Desmo808
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Sonar X2, multi-threading, and TSX
Hi, this is a product-specific question I have, related to a separate post I posted elsewhere on this forum. Does anyone know if Sonar X2/X2a has been optimized to take advantage of TSX? I'm building a DAW, and this info will partially influence my choice of CPU. Thanks.
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robert_e_bone
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Re: Sonar X2, multi-threading, and TSX
2013/06/26 13:59:33
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I have seen nothing out there one way or another on that.
I can tell you that my CPU is no longer the fastest kid on the block (Intel i7 2600K), but it is plenty fast for Sonar X2a.
I run that with 32 GB of memory and multiple hard drives and have no performance bottlenecks of any kind. (I also have 2 pretty good graphics cards each with 2 GB of memory, and have 2 display monitors).
I have seen folks recently go crazy at how much money they have shelled out for extreme performance, but I do not think it is at all needed. A good solid i7 and a bunch of memory and at least 2 drives and you should be OK. My specs are below, and they work quite well with zero crashes.
Bob Bone
Wisdom is a giant accumulation of "DOH!" Sonar: Platinum (x64), X3 (x64) Audio Interfaces: AudioBox 1818VSL, Steinberg UR-22 Computers: 1) i7-2600 k, 32 GB RAM, Windows 8.1 Pro x64 & 2) AMD A-10 7850 32 GB RAM Windows 10 Pro x64 Soft Synths: NI Komplete 8 Ultimate, Arturia V Collection, many others MIDI Controllers: M-Audio Axiom Pro 61, Keystation 88es Settings: 24-Bit, Sample Rate 48k, ASIO Buffer Size 128, Total Round Trip Latency 9.7 ms
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bitflipper
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Re: Sonar X2, multi-threading, and TSX
2013/06/26 16:20:00
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If we're lucky, Noel will comment. Lacking a definitive answer from the guy who does know, I'll happily throw out a guess, and guess that no, X2 is not TSX-aware, and that it's unlikely any other DAW is, either. Not because it's too new or not widely implemented, or that CW's compiler doesn't support it, but because it's just not relevant to how a DAW works. That'd be my guess, anyway.
 All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
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Desmo808
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Re: Sonar X2, multi-threading, and TSX
2013/06/26 21:36:15
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Hi guys, thanks for the insight. That's the consensus I'm getting--in the grand scheme of things, TSX would be a moot issue. At this point, it doesn't look like it will factor in to my decision.
BTW Bob -- are you overclocking your 2600K?
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Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
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Re: Sonar X2, multi-threading, and TSX
2013/06/27 00:32:01
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No support yet for this unfortunately. Without compiler support this would be pretty tricky and cumbersome to do except for code specifically Intel optimized. The technology itself looks promising since it could make some of our code using locks and critical sections run faster potentially. Lots of the multithreaded code in the engine could potentially benefit from this.
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Desmo808
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Re: Sonar X2, multi-threading, and TSX
2013/06/27 16:46:18
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Wow cool, I never had a CTO reply before. Thanks for the input.
My understanding of all this is very feeble at best. I sort of bought into the novelty factor, but I'm realizing that at this point in time, TSX support is much in the same boat as MMX was when it debuted.
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Goddard
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Re: Sonar X2, multi-threading, and TSX
2013/06/28 22:16:45
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Afaik, TSX isn't even supported by Intel's i7-4770K top-of-the-line Haswell cpu, so...
I'm more curious about whether Sonar 64-bit version exploits user mode scheduling which became available with Win7 x64?
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Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
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Re: Sonar X2, multi-threading, and TSX
2013/06/29 08:24:54
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Not today. UMS is very cool but requires a lot of backing support and tuning to be implemented. We may consider it someday.
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robert_e_bone
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Re: Sonar X2, multi-threading, and TSX
2013/06/29 10:18:06
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To the original poster, I am NOT overclocking my i7 2600K.
I believe overclocking generates too much heat, and is therefore not something I care to do. My system is crazy fast, even though I returned a defective 512 GB SSD drive and replaced it with a cheaper regular SATA III drive (and a 46" tv with the savings). I use 2 hard drives and have programs and sounds/projects on 2 different drives, and it's plenty fast.
Bob Bone
Wisdom is a giant accumulation of "DOH!" Sonar: Platinum (x64), X3 (x64) Audio Interfaces: AudioBox 1818VSL, Steinberg UR-22 Computers: 1) i7-2600 k, 32 GB RAM, Windows 8.1 Pro x64 & 2) AMD A-10 7850 32 GB RAM Windows 10 Pro x64 Soft Synths: NI Komplete 8 Ultimate, Arturia V Collection, many others MIDI Controllers: M-Audio Axiom Pro 61, Keystation 88es Settings: 24-Bit, Sample Rate 48k, ASIO Buffer Size 128, Total Round Trip Latency 9.7 ms
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Goddard
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Re: Sonar X2, multi-threading, and TSX
2013/07/01 23:52:28
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Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
Not today. UMS is very cool but requires a lot of backing support and tuning to be implemented. We may consider it someday.
Noel, I see. Well, hopefully "someday" will come sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, any comment on ASIO 2.3's shift (back?) to setting MMCSS priority in the driver? E.g. http://www.rme-audio.de/f../viewtopic.php?id=17575
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