Fun with Windows 7 CPU

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cmusicmaker
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Re:Fun with Windows 7 CPU 2010/06/02 06:11:57 (permalink)
itllcometogether



- does the problem occur with other audio applications such as WMP?
No issues in WMP (although I do get a very rare pop while playing a .wav)
I have noticed crackling in some Windows system sounds, randomly and rarely.



Hi,

A few things that might help...

1. You mentioned Windows System sounds, that could also cause problems with Sonar. Best to disable them at least while Sonar is in use.
2. Any Vrius scanners or Firewalls should be switched off as well while Sonar is running.
3. Cakewalk also advise switching off any Virus Scanner *before* you install Sonar. Could be a re - install is necessary. 
4. Finally if you are running Sonar 8.5 did you un install 8.0 after that? If so you may need to reinstall 8.5


Music | Thedmncproject
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itllcometogether
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Re:Fun with Windows 7 CPU 2010/06/24 15:52:57 (permalink)
My DPC Latency Checker readings were always under the green line, but lately I'm getting some Yellow--even the rare Red--peaks.

"Process Explorer" shows DPCs (Deferred Procedure Calls) using 2-6% CPU.

Does anybody know what this means?  Or how to drill further down and diagnose the problem?

The only other odd process I see w/ constant activity is dwm.exe (Desktop Window Manager).
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itllcometogether
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Re:Fun with Windows 7 CPU 2010/07/11 13:27:40 (permalink)
Why was this thread moved to the "Computers" forum???  That's not right...
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IronSound
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Re:Fun with Windows 7 CPU 2010/07/12 17:01:30 (permalink)
 Hello... 

     Shutting off Disk Cache in Sonar 6 pro made a big difference for me as to clicks & pops... As you are getting yellow and red peaks in DPC Checker... not good... What are the numbers you are getting?

     Here are my suggested steps... please record the numbers...

1) You can use MSCONFIG command to start your Windows software version with just the basic drivers... And basic software ( Need to manually uncheck these boxes... adobe...etc )... Run DPC CHECKER.
 
2) Disable all hardware in your BIOS you do not need... USB, Sound Card, Network Card... just the connections for your DAW hardware/software... Run DPC CHECKER.
 
3) Turn off all power saving features in your BIOS and Windows software version... Run DPC CHECKER.
 
     Do your spikes disappear??? in any of these steps??? you can now turn items back on one at a time to find the reason... My network card in Windows XP does my 1400 spikes... I DON't need it turned on for my DAW sessions... My USB ports give me a peak of 165 from 85 only, in Windows 7 64x
 
Have a Great Audio Life...
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Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
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Re:Fun with Windows 7 CPU 2010/07/17 18:54:01 (permalink)
What Tarsier says is exactly right.  SONAR is measuring what matters from the point of view of the DAW. Windows is reporting overall CPU use. Its completely normal for SONAR's CPU to be higher than the overall Windows CPU measurement especially on a multicore system.
 
If even one track has enough plugins that cause one buffer of audio to not get processed before the time required to play that buffer, the SONAR's cpu use will spike to 100% or higher and you may drop out if that persists.
 
The key thing to find out in this case is why this is happening consistently. Something is preventing a buffer of audio from being processed in time which leads to the crackling noise and dropouts. The mechanism that drives the whole audio engine is the audio driver's "clock" (callback) that acts as the pump to stream a buffer of audio through SONAR. Each time a buffer is processed we measure how long it took to process as compared to the actual for the buffer in milliseconds. DPC latency problems can interfere with the audio driver callbacks and cause crackles but typically wont show a high SONAR CPU reading since it wont affect the actual processing of that buffer by the CPU.
 
A shot in the dark... If one core is spiking that means that something is overloading the processing of that core at a very high priority. If SONAR happens to be also using that core when it happens and audio processing gets preempted at that very moment it will preventing processing that buffer of audio and cause crackling and the CPU spike. Try turning off multiprocessing just as a test and see if the problem gets better. Something else to try is hunting down any unnecessary background processes and temporarily kill them. Also try disabling core parking as some have suggested.
 
It can be hard to narrow these problems sometimes. It seems that by eliminating the echo driver if its happening even with your onboard soundcard, its something else in the system other than the audio driver thats causing this. Another thing to check is the hard disk believe it or not. Try streaming from a different disk - perhaps an external USB disk and see if that changes anything.
post edited by Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk] - 2010/07/17 19:30:04

Noel Borthwick
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