slow mixdown

Pyramix Native users forum
Forum rules
The Merging Technologies team cannot be held responsible for support queries logged on the public forums. If a support query is logged here and only here, it may not be found and dealt with by the appropriate team.
To ensure that your support issue or bug report is dealt with properly and in good time, please use the link to the tech support request form page on the Merging website.
Make sure to let us know what version you are using when you send your mail. THANKS!
ARS
Posts: 34
Joined: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:46

slow mixdown

Postby ARS » Fri Oct 02, 2020 11:31

Hello,

on my new system I notice mixdown is quite slow with Pyramix 25th (seems slower than on my 5 year old PC, running Pyramix 9 - so just the one CPU).
CPU load is down to 10%, core3 around 30% only.

Looking at the timecode, I would say mixdown is around 4x realtime only.

Are there any hidden settings I am not aware of ?

Thanks.

User avatar
fl
Posts: 1418
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 19:55
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Contact:

Re: slow mixdown

Postby fl » Fri Oct 02, 2020 14:46

Some guesses:
The more plug-ins (VST2 or 3) you use, the slower the mixdown.
The higher the sample-rate, the slower the mixdown.
The more tracks, the slower the mixdown.

Try running a race between your new system and the old one - mix down a two track 44.1 kHz (rip a CD if you need source material) project with no plug-ins, then try it again, raising sample rate and/or adding known processor hungry plug-ins.

Wasn't there something in the Release notes about a re-designed Mixing engine? Maybe all that Immersive/Atmos stuff resulted in a more complex mix algorithm...?
Frank Lockwood, Toronto, ON, Canada
• Pyramix Native 11.1.6
• Mac Mini 6.2 (3rd Gen. Quadcore i7) - Bootcamp 6.0.6136 - Win10 Pro SP1 64 v1809
• RME Fireface 800 ASIO driver 3.125 or ASIO4All 2.15

ARS
Posts: 34
Joined: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:46

Re: slow mixdown

Postby ARS » Fri Oct 02, 2020 17:01

Identical projects. Only difference was another convolution reverb, as the old one is not installed on the new system.

It would seem the Hofa reverb (demo) is limiting the mixdown speed. I have to contact them to see if that is a demo limitation, before forking out for v2 which should be there in a couple of months ...

So, the old pc is running more than 2x faster with waves IR true stereo as opposed to a new and faster pc with a simple stereo pluging, running the same IR ...

Weird.

User avatar
fl
Posts: 1418
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 19:55
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Contact:

Re: slow mixdown

Postby fl » Sat Oct 03, 2020 18:57

Yes, I believe that IR reverberation is particularly processor intensive. It would be interesting to learn what happened when running the same session on both of your systems, with the IR reverbs taken out of the mix.

I've had good experience with Christian Knufinke's SIR plug-in, having used SIR2 for over a decade before the introduction of SIR3 last year - https://www.siraudiotools.com/SIR3.php

For multi-channel convolution, there's Butterfly - https://www.siraudiotools.com/Butterfly.php
Frank Lockwood, Toronto, ON, Canada
• Pyramix Native 11.1.6
• Mac Mini 6.2 (3rd Gen. Quadcore i7) - Bootcamp 6.0.6136 - Win10 Pro SP1 64 v1809
• RME Fireface 800 ASIO driver 3.125 or ASIO4All 2.15

ARS
Posts: 34
Joined: Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:46

Re: slow mixdown

Postby ARS » Sun Oct 04, 2020 10:06

Without the convolution reverb it is crazy fast and loads the cpu to around 35%.

The weird thing is, with the Hofa plugin, the cpu load is only 4% during mixdown, which is less than half than playing the project realtime.
Seems like a bug or a limitation somewhere.