Two impOSCar VSTs crackling (no CPU overload)

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-- Two impOSCar VSTs crackling (no CPU overload)

Posted by Eric J on Dec-12-2006 06:06:

Two impOSCar VSTs crackling (no CPU overload)

OK, when I have 2 impOSCar VST's loaded and one playing, say a bass line, the 2nd impOSCar's sounds are all crackled and sound horrible, as if my CPU was overloading, but the CPU is just fine. It's only at about 50%. I know I can have a different VST playing and this does not happen, so it seems to be something about impOSCar itself that is causing this. I can freeze the first impOSCar and the second one will play just fine. Has anyone else experienced this?

Posted by Zombie0729 on Dec-12-2006 06:29:

specs, host?

Posted by MrJiveBoJingles on Dec-12-2006 06:32:

I've had three instances playing at once in Ableton with no problem.

Posted by Eric J on Dec-12-2006 07:08:

Sorry, forgot my specs.

Intel P4 3.2 Ghz with Hyperthreading on (could this be the problem?)
1GB RAM
7200 RPM SATA Drives
M-Audio Delta 66 - 18 msec latency at 16 bit/44.1k. Using M-Audio ASIO Driver in Cubase.
Cubase SL3 fully updated to version 3.11.994.

I'm 99.9% certain impOSCar is fine, so I'm wondering if this is a problem with Cubase itself. I tried resetting my ASIO driver to no avail. The ASIO driver will start popping if Cubase has been running for 7 or 8 hours straight. It's a documented bug, so I'm used to having to reset it from time to time.

Posted by MrJiveBoJingles on Dec-12-2006 07:29:

Hmm, your PC is more powerful than mine is, so that's not the issue. Not sure what it could be.

Posted by Eric J on Dec-12-2006 07:32:

Yeah, I definitely have the horsepower, I'll probably try to reboot tomorrow and see if that helps (I hate that being the answer, but its worth a shot). Life with Windows

Posted by DeZmA on Dec-12-2006 09:13:

yes, try HT off, it sucks for producing.
I had some strange errors a while ago, turned HT off (do this in bios) and problems solved. It's worth a shot.

Posted by Eric J on Dec-12-2006 16:27:

Definitely, I'll give it a shot. Thanks guys.

Posted by nec on Dec-12-2006 17:43:

quote:
Originally posted by DeZmA
yes, try HT off, it sucks for producing.
I had some strange errors a while ago, turned HT off (do this in bios) and problems solved. It's worth a shot.

HT?

Posted by Eric J on Dec-12-2006 17:45:

HT = Hyperthreading

Posted by sterilis on Dec-12-2006 17:49:

quote:
Originally posted by Eric J
Yeah, I definitely have the horsepower, I'll probably try to reboot tomorrow and see if that helps (I hate that being the answer, but its worth a shot). Life with Windows

this is always my option and it works until the shit gathers up on my hard drive again.

only problem with this is cubase sx never can find all the samples or vst's you use in your previous backed up files so if you want to update an old track its like starting over, in terms of sounds.

Posted by Zombie0729 on Dec-12-2006 20:07:

is imposcar on a different defrag'd drive? have you defrag'd recently? just some ideas if this synth was installed a while after in another folder or something

Posted by Eric J on Dec-12-2006 20:11:

I only have 1 drive on the system, and impOSCar is in the VSTplugins folder. I'll try the defrag and see if that helps, although the computer was recently reformatted and the OS reinstalled less than a month ago.

Posted by DigiNut on Dec-13-2006 03:09:

Actually, if you have Hyperthreading enabled and your CPU is at 50% then you might still be overloading it. If you've got dual CPUs, then 50% usage often means that one of them is running at 100%, and since the second CPU is only a "virtual" one with HT, it may effectively be starved if your DAW isn't threading well (FLoops is bad for this, Ableton is better but not wonderful). Cubase SL could very well be dodgy too, I'm only familiar with SX.

Definitely turn off HT, even if you aren't having problems you should disable HT. There's a reason Intel got away from the Pentium 4 and its Hyperthreading design: it sucks.

If it's not the CPU then it's often an ASIO problem. Try lowering/raising the latency and see if that helps at all.

Posted by 3rd Signal on Dec-13-2006 11:28:

If I turn off the HT from the BIOS and results aren't good, can I switch it on with no damage to the software or hardware?

Posted by DigiNut on Dec-13-2006 22:36:

Why would it damage hardware or software? It's just a second-rate emulation of a multi-core CPU; if anything is going to be damaging, it's keeping the thing on. (But that won't really "damage" anything either, except your patience and sanity)

Posted by thecYrus on Dec-14-2006 06:49:

this is a known problem with imposcar and multicore cpus. and there's already an updated version of imposcar which fixes this problem..

Posted by Eric J on Dec-14-2006 17:18:

Excellent, I'll try to update that when I get home. Thanks.

Posted by Eric J on Dec-15-2006 06:29:

Updated worked like a charm. I can now have multiple impOSCar's playing at the same time. Thanks thecYrus.