Topic by steve200

  • Avatar
  • steve200
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 20-12-2017
  • Posts: 59

Topic: Windows 10 - No "High Performance" power mode available

Hi folks,

i just got a new thinkpad T14 to drive my MIDI studio.  (I also upgraded to pianoteq 7... sounds great!).

on my old laptop i had to use High Performance power mode to get proper CPU performance.

However, to my sad surprise, this windows 10 box does not offer High Performance mode.  It only has "balanced."

I gave it a try, and was getting audio break up.

I have scoured the web for various hacks to try to bring it back, but no luck.

I think the problem is that new Windows 10 laptops are shipped with the "Modern Standby" power model, not the previous "S3" power model.  The new is designed to have quick wake up from sleep, but DOES NOT ALLOW high performance mode.

This seems like it could be a real problem for any audio use of new laptops??

Hopefully I am missing something!  What should I do??

thanks,
steve

Last edited by steve200 (21-11-2020 00:28)

Reply by peterws

  • Avatar
  • peterws
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: North of England
  • Registered: 26-04-2016
  • Posts: 200

Re: Windows 10 - No "High Performance" power mode available

steve200 wrote:

Hi folks,

i just got a new thinkpad T14 to drive my MIDI studio.  (I also upgraded to pianoteq 7... sounds great!).

on my old laptop i had to use High Performance power mode to get proper CPU performance.

However, to my sad surprise, this windows 10 box does not offer High Performance mode.  It only has "balanced."

I gave it a try, and was getting audio break up.

I have scoured the web for various hacks to try to bring it back, but no luck.

What should I do??

thanks,
steve

Think pads aren't all that cheap.  It should still perform well on that imo.  Maybe your Pianoteq polyphony, or other parameter, needs taking down slightly.   Someone here will explain things better.  I'm running a little entry level cloudbook, and things are fine on that.

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

Reply by steve200

  • Avatar
  • steve200
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 20-12-2017
  • Posts: 59

Re: Windows 10 - No "High Performance" power mode available

Thanks.

Lowering polyphony down to 8 or using auto pessimistic did not solve the problem.

On my old laptop i had polyphony set to 32, and it worked fine in High Performance mode.

My new CPU is way faster than my old one.

Arghhh

steve

Reply by vastydeep

  • Avatar
  • vastydeep
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 21-11-2020
  • Posts: 3

Re: Windows 10 - No "High Performance" power mode available

Have you tried this: https://www.howtogeek.com/368781/how-to...indows-10/

Reply by steve200

  • Avatar
  • steve200
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 20-12-2017
  • Posts: 59

Re: Windows 10 - No "High Performance" power mode available

vastydeep wrote:

Have you tried this: https://www.howtogeek.com/368781/how-to...indows-10/

Hi, thanks.  Yes, I have tried that.  It did not work.

I have scoured every post on the web I can find on this topic.

Like I said originally, I believe that the problem is that Windows is shipping with the "Modern Standby" or the "Connected Standby" power model (rather than the older S3 model).  These do not support High Performance Mode.

I believe this change to the OS might have happened with release 2004 of Windows 10, which was in May 2020.

It seems to me possible that new Windows 10 laptops since May 2020 might be incompatible with Pianoteq

The solutions that allow you to turn of "Connected Standby" mode by editing the registry also don't work, as this registry property is no longer available.

Here is a hack i am reluctant to try: https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/...ng_modern/

I think we need to hear from experts (eg pianoteq support) that have encountered this problem and solved it.

steve

Reply by Qexl

  • Avatar
  • Qexl
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 04-09-2015
  • Posts: 1,647

Re: Windows 10 - No "High Performance" power mode available

Heya steve200,

Found this, hope it does what you need:

Lenovo support wrote:

T14 implements Microsoft's modern standby, and what you want is not possible in Microsoft's modern standby world.



However, you can disable modern standby and go back to using legacy sleep mode such as in previous generations of ThinkPads.  To do this, go into BIOS Setup -> Config -> Power menu and change the Sleep State from "Windows 10" to "Linux".  Then, you can change the lid close action in Windows to "Do Nothing" and I think you'll get something close to the behavior that you're looking for.

Lenovo support - "disable modern standby and go back to using legacy sleep mode"



In case you'd like to really zip up the machine for audio this has been something I like to recommend..

Glitch Free is a free ebook for Windows audio by Brad Robinson from Cantabile software

It's a pretty rich guide for many things Windows users might want to try.

Good luck! Let us know how you get along.


@peterws, great how Pianoteq can run on so many machines. On some OS and laptops, the power saving stuff really gets in the way of the audio. I turn off anything to do with power saving, went into BIOS settings to apply full power and many of the things in the book above by Brad. Really glad to say, most of the gremlins are possible to get to (or I'd be out of Win world).. but I'm pretty surprised Microsoft just cold installed a new power system which makes it impossible to allow non-power-down states to persist. Will be glad to know if steve200 gets it working with Lenovo's advice - I can see more people finding the same prob in future. (I didn't know until this thread that Win changed that stuff lately).

Pianoteq Studio Bundle (Pro plus all instruments)  - Kawai MP11 digital piano - Yamaha HS8 monitors

Reply by steve200

  • Avatar
  • steve200
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 20-12-2017
  • Posts: 59

Re: Windows 10 - No "High Performance" power mode available

OH MY GOD
OH MY GOD

Cheers go up for Qexl.   Cheers!  Bravo!  Qexl!!!

Unbelievably... this worked.   High Performance mode is now available, and fixes the audio problems

Qexl provided this (in post above):

However, you can disable modern standby and go back to using legacy sleep mode such as in previous generations of ThinkPads.  To do this, go into BIOS Setup -> Config -> Power menu and change the Sleep State from "Windows 10" to "Linux".  Then, you can change the lid close action in Windows to "Do Nothing" and I think you'll get something close to the behavior that you're looking for.

NOTE: this might be a lenovo only solution!

Last edited by steve200 (21-11-2020 03:11)

Reply by Qexl

  • Avatar
  • Qexl
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 04-09-2015
  • Posts: 1,647

Re: Windows 10 - No "High Performance" power mode available

I do lurve me a problem solved.

steve200 wrote:

this might be a lenovo only solution

I think so - Lenovo joined a Linux consortia or working-group in 2018.. so they may have some un-specified hook in BIOS (thus the choice there between Win and Linux power variants) which might not apply widely beyond that model, or ThinkPads.

So glad that was helpful to you situation Hey, my shout! Where's that dern'd bar-keep? (ker-clink-clink)

Have fun Pianoteq-ing!

Pianoteq Studio Bundle (Pro plus all instruments)  - Kawai MP11 digital piano - Yamaha HS8 monitors

Reply by peterws

  • Avatar
  • peterws
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: North of England
  • Registered: 26-04-2016
  • Posts: 200

Re: Windows 10 - No "High Performance" power mode available

Qexl wrote:

I do lurve me a problem solved.

steve200 wrote:

this might be a lenovo only solution

I think so - Lenovo joined a Linux consortia or working-group in 2018.. so they may have some un-specified hook in BIOS (thus the choice there between Win and Linux power variants) which might not apply widely beyond that model, or ThinkPads.

So glad that was helpful to you situation Hey, my shout! Where's that dern'd bar-keep? (ker-clink-clink)

Have fun Pianoteq-ing!

Dammit!  I was thinking o' buying another Cloudbook exclusively for Pianoteq . . . how would I know from the specs if it'd be affected by this?

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

Reply by Qexl

  • Avatar
  • Qexl
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 04-09-2015
  • Posts: 1,647

Re: Windows 10 - No "High Performance" power mode available

Hey peter, there's a good chance it'll be OK.

Before this Windows 10 new power saving mode called "Modern Standby", it was possible to turn off most power saving routines in the normal OS settings. (right clicking power icon and choosing those settings, advanced settings etc).

But looks like the new Windows Modern Standby mode may only "properly" be turned off by going into BIOS settings now (unless there are updates to come - different ways to do that on boot-up, sometimes holding F12 key and others - each PC could have differences, like maybe needing to do Ctrl+Alt+delete after power on, then a key like F12, or F6 depending on brand/model - easy to check that when you know which PC though). What's not easy to find out, is what is in what BIOS settings in different models.. many manuals only give basic info, like how to change an admin password in BIOS and mention nothing about what things can be altered. Some BIOS config settings can be minimal, others really detailed, some have both a basic and detailed display enabled by selecting a toggle in there.

There's often a similar setting to disable power saving in the BIOS of most PC machines (at least I don't think that's changed yet), with different makes having some differences (like Lenovo T14 Thinkpad's interesting wording in BIOS choice between Windows and Linux power modes) - I've had no luck yet finding specific info about this on various cloudbooks available so far - I guess because many who buy them want power saving mode on rather than turned off and they're not online asking how to turn off Win 10's "Modern Standby" mode in the BIOS, yet. (or my "search foo" is weak today!)

Just a wild guess at this stage - but I think there really should be a make and model of cloudbook with the ability to do similar to the above with the Lenovo T14 Thinkpad (some different makers of cloudbooks will be kind about these things I hope while it's possible others head for the future without regard).

It might mean your best bet would be to make a visit to a retail PC outlet and a chat with a tech savvy sales person who might hopefully boot into BIOS for you while you watch to check for sure on a specific machine you're into

Hope this didn't cause too much undue panic just yet! But I don't like how sometimes these changes just happen and we're all left wondering "Will it work ever again".. kind of still feels crazy to me a day or 2 after seeing that issue, that something like that can be limited in that way for new Windows 10 users. I get "save power".. but it's not feasible doing audio work with low latency etc.. but it's hopefully work-around-able!

Pianoteq Studio Bundle (Pro plus all instruments)  - Kawai MP11 digital piano - Yamaha HS8 monitors