I upgraded from Cubase 6 to Cubase 8 and decided to do a performance test. I created an instance of Diva playing a 12 voice synth patch on some recorded midi, then duplicated the instrument channel many times over to test how many I could run before the Asio meter blows up.
In Cubase 6 I was always able to run at least 20 instances of Diva with this patch without issues. In Cubase 8, 4 instances of this normal patch bring my computer to its knees.
Any ideas what the issue could be? At first I thought it was Cubase but then I performed a similar test with many other VSTs and had no problem. I can run 50 instances of NI Massive for example.
Here are my specs for both tests:
Windows 7 64 bit
Cubase 6: 32 bit running Diva 32 bit
Cubase 8: 64 bit running Diva 64 bit
Sound Interface: Fireface 400.
Buffer Size: 256 samples.
Input latency shows as 6.82
Output latencys shows as 7.98
Windows 7 64 bit.
Cubase 6 is running in 32 bit mode. Diva 32 bit obviously.
Cubase 8 is running 64 bit mode. Diva in 64 bit.
Sound card settings as follows (obviously I didn’t change anything in between doing the 2 tests of both DAWs)
Sound Interface: Fireface 400.
Buffer Size: 256 samples.
Input latency shows as 6.82
Output latencys shows as 7.98
tried with both Asio guard on and off. no difference
UPDATE: bad assumption that its Cubase. I just did a test running 50 instances of Massive, Jupiter 8V, and Korg Polysix respectively and was able to easily run each of these tests. Seems that U-he Diva is the culprit here.
Can anybody with U-he Diva 64 bit do me a favor and try this test? Would really appreciate it. thanks
The performance is pretty much the same for me, pretty hoggy.
If the performance is so different maybe it’s a good idea to post your question/problem on their forum.
I use Diva in all of my projects as it is my go to synth. I’ve only loaded two of my projects since installing C8 but in those two Diva 64 behaves indentically to C7.5. I don’t have C6 installed anymore, so I can’t say anything about that situation.
But for a real test we need more information about the actual patch you use (as the CPU-load dramatically varies dependent of the filter), which accuracy setting you use or if the Multicore option is enabled or not.
Performance differences of such amounts sound like you have enabled multicore processing on one Diva instance and not on other instances. Or you are using “draft” accuracy on one and “devine” on the other.
Other than that I have no idea what could be causing this.
to clarify, this isn’t an issue of performance in terms of 'is Cubase 8 actually faster or slower than 6". Its more an issue of “Cubase 8 is totally unusable when I load Diva”. Diva spikes instantly and only 4 or 5 instances freeze my computer. Meanwhile Im able to load 50 instances of Jupiter 8v and have less Asio meter than a single instance of Diva.
Something strange is definitely going on here with Diva and Cubase 8 on my rig as I had no issues whatsoever with Cubase 6. I started a thread on the U-he KVR forum for anybody interested:
All U-he stuff seems to be hit or miss with VST3. VST2 should be used with Diva. So far, my ASIO performance seems to be better with everything I’ve tested except for with Diva…which seems to be exactly the same performance as with C7.5. I just started a composition yesterday with 4 instances of Diva (with the multi-thread on, of course) and C8 performed quite well.
i have same issues with diva in cubase 7.5. running revision 2709 of diva 1.3.1 with vst2 (not vst3 as per u-he advice). Crackling happening on simplest project with one diva installed, on most (too many) presets. While average asio load is high enough, the spiking seems to happen on initial key strike, or start of diva calculations? Once the crackling starts it continues apace as if the whole instance is overloaded. pressing the multicore option reduces, but does not (appear to) eliminate the problem.
Accepting diva has a high cpu demand, it can’t be right that the simplest project with the minimum diva instances crackles. It makes a great synth completely unusable.
Cubase, use proper ASIO Driver… Driver from spL for Crimson audio interface (see below)
Cubase, Reduce sample rate, e.g. 44.1… OK
Cubase, Increase buffer size, e.g. 512… OK (see below)
Downloaded new ASIO driver (Nov 2014, version 2.9.76).
Much better… got rid of DIVA cracking (great!)… concerned still about ASIO peaking/overload which is happening at certain points in fairly simple cubase project (not necessarily when DIVA playing)… ASIO/spL Crimson + cubase 7.5 combination?
PS: lordadb (re ASIO Guard)… is VST2 DIVA not a 64bit plugin… ie still should use ASIO Guard setting?
