VE Pro and Cubase (Same Machine) Dropping Audio

[Lacy]

Hi Everyone

I've read multiple threads on this but still can't find a solution to my particular problem. The CPU usage in my VEPro instances is considerably high and I'm getting audio fall outs when playing back dense cues. I've seen videos of people running large templates on rigs simular to mine so I'm sure there are configuration tweaks that I'm missing. Here is my setup:

I've got a Mac Pro (2010) 12 core @ 2.66 Ghz with 64 GB RAM running OSX 10.10.3. I've got an orchestral template with 5 instances of VEPro 5 (WW, Brass, Strings, Perc, Synth). I run a combination of Orchestral tools, Spitfire, and Cinesamples libraries and the track count is not outlandish but I'm still having problems. I messed with the Cubase buffer, the VEPro CPU thread assignment and Kontakt patch save functions, but I'm not convinsed I did all of the right. Can someone point me to Kontakt, VEPro, and Cubase optimizations to make this template work?

Thanks in advance.

G

[Lacy]

OK Guys 

Rebuilt my template: 
87 Midi tracks 
23 Instances of VEPro each with one Kontakt loaded. 
Each instance set to one thread with a few set to 4 
Kontakt Memory manager is set to off 
Cubase ASIO-Guard is on with level set to high. 

A modest composition send the audio processing load meter through the roof and I get significant audio drop out. CPU usage seems OK but I'm not sure I'm checking it right. Either way, looks there is still something that I am missing. 

Any advice?

[Lacy]

Re built my template again. This time with Kontakt directly hosted by Cubase 8 ane everything works. There is obviously a problem with how VEPro passes audio to Cubase. Hopefully this get's fixed.

[srdmusic]

You will have better results with the following.

Host all of your kontakts in one vienna ensemble instance.

Buss your Kontakts into groups like Violins Long, Violins Short, Percussion Hi, Percussion Mid. etc etc.

You want to limit your returns down to something under 90 mono channels back into cubase.  Really anything over 64 channels will start to rise the CPU considerably in cubase.

Then set VEP to number of physical cores you have on the machine.  Do not include virtual cores.  In you instance it would be 12 cores.  

Uninstall and reinstall kontakt.  Leave Kontakt multi processing setting at '***'  Do not change the setting to any core amount.  For some reason leaving the 'astricts' default setting gets slightly better results on the cpu.

That is the best settings we have found.  

Having 24 instances of kontakt full of 16 insturments is a lot for one 12 core mac.  I would also suggest splitting your VEP template accross 2 machines with 12 x16 kontakts.

Hope that helps

[srdmusic]

You will have better results with the following.

Host all of your kontakts in one vienna ensemble instance.

Buss your Kontakts into groups like Violins Long, Violins Short, Percussion Hi, Percussion Mid. etc etc.

You want to limit your returns down to something under 90 mono channels back into cubase.  Really anything over 64 channels will start to rise the CPU considerably in cubase.

Then set VEP to number of physical cores you have on the machine.  Do not include virtual cores.  In you instance it would be 12 cores.  

Uninstall and reinstall kontakt.  Leave Kontakt multi processing setting at '***'  Do not change the setting to any core amount.  For some reason leaving the 'astricts' default setting gets slightly better results on the cpu.

That is the best settings we have found.  

Having 24 instances of kontakt full of 16 insturments is a lot for one 12 core mac.  I would also suggest splitting your VEP template accross 2 machines with 12 x16 kontakts.

Hope that helps

[Lacy]

Thanks SRD

I think I've got something that works for now. I've got three instances of VEPro easch with three instances of Kontakt and the balance feels right. So far, I haven't had any drops in audio and I've been working some thick compositions. Cubase crashed on me twice but that hasn't happened in a while either. I've got my fingers crossed that this will work.

G

[Lacy]

Update.

I'm still stuck!👎

I've tried everything. Turned Multi-processor support in Kontakt on and off. Messed with the number of threads per VEPro Instance. Took the core audio buffer size up to 2048. Messed with the number of audio outputs per VEPro (running 4 outputs per instance now). I even downgreaded to Mavricks and traded in my Mac.

That's right! The nice guy at PowerMax (Thanks Joe) let me return my 2010 12 Core 2.66 Ghz machine for a 2013 Darth Vader helmet quad core 3.7 Ghz I put 64 Gigs of Ram. Amazingly, the whole deal only cost a few hundred dollars extra. I'm still getting the same problem.....dropped audio tracks. CPU usage in all instances of VEPro never tops 40%. VST perfomance meters in Cubase barely move.

I'm thinking the problem may be my Apogee Duet Firewire interface but the I have the updated drivers for OSX10.10 so I should be all good. What in the world could I be doing wrong?

Thanks for sticking with me guys.

G

[Lacy]

Has anyone sceen and answer to this. I'm still having trouble (I have to get my work done in Logic but I am way faster in Cubase). I just went through every instance of Kontakt in VEPro and turned off "EXT" in the master BPM section to see if that helped and it did not. Still looking for an answer.

G

[C_Caouette]

Very odd.  I'm just migrating from LPX to C8 after using LPX for many many years.  I've always had a version of Cubase around (from Score 1.0) but haven't bothered with it in a while.  The new Asio Guard was the deal closer.

Tonight when I get into the studio I'll load my HS and HB slave template that uses individual instances per section, do a quick eight bar improv and bounce.  I'll let you know if I encounter the same problem.  I am running a Mini i7 Quad (last gen you could get in that configuration).  It was faster than my old Mac Pro lol!  

Chris