Huge CPU spikes

AcidShroom

Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
Hey,

A few days ago I started to experience these kinds of spikes randomly which occur after some intervals. Basically for example I have 2 midi tracks open, 2 pads layered to be exact and writing the melody line on PianoOne and the CPU is 15-20% and then boom suddenly everything lags,crackles glitches up and CPU meter shows 200-300% of usage. This is such a buzzkill.

I'm running on an old laptop, 1.5ghz dual core AMD, 2 gigs of ram, some shitty gfx....

Can it be the dust in the laptop which has cummulated? is this a virus lol xD?

ah yes im on live 8
 
Some plugs have tendency to do that during different processes. Of course your shitty old computer doesnt help. Low RAM and shit processors make spikes a loooot worse. The best thing you can do is upgrade, or just make sure all your plugins are fully updated.
 
It's not dust build up. That would cause heat issues but not CPU usage spikes. Are you shutting down any other programs that might be using your CPU?
 
it will be plugin related. Work out what vsts you are using in the tune, remove them from the vst folder, then add them back in one by one and open the arrangement each time you add a vst back into the folder. This way you will find the problem vst, then once identified reinstall the problem vst, and if problem continues, uninstall the bad vst again and use an alternative.
 
uhmm basically yes, sometimes skype or just a browser open, but nothing more...

sometimes there's this nasty interference between some programs running together with your DAW. Maybe you should shut skype down while working with your DAW. Or you can always try to find that sweet spot between buffer size and latency.
 
uhmm basically yes, sometimes skype or just a browser open, but nothing more...

You would be shocked to see how much memory a browser eats up...especially if the browser has several tabs open and/or pages with streming/live feed content. Best practice is to shut that shit down in addition to any apps that aren't used in conjunction with your workflow.
 
Make sure you have plugged your battery to adapter(i am not native english speaker so i might be wrong about the term) i.e your laptop battery is charging when you are producing music. I get huge spikes when not on recharging mode. Also close all CPU eaters(browser, wmp etc.). It is also advisable to free up some space on your computer i.e delete all unnecessary programs and files. And yeah, sometimes when your laptop hasnt been shutted down for a long time it may also contribute to those spikes. I also recommend to purchase new computer in case if your is old and dusty.
 
Make sure you have plugged your battery to adapter(i am not native english speaker so i might be wrong about the term) i.e your laptop battery is charging when you are producing music. I get huge spikes when not on recharging mode. Also close all CPU eaters(browser, wmp etc.). It is also advisable to free up some space on your computer i.e delete all unnecessary programs and files. And yeah, sometimes when your laptop hasnt been shutted down for a long time it may also contribute to those spikes. I also recommend to purchase new computer in case if your is old and dusty.

Yeah, modern laptop CPUs will downscale to preserve power when on battery.
 
If you have an interface: disable your pc sound driver (pc-administer-services-pc sound driver device) so your interface is the only sound device on
If you don't: You should check if your sound driver has the latest driver upgrade

And you should turn off skype hahah
 
[FONT=papyrus
]Also you can try to bounce (or render) some tracks before mixing.
And hardware goes a long way!

I prefer to use my laptop as a MIDIcontroler/data streamer as much and long as possible to drive my hardwaregear.
This way the CPUusage is ultra low.
When I'm done playin' around (I should stop playin' and create some real music more), I start up Audacity and hit the record button.

Rember, the classics were made with far less then the DAW's you have at your disposal nowadays, so it should be doable to make great music with even (just) a 1,5 gHz dual core and 2 gigs of RAM.
The legends would have given the world to own that kind of power back then, and still they made killertracks!
[/FONT]

- - - Updated - - -

[FONT=papyrus
]Also you can try to bounce (or render) some tracks before mixing.
And hardware goes a long way!

I prefer to use my laptop as a MIDI-controler/data streamer as much and long as possible to drive my hardware gear.
This way the CPU-usage is ultra low.
When I'm done playin' around (I should stop playin' and create some real music more), I start up Audacity and hit the record button.

Remember, the classics were made with far less then the DAW's you have at your disposal nowadays, so it should be doable to make great music with even (just) a 1,5 gHz dual core and 2 gigs of RAM.
The legends would have given the world to own that kind of power back then, and still they made killer tracks!
[/FONT]
 
Back
Top Bottom