clemensrancher
Level 1 (4 points)
Audio

Q: mainstage 3.2.4 cpu spikes are chrashing patch changes

Dear Colleagues,


we are using mainstage 3.2.4 as player for backing tracks on stage. each song is a seperate patch (almost 100), each patch consists of 5 - 8 tracks (CLICK, BASS, KEYS, GIT, VOX, PERC, MP3, MAIN), the playback-plugin loads .caf-files (16bit) and they were routet to seperate outputs (MOTU 828mk3 hybrid, usb 2.0 connection). There is enough headroom in the mix, none of the tracks is clipping (no cpu spikes through software clipping)


Software:

- Mainstage 3.2.4

- I/O Puffer 256 Samples

- I/O Sicherheitspuffer activatet

- CPU  -> 4 cores

 

By using manstage 2 we registered a cpu usage of ca. 15%, now by using vers. 3.2.4 in layout modus we have 20-25%, switching to Perform-Modus CPU usage increases to 30-40%, when changing patches during performance, mainstage shows 60-70% cpu usage - and now mainstage is very slowly reacting!! horrible while using it on stage!!

 

Hardware: MacBook Pro (Retina, 13", early 2015), 2,9 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3 RAM, 512 GB SSD Harddrive, OS X 10.11.4

 

Adding another fact:

for having a backup on stage, we prepared another MacBook Pro (13", Anfang 2011), 2,7 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM, 750 GB SATA Harddrive, OS X 10.11.4, using exactly the same mainstage set/patches, etc. - but CPU usage is half of that, what I described above - WHY???


PLEASE HELP!!!

We like to use mainstage on stage again without being afraid of crashing the performance!!


thx a lot to all of you!!


clemens

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4), Mainstage 3.2.4

Posted on May 18, 2016 2:57 PM

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clemensrancher

Q: mainstage 3.2.4 cpu spikes are chrashing patch changes

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Adrianvealemusic,

    Adrianvealemusic Adrianvealemusic May 27, 2016 9:16 PM in response to clemensrancher
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 27, 2016 9:16 PM in response to clemensrancher

    Have you tried turning off I/O Safety Buffer?

    In Preferences>Audio>Advanced Settings. Then flick off the i/o safety buffer check box. See if that makes a difference.

     

    It prevented any spikes for me, after having huge troubles

  • by clemensrancher,

    clemensrancher clemensrancher May 28, 2016 4:12 AM in response to Adrianvealemusic
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Audio
    May 28, 2016 4:12 AM in response to Adrianvealemusic

    hey adrian,

     

    yes, I turned off the I/O Safety Buffer and I also just use 256 samples.

     

    The set is running without troubles now - but average CPU usage is above 50%.

    I decreased the number of patches I am using within one set now (70 instead of 90).

     

    I am still wondering about 2 things:

    - on my older mac book the same setup is running with lower cpu usage (half)

    - starting mainstage is still like a casino game, one time the patches do not start, one time the motu 828 is not detected... very often, the system needs a second start...

  • by Adrianvealemusic,

    Adrianvealemusic Adrianvealemusic May 28, 2016 9:25 PM in response to clemensrancher
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 28, 2016 9:25 PM in response to clemensrancher

    I wish i could help. I'll go over some of the thing I tried and see if i can come up with a solution.

    I'm in a similar situation with MainStage after updating to 3.2.4 having lots of troubles, and turning off channel strips as though it is peaking the CPU, but I'm staying well under the maximum.