Discussion about VST Playback Engine (Alchemy, ElectraX-Users, please read!)

I am having a discussion on KVR concerning the audio engine. It switches off every 10 - 15 seconds when I try to use ElectraX VST.

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Me: somehow in sonar the audio engine drops out a lot [using ElectraX] for me. everyone else experiencing this?

H: Yes. Sonar's VST playback engine is sadly not up to scratch. I usually need Sonar (8.5.3) to run at the ridiculous sample rate of 1024 to prevent it from dropping out. This is in a project with only Alchemy loaded, for example. I could have minimal CPU consumption, and yet Sonar will drop out. Do the same project in Live, for example, and I can go with a much much lower sample buffer with no drop outs whatsoever. So in my experience, it's not ElectraX but Sonar unfortunately.

Me: Well I do agree somewhat, as Sonar is quite fast to kill it's audio engine.

BUT i am talking about a simple project, only ElectraX on it. In this case all soft synths i've got play nice. Only ElectraX causes drop outs. All I have to do is play a sound for like 10 seconds and turn some knobs. Audio Engine will shut off.

So this is a special case here, no general Sonar problem.

H: That happens to me as well, albeit in Alchemy and a few others. The other day I was making some noise with Modelonia and had similar problems. Loaded the same in Live = no problems. I think Sonar is just less forgiving of the more complex synths.



Anyone else suffering from this problem? What could this be related to? Seems like it is really affecting "complex synths". Do Cakewalk know about this? This isn't good for Sonar's reputation.

Thanks for your input,

Phil

and system specs?

pwal


and system specs?

Vista 64
TC Konnekt 24 D, latest 64 Bit Drivers
Quadcore 2.5 GHz
8 GB RAM

Sonar's VST playback engine is sadly not up to scratch. I usually need Sonar (8.5.3) to run at the ridiculous sample rate of 1024 to prevent it from dropping out...So in my experience, it's not ElectraX but Sonar unfortunately.

I think Sonar is just less forgiving of the more complex synths.

cyphersuit, you're getting some bogus information over there. Mr. Himalaya may be a first-rate sound designer and though he is trying to be helpful in this instance he is speaking beyond his understanding.

I read "complex synth" as meaning it's compute-intensive. SONAR will have no greater problem handling a "complex" synth than any other - the complexity is within the synth, not in SONAR.

I don't have this synth, so I can't report personal experience. But I noted that  this is a brand-new version just out of beta, and sounds like a pretty extensive revision. I would not be surprised if one or more of its many new features have not been optimized yet and are not yet as efficient CPU-wise as they could be.

By default, SONAR bails when a dropout exceeds 250ms - that's a Looong dropout, not the kind of interruption that any properly-functioning DAW would be responsible for. You may well have some other issue with your system that's eating CPU cycles, but you weren't aware of it until you inserted an especially CPU-hungry synth. Have you used the DPC Latency Checker yet to check that angle?

What is your playback buffer size? What type of CPU do you have?

bitflipper

By default, SONAR bails when a dropout exceeds 250ms - that's a Looong dropout, not the kind of interruption that any properly-functioning DAW would be responsible for. You may well have some other issue with your system that's eating CPU cycles, but you weren't aware of it until you inserted an especially CPU-hungry synth. Have you used the DPC Latency Checker yet to check that angle?

What is your playback buffer size? What type of CPU do you have?



Intel Core™2 Quad Processor Q8300 2.5GHz. 8 GB RAM. Latency is set in TC Konnekt 24D Panel to 384 samples.

Playback buffer queue: 2

Then the logical conclusion is that ElectraX has a problem, not SONAR, not the computer, not the interface.  Of course, it may be a bad combination of your specific set up.  I'm sure the builder of electraX would be interested in your findings and complete set up.

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