Question

Today, all of a sudden I am getting crazy CPU over-usage, even when playback is stopped on a song.  

I have about 30 audio tracks playing, with stock plugins and only a few VSTs  (All sample rates matching)

1 instance of addictive drums2

2 instances of Arturia analog lab - both of which tell me they are using about 2% CPU

It is telling me that 2 instances of ampire are using 20% CPU each??  That doesn't seem normal.

CPU usage is fluctuating all over the place and randomly jumps to 100% and then sits there for a while and eventually falls back down but then never goes below 50%.  This is even with maximum dropout protection engaged (usually I use low setting and usually use a small process block size without problem.

I consider this to be a small number of tracks, plugins and VSTs and for some reason the CPU keeps maxing out according to studio one's meter, and everything gets all distorted and clippy.

Meanwhile, when I look at windows task manager, it says my CPU is at 25%  (With studio one using 23%)

Anyone know why this could be happening all of a sudden?  The only recent change I made was the most recent studio one 5 update a few days ago and a windows update a few days ago.

Other songs don't seem to be causing this problem.  This song is basically un-workable now for whatever reason, unless I convert vsts to audio, but the system is still being overused way more than I would expect for this.

Answer 1

Would it be possible to get an answer for this? I'm dealing with the same problem, every time I stop playback when my song starts to grow (in terms of plugins, tracks, etc), the CPU spikes like crazy for half a second. I have a strong CPU that is more than capable of handling this, and when I'm just playing the song, the usage is always low.
To add to the OP's post "everything gets all distorted and clippy." Sometimes I have to wear headphones, and can't have my song playing on speakers, when I do, hearing this horrible distorted and clipped sound is very frustrating because I have to hear it up against my ears every single time I press stop. I hope there's a way to address this. Thanks

Answer 2

I'm having a similar problem. CPU usage shows 75 percent even when playback is stopped. CPU on the task manager says 10 percent.

Answer 3

Same boat here. I'm new to Studio One and I like a lot of the features, but this CPU thing is making it unusable. I'm working on a mix with no midi and only 12 audio tracks including the Aux and Busses. I have 47 low CPU (almost all third party) plugins including 5 instances of pipeline and Waves NLS channel strips for summing on most tracks. This includes the busses and master channel. Even without playback I'm fluctuating from around 40% to overload. When I open the CPU monitor I see that an instance of Kush Audio Clarephonic is jumping from 08 to 22 with no playback. That's just one omy my plugins. What's weird is I had the same exact session open yesterday and it was fine. I reopened today and its unusable. No settings have changed. I've actually removed some unused plugins instead of bypassing just be safe.

I created a ticket in support since this isn't getting answered here for you guys. If I get anything back, I'll pass it along, but if not, I'm sure glad I'm using Sphere and I can just quit after a month. I had been most recently on Logic, but the dreaded Audio/Midi Sync error there (lots of stuff on the internet about that issue) had me looking at other DAWs. I chose Studio One for several reasons, but one was that all my AU plugins would work. Either way, I might have to switch back or try somewhere else.

Answer 4

I just fired up a new m1 MacBook Air yesterday and the very first thing I tried was using a 16-channel rock ban template with absolutely no song data in it whatsoever. I'm have the same spikey CPU baloney! When I expanded the CPU Usage meter to see what instruments were using how much CPU, I had instances of VST Instruments jumping onto and off of the list!! WTH!? Seems there was another Ampire. Then it went away, Then something else, And then gone. The bumping of the meter to 100% almost perfectly coincided with the list changes.

Granted, I'm VERY disappointed that my new setup is useless. But I was surprised when I found this posting and it was a Windows posting. Totally assumed it was an Apple thing. I submitted a ticket to Presonus before I ferreted out this odd listing behavior. I'll copy them a ticket on this rundown and see if they care.

PLEASE let me now if anyone else is seeing this coming and going of instruments in the CPU list. First, is this normal. Second, if not, and you know a hack ,I'll be right here!