Mainstage 3 CPU spikes in Performance mode

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Level 1

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Mainstage 3 CPU spikes in Performance mode

Set up: Macbook pro 13' Renta (early 2015) 3.1GHz i7, 16gb Ram, 500gb SSD. MOTU 828 mk3 FW Audio interface. MainStage 3.1.1 and Pianoteq 4 (also tried version 5, but I feel it was worse)

Hi I'm new to the forum so please be gentle.

I have recently upgraded my mac from a 2009 iMac (3.1 GHz intel dual core duo, 8gb ram) which I have been sucessfully gigging with for the past 4 years. On the iMac I resisted upgrading from MainStage 2 as I was worried that the age of the machine might be a problem.

Having spent the cash on a shiny new MBP I thought my concerns of CPU spikes were over. Unfortunately this is not the case. When using Pianoteq, the CPU usage is pretty heavy, which I would expect. I have found the right settings in MainStage 3 to allow the CPU to sit in the middle of the meter whilst playing a piano part along with a four track playback. All is well when I play in edit mode, but when I go to performance mode the CPU spikes and goes crazy.

All the Exs 24 and apple instruments of course behave themselves and barely tickles the meter, but I love the Pianoteq piano live.

In the MS 3.1.1 update they said that this issue had been fixed. Any ideas?

MacBook, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 4, 2015 4:20 AM

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Answer 1

Foxboy71

Level 4

2,378 points

May 19, 2015 6:28 AM in response to zootmo

Hey,

i have a 2011 i7 MBPro with 8 GB's.

Mainstage has been a CPU hog forever. Apple never managed to smoothen out the spikes, no matter how big your buffer is. It has become worse with the last updates, (again, like so often before...). But here are some tipps that might help:

Use the graphical CPU usage window to identify the biggest culprits in your concerts:

"Modeled instrument" plugins, starting with the B3, Scuplture, the Vintage E-Piano and so on. In some of the synths, you can reduce the number of voices. They are set very high by default, but you often need only 4 or 8 voices in a life concert. So reduce them.

The next hog is Space Designer, which is built in in most factory patches. Get rid of it if you can live with another reverb. It just eats so much CPU.

The AMP and Pedals are very CPU-hungry, too. Think where you really need them and where you can build around them.

Don't expect to run a concert with all the fancy stuff maxed out on multiple channels, sends and so on. Try to build a minimalistic thing, and very cautiously add only what you can't live without.

Let the good times Roll.

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