# Performance tip for Kontakt / VE Pro / Tempo changes in Cubase



## rgames (Dec 12, 2012)

I've discussed this problem with some folks before and finally found a solution. The issue is ASIO spikes when using ramp tempo changes in Cubase - it's been happening more and more to me as my template has grown.

I finally figured out that the multitude of Kontakt instances I have in my template have the tempo-synch activated. So when the tempo changes, all of those instances are trying to respond to the changes and the ASIO load goes crazy.

Since I'm not using anything tempo-synched in Kontakt, I disabled it in all the Kontakt instances and voila! No more ASIO spikes!

It was on by default on my system - I'm not sure if that's true for everyone.

rgames


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## Blakus (Dec 12, 2012)

Oh fantastic. I have been having this problem more often lately too. Thanks for the info!


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## Rob Elliott (Dec 12, 2012)

Thanks rgames - get discovery. For K5 noob like me - could you explain how to disable this. Also does it have to be done on ALL instances of K5 in VEPRO? (I am not sure - but I don't think I have in my template many tempo synch types of libraries....).

Thanks again.


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## rgames (Dec 13, 2012)

There's an icon at the top of Kontakt that says "Master." It has a pic of a metronome and a tuning fork. Click on that and it brings up the master tuning and synch bar. On that bar you'll see the "BPM" indicator. Make sure "Ext" is turned off (it's on when it's yellow).

You probably don't have to disable all of them but the more you disable, the less likely you are to have ASIO problems. If you're not using any tempo-synch features then you might as well turn them all off. That was exactly my situation - they are turned on by default even though I have no need for tempo synch.

rgames


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## Rob Elliott (Dec 13, 2012)

rgames @ Thu Dec 13 said:


> There's an icon at the top of Kontakt that says "Master." It has a pic of a metronome and a tuning fork. Click on that and it brings up the master tuning and synch bar. On that bar you'll see the "BPM" indicator. Make sure "Ext" is turned off (it's on when it's yellow).
> 
> You probably don't have to disable all of them but the more you disable, the less likely you are to have ASIO problems. If you're not using any tempo-synch features then you might as well turn them all off. That was exactly my situation - they are turned on by default even though I have no need for tempo synch.
> 
> rgames




Perfect - many thanks.


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## Dom (Dec 14, 2012)

Great tip, thanks. I'm using Logic with VE Pro, but I also noticed increased CPU during tempo changes. Will give this a try.


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## Martin Brannigan (Dec 14, 2012)

Thanks for the tip rgames, I too have been having a lot of ASIO spikes, so this is really going to help. Thanks again


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## robh (Dec 14, 2012)

Rob Elliott @ Wed Dec 12 said:


> Thanks rgames - get discovery. For K5 noob like me - could you explain how to disable this. Also does it have to be done on ALL instances of K5 in VEPRO? (I am not sure - but I don't think I have in my template many tempo synch types of libraries....).
> 
> Thanks again.


Hi Rob,
If I remember correctly, you are a LASS user, and unless you don't use the ART feature at all, you'll probably need to keep the tempo-sync on for LASS instances. (You probably already have figured this out, too!)

Rob


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## Rob Elliott (Dec 14, 2012)

robh @ Fri Dec 14 said:


> Rob Elliott @ Wed Dec 12 said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks rgames - get discovery. For K5 noob like me - could you explain how to disable this. Also does it have to be done on ALL instances of K5 in VEPRO? (I am not sure - but I don't think I have in my template many tempo synch types of libraries....).
> ...




I don't and really haven't (but maybe I should re-consider) :wink: Yea - going to go through my template this afternoon and turn off as many as possible. I'll leave things like LASS alone to see if the ones I do turn off are 'enough'. Thanks for the heads up though.


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## Daryl (Dec 14, 2012)

I would imagine that turning off tempo sync will reduce the memory footprint of Kontakt as well.

D


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## Rob Elliott (Dec 14, 2012)

Daryl @ Fri Dec 14 said:


> I would imagine that turning off tempo sync will reduce the memory footprint of Kontakt as well.
> 
> D



Daryl - good point Daryl - one more solid reason to do this.


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## Rob Elliott (Dec 14, 2012)

Ok - this might be helpful - but went through 3 slaves and Master and disabled 'most' of the instances of K5's 'ext sync'. It was 'marginally' better and THEN I disabled it on my four separate LASS instances and it completely cured the problem.

Andrew - If you are following this thread - any chance this will be addressed in the upcoming update you have?


Thanks.


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## brett (Jul 18, 2014)

Some more info on this...

IMO it is really only a problem with complex patches, or for those of us with large templates where the effect is exaggerated. 
I've finally come up with a simple repro that anyone who owns NI Komplete can test. I'd love to hear if you can reproduce this in your host.

Firstly, set your soundcard buffer as low as it will go to exaggerate the effect but certainly no higher than 256.

Here is the repro (in Cubase for PC):
1- Load up Cubase
2- Open a new empty project
3- Open up the tempo track (Control-T)
4- Draw in a long tempo ramp over several bars (make sure the insert curve dropdown is set to 'ramp' and not 'jump')
3- hit F11 and load up an instance of Kontakt
4- load up 16 channels of the patch 'Scarbee Clavinet - Full.nki' from the Scarbee Vintage Keys library which is part of Komplete (I chose this patch because of it's complexity and because it is part of NI's Komplete. There are plenty of other patches from 3rd party libraries that are equally complex and demonstrate the same effect - several of the 'combined' patches from Spitfire's Sable library come to mind)
5- hit F12 to see the 'VST Performance Meter'
6- Ensure that Kontakt is syncing to the host tempo by clicking the 'Master' tab (to the right of the 'Browse' tab) at the top of Kontakt, and checking the 'Ext' button is lit yellow
7- Move the transport to just prior to the first bar of the tempo ramp and push play
8- watch the ASIO 'meter' go ballistic when it hits the tempo ramp. (Note, that nothing is actually playing)
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9- Switch off Kontakt's 'sync to host tempo' by clicking the 'Ext' button off
10- watch the ASIO meter drop down to almost zero

The lower the soundcard buffer is or the greater the number of complex patches there are in your template, the more exaggerated the ASIO spiking. For those of us working in film and tv this issue is critical. Avoiding tempo ramps and relying on tempo jumps reduces the frequency of the spikes / crackles / pops but doesn't eliminate the problem. Simple patches with few groups/zones and little to no scripting aren't affected, only complex patches like the Scarbee clavinet patch but there are plenty of others. Even if the patch is only moderately complex the culmative effect of many such patches (particularly if you are using Kontakt banks) adds up across a larger template.. 

I've left a support ticket with NI

Brett


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## reddognoyz (Jul 18, 2014)

I use DP but also see the cpu sPikes at tempo changes. I use one, maybe two tempo sync'ed Nki's so this should savef processing power. Thanks for the heads up!


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## Mr. Anxiety (Oct 1, 2014)

Well, this bug in Kontakt has yet to be addressed and I've hit the wall tonight on my animation project. I have to change tempi on some picture cuts and everytime I do it, I get a click. 


Even with 2 instances of Kontakt 5.3.1 open in Cubas 7.5 PC Windows 7.

First instance has pianos, vibes and bass (Ext sync OFF) and the second instance drum loops that need Ext Sync active. When the sequence goes across the tempo change (no ramp), I get a click. If I turn off the Ext Sync in the second instance, no click. No delays or effects are on in either instance of Kontakt. Buffer at 128.

This blows! I guess I'll have to do this cue in sections and set the internal tempo in Kontakt to match the appropriate section so I can turn Ext Sync off. Serious time waste and vibe deflater!

Sorry....... venting. I did put in my third support ticket at NI about this within the past 3 years!!!!

Anybody got a work around?

mr A


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## Imzadi (Oct 2, 2014)

Nop, still having this same issue. One more thing, though:

The ext-off workaround is not working for Cineperc for some reason. In particular with the Timpani. I still get the clicks even with sync disabled (and all effects off). 

Anybody else having this same problem?


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## Mr. Anxiety (Oct 18, 2014)

So none of you film scoring guys are having issues with Tempo changes and clicks in Kontakt when Ext Sync is on? 

Mr A


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## dgburns (Oct 18, 2014)

Mr. Anxiety @ Sat Oct 18 said:


> So none of you film scoring guys are having issues with Tempo changes and clicks in Kontakt when Ext Sync is on?
> 
> Mr A



I'm wondering if this still happens if you run Kontakt inside Vienna ensemble pro?


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## NYC Composer (Oct 18, 2014)

dgburns @ Sat Oct 18 said:


> Mr. Anxiety @ Sat Oct 18 said:
> 
> 
> > So none of you film scoring guys are having issues with Tempo changes and clicks in Kontakt when Ext Sync is on?
> ...



Yes. I ran into it the other day, and was maddened until I fuigured it out. It was something as simple as a Stickbreakers tempo-synced orchestral cymbal trying to play across a tempo ramp in Cubase. It brought my system to its knees, stuttering, clicking and popping.

Caveat- my version of Cubase (Mac) is old-6.01. Kontakt is 5.3.1, and VEP 5 something or other. When I removed the Stickbreakers cymbal, everything went back to perfectly normal. In the course of searching the 'net for solutions I ran across a post by a beta tester for K.5.4 who chimed in and said it was a bug that still wasn't fixed in that version.


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## FriFlo (Oct 18, 2014)

I wonder, when NI is going to fix this! Tempo sync is not exactly new to Kontakt, neither is v.5 ...


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## mescalito (Oct 22, 2016)

I'm running Cubase 8.0.40 and Kontakt 5.5.2 on (on Windows 7, on a new VisionDAW) and am going crazy from glitching at and slightly after tempo changes. Even just a single step tempo change will make a pop at 2048 samples. I do have 8 Kontakt instances, all tempo-synced. But I use so many tempo-dependent patches that I can't disable it. 

Anyone have any suggestions/solutions? I'm wondering if later versions of Kontakt are any better - but am worried about potential disasters with updating, as I've heard horror stories.


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## meradium (Jan 27, 2019)

Any news on this? Has the situation changed? How are people dealing with it by now? I think I just happened to ran into the very same problem :( ... Changing BPM will make my template in VEP go crazy.


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## meradium (Jan 27, 2019)

Update: looks like I found the offender in my template: CineSample Strings... I had those tracks disabled in my previous template. When I did the update recently I must have forgotten to disable them again... 

Has anybody else experienced the bottleneck with this library as well?


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## meradium (Jan 27, 2019)

Seems to be not that easy... I have actually narrowed it down to the Spitfire Symphonic Strings patches. The CineStrings just made things worse...

Already contacted Spitfire on this. Let's see what they say.

I have several Kontakt instances for SS hosted on my VEP 6 Slave. They are configured to play bothe the Os and the Leader mics, one on bank 01-16 and the other on bank 17-...


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## meradium (Jan 30, 2019)

While still looking for solutions I stumbled upon the fact that Windows 10 had activated Intel SpeedStep .

I am pretty sure I had turned that off. But maybe with all the updating it got turned back on again.

This has reduced my problem tremendously. Even though the CPU spikes are still there maybe the CPU is just quicker to react upon them now...


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## meradium (Feb 1, 2019)

This is what I see... normal?


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