CPU Usage and Audio Quality

[Tubewin]

Nice! If it doesn't have a stable/maximum state PCI-E power delivery to your Jcat card, you will get tons of jitter causing that harsh sound

I just turned pcie link state power management to off. Thanks for reminding me.

So far in edit power plan:
Turn off HD : never
usb selective suspend setting: disabled
Pcie power management: off

in device manager:
unchecked all power management for usb slots.

 

[macrog]

I just turned pcie link state power management to off. Thanks for reminding me.

So far in edit power plan:
Turn off HD : never
usb selective suspend setting: disabled
Pcie power management: off

in device manager:
unchecked all power management for usb slots.

If you are running mechanical hard drives auto off on non use is a benefit. Mechanical hard drives make electrical noise and will wear out much faster if always on. No advantage to a mechanical hard drive spinning all the time.

 

[Tubewin]

If you are running mechanical hard drives auto off on non use is a benefit. Mechanical hard drives make electrical noise and will wear out much faster if always on. No advantage to a mechanical hard drive spinning all the time.

It's a samsung ssd nvme m.2.

 

[dezzadk]

Don't you have an external DAC?

I would claim if you have an external DAC the interference would be minimal except if your PC is madly overworked.

I've never personally felt that. I would think setting all your power management to 100% would be a waste of power.

If you aren't using a DAC; I would say plenty of laptops nowadays have terrible noisefloor and the only ones that seem to take it seriously is Apple.. But since the days of the headphone jack is mostly over even this doesn't stand true anymore as it will likely use a DAC from USB-C adapter.

 

[Tubewin]

Don't you have an external DAC?

I would claim if you have an external DAC the interference would be minimal except if your PC is madly overworked.

I've never personally felt that. I would think setting all your power management to 100% would be a waste of power.

If you aren't using a DAC; I would say plenty of laptops nowadays have terrible noisefloor and the only ones that seem to take it seriously is Apple.. But since the days of the headphone jack is mostly over even this doesn't stand true anymore as it will likely use a DAC from USB-C adapter.

Yep, in post #13, I mentioned that it's probably not the cpu.

I use an external dac.

 

[Tubewin]

I actually fixed the issue by leaving a youtube video on for an hour or so before listening to music. I think by putting on a youtube video, it uses the cpu and integrated graphics card a little bit more, warming up the computer better than leaving just audirvana running in the background. So now my routine is turning on my audiophile desktop on, putting on a long youtube video, and letting it warm up with a youtube video before listening to music. I normally use rain sounds on youtube because some can go on for nine to 10 hours without interruption.

 

[sajesak]

Has anyone noticed their sound system sounding worse after leaving their desktop on warming up with no cpu usage? I've been turning on my "audio" desktop on and then go game on a different computer for a few hours, but when I come back to listen to music it sounds more harsh and digital. But when I turn on my "audio" computer and actually open up youtube and have some cpu usage, the sound is so much better...

There is an option for the minimum processor state "idle cpu usage". The default setting for intel is 5% minimum find out. I think I'm going to raise it to 20% and experiment to see if there is a audible difference. I'm using a I9-12900k but I think raising cpu usage may have an effect on any processor.

I would think I have a decent rig for music making. It's originally built for gaming and 3D graphic work. I have a i7-8700k, GTX 980Ti, M.2 1T ssd and 32gb RAM. My sample rate is at 44,100 in Reason. But some instruments especially sythns cause my speakers to start popping when the CPU usage gets heavy. In some cases it's only one instrument. Like Europa, and a few Kontakt instruments I have. I'm wondering if it's a hardware issue or am I just not optimizing something right with Reason and my system. Or is it these old monitor speakers (Studiophile BX5 bought many years ago). I understand the better the quality samples being played the more CPU have to work. So how do most musicians deal with all the complex songs using so many quality instruments, effects, etc. without pulling your hair out? Any advice is welcome.

 

[Marijn Riz]

I would think I have a decent rig for music making. It's originally built for gaming and 3D graphic work. I have a i7-8700k, GTX 980Ti, M.2 1T ssd and 32gb RAM. My sample rate is at 44,100 in Reason. But some instruments especially sythns cause my speakers to start popping when the CPU usage gets heavy. In some cases it's only one instrument. Like Europa, and a few Kontakt instruments I have. I'm wondering if it's a hardware issue or am I just not optimizing something right with Reason and my system. Or is it these old monitor speakers (Studiophile BX5 bought many years ago). I understand the better the quality samples being played the more CPU have to work. So how do most musicians deal with all the complex songs using so many quality instruments, effects, etc. without pulling your hair out? Any advice is welcome.

Have you tried doing the some but maybe with a other audio player?

 

[gregorio]

I understand the better the quality samples being played the more CPU have to work.

No, quality makes no difference at all to the workload of the CPU, Reason is processing 44,100 samples a second regardless of whether the audio quality of particular audio “samples” are fantastic or terrible.

So how do most musicians deal with all the complex songs using so many quality instruments, effects, etc. without pulling your hair out? Any advice is welcome.

It very much depends on the synths you are using and how many instances of those synths. There’s quite a complex interaction between Reason, Kontact and the soft synth. Some musicians prefer Logic, Cubase or ProTools but some softsynths are just CPU hogs and several instances of them can bog down any DAW. If that’s the case and the musician doesn’t want to use a different synth, the solution is generally to “freeze” (or “bounce down”) those synth tracks and then disabling those those synth tracks to free up it’s resources.

G