Multithreading performance

Hey!
 
I've had some performance issues lately. Something I really havent had in ages since I have a hexacore Intel processor running 12 threads. But something I've noticed is that it's always thread no 1 that peaks and then makes the audioengine to stop. Multithreading is activated in the preferences. Any ideas? The load isn't at all evenly balanced over the threads.
 
Running Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit, 24Gb RAM, Roland Quad Capture, several SSD-drives and Sonar Platinum. All latest drivers and firmware, bios etc from chipset to audio, graphics, storage etc... Sonar Platinum latest version.
 
/M

Scook is right, for example, the Abbey Road drums from Native instruments do this to my system all the time. You may also want to look into some under the hood tweaks like disabling core parking and if this is an Intel system, killing CPU EIST and disabling HPET in the BIOS. That helped my system at least cut down on core 1 doing all the work and made it run smoother.
 

Core parking? How do I do that?
 
Could be some synth or plugin I guess. I'll try freezing one at a time. Thanks for the tip. I use a lot of Arturia synths and well.... they've had problems before.
 
Thanks again!
 
/M

It is a possibility.

pwalpwal
this is probably not completely accurate, but i believe certain things always go through a single core, including the gui and the master buss, so one core is always busier than the others... after that the core distribution is roughly per-track (this is how live does it)... so you might try sub-bussing, or moving plugs from the master, see if that helps?

well, i have no plugs on the master. i was working last night on a song with one instance of kontakt, one instance of Ultra Analog and about 24 tracks of audio (with 6 busses) with varying amounts of Pro Channel use (ReMatrix/Tape/EQ/Comp/) and a couple instances of Wave's REDD Channel Strip. i'm getting better performance with regards to dropouts after updating my bios and turning off the energy savings setting there. but it still has the 80 to 20 split.
 
i also see the same core performance split in Reason, so it's not just Sonar. I wonder about AMD's version of Intel's Core Parking.
[heads off to google]

This may help http://www.cakewalk.com/D...rmance.21.html#1150952

Disable EIST (enhanced Intel speed step) any other "power" saving stuff you may have enabled. The absolutely best advice for info on core parking is google it. Toms Hardware will have a lot of good info. Google it and start saving stuff in a favorites menu. You will want to have it in the future. Get a small notebook and write down all changes you make from what, to what, and date them. Don't do anything without writing it down, then you can always undo it. The people on this Forum will be able and willing  to help a lot. Save the posts you want in your folder. Fixing it shouldn't be your only goal here. Getting familiar with it will help you so much in the future. Do some searches in the Forums too.
 
Added: Put all relevant specs on your rig, OS, audio card, amount of memory and so on, in your Forum user signature. That can be the difference between getting a bunch of answers right away and none at all.

gunboatdiplomacy

pwalpwal
this is probably not completely accurate, but i believe certain things always go through a single core, including the gui and the master buss, so one core is always busier than the others... after that the core distribution is roughly per-track (this is how live does it)... so you might try sub-bussing, or moving plugs from the master, see if that helps?

well, i have no plugs on the master. i was working last night on a song with one instance of kontakt, one instance of Ultra Analog and about 24 tracks of audio (with 6 busses) with varying amounts of Pro Channel use (ReMatrix/Tape/EQ/Comp/) and a couple instances of Wave's REDD Channel Strip. i'm getting better performance with regards to dropouts after updating my bios and turning off the energy savings setting there. but it still has the 80 to 20 split.
 
i also see the same core performance split in Reason, so it's not just Sonar. I wonder about AMD's version of Intel's Core Parking.
[heads off to google]

it's to do with each audio stream having to be processed within a single thread (or similar, this is obviously over simplified)
i'm including prochannel as a plugin
it may be worth messing with kontakt's own multi-core settings, some report better performance with it off, others the opposite
also, try disabling all fx, just to see what the difference is? if it's a noticeable difference you could then try disabling each in turn, to identify the culprit(s)
it would be nice if sonar had a performance meter similar to st**** o** which shows cpu usage per-plugin
is core parking not managed by windows? (can't remember for sure but i think i "disabled" it with some registry setting in win7)

emwhy
BassDaddy I've never used the Process Lasso utility, just the basic one they have there for core parking. I run a pretty lean PC as it is (I built it myself) so I don't need to worry about a lot of junkware in the background.
 
As to Kontakt, which library(s) is the OP using?
 

OP isn't using Kontakt, but i'm using Abbey Roads Vintage Drummer and Scarbee Rickenbacker

Oops my bad gunboatdiplomacy.....in the Abbey Road kit, switch your mixer setting to "init" and watch how much the first core comes back to earth! It's the mixer in that particular Kontakt library that causes me grief. I've stopped using that part of it and just process the Abbey Road stuff through SONAR's Pro Channel.
 

emwhy
Oops my bad gunboatdiplomacy.....in the Abbey Road kit, switch your mixer setting to "init" and watch how much the first core comes back to earth! It's the mixer in that particular Kontakt library that causes me grief. I've stopped using that part of it and just process the Abbey Road stuff through SONAR's Pro Channel.
 

i will do that the minute i get home!

Yeah the onboard mixer in NI's Drummer libraries is a core hog. I have all of the NI effects in that mixer as standalone plugs and if I make up the same chain of effects in the ProChannel instead of using the onboard mixer, I don't get nearly the same load on my first core.

Something to keep in mind is that core usage is also a factor built into a program (to utilize properly or not), and SONAR is simply a host... it cannot control this in any plug. Core 0 tends to be the "workhorse" not only for Windows, but also many programs (since it exists on every machine), and often the "main" portion of a program runs there. Also, some processes must be run end-to-end, so if committed to a thread, that is where they will run to completion. A simple example is running batch processes with Audition... the core program stays in Core 0, but each process gets a thread, so on an 8 thread machine it processes 7 files at a time end-to-end with each core then picking up another job.
 
There is also a difference between seeing this and it bothering you versus this impacting performance. It would be nice to have a listing of "primary offenders" to Core 0 usage, but some of it is just watching how the Cores load when inserting/playing specific plugs. If they do become impacting, consider freezing synths or bouncing tracks and archiving the original to mitigate CPU usage. Some can also be achieved via workflow, since "simple" tends to be far less CPU-intensive than "complex."
 
With all that said... SONAR unto itself is very good at balancing core loading (and what it can control).

Hey Guys , I never had this problem but I too am suffering from my first core being alot higher almost 3x's more than the other 3 core's..
 This is even on a brand new project , If I add a VStI hit a few keys and I see my first core go alot higher..
 I called support which was very helpful but I still have the same issue,
 I made sure speed step was disabled . I also disable core parking which , Im not sure if it is disabled. I followed a youtube video were I had to copy a hex key find it in the regedit and then change the max value to zero, then find next , and see if there were more values that could be changed, Only found one to change.
 Now when I restarted and looked at the processors they still dont look even in the task manager.
I wonder if my cpu is going bad. Right now I cant even get a 20 track count. NEVER had this problem . 2.8 ghz quad core . What software should I run to determine if my cpu is going.. or what should I do , new computer?
 
 Thanks for your help .. John

Are you seeing this with specific VSTis or plugins?
 
One thread I remember from LONG ago talked about the ProChannel being enabled causing grief (in projects with fairly high track count). I cannot recall the specifics of that, but recall the person saying that disabling the PC for tracks helped noticeably.
 
If plugin-related, the quickest check is to hit "E" (global plugin bypass). If the core 0 drops substantially it is a good indicator. Freezing VSTis is another thing to try (some VSTis are CPU hungry).
 
I recommend saving the project as a new name first, then you can troubleshoot without worry for mucking the original project file.