# CPU Spikes



## nik (Jul 14, 2018)

Hey guys,
i use the following setup:
Cubase Pro 8,Windows 10 Pc 64 bit,32 GB Ram Corsair DDR4, intel Core i7-7820x, NVIDIA Geforce GT 1030,Apollo 8 Thunderbolt+ Quadcore Satellite. (with thunderbolt Adapter connected to my Mainboard wich i boought specilly for that purpose.

So my Problem is that when i set the amount of buffer size lower then 1024 i get super hard cpu spikes ( with that i mean audio glitches) so i cant work anymore. with the setting of 1024 i get income latency of 29.841 ms and output latency of 23.673ms.
Using my task manager during the glitches it tells me my cpu is using 64% ram and about 15 % CPU. What could be the probem here? Too less Ram? Thankful for any help guys,
best 
Nik


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## Paul Jelfs (Jul 14, 2018)

Could be many many different things .

What Vst are you using in cubase ? Use constrain delay compensation when playing / recording VST instruments . What are your settings for Asia guard in cubase ? What programs do you have running in the background ? 

Use task manager to check usage and latency mon to check problem drivers . Nvidia drivers often cause problems with latency - try AMd if possible . Not sure how well the Apollo 8 works as low latency , RME interfaces generally are the best for VSt projects at low latency . Especially PCI cards 

Disable Bluetooth , WiFi , anti virus if you can - use a LAN cable .

Won’t be RAM . 

Make sure you have the latest bios for Motherboard and drivers etc for chipset etc if it’s a new pc .

Disable as many start up programs as you can . Maybe upgrade to windows 10 now it is more mature. 

If you can afford upgrade to cubase 9.5 as I am sure it handles things better. 

i think the biggest problem is the thunderbolt adapter - windows often has problems with that - check out the universal audio page to make sure your motherboard etc is one of the ones it says are supported. If you can I would get a pci card rather than thunderbolt .

These are just some of the possible problems , hard to know exactly without having your pc in front of me 

Pj


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## Paul Jelfs (Jul 14, 2018)

Sorry I see you have windows 10 . Still upgrade cubase and look in to the thunderbolt adapter as my money is that is part of the problem


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## nik (Jul 14, 2018)

Paul Jelfs said:


> Sorry I see you have windows 10 . Still upgrade cubase and look in to the thunderbolt adapter as my money is that is part of the problem


thanks for the quick replie man.
i will try to answer all the questions:
1)i am using vsts on a trailer project: CSS,CSS Solo,Trailer Brass,damage,Epic drum ensemble 8dio, Photosynthesis,trailer expression 2, ARK1, AVA Instinct,Rise and Hit,Hollywood Percussion
2)what is constrain delay compensation?
3)I will upgrade today to nnewest cubase,but i honestly dont know which cubase version i have,how cann i check that? On my CD it just says cubase pro....
4)in the background theres running sonarworks as plugin,Realtek audio manager, Samsung magician,Mad catz mouse software,geforce gt 1030,thunderbolt software
5) I bought the things as on uad site recommended

thanks very much,really appreciated


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## nik (Jul 14, 2018)

yeah and asio guard is deactivated, honestly i dont even know what that is....


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## nik (Jul 14, 2018)

i checked the real time peak in vst performance,it is reaching maximum a lot


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## nik (Jul 14, 2018)

So i looke asio guard tutorial and now tested. with asio guard set to high i can go as low as 512 buffer size. its much better but not perfect. Is there a way can improve this even more? with these settings i have input latency of 18ms and output of 12ms. Also is there a downside of working with asio guard?


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## Divico (Jul 14, 2018)

nik said:


> Realtek audio manager


Do you have two audio cards on ? Not the source of your problem but not recomended.
This can help finding e.g drivers causing problems: http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
I guess your system is optimized for audio?


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## nik (Jul 14, 2018)

Divico said:


> Do you have two audio cards on ? Not the source of your problem but not recomended.
> This can help finding e.g drivers causing problems: http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
> I guess your system is optimized for audio?


hi,
so i am for from being a computer pro. i use my apollo but it seems i can choose between it and realtek. How can i get rid of the realtek one? also i dont know about the optimization. i tried to get a good setup recommended by uad. thanks a lot for the help. yeah and i got redicouless latency now in my project at 512ms....sorry for the noob questions...


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## Divico (Jul 14, 2018)

nik said:


> hi,
> so i am for from being a computer pro. i use my apollo but it seems i can choose between it and realtek. How can i get rid of the realtek one? also i dont know about the optimization. i tried to get a good setup recommended by uad. thanks a lot for the help. yeah and i got redicouless latency now in my project at 512ms....sorry for the noob questions...


Deactivate the onboard audio card in the device manager or BIOS. 
Heres a guide about optimization: https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207355205-Optimising-your-PC-for-Audio-on-Windows-10
Id say keep ASIO guard on.


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## nik (Jul 14, 2018)

great thanks. i just noticed i got the hardcore delay on css. when i tried met ark1 or trailer brass the playability seems great. whats up with that?


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## nik (Jul 14, 2018)

ok i think i got this figured thanks to u guys,thanks a lot,
best regards


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## Paul Jelfs (Jul 14, 2018)

There is really only one way to get nearly zero latency when composing music, and it costs less than 5 pounds in materials. 
But involves years of practice, training and everyone’s own personal onboard computer ; Good old fashioned pencil and paper. 
Shame my onboard computer is like a 1977 IBM though in that regard!


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## tommalm (Jul 14, 2018)

Have you made sure that Windows power setting is set to 'High performance'? If it's set to 'Balanced' or something else you will experience the symptoms you are describing.


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## nik (Jul 15, 2018)

yeah ichanged it and it seems to work,also whats interesting is that i have major delay if running css into a string group track. Thats weird. Maybe it is because i have set the individual strings to a -60ms?


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## Divico (Jul 15, 2018)

nik said:


> yeah ichanged it and it seems to work


Those things are key. Also setting scheduling to background processes. All of that is in the link i posted. You can speed up your machine and lower your latency quite a bit.


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## nik (Jul 15, 2018)

Divico said:


> Those things are key. Also setting scheduling to background processes. All of that is in the link i posted. You can speed up your machine and lower your latency quite a bit.


thanks a lot mate,i went through your link yesterday,that was very helpful!!


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## jules (Dec 26, 2018)

In january i built a new computer and experienced some awfull problems despite it beeing a very reasonable build (64gig ram, i7 8700k, m2 & ssds). I tried everything, spent hours and hours trying to improve, but in the end what realy made a big difference was this little free soft called cpu core parking. I though i had to take the long tweaking way home, but in the end the shortest road was the better (although i'm still not amazed by the performances of this system). So make sure to try it before throwing your computer through the window !


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