MainStage 2.2.1 - CPU issues with old MacBook

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Level 2

222 points

MainStage 2.2.1 - CPU issues with old MacBook

I just downloaded MainStage 2 for my trusty old MacBook - it's 2.0GHz Core Duo, 2GB... best spec you can make it really.

I use it to run both Ableton Live and Garageband with absolutely no problems... The CPU handles both apps fine, unless I have some stuff running in the background. But most of the time the CPU hovers around 50%.

So I was quite surprised when I downloaded MainStage 2 and started using it... The CPU is pretty constant at about 100%. Sometimes it goes up as far as 150%. And this is when idle! Although I don't have much memory, MainStage is not taking up a huge amount (about 350MB) and I still have some headroom left... So I'm assuming that isn't the issue.

I've looked at other threads and one solution was to up the audio buffer time in the preferences. Mine was already set to 256 samples, but I tried higher and it didn't make any difference. Can anyone help? I bought it for live performance, but considering how dodgy it's looking with the CPU, I'm a little worried about doing so.

Thanks!

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 1,1 Core Duo 2.0 GHz 2 GB RAM

Posted on Apr 1, 2012 9:41 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 2, 2012 4:10 AM in response to Jowie

Hello Jowie,

I'm afraid the new MS raised the bar for the hardware required.

What i can suggest you is:

- upgrade your RAM to 4GB, that shouldn't be quite inexpensive and for sure helps a lot,

- modify your setup so that the sound remains under 0db (you can raise the volume from the amplifier)

- remove all the "little-icons-in-the-menu-bar"

If this doesn't gets you in a usable way consider removing some effect from your channels (like from the main out).

i have a 2.4 core 2 duo with 4gb ram. It's usable, (i don't couple it with live) wihtout modifying the default buffer setting, but i'm saving money for a faster mac anyway 🙂 Honestly MainStage is what i always wanted in 20 years of playing...

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Answer 2

Apr 2, 2012 4:11 AM in response to Jowie

Hello Jowie,

I'm afraid the new MS raised the bar for the hardware required.

What i can suggest you is:

- upgrade your RAM to 4GB, that shouldn't be quite inexpensive and for sure helps a lot,

- modify your setup so that the sound remains under 0db (you can raise the volume from the amplifier)

- remove all the "little-icons-in-the-menu-bar"

If this doesn't gets you in a usable way consider removing some effect from your channels (like from the main out).

i have a 2.4 core 2 duo with 4gb ram. It's usable, (i don't couple it with live) wihtout modifying the default buffer setting, but i'm saving money for a faster mac anyway 🙂 Honestly MainStage is what i always wanted in 20 years of playing...

Reply

Answer 3

Apr 2, 2012 4:12 AM in response to Jowie

Hello Jowie,

I'm afraid the new MS raised the bar for the hardware required.

What i can suggest you is:

- upgrade your RAM to 4GB, that shouldn't be quite inexpensive and for sure helps a lot,

- modify your setup so that the sound remains under 0db (you can raise the volume from the amplifier)

- remove all the "little-icons-in-the-menu-bar"

If this doesn't gets you in a usable way consider removing some effect from your channels (like from the main out).

i have a 2.4 core 2 duo with 4gb ram. It's usable, (i don't couple it with live) wihtout modifying the default buffer setting, but i'm saving money for a faster mac anyway 🙂 Honestly MainStage is what i always wanted in 20 years of playing...

Reply

Answer 4

Jowie Author

Level 2

222 points

Apr 3, 2012 4:08 AM in response to chiccorosso

Hi Chiccorosso!

I appreciate that I'm "playing with the big boys now" and that my hardware is pretty old... However I was just really confused as to why it was this bad... Garageband handles playing a piano patch with ease, whereas MainStage, set up to do exactly the same task, runs my CPU at full pelt even when no sounds are being played!

I've seen others mention CPU spikes too, where the sound cuts out, which isn't good for a live performance obviously... And these people are on machines with much better specs than mine. Using up 100% CPU for a task such as this does make me wonder whether there is some seriously unoptimised code in MS... Ableton Live is pretty professional and copes way better.

As to your points:

My MacBook's maximum official RAM upgrade is 2GB, so mine is maxed-out in that respect. Apparently it can access up to 2.5GB, but the only way of doing that is by buying 4GB RAM and effectively wasting 1.5GB of it. But I take your point, and perhaps it's worth the money for that extra half a gig. What do you think?
I will try the 0dB limiting as you suggested, but I don't think I was ever playing up to those volume levels. Obviously when I'm not playing anything, there is no sound level at all and yet still the CPU is blazing away around 100%.
What do you mean by little icons in the menu bar? Are you referring to my OS menu bar items? I do have iStat Menus installed which is very handy for noticing these CPU issues 🙂 but I will disable them all and see if it makes a difference.
I have the two default effects running through the buses (I don't know all the terminology yet because I'm very new to it!). I don't really need both, but I do need at least reverb or it'll defeat the object of me using MS. I'll try cutting back and see what happens.

Thanks 🙂

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Answer 5

Jowie Author

Level 2

222 points

Apr 3, 2012 5:25 AM in response to Jowie

EDIT:

I thought it was possible to get 2.5GB RAM out of the original MacBooks, but I must have dreamt it up from somewhere. The maximum physical RAM I can get out of my MacBook 1st gen Core Duo is indeed, unfortunately, 2GB.

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Answer 6

Apr 3, 2012 6:08 AM in response to Jowie

Hello Jowie,

Nobody here is a "big boy", or at least I don't think I am. I apologize if that's how i sounded. :-)

Personally I don't think an extra 0.5 GB RAM would change much. Many users saw an increase in processor usage when the sound reaches 0db (please note 0db is not max scale, is at about 4/5 of the meters.

Istat while for sure useful eats some precious processor time.

Mainstage uses quite a different architecture than garageband (or logic) in order to process audio and virtual instruments all in real time and also tinkers a lot into Audio Units parameters to give you the opportunity to change things live. Also a part of processing power is devoted to update the graphics in real time to give you a proper on-time feedback). Mainstage passes thru the interface vectors to update and manage your channels, that's a problem other softwares avoids by giving you a bitmapped and lower priority UI.

Default effects are ok. Heavy load effects are usually the ones devote to convolutions like space designer.

Anyway Main Stage since version 2.2 uses a lot of processor power. If the sounds are getting out correctly i think there's no issue in running 100% of the processor, but if you get garbled sounds or missing notes I would either consider a more powerful machine or a different tool for playing. (i know, it's sad to say that but at least I think it's honest).

Please write here how it ended on your side.

Best regards and good luck!

Enrico

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Answer 7

Jowie Author

Level 2

222 points

Apr 3, 2012 7:09 AM in response to chiccorosso

Hi Enrico,

Don't worry, no offense was taken! That was my rather unfortunate turn of phrase... But it's true that now I'm concentrating more on professional audio software on my old MacBook, it's rather showing its age! 😟

I'll try turning off as many of the little system utils as I can, see if it makes a difference. I do have quite a few Audio Units so I'm wondering if it would help to uninstall some I don't use any more?

The problem with the CPU usage is mainly when it goes over and cuts out sounds... In that respect it's less reliable than simpler apps such as Garageband. What kind of CPU usage do you get on your Mac?

I'll let you know how I get on with the tweaks, and thanks for the help. 🙂

:-Joe

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Answer 8

Apr 3, 2012 1:45 PM in response to Jowie

I have a 2010 macbook pro, a core 2 duo 2.4ghz with 4gb ram. I'm using it for my live performances, combined with pianoteq play piano plugin and all the factory plugins (mainly hammonds, rhodes, EXS24, ES2). My biggest patch having 7 instruments used in layer.

Said that, i use mainstage without big problems but i have the feeling it runs a little "border line". As soon as I open a concert it goes up to 100% then it goes down and it stalls from 60% to 85%.

I tried it on a i7macbook pro with 8GB ram and it ran very smoothly with 20% to 50% cpu usage.

As for what you ask audio units doesn't takes up performances, unless you place them in a concert. So there's no real need to uninstall them if not to gain back hard disk space and simplify your setup. Remember also to disable bluetooth and maybe wifi. Those two things can impact on real time processes.

I remain here waiting for your feedback 😉 good luck and you're welcome.

PS: before mainstage was invented i used to play with logic, with a sound on each channel strip. It worked flawlessy on an old white macbook.

Enrico.

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Answer 9

Jowie Author

Level 2

222 points

Apr 6, 2012 1:44 PM in response to chiccorosso

Thanks for your info Enrico... Makes interesting reading! 🙂

So your MBPro 2.4GHz runs around 70% for MainStage? See I don't want to sound too moany here, but that sounds like an awful lot... And for an i7 with 8GB running at 50% to play a piano sound, that sounds insane!

I tried to run the Pop Piano sound on mine, and the CPU shot up to about 150% and kept jittering. I know it's probably doing some extra wizardry under the hood, but I just can't see what's so majorly different about how it works to say something like my Garageband patch: Software piano, microphone input, stereo synth input, all fed through reverb and delay/echo... And it sits at about 10% CPU usage on mine. Why should MainStage be 10-15 times more CPU-intensive?

😕

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