cpu load: 100% for 15 minutes during cubase mixdown..normal??

  • Thread starter Thread starter earworm
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earworm

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well,
the last few weeks i spent lots of time recording my drums,
and i got 5 tracks in cubase, but in total thats about 15 minutes of drumsolo's and beats

i put some FX on every channel, and did a mixdown (not a real time mixdown, but the other one .. the silent mixdown)

and my CPU was on 100% for 15 minutes

this can't be healthy, right ? or doesn't it matter,
do you guys have the same thing when you do mixdowns ?

my cpu load stayed up to 95% untill i closed my cubase project,

check out this pic, that shows when the mixdown was ready and when cubase was closed...

so the only way to make my cpu sweat a little less is to use less FX ?
i was only recording and playing back at 44khz/16 bit
or will my cpu be less harmed if i use more and faster DDR ram ?

regards,
earworm


cpu.bmp
 
Depending on your computers RAM and board, your CPU will only be able to handle so much effects processing. If you insterted effects on each track try sending the effects through an Aux send and use that 1 effect over the 5 tracks. That is if some inserted effects are doing the same thang. My CPU load usually runs around 40-50 on a 20-30 track session with EQ,and processiong everywhere.

I am using a P3 with over 1 gig of RAM, and nothing else runs on that computer buy my recording software. Also close down other apps if you have any open.

Deleting dead space between tom and floor tom fills will give you back CPU time.

I am sure someone will give you more insight here as well, thats all I know.
:D :eek:
 
Why are you using Windows task manager to monitor the cpu load? Aren't there built-in CPU and HDD load indicators in Cubase, like there are in Nuendo?

One instant way to lower the load on CPU is to render a track with most plugins load back into the project. Then for playback or mixdown you can use this rendered track instead of the original one, thus reducing the number of plugins that are running live.
 
Jimmie said:
Deleting dead space between tom and floor tom fills will give you back CPU time.
Click to expand...

This may not be correct. Even if your track is not playing any sound at some point in time, for your system it is still an active track. I don't think that deleting empty space in your project window changes anything. You need to remove or disable that track to prevent your system from wasting resources on reading and handling this track.
 
webstop said:
This may not be correct. Even if your track is not playing any sound at some point in time, for your system it is still an active track. I don't think that deleting empty space in your project window changes anything. You need to remove or disable that track to prevent your system from wasting resources on reading and handling this track.
Click to expand...

If there's efx on the track(at least in samplitude 7.22) it will stop processing the efx at the empty spaces
 
Teacher said:
If there's efx on the track(at least in samplitude 7.22) it will stop processing the efx at the empty spaces
Click to expand...
He is using Cubase.
 
If you are using 'alternative' versions of the Waves plugins, this can happen. But depending on your cpu This might not be bad. My cpu is close to 100% when I mix down (in nuendo) but it generally takes 1/2 to 3/4 real time to mix. I have a P4 with 2 gig of ram.
 
With Saw studio ... deleting dead space gives back CPU .. i dont use cubase. Thought it might be similar.

Check out www.sawstudio.com to find out more
 
the only reason that this would be a bad thing is if your cpu is getting too hot to handle everything, and i doubt that's the case. I think it's pretty common for a program to dedicate the entire computer and all resources it has to it's tasks - especially if you've set it up that way yourself.
 
nice,
well, i 'invented' my own way of cooling my CPU,
i just screw open my computer case and let a VERY big ventilator blow wind on the entire inside of the pc,
this is noizy, but cools down the system alot , and it cools down my feet too since my pc is under my desc :)

i already found a few answers to my problem, i had to many plugins open, even a few that i didn't use, maybe that also eats cpu,
and i was allowed to use Waves IR1 this week, and of course i wanted to totally test that plugin, its a CPU EATER !!
so when i just close all the plugins i don't need, and if i don't use IR1 , then the cpu load is less.... good thing

and i know about mixing down lots of tracks to one wave file, to save cpu and stuff, but thats not what its all about now, just was wondering wheater my PC might Die...you know

and i think i read something about putting audio files OFFLINE,
can't remember in which app it was, isn't it Sonar, (never used that one;.)
so if you got like 4 audio tracks that you don't Have to hear while you're working on other tracks, you can simply push one button, and that file is offline, that means that your DAW makes your computer think the file is completely gone.....saves cpu and ram and whatever

but once again my memories are vague... can anyone affirm this ?

thanx for the hints !
 
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