Rounds and Polyplex both using up nearly 50% CPU...is this normal?

Is there a setting I can change to make these two synths/plugins more CPU friendly? Otherwise I am apprehensive about using them in a live setting, I fear they'll crash my computer or something. I'm on a 2010 Macbook Pro, 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3. Do I need more RAM? A better processor? A new computer?

 

First, check your sample rate. Pretty much anything 44100 and up should be OK for almost all purposes; I think Rounds might run at twice that for oversampling reasons but it ought to be alright at 44.1K. Then, check your battery settings on your laptop to see if it is prioritizing power savings over performance. This was a problem at first on my laptop until I figured out what was going on. Of course, you then have to face a shorter battery life, so it is a trade-off.

 

Okay so turning down the sample rate from 88.2K to 44.1K did cut my CPU usage down to about 25%...but Polyplex was already at 44.1K and still using up around 45% CPU.

How do I check my battery settings to see if it is prioritizing power savings over performance?

 

@phant0m_shad0wz

what audio device are you using?

and is this Reaktor Standalone?

fyi, it is considered good practice to have a minimum of 8 GB RAM if you are doing music production.

anyway....in Reaktor's Audio Preferences you can change the buffer size to 512. 512 is also good in DAWs.

buying a good audio device is also recommended - NI's Komplete Audio 6 is good.

sowari

 

Hi and excuse my crude knowledge but what do you mean what audio device am I using? And yes this Reaktor is standalone.

Also I have been meaning to upgrade my RAM to 8 gb, but I am curious, what effect will this really have in terms of CPU usage? Or just in general?

Based on your recommendation on NI's Komplete Audio 6 "audio device", I am not using any? Just plugged straight into my macbooks USB ports. What does this audio device you speak of do in terms of running my software? Will it reduce the load on my CPU?

 

Audio Device also known as Audio Interface or Sound Card.

so i presume you are using the Mac's inbuilt audio output?

here are details about Komplete Audio 6

http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/audio-interfaces/komplete-audio-6/

KA6's audio quality is better than the Macs, you can also have smaller buffer sizes and lower CPU.

regarding RAM - the more RAM the better your Mac's performance, especially with Kontakt Instruments with loads of samples.

sowari

 

The audio komplete 6 works great on PC not just macs. I've had mine since 2009. If you need help or have any issues with it you can pm. The drivers are great on PC.