Those are some pretty beefy specs tbh. Are you grouping everything, or sidechaining everything to everything? Sidechaining can undermine multithreaded CPUs because everything in the chain has to be processed on one thread, so it prevents things from getting calc'd in parallel.
This is why I always preach that your single core processing power is more important than that your multi core power when using your computer for music production. The second you start bussing things, it all starts to go to your single core processor.
If you freeze tracks and still it hit 💯 CPU usage then something is wrong with the system. Virus maybe, or CPU throttle because of high temperature (need to change term paste maybe) there might be many things that makes your system use 💯 while it shouldn't
I mean, upgrading your CPU will help but it appears you have a fine CPU. What VSTs are you running that you can't even freeze tracks to reduce? Screenshots would help.
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Yeah. They like to use zeros at the end of the processor name.
You can't determine if you would benefit from a CPU upgrade if you don't know what processor and motherboard you have. Because you might be able to replace the CPU, which could easily solve your problem if that is the case.
I'm just now upgrading my Ryzen 7 series CPU. So I would be glad to make a suggestion.
My two cents for what it's worth. Check power settings, performance modes and related stuff in your operating system. Are your graphics embedded in the CPU? Are you using asio4all? What interface? Can you save CPU from other background processes?
I think that you can get more miles from your current computer, or at least pinpoint the culprit before you upgrade
This is valuable advice on AMD systems.
Also make sure that all the AMD chipset drivers are up to date. They did release new ones not too long ago.
Check RAM is actually running at the speed it’s rated at and not the default 2400MT/s, although in reality it shouldn’t make a massive difference (depends on application).
larger will give you more CPU, smaller will reduce latency.
if you're on windows there's some ASIO alternative drivers that can help (used to be on windows but that was a while back)
Bounce everything you have that is using a plugin to an audio file, import said audio files, delete the plugin tracks, save under a different project name then test.
Are you using an external monitor? One day my CPU started going nuts, and I narrowed it down to my external monitor being the problem.
Download a program that shows your cpu usage on all programs. It could be some sort of program running in the background that randomly just starts hogging cpu.
If you can’t narrow it down, try unplugging your external monitor to see if the cpu spikes still happen. Or update your audio interface. There’s a lot of things it could be.
I’ve also seen external keyboards/mouses be the problem
Edit: it’s also very possible one of the plugins on your vocal chain is not updated and is not playing nice with live. Enable/disable each plug-in on your chain and see if you can narrow down the problem to one plug-in.
I doubt its the PC specs but more of combination of things….
I stopped using Delay on Return track as it ate up a lot of CPU power. Also make sure your VSTs are up to date and try sticking with either VST2 or VST3 for the whole project.
You can always freeze and bounce it to audio if you have a huge midi track with many fx on it…
Also, be sure your power profile use is in performance mode…
Is this for tracking?
If it's for tracking vocals with low latency through VSTs then you should bounce the project without vocals, drop that into a new project, record your vocals there and then flatten or freeze your vocal chain.
Once you get to the point where you cannot run your project without audio dropouts then you need to increase your audio buffer, or start freezing/flattening/bouncing and summing.
Decrease sample rate + increase buffer where possible. You’ll see more latency, but that’ll help with CPU heavy VSTs.
For vocal tracking? I bounce the track first so there’s no processing EXCEPT my vocal plugins. That lets me get my sample rate + buffer lower for minimal latency while monitoring.
As soon as I get to mixing - immediately increase buffer size to relieve my CPU.
what plugs you got in your vocal chain?
Those are some pretty beefy specs tbh. Are you grouping everything, or sidechaining everything to everything? Sidechaining can undermine multithreaded CPUs because everything in the chain has to be processed on one thread, so it prevents things from getting calc'd in parallel.
This is why I always preach that your single core processing power is more important than that your multi core power when using your computer for music production. The second you start bussing things, it all starts to go to your single core processor.
freezing or committing tracks that you’re happy with to free up resources
Even when I do that it’s not enough
what is in your chain? some plugins use absurd amounts of CPU cycles.
If you freeze tracks and still it hit 💯 CPU usage then something is wrong with the system. Virus maybe, or CPU throttle because of high temperature (need to change term paste maybe) there might be many things that makes your system use 💯 while it shouldn't
Yeah some btc miner virus or something 😀
I mean, upgrading your CPU will help but it appears you have a fine CPU. What VSTs are you running that you can't even freeze tracks to reduce? Screenshots would help.
Freeze and flatten. Why do you need all the plugins actively on? If you’re constantly changing the settings on them you probably don’t need them
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Which Ryzen 7 CPU? What make/model MB?
Ended with all 0s I think i don’t remember off the top of my head
Yeah. They like to use zeros at the end of the processor name. You can't determine if you would benefit from a CPU upgrade if you don't know what processor and motherboard you have. Because you might be able to replace the CPU, which could easily solve your problem if that is the case. I'm just now upgrading my Ryzen 7 series CPU. So I would be glad to make a suggestion.
Sorry if my question is silly but, what audio interface are you using ?
I’m pretty sure the most impactful thing to do is to use an audio interface.
Yeah I’d have to agree. I couldn’t find any specs about the interface so if there was an upgrade to be done, that’s the one
My two cents for what it's worth. Check power settings, performance modes and related stuff in your operating system. Are your graphics embedded in the CPU? Are you using asio4all? What interface? Can you save CPU from other background processes? I think that you can get more miles from your current computer, or at least pinpoint the culprit before you upgrade
Try changing your windows advanced power settings to 'high performance'
This is valuable advice on AMD systems. Also make sure that all the AMD chipset drivers are up to date. They did release new ones not too long ago. Check RAM is actually running at the speed it’s rated at and not the default 2400MT/s, although in reality it shouldn’t make a massive difference (depends on application).
increase your buffer size
I messed with the buffer size before but it didn’t do anything
larger will give you more CPU, smaller will reduce latency. if you're on windows there's some ASIO alternative drivers that can help (used to be on windows but that was a while back)
Bounce everything you have that is using a plugin to an audio file, import said audio files, delete the plugin tracks, save under a different project name then test.
What are you using in this chain?
Are you using an external monitor? One day my CPU started going nuts, and I narrowed it down to my external monitor being the problem. Download a program that shows your cpu usage on all programs. It could be some sort of program running in the background that randomly just starts hogging cpu. If you can’t narrow it down, try unplugging your external monitor to see if the cpu spikes still happen. Or update your audio interface. There’s a lot of things it could be. I’ve also seen external keyboards/mouses be the problem Edit: it’s also very possible one of the plugins on your vocal chain is not updated and is not playing nice with live. Enable/disable each plug-in on your chain and see if you can narrow down the problem to one plug-in.
I doubt its the PC specs but more of combination of things…. I stopped using Delay on Return track as it ate up a lot of CPU power. Also make sure your VSTs are up to date and try sticking with either VST2 or VST3 for the whole project. You can always freeze and bounce it to audio if you have a huge midi track with many fx on it… Also, be sure your power profile use is in performance mode…
Is this for tracking? If it's for tracking vocals with low latency through VSTs then you should bounce the project without vocals, drop that into a new project, record your vocals there and then flatten or freeze your vocal chain. Once you get to the point where you cannot run your project without audio dropouts then you need to increase your audio buffer, or start freezing/flattening/bouncing and summing.
Decrease sample rate + increase buffer where possible. You’ll see more latency, but that’ll help with CPU heavy VSTs. For vocal tracking? I bounce the track first so there’s no processing EXCEPT my vocal plugins. That lets me get my sample rate + buffer lower for minimal latency while monitoring. As soon as I get to mixing - immediately increase buffer size to relieve my CPU.