REAPER - Mysteriously CPU rises with a BLANK SECTION in a track

Funkfingers

fastonebaz said:

bunch of compression, eq and guitar amp sims spread around. 

Are any of the Audio tracks using duplicate settings for the effects treatments?

If they are, it might be worth assigning some of them to an Auxiliary Buss. Control the level per track from its Send control. Direct the overall reverb wet signal return to the Stereo Master strip.

fastonebaz

Yes I have bus folders etc with fx on those but track has its own.

PolarityMan

andy_k said:

PolarityMan said:

andy_k said:

denormalising, as described in that article, is beyond my comprehension, if I was having this problem I would either render the track as new track with or without plugins, or put the different wav files on individual tracks and use the plugins on a folder.
I will have a look at one of my projects tomorrow to see if I can see this type of behaviour on tracks with silent passages, I do a lot of editing within a track and usually split and mute sections, so it will be interesting to see if this is an issue.
I tend to split tracks and use either mute or clip volume instead of automation and have not had any noticeable issues, I would expect some by splitting, but cannot say I hear any negative affect.

Basically the representation that the computer uses internally for number has to change for very very small numbers and this means they are less efficient to process. Its a bit of a hole in the VST spec tbh as the levels of precision we're talking about are well below the threshold of hearing. 

Thanks, I tried reading it again, but it might as well be written in Klingon.
There are ways to correct the 'problem' it seems, ie adding white noise, but I think the problem lies with a bad plugin and is not a Reaper problem.
So the simple solution, is render to audio, or use a different plugin surely.

I imagine most plugins do have a way to deal with it or every one would do it.

PolarityMan

I accidentally cleared my VST folders in reaper last night and I noticed that under Plugins -> Compatibility that is an option to reduce denormalisation. I have mine checked so perhaps yours is unchecked somehow?

fastonebaz

Cheers @PolarityMan I'll check that tonight

fastonebaz

PolarityMan said:

I accidentally cleared my VST folders in reaper last night and I noticed that under Plugins -> Compatibility that is an option to reduce denormalisation. I have mine checked so perhaps yours is unchecked somehow?

It's checked and all the other settings are default.  Most odd.

andy_k

So are we clear now, that it is Biasfx causing the problem, and not a fault with Reaper?
It is a genuine question, and we have provided the solution, did it get fixed?

fastonebaz

@andy_k ;

No we are no clear on why it is happening
No one has provided a "solution"
No it is not "fixed".

NB.  Its not a problem that needs fixing as such,  but an observation of an unexpected and confusing situation... why is cpu usage increasing dramatically on a track when there is no waveform, and decreasing when there is a waveform. 

andy_k

To be fair, I think we have established that the problem is with a plugin, and I mentioned a solution would be to render the track either with the plugin enabled, or disabled-this would help to see whether the problem still exists after the track has been rendered to audio. It would still have the 30 second gap, but it would possibly remove some background processing problem.
I'm curious as well, if there is something buggy about Reaper I'd like to know, sometimes weird things happen-usually it is not a fault of the DAW, but is something to do with an incompatible plugin, which is useful to know about.
Only trying to help.

fastonebaz

As said,  I already have a "solution", which is to increase the sample sample size so I can mix without lag. 

What I'm curious about is why it should occur when there's no audio to process.  

Perhaps its as someone above said,  then when reaper spots an opportunity to process ahead( eg when there's no current audio), cpu rises and when that audio comes along,  cpu reduces as the preheating is already done.  Maybe.  Who knows.  Just a curiosity and a mystery 

stratman3142

Does it happen if you switch off all the fx? If that removes the CPU increase, can you then switch on each in turn to see if any cause it to occur. Which is basically variation on what @mudslide73 already suggested.

fastonebaz

fastonebaz said:

Well, track 5 has 3 plugins on it, and when there's no audio for 30s the cpu increases from 1.5% to 8.5% and goes back to 1.5% when it reaches the next  audio part on that track.  Of the 3 plugins its the BiasFX2 plugin that created this effect, the other 2 make no different when isolated.  I can work around this in balls ways but I just don't get why its happening when there's no audio.  Can't find any info on denormalization relating to that.   

Cheers @stratman3142 for the offer but no need ta 

@stratman3142 I've only observed it occurring with biasfx2 but that's not to say it wouldn't happen  with others.  I don't really have other sims to try it with. 

andy_k

As I explained above, I do not see that issue with my own project, using different plugins, Valhala reverb in my case.
It would be easier to diagnose the problem if you could take the plugin you are using off the track and see whether the problem exists. My example showed that Reapers CPU processing is negligible when working with audio alone, and the CPU load comes from the plugin. Some are far more efficient than others.