But I still prefer the MacBook Airs for use with Pianoteq.

I usually drop the latency to 4.0 that seems to have a minor effect. And I recently upgraded to MacOS High Sierra using a Clean Install - that also helped. I’m using the Mackie MDB-USB Stereo Direct Box, but it doesn’t seem to help or hurt when it come to overloading the CPU. Make sure the Energy settings are set properly for full performance. Otherwise, I’m running 48k/48k, 256 polyphony with SSDs.

Performance can also depend on the specific preset and the music. Some presets are more intensive than others (some actually say so). Some music is more intensive than others. For example, it’s easy to overload with La Campanella, 3rd movement of Moonlight Sonata, 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody and hot & heavy Boogie Woogie or Rock & Roll. My torture test for CPU overloads is a fast 88-key glissando with the pedal down, especially if glissando with the mouse.

Last edited by Groove On (12-07-2018 08:36)

Reply by bm

  • Avatar
  • bm
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: France (Burgundy)
  • Registered: 15-09-2017
  • Posts: 302

Re: CPU overload with i7 and i5 processors?!

Sometimes (though rarely  *) it happened to me even with a relatively powerful machine. (especially with the Steinway D preset)
I noticed that it is paradoxically enough to uncheck the box, "CPU overload detection" to remove all the audible effects of the overload.
I also noticed improvements by launching Pianoteq specifically with the right mouse button -> Run with the graphics processor -> Nvidia processor High performance
(this launch option does not appear on all machines)
I am using Windows 10 pro x64 on an old machine equipped with 16 GB of RAM with a Core i7 processor (3630 QM @ 2,4Ghz) and a Nvidia GeoForce GTX 660M graphics card with 2 GB of RAM)
Regards,

Bruno

(* rarely): with <mei-Ting-Sun-2009--feux-follets-liszt.mid> between 1'17 and 1'21
Src: http://www.piano-e-competition.com/ecom.../sun09.mid … /sun09.mid
with Steinway D classical recording BA and when Polyphony=256,Sample Freq: internal=96 000hz and  host sample freq=96 000 hz  (Asio Driver)
NB: with Polyphony=256 & Sample Freq: internal=64 000 hz or below: never  problem.

Last edited by bm (12-07-2018 09:44)

Reply by EvilDragon

  • Avatar
  • EvilDragon
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Croatia
  • Registered: 27-06-2008
  • Posts: 4,011

Re: CPU overload with i7 and i5 processors?!

I wonder if you can disable thermal throttling on the Mac, or use some sort of "high performance" power setting. Perhaps if it's connected to the wall socket it doesn't throttle the CPU as much?

For realtime audio purposes it's always best NOT to have the CPU change its frequency at spurious times.

Hard work and guts!

Reply by johnstaf

  • Avatar
  • johnstaf
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Dublin
  • Registered: 25-06-2018
  • Posts: 27

Re: CPU overload with i7 and i5 processors?!

I edited my above reply. My old laptop is from 2013, and not 2015. I think it has to be some power management issue. RAM shouldn't be an issue unless something else in your system is hogging it. Pianoteq is very light on RAM. Now I'm using Windows so I don't know much about Macs, but is your processor working at full speed when you are having these issues? I remember I inadvertently put my PC into quiet (fanless) mode and the processor dropped down to 0.8 gHz. Its base speed is 1.8, but it stays at 2.8 when it's plugged in. As I said I don't know much about Macs, but isn't the fan in the Macbook Air supposed to be very good at keeping the processor cool? I'm sure you'll get a resolution. I doubt your Macbooks' specs are the source of your problem.

Edit. Have you checked that your computers aren't clogged up with dust causing the fans to be less efficient? That happened me on the laptop I had before I bought the 2013 i5 one.

Last edited by johnstaf (12-07-2018 15:15)

Reply by johnstaf

  • Avatar
  • johnstaf
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Dublin
  • Registered: 25-06-2018
  • Posts: 27

Re: CPU overload with i7 and i5 processors?!

EvilDragon wrote:

I wonder if you can disable thermal throttling on the Mac, or use some sort of "high performance" power setting. Perhaps if it's connected to the wall socket it doesn't throttle the CPU as much?

For realtime audio purposes it's always best NOT to have the CPU change its frequency at spurious times.

Irrelevant point from me, but it must be very cool to be a Croatian today! It's a fantastic to see such an achievement by a fellow small country! Congratulations as well to our online host country France. Sunday's World Cup final will be historic.

Reply by music_guy

  • Avatar
  • music_guy
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 18-07-2017
  • Posts: 45

Re: CPU overload with i7 and i5 processors?!

My 2007 MacBook Pro runs PianoTeq fine at reasonable latency settings.

Make sure your laptop is plugged-in for max performance. I would close out all other programs And turn off wifi.

You can try messing around with the sample rate & buffer sizes as mentioned below. Lower sample rates and larger buffer sizes may reduce pops & crackles but that is not certain. You just need to try several combos. I would start with 44,1KHz and try current buffer, then next larger buffer...

____
For just practicing, I kill any pops & crackles by simply:

Options> Perf> unclick "CPU overload detection"

If you are recording or in some critical environment maybe that is not an optimal solution. But it works perfectly for me.

Last edited by music_guy (12-07-2018 16:44)

Reply by EvilDragon

  • Avatar
  • EvilDragon
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Croatia
  • Registered: 27-06-2008
  • Posts: 4,011

Re: CPU overload with i7 and i5 processors?!

johnstaf wrote:
EvilDragon wrote:

I wonder if you can disable thermal throttling on the Mac, or use some sort of "high performance" power setting. Perhaps if it's connected to the wall socket it doesn't throttle the CPU as much?

For realtime audio purposes it's always best NOT to have the CPU change its frequency at spurious times.

Irrelevant point from me, but it must be very cool to be a Croatian today! It's a fantastic to see such an achievement by a fellow small country! Congratulations as well to our online host country France. Sunday's World Cup final will be historic.

Thanks! It's really amazing what our boys have done. I hope they still have enough strength and willpower to do the same on Sunday.

Hard work and guts!