Audiospikes with multi processing enabled

Cubase
,
1

Hi

I’ve been having constant audio spikes with lower latencyes (say, below 256 samples) eversince I don’t even remember when. They might have started with Cubase 10, maybe? The lower you go the more there are. I did these tests using a buffersize of 64.

It’s not really interfearing with my mixing related work since I usually require higher buffersizes anyway. But today while playing softsynths I got so frustrated that I started troubleshooting it (again).

I actually found what made the spikes go away. It’s not really a solution at all, but spikes are gone after disabling multi processing in the audio settings (same happened in both, Cubase 11 & 12). So when all processing is done on a single core all is fine.

The question then is, how can I get this low latency performance with multi processing enabled? Is this a bug with the software? I need to be able to record software instruments without these spikes in bigger projects as well.

On cubase 12 I noticed that it’s the Peak meter in audio performance that spikes to red. So not Real time. I also did a quick recording test and noticed that the spikes are not in the recorded audio, only in playback.

Also, what I found suprising was, that in task manager Cubase spreads the load of a single synthesizer on multiple cores. I wonder if that’s related? Isn’t it more tasking to try and spread the audio processing of a single instrument on multiple cores? (this happened with both synths that I tested, Massive X and Surge XT)

Also, everything works as expected on Reaper, no audiospikes. Synths are processed on a single core according to task manager.

Other things i’ve tried:

-I’ve trashed the preferences

-Hyperthreading is disabled (at some point I remember testing and noticing this improved the situation a little, been disabled eversince)

-All cores are at a constant 4,2 Ghz overclock.

-Core parking etc disabled

-High power plan enabled

-Asio guard is usually on high, changing or disabling this made no difference.

-DPC latency peaks at around 0,2 ms, so that’s no the culprit.

Some system info:

Windows 10, v1903

Intel core i9 7900x

X299 Gigabyte aorus Ultra gaming

AMD Radeon rx580

RME Babyface Pro

Any help is appreciated!

Ville

2

Anyone? :sweat_smile:

Is everyone elses low latency performance flawless and without artefacts? Would be nice to know.

If it’s just my system, then I might do a clean install (it’s been a while) and see if that resolves the problem. It’s just such a big task that I wouldn’t want to do it for nothing.

Easy steps just for clarity (since my first post became so long)

  1. Adjust buffersize to 64 samples
  2. Create an empty project
  3. Load a synth
  4. Load a preset with long sustain (the spikes are easier to hear with a pad for example)
  5. Play a chord with multiple voices

Do you get audiospikes?
If you do, do they go away if you switch “Multi processing” off from “Studio” → “Studio setup” → “Audio system”

Thanks

Edit:
Here’s how it sounds:

… and looks:

image
image913×406 15.8 KB

3

I had a lot of success getting down to lower latencies by disabling hyper threading in my BIOS for my AMD 5950x.

Worth a shot on your end.

4

Thanks for your suggestion.
I’m afraid I’ve had HT disabled for years already. At some point I thought it helped but I’m not shure anymore since the problem is still here. (Some things that I’ve tried are discribed in my first (lengthy) post)