Pending new releases and existing issues. RESOLVED

[Chris Ward]

Hi All,

After much investigation and various tests AND YOUR HELP & GUIDANCE, I have concluded that the cause of my problem has definitely been Soundtoys Superplate and Little Radiator. I feel it is worth making my Last Post in this thread by listing all the things that I've learnt along the way.

1.  Cakewalk is a sound platform able to record, mix and master to a professional standard (subject to your skills).

2.  Get to know your rig's abilities quickly - create 'test' projects and start loading them up with VSTs, tracks and plugins and see at what point it 'falls over'. Don't expect the impossible.

3.  Think hard about what latest changes you have made to your hardware or software.

4.  Be MOST suspicious of newly added plugins.

5.  Never buy a plugin without testing it by way of a free trial, no matter how good a reputation the company has.

6.  Be methodical in your investigation and take plenty of notes along the way. You don't want to go around in circles.

7.  Turn to the CbB Forums for experienced advice and always be polite.

8.  Never dismiss any advice. Investigate all.

9.  Show evidence of cause of problem to help others.

10.  Thank all responders for giving their time and knowledge - you may need them again !!!

 

Page 1 of this thread :

@Craig Anderton and @Resonant Serpent Beware of errant graphics card drivers. See extract fromThe Huge Book Of Sonar Tips and Tricks.

@Starship Krupa Install LatencyMon (free). Tweak BIOS settings (if you know what you're doing !!) and Power Plans. Refer to Pete Brown's guide to tuning Windows for DAW use.

@John Vere "It's always a plugin". Install Samsung Magician if you have Samsung SSDs to see condition of your Drive.

@Mr No Name Try out Waves StudioRack (free) to reduce plugin load on your CPU.

@Craig Anderton Open CbB in 'Safe' mode without plugins and see if the app runs without L/Buffers. If so, start adding them one by one to find the culprit.

@msmcleod Great various tips (see his post).

@Craig Anderton Refer to previous post on this forum regarding Soundtoys Superplate.

@DeeringAmps Stretch to 3x SSDs if you can - 'C' Drive for OS and Cakewalk plus plugins; 'D' Drive for project files; 'E' Drive for samples.

THERE HAVE BEEN MANY MORE RESPONDERS, BUT IF I LIST THEM ALL, YOU WOULD FALL ASLEEP !!! SINCERE THANKS TO ALL.

 

Evidence & Testing :   @limpet and any other interested party.

Intel i7 (12x core) @3.7GHz   32Gb RAM  Win 10 Pro  Steinberg UR44 Interface  NVidea GeForce RTX 2070

Problem project consists of 4x VSTs; 5x Audio tracks; 11x plugins total (including Superplate and Little Radiator).

With 'Play' button stopped and at 96 Samples / Aud. Process 11% / Eng. Load 50% = Late Buffers soaring 20-25 every second. (Expected at such a low Sample Rate).

At 2048 Samples (max) / Aud. Process 7% / E.Load 30-45% = 2x L/Buffers. Sometimes they would keep climbing at a rate of 1 per 30secs even after the engine had stopped.

With VSTs frozen and all plugins disabled @2048 Samples / Aud. Process 0.19% / E. Load 1.3% = No L/Buffers.

Engage Nectar 4, Silk Vocal & Superplate on Lead Vox only Aud. Proc. 2.7% / E. Load 26% = 2x L/Buffers.

Opened a 2022 project with 3x VSTs 'live', 12x Audio tracks and 69x plugins total (NO Soundtoys) @ 2048 Samples Aud. Proc. 56% / Eng. Load 50.8% = No L/Buffers. Able to get down to 348 Samples with No  L/Buffers.

Back to my current project with all plugins deleted and VSTs 'live'

At (min) 32 Samples in 'Stable' mode (11msec roundtrip) = No L/Buffers

As above in 'Standard' mode (6msec roundtrip) = No L/Buffers

As above in 'Low Latency' mode (5msec roundtrip) = No L/Buffers

As above with Waves MV2 added on 4x Vox tracks = No L/Buffers

You will have noted from my earlier posts that I went to the extent of creating 'test' projects and copy/pasting each individual track into them. Whenever I added either of the 2x Soundtoys plugins, the L/Buffers started striking - even if they were the ONLY plugin onboard.

I tried deleting the plugins from my problem project and loaded it with 60x plugins from my old 2022 project and had no L/Buffers. This proved my latest project was not corrupted and could handle many more plugins AS LONG AS THEY WEREN'T SUPERPLATE OR LITTLE RADIATOR.

I did far too many tests to list here and the one common denominator that caused Late Buffers (even if they were the only plugin onboard), were the Soundtoys mentioned. My Effects Rack from the same company works fine.

The above data serves both as evidence of the culprits but also as a reference as to what  CbB can support at various Sample Rates. If you are on a lesser rig, the suggestion would be to record your VSTs individually in a temporary project to a metronome, refine it if necessary in Piano Roll view and commit to it by bouncing down before bringing it in to your 'master' project file. You can always save your temporary VST folder by another name in case you want to come back to it to refine further. Do this for each VST only if necessary.

Send multiple audio tracks to a Bus if they use the same plugins and settings or use Waves Studio Rack.

If you have a similar rig as mine, then you can see from the above data how far it can take you. I believe I could have loaded more tracks and plugins from my findings. But in the words of @Byron Dickens Keep It Simple S...... ?

I shall wait until the latest version of Superplate is released and get it on free trial to test it out thoroughly before making a decision to buy. I shall also wait to see what you all say about the imminent new Cakewalk Sonar.

I started this post having no friends (maybe ?), but at the end of it I feel I can count all you responders as my friend.

Thanks a whole lot, each and every one of you. I also hope this helps new Cakewalkers with similar problems.

Take care all and Happy Music Making. ?️