I agree with the original poster. Using Mai Tai, I created a custom program that uses 4 voices and has the following features turned completely OFF: character, delay, reverb, gater, EQ, distortion, pan, LFO 1, and LFO 2. Even so, my four core, Intel Core i7 4790K (4.0 GHz) CPU crackles and pops as if I am trying to push something intensive through it. The sad thing is, a free VST soft synth that I downloaded, yesterday, plays as cleanly as one should expect a synth to play in a system with the specs mine is running. Something in Mai Tai is eating WAY too much processor and I suspect it is in the design of it, not the settings, as it crackles just as much in "80s" quality as it does in "supreme".