PassiveDrift

skitch_84
The really strange thing about this is that it's a relatively recent occurrence for me. It didn't used to happen at all. I always had a fairly even spread across all my cores according to the CPU Meter in Sonar. However, I rolled back to many of the other versions and tried opening a project in each one of them, and I still got similar spikes no matter what version I was using. I know that this issue wasn't happening before, but since it's still happening no matter what version I roll back to, it makes me think that there's some other issue going on with my system. 

Did you think about dialing back win 10 updates or reinstall your audio drivers.? Those updates can sneak up on you.

I wouldn't be surprised if a Windows 10 update changed some configuration for the worse. They seem to happen way too frequently. I use a PreSonus Audiobox USB interface, and I think I have the latest driver for that, but I'll double-check. 

PassiveDrift

SilverBlueMedallion
Well, I am home and tried this, and while it took down the Core 1 spike, I am now getting nasty distortion and poor playback (even though nothing is spiking)
 

ASIO drivers?
Did you set the "Enable Set Threaded Ideal Processor" settings to false?
you may need to try different core numbers to get the best for you cpu.
Also you need to consider how much CPU your audio interface needs.

ASIO drivers is set to 1024 Samples
 
No matter how many cores I put in, it chokes up in the same spot.
 
I did change  "Enable Set Threaded Ideal Processor" settings to false.
 

oohhh when I set my ASIO driver to 4096 Samples everything is groovy, but of course I have latency on my keyboard now :(
 

One thing that I've found is that if you are using a multi-channel synth, like Omnisphere or Kontakt, you can spread the load by simply adding another instance and not loading up a single instance too much. While a single instance can only run on one core, multiple instances can run on different cores. Don't go too crazy though, there is a point of diminishing returns...
 
Now, if the problem synth is just a CPU hog, see if it has a "lite" mode. For tracking, this is usually good enough and you can bounce the tracks using high resolution offline mode.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

SilverBlueMedallion
oohhh when I set my ASIO driver to 4096 Samples everything is groovy, but of course I have latency on my keyboard now :(
 

4096 is way too high. I have 256 and no latency. 
 
There are some nice tips in this thread. I am gonna try to spread the load across my 8 core AMD 8370. It is set to 4.4ghz and is really smoking, but that first core is always 50%+ above the rest. 

jimkleban
Eric,
 
If you have a quad core that does multi threading, you have in essence 8 logical cores.  You can tell in the performance window on how many CORE BARS show up.
 
Jim

Thanks Jim!
 
I got 4 bars in the Performance window.

I am not sure but I think that CORE 1 being higher than the rest all the time might be representative of the resource contention of the OS.  Think about all the work the OS has to do in the background while you work in the DAW.  Manage the video windows and the audio streams between SONAR and your audio interface (be it, USB or FW over or not TB, etc).
 
I don't know if this is correct but that's my theory.  I do know that limiting the cores that SONAR uses freed my machine from this resource grip and smoothed out using SONAR.  Like I said, with my new DAW machine with a faster CPU and 12 threads, I have since turned the mix thread parm back to ZERO any my core 1 does show more use than the other cores.  When I check task manager with SONAR is running, my CPU usage shows a high of 9% and I do use a ton of PLUG INS and VSTi's in my projects. So, the higher CPU 1 is not an issue on this machine.
 
The only time this becomes an issue is when I am tracking in real time and latency.  I have little choice but to turn off the FX bins and lower my latency to do this.  Perhaps I just talked myself into trying to set the MIX THREAD parm to 10 or something and see if tracking with lower latency improves?  I will report back after I try this.
 
Jim
 
PS: I tried the above with my new DAW and I didn't see an improvement while tracking.  To have no GLITCHES the lowest setting of latency was 128 without glitches, the same as it is without changing the MIX THREAD parm.

THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   THIS WAS AN AWESOME TIP!!!!!!!  MY SYSTEM WORKS BETTER THAN EVER

I have to say this is one the most beneficial threads in awhile.  I have 6 core amd fx 6200 380ghz and I changed my MTC TO 5 AND FALSE  man what a difference in the usage and spread on the cores.  

SilverBlueMedallion
oohhh when I set my ASIO driver to 4096 Samples everything is groovy, but of course I have latency on my keyboard now :(
 

Hay, I have found that sometimes I have to reset the buffers depending on what I'm working on. it all comes together in the end. So I guess don't be afraid to configure Splat as needed. :)
 
Peace!