Why some devices consume CPU ?

decimator · Post by **decimator** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 7:12 am

I have Motherboard Monitor that display CPU use and temp so I noticed 20% use of my AMD 2.6 Ghz, after checking it's SFP.exe the culprit ...
I'am on WinXP + SP1.
Those who have loaded the recent j9k modular patch including the trapezoid lfo can confirm ? ( great modules j9k BTW !!! )
I've also seen this on an another device ( not modular ).

I thought once the devices were loaded it was the DSP turn to have some heat and not the CPU.

A bug in SFP or in the device ?

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 7:34 am

No bugs, usually it's just the way SFP works with graphics. Try putting a mixer with many channels on the VU, then hide the VU meters or hide SFP. You'll notice quite some performance increase! SFP and it's GUI are closely related, I think astroman explained this somewhere. Also the MIDI remote seems to pass over the GUI: under high cpu loads, chance on MIDI dropouts increase.

STS5000 formant process is even CPU processed, as you've read in the manual.

decimator · Post by **decimator** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 10:42 am

Thanks atOmic.
It seemrd to me it was somewhat related to graphics but I didn't thought it was so dramatic !

Indeed when you hide the CPU load drops and some processes seem also to rely on the CPU ...
What a CPU toll for some VUmeters or others.

I haven't read the STS5000 manuel because I don't have it but I'am interested, I have Kontakt 1.5 but I still want more sound quality for various " shifts " so I'll see ( no hurry )... too bad there's no demo.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 12:47 pm

very simple: the SFP graphics are 'hand-drawn' with the help of the CPU - opposed to the majority of current apps where the graphic card takes that job.
It's not easy to change for CW, because they have to keep cross-platform compatibility.
The STS 5000 should be heavier on CPU as the formant shifting(?) isn't calculated on the DSPs.

cheers, Tom

spacef · Post by **spacef** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 12:52 pm

graphics are slow on SFP because SFP priority is audio/midi (like on old ataris

, not graphics (when you have a very slow project due to hi number of audio tracks, then using a midi controller is the solution : it responds as fast as if there was no graphic burden on your sfp project).

Some devices also use pc ram in addition to dsps.

decimator · Post by **decimator** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:15 pm

Thanks for the explanations Astroman and Spacef : all clear in head !

Slightly OT : I'am happy with this summer PC upgrade, I bought ( at last ) a modern graphic card and after setting it at 32 bits colors ( I read some tips ) it just changed my life !!!
After that it was horrible, like moving drunk and asleep sumos from your couch !!

electrocowboy · Post by **electrocowboy** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 10:20 am

So, if I understand correctly, if I hide SFP when tracking to a host app then my performance will increase noticeably?

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 10:28 am

yeah

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 12:31 pm

On 2003-11-11 12:52, spacef wrote:
graphics are slow on SFP because SFP priority is audio/midi (like on old ataris , not graphics (when you have a very slow project due to hi number of audio tracks, then using a midi controller is the solution : it responds as fast as if there was no graphic burden on your sfp project).

Some devices also use pc ram in addition to dsps.

Great tip, thanks

I didn't know I could still get faster...