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  4. VE's consumption of CPU power on PPC G5

  • VE's consumption of CPU power on PPC G5

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    S

    Experiment 1: 

    Finale was MIDI source

    VE standalone was the playback device 

    450MB of samples loaded

    1 instance of Altiverb instantiated.

    Working on a relatively simple file in Finale with limited polyphony, limited CC data and few articulation changes I noted intermittent digital artifacts (clicks and pops) when the VE standalone was the playback object.  Activity Monitor reported that VE was consuming 70-75% of CPU during playback.

    Experiment 2:

    Played back the same file

    Finale was MIDI source

    Logic 8 was set up to act as Finale's playback object- - with exactly the same set of VI matrices (450MB) loaded.

    1 instance of Altiverb was instantiated 

    No digital artifacts during playback.

    Activity monitor reported that Logic 8 was consuming 20-25% CPU during playback.

    Conclusion:

    It is well known that Finale is a CPU hog, consuming 90-105% of CPU to play back anything on a dual 2.5GHz G5.

    Using it in combination with VE which, according to Activity Monitor is consuming at least three times the CPU power as does Logic 8 - - at least on a G5 PPC - - under the same conditions, will likely result in digital artifacts during playback. For this reason, Logic 8 is preferable to VE as a VI host when used in conjunction with Finale on a G5.

    Question:

    Is the OSX Intel version of VE more efficient than the PPC version? If anyone has an Intel Mac and uses Finale 2008 in combination with VE, it would be most helpful (if you have the time) to note (and post here) Activity Monitor readings for both applications during playback.  

    Thanks. 
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    A

    Hi Stephen,

    interesting reading. I also have an Intel MacBook at home with the same applications (Finale 2008/Logic8/VE etc) as on my PPC G5. I'll try to perform a test on this one as soon as I have time (probably later this week).

    albert 
  • S
    S

    Albert:

    Any update on your readings of CPU consumption? 
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    Sorry Stephen, I've been occupied with some unforeseen matters the last couple of days.

    Honestly, I don't know when I'll be able to get some spare hours to take a look at this. For what it's worth, I didn't see any significant difference in CPU consumption on the MacBook when using 16 instances of VI or one instance of VE (multiinstrument) in Logic 8 (both VI and VE used as plugin) playing back a midifile with 16 channels, exported from Finale 2008. Actually, I think it was a little less with VE.

    Albert