Topic by Irmin

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Topic: Faster CPU's more sophisticated models

Hi,

Here is a question: My PC has a Ryzen 3700x CPU. 8 Cores and 16 threads. I can set polyphony at 256, hold the sustain pedal down and go crazy on the virtual keyboard with a mouse. This doesn't even max out a single core. In fact with low polyphony people are running Pianoteq on a Raspberry Pi which has a rather pathetic CPU. The pianoteq performance index is 167-196 or 194 ((it varies)) when I play the demo song(not sure what that actually means), no overclocking and on a balanced power plan.

4 core CPU's are everywhere and according to the Steam hardware survey 6 cores are becoming commonplace. Isn't there huge headroom to add complexity to the piano models in Pianoteq? Or is there very little that can be added to the models.

Just curious
Irmin

Reply by skip

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Re: Faster CPU's more sophisticated models

WTF? I have a quad core 2.8GHz i7 (laptop version), but at 256 voices, I get a CPU overload warning, Even at 128, I see red spikes. Do I have a problem with my system?

Greg

Last edited by skip (29-06-2020 01:07)

Reply by Groove On

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Re: Faster CPU's more sophisticated models

skip wrote:

WTF? I have a quad core 2.8GHz i7 (laptop version), but at 256 voices, I get a CPU overload warning, Even at 128, I see red spikes. Do I have a problem with my system? Greg

It might be that he's running a desktop CPU and you're using a mobile CPU. If you lookup the benchmarks for the desktop version of your CPU model, you might see it has significantly better CPU performance.

Also there are significant performance gains between CPUs generations. That could be another reason he's getting huge performance, while your system starts to run out of gas. The clock speed and CPU model can be irrelevant for assessing CPU performance between generations. For example, it's possible that a 9th generation i3 at 1.5Ghz easily outperforms an older 5th generation i7 at 4.0Ghz.

Last edited by Groove On (29-06-2020 03:32)

Reply by Groove On

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Re: Faster CPU's more sophisticated models

Irmin wrote:

... Isn't there huge headroom to add complexity to the piano models in Pianoteq? Or is there very little that can be added to the models.

My understanding is that the models we can buy are restricted in certain ways so they run in real time on most computers. But the original models are so sophisticated that even the most powerful off-the-shelf computers will come to a grinding halt.

Reply by Deyvidpetro

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Re: Faster CPU's more sophisticated models

If that is the case though wouldn't it be better if Modartt ran Pianoteq as an analogue instrument rather than software? That way they are not limited to the consumers PCs or Laptops. That way they can just update the software inside the analogue stage piano or home style piano.

Reply by Groove On

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Re: Faster CPU's more sophisticated models

Deyvidpetro wrote:

If that is the case though wouldn't it be better if Modartt ran Pianoteq as an analogue instrument rather than software? That way they are not limited to the consumers PCs or Laptops. That way they can just update the software inside the analogue stage piano or home style piano.

If you put Pianoteq into a stage piano, you'll be stuck with whatever hardware they chose to use. In contrast, the computing performance of consumer PCs and laptops is always increasing.

Last edited by Groove On (29-06-2020 14:51)

Reply by Irmin

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Re: Faster CPU's more sophisticated models

Yes it is a desktop CPU

Reply by aWc

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Re: Faster CPU's more sophisticated models

I support the idea of keeping pianoteq as lean and efficient as possible, to keep compatibility with the largest possible number of computers, including older models (within reason). Of course, in time, improving the application will tend to increase computer requirements, and older computers will have to be replaced. But having played the current version on different, and sometimes quite old computers, it is often possible to compromise on polyphony (64 voices will get you far, unless you play very dense stuff), buffer size, etc, and still get acceptable performance.

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Reply by skip

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Re: Faster CPU's more sophisticated models

Groove On wrote:

It might be that he's running a desktop CPU and you're using a mobile CPU. If you lookup the benchmarks for the desktop version of your CPU model, you might see it has significantly better CPU performance.

Thanks - you're right - I have the i7-7700HQ and the Passmark score is about a third of that Ryzen beast.  Poking around in other threads, I think my Pianoteq Performance Index is probably about right so I'll relax.

Greg

Reply by peterws

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Re: Faster CPU's more sophisticated models

skip wrote:
Groove On wrote:

It might be that he's running a desktop CPU and you're using a mobile CPU. If you lookup the benchmarks for the desktop version of your CPU model, you might see it has significantly better CPU performance.

Thanks - you're right - I have the i7-7700HQ and the Passmark score is about a third of that Ryzen beast.  Poking around in other threads, I think my Pianoteq Performance Index is probably about right so I'll relax.

Greg

My stage version runs on a Windows netbook as well as my 2008 Acer laptop which is basic.  Pretty near it's limit, but the sound doesn't seem to lack.
By all means up the spec requirements if some could benefit from it.  I suspect improvements from updates always carry a small extra burden for the computer anyway.  But even if some of us wouldn't beneit from the vastly improved specs because of our lowly machines, it doesn't really matter, does it?

What we have is excellent already!

I'm playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order