Erroneous CPU overload warnings.

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jwmmakerofmusic
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Erroneous CPU overload warnings.

Post by jwmmakerofmusic » Thu Dec 15, 2016 10:49 pm

I'm on an iPad Air 2, 128gb, purchased March 2015. I have no other apps running in the background (no Audiobus, no IAAs, no internet browser, etc). I keep getting aggravating CPU overload warnings where none are warranted. I have loaded on track one a Fabfilter Twin, and on track two a soundfont. On track one, I have Saturn set to "destroy" in order to reduce the apparent bitrate and sample rate. This makes my CPU meter go to about 15% processing power, not 90% or so, but yet that annoying "cpu overload, reduce the number of effects" message pops up just the same.

I'd like to use a buffer size of 4096, but apparently Twin doesn't allow me to increase my buffer size beyond 512. Are there any ways these problems can be solved? I love Auria but don't wish to be bothered with warning messages and the like. Thanks.

Denzkps
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Re: Erroneous CPU overload warnings.

Post by Denzkps » Fri Dec 16, 2016 4:13 am

Don't use in Saturn HQ mode and in Twin2 reduce number of voices

jwmmakerofmusic
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Re: Erroneous CPU overload warnings.

Post by jwmmakerofmusic » Fri Dec 16, 2016 12:08 pm

Denzkps wrote:Don't use in Saturn HQ mode and in Twin2 reduce number of voices
Oh I did those already, lol. See, the point is trying to recreate the "arcade" sound in this fakebit tune I got, which means reducing the voices to two (one melody, one harmony), and getting that lovely lo-fi aliasing.

The trick of it is, Lyra and the Fabfilter synths don't seem to allow Auria to run with a buffer size of 4096, which is exactly the buffer size needed to run things proper on any underpowered device. I've been an FL Studio user for years (since 2003). I had an extremely complicated track running on an underpowered 2004 Dell laptop with no skips or buffer underruns (and I believe this was before the Asio4All drivers integration). I knew what to do to keep everything gelling.

So, why doesn't Auria allow for a buffer size of 4096 when running synths and soundfonts?

theconnactic
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Re: Erroneous CPU overload warnings.

Post by theconnactic » Fri Dec 16, 2016 4:25 pm

It's not Auria, it's Apple! iOS simply won't let any MIDI to run with a buffer size larger than 512 frames.

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mtingle
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Re: Erroneous CPU overload warnings.

Post by mtingle » Sat Dec 17, 2016 12:14 pm

The Fabfilter synths don't play nice on iOS/ Auria when it comes to CPU efficiency. On my (very) old computer systems I could run dozens of midi synths, samplers and fx before maxing out the CPU. On an ipad pro, Auria pro and fabfilter one i get (maybe) 1. lol

Needs some serious CPU optimization IMO. Nanostudio runs like a charm even on old ipads.

theconnactic
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Re: Erroneous CPU overload warnings.

Post by theconnactic » Sat Dec 17, 2016 9:09 pm

The FabFilter synths, specially the Twin 2, are not your regular "MIDI Synth": they are more like NI Massive or Uhe Diva. How many instances of Diva can you have running at the same time on your old computer? Yeah, exactly. Perhaps a little ambitious for the iPad (or, more probably, for iOS with its unbeliable limitations). We need large buffers for MIDI ASAP.

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mtingle
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Re: Erroneous CPU overload warnings.

Post by mtingle » Sun Dec 18, 2016 3:36 am

theconnactic wrote:The FabFilter synths, specially the Twin 2, are not your regular "MIDI Synth": they are more like NI Massive or Uhe Diva. How many instances of Diva can you have running at the same time on your old computer? Yeah, exactly. Perhaps a little ambitious for the iPad (or, more probably, for iOS with its unbeliable limitations). We need large buffers for MIDI ASAP.
If Auria's built in synths were CPU friendly it would make Auria more useable.

Also I have a feeling even my 10 year old computers could handle these fabfilter synths.

theconnactic
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Re: Erroneous CPU overload warnings.

Post by theconnactic » Sun Dec 18, 2016 9:09 am

If they use Windows, they probably could. The artificial limitations Apple puts inside iOS are unreal. Anyway, my iPad Pro (9.7") can handle a few Twin 2 tracks just fine (but let's keep in mind the A9X is as powerful as a 2010 Core i7). What's your iPad?

instinctive
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Re: Erroneous CPU overload warnings.

Post by instinctive » Sun Dec 18, 2016 9:49 am

Sorry, it almost certainly isn't about "Apple's limitations" or the "missing power of the iPad" (the current iPads have ridiculous amounts of processing power, certainly more than my 2003 TOWER studio computer which could handle a dozen complex synths).

It's probably just about lazy coding.

Take NanoStudio: its synths and effects sound amazing, especially for being essentially 7 years old, and you can pretty much fill all 16 channels with 4 inserts each and it will run on an iPhone 4 without CPU overload! (slightly exaggerated, but not by much.). No wonder, it's all in ARM assembly!

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mtingle
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Re: Erroneous CPU overload warnings.

Post by mtingle » Sun Dec 18, 2016 12:58 pm

having a CPU lite built in synth like crystal synth would be a good addition IMO.

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Re: Erroneous CPU overload warnings.

Post by theconnactic » Sun Dec 18, 2016 4:14 pm

instinctive wrote:Sorry, it almost certainly isn't about "Apple's limitations" or the "missing power of the iPad" (the current iPads have ridiculous amounts of processing power, certainly more than my 2003 TOWER studio computer which could handle a dozen complex synths).

It's probably just about lazy coding.

Take NanoStudio: its synths and effects sound amazing, especially for being essentially 7 years old, and you can pretty much fill all 16 channels with 4 inserts each and it will run on an iPhone 4 without CPU overload! (slightly exaggerated, but not by much.). No wonder, it's all in ARM assembly!
Don't feel sorry, but you're comparing apples and oranges here. FabFilter Twin 2 won't ever be a lightweight synth: it's in the same class as U-he's diva, both being a very complex, powerful, and unfortunately very CPU intensive synths. I use a Core i7 based workstation in one of the studios I work with: it has U-he Diva, Zebra and Bazille, as well as Fab Filter Twin 2. Both the Twin 2 and Diva give the computer a hard time when using some complex patches in any buffer size of less than 256 frames. Take that in perspective. Are those coders simply lazy, or it's really the price of having faithfull analogue emulation algorithms?

People in iOS are still (unfortunately) used to expect any iOS music app to run just fine in any iPad hardware that is currently sold in the app store, and this used to be really bad to app developers because Apple insisted for a long time in selling the jurassic, preposterous iPad2. In fact this make sense from an average user point of view, but some people simply need the best, no-compromise solutions that are available. Fab Filter offers this with its synths and plug-ins. Ambitious, given the platform? Yes! But for some people willing to invest on the ecosystem, getting the best hardware they can, is the only solution available. Again, which is your iPad model?

theconnactic
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Re: Erroneous CPU overload warnings.

Post by theconnactic » Sun Dec 18, 2016 4:19 pm

mtingle wrote:having a CPU lite built in synth like crystal synth would be a good addition IMO.
There's always the ever growing list of AU synths to be considered.

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mtingle
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Re: Erroneous CPU overload warnings.

Post by mtingle » Sun Dec 18, 2016 5:35 pm

Yes as the AU plugin format grows it's going to really open up Auria to some very cool musical tools.

The complexity of Auria Pro must be massive at the moment with the addition of busses, time stretching, midi etc. I think it'll be a while before Rim gets all this under control.

All-in-all it's a very promising platform and Auria is the leader in the pack at the moment for a real DAW alternative on the ipad.

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