Watching CPU monitor while running metro.

[Scoot]

Just by importing a stereo track from a CD and playing it, CPU monitor reveals that it is taking up 33% (with occassional jumps to 40%) of the CPU when playing on a G4 450mhz single processor, 768MB ram and 10.2.5. Sampled every 3 seconds in the process viewer. Track playing on system disk and metro there too.

Just wondering if anyone else has looked at their CPU consumption.

Would be particularily interested in an ibook result playing a 16bit, 44.1khz stereo track.

[Jerm]

Some things are very important when watching this.

1. If any internal ports are active then Quicktime is configured and the reverb is always running and eating up a substantial amount of CPU.
2. if an audio track is record-enabled then the record engine is running and audio is being processed to provide vu meters and possibly more.
3. Recently I have heard that if the buffer size is not a multiple of the memory page size that a performance hit will occur. I think the page size is 4k (4096) bytes.

Also, it is unlikely that each track uses that much CPU but rather that the first track incurs all the overhead of the audio system(s) involved.

[Scoot]

Good things to watch out for........

I just wanted a quick and simple test that could be carried over to other machines as a rough comparison. Didn't notice the record function adding much but 'playback scrolling on' makes it jump when scrolling & going to the next page and affects the OS window redraw engine.

I threw 7 reverbs on the one stereo track and maxed out my mac completely. Thank goodness for the Aux Bus!

I wish I had the CPU monitoring system in OS9 to compare the 2 systems.

[Scoot]

A friend's 1.4 ghz dual gave these results..........

Metro idle 5% CPU
1 aiff track 7-11%
5 aiffs 14-19%
16 aiffs 20-26%

Wow!

[Jerm]

Another thing to note is that reverbs are big cpu hogs. Even if you just have a plug-in (like sampletank or DLS) installed without any MIDI or audio data going to it, Metro will still be rendering silence through the plug-in. Some plug-ins could potentially have reverbs on all MIDI channels! That is 16 reverbs.

To avoid this reverb hogging issue, it is best to install a reverb (I recommend WaveArts Masterverb) on an aux buss and route all your reverb needs to it. Of course you must shut off the reverbs internal to the other plug-ins.

[jonrandall]

[REMOVED BY AUTHOR]

[Scoot]

Internal - using quicktime instruments etc.

If you look at the effect plugin for a soundfont, there is a reverb button that turns it on and off......saving cpu.

if you have quicktime instruments running, and you want to vary the reverb of them.......

goto the setup menu and select favourite controllers.

bold (make sure its on) controller 91. You can option click it and change its name to reverb.

in the graphic editor where it says Notes in the track select controller from the pop up and then reverb (or whatever you named it).
You can then draw with the pencil or the curves lines of reverb strength inside the track.

If you draw a line along the bottom you have turned the reverb off.

scoot.

[Jerm]

A) What do you mean by "any internal ports," and, B) how does that translate to "then Quicktime is configured," and, C) what is "the reverb," and, D) given all the above, is there anyway to enjoy the freedom to have or not have such "internal ports" without "the reverb"?

Internal ports in Metro are Quicktime Instruments and they automatically suck up a lot of CPU because the reverb is active whenever Quicktime Instruments are. So if you see port:internal in the tracks window then internal is on and it is using its reverb. Change it to say, 'port:built-in audio' and delete any internal (ly routed) instruments if necessary to save CPU.

[jonrandall]

[REMOVED BY AUTHOR]

[Jerm]

DLS is not internal. That is a plug-in.

[jonrandall]

[REMOVED BY AUTHOR]

[Scoot]

Internal refers to quicktime instruments.
Notes that you can play straight at startup without going to any other plug-in.

You have found the DLS plugin as you have a snapshot of it in this message topic. The reverb on/off is in newer versions of metro than the one you snap shotted and it is found to the right of the named soundfont (to the right of the name bluejay small in your case). DLSMusic Device is how you get your soundfonts into Metro. Think of soundfonts as a virtual instrument or VSTi which are 3rd party and have to be added to your setup to use. They are not part of Metro or the Mac OS and therefore are not considered internal.


Different topic now.....
I don't know of any other way to turn off reverb on the internal quicktime instruments than going to controller 91 and drawing the line or selecting the track and deleting the information on it. Perhaps Jerm might.

scoot.

[Jerm]

Jonrandall,

DLS SOUNDFONT IS A PLUG-IN. There is no way for Metro to change the title or info in a plug-in that is external to Metro.

Perhaps you should write an email to Apple to point out their inconsistency in naming.

DLS is 'internal' to your computer as all plug-ins are even though their name does not reflect this fact.

As for turning off the internal Quicktime Instruments Musical Instruments (QTMI) reverb, there is no way that I know of, other than to do as Scooterman outlined. I do not think this removes the reverb but rather it removes the reverb send on the given channel that controller 91 is sent on.

If you do not use any ports:internal then QTMI will not be set up and Metro will idle at minimal CPU. Of course if you use other plug-ins they may introduce a similar CPU drag while idling.

[jonrandall]

[REMOVED BY AUTHOR]

[Scoot]

jonrandall

so many questions have been asked in so many places it's hard to keep track but in my message above which starts "Internal - using quicktime instruments etc." I state there is a reverb button in the DLS effect (Metro 6.06+) and then go on to state how to adjust the reverb or turn it off for quicktime instruments trying to cover both bases. They're 2 seperate issues and there is no button for QT reverb.

You did read it cause you went on to talk about controller 91 which hopefully you have now relabelled Reverb and saved it for future reference.

maybe the internal name used in metro for quicktime is not an obvious one. QT Synth may be better. I wouldn't want the longer name "Quicktime Music Synthesizer" cluttering up my screen.

scoot.