![]() When there is no incoming audio, the effects are deactivated until they are needed again. The load increases only as you start playing clips or feed audio into the effects. However, Live is “smart“ and avoids wasting CPU cycles on tracks and devices that do not contribute anything useful.įor example, dragging devices into a Live Set that is not running does not significantly increase the CPU load. Generally, every track and device being used in Live incurs some amount of CPU load. ![]() Live does not automatically disable unused channels, because the audio hardware drivers usually produce an audible “hiccup“ when there is a request for an audio configuration change. There are two buttons in the Audio Preferences to access the Input and Output Configuration dialogs, which allow activating or deactivating individual ins and outs. This drain can be minimized by disabling any inputs and outputs that are not required in a project. One source of constant CPU drain is the process of moving data to and from the audio hardware. This is why other applications may cause CPU spikes in Live’s CPU meter. Live expects that the audio thread will have the highest priority, however the final prioritization of threads is done by the operating system, meaning Live’s processing might get interrupted. ![]() Values over 100% are possible when the calculation takes more time than it does to play one audio buffer. This value is then compared to the time it takes to actually play one audio buffer.įor example, a value of 50% on the CPU meter means that Live is processing one audio buffer twice as fast as it takes to play the buffer. To determine the CPU load, Live calculates the time it needs to process one audio buffer. This option can be re-enabled from the drop-down menu as needed by selecting Warn on Current CPU Overload. In new installations of Live 11, the CPU Overload Indicator will also be switched off by default. You can click on the CPU meter to display the various options.īy default, Live will not display the Current level it must be enabled from the drop-down menu. The Current CPU meter displays the total current CPU usage. The Average CPU meter displays the average amount of the CPU currently processing audio, rather than the overall CPU load. The CPU meter can display the Average or Current CPU usage, or it can be switched off entirely. Note that the CPU meter takes into account only the load from processing audio, not other tasks the computer performs (e.g., managing Live’s user interface). If the percentage is 100 percent, the processing is being maxed out - it’s likely that you will hear gaps, clicks or other audio problems. For example, if the displayed percentage is 10 percent, the computer is just coasting along. ![]() The Control Bar’s CPU meter displays how much of the computer’s computational potential is currently being used. ![]() Depending on the machine and the Live Set, the available processing power can be several times that of older systems. If the processor can’t keep up with what needs to be calculated, the audio will have gaps or clicks.įactors that affect computational speed include processor clock rates (e.g., speed in MHz or GHz), architecture, temperature (in hot environments, modern CPUs will “thermal throttle” and slow down the CPU processing rate), memory cache performance (how efficiently a processor can grab data from memory) and system bus bandwidth - the computer’s “pipeline“ through which all data must pass.įortunately, Live supports multicore and multiprocessor systems, allowing the processing load from things like instruments, effects and I/O to be distributed among the available resources. To output a continuous stream of sound through the audio hardware, Live has to perform a huge number of calculations every second. This section will provide some insight on these issues, and should help you avoid and solve problems with running audio on a computer. An application like Live requires a powerful CPU and a fast hard disk. Real-time audio processing is a demanding task for general-purpose computers, which are usually designed to run spreadsheets and surf the Internet. 33 Computer Audio Resources and Strategies ![]()
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