DanielK.
DanielKHello Fritz,
I’m just trying out my way around Podium 2.09 demo and I love it more every minute. I love the responsive feel of it and also the clean, Mac-like feel of the interface – it really works and gives you an idea of “stability” of the program. Great job.
However, there are two issues I’ve run across:
1. CPU meter seems to go crazy (red bar all the time and negative CPU usage is reported from time to time) when more than 1 core is used (my cpu is AMD 3200+ dual core), this also causes the audio to dropdown every few seconds, regardless of ASIO buffer size. Once affinity is set to just 1 core it works just fine.
2. I can’t seem to be able to layer multiple VSTi’s together using the same sequence “track”. Is it possible to achieve in Podium? Any workaround?
I’ve searched throughout the forums, but only found old posts where zGrid VST plugin is mentioned.
The lack of layering feature is probably the only thing that sets me back from becoming a licensee.
Daniel
ZynewaveHi Daniel,
@DanielK wrote:
1. CPU meter seems to go crazy (red bar all the time and negative CPU usage is reported from time to time) when more than 1 core is used (my cpu is AMD 3200+ dual core), this also causes the audio to dropdown every few seconds, regardless of ASIO buffer size. Once affinity is set to just 1 core it works just fine.
Please describe the appearance of “negative CPU usage”. Can you post a screenshot?
Instead of limiting the processor affinity to one core, try disabling the “plugin multiprocessing” option in preferences. Does this also work to get rid of the spikes? If so, try with a new arrangement using other plugins. The spikes may be caused by a plugin that is not coded to be multiprocessing compatible.
2. I can’t seem to be able to layer multiple VSTi’s together using the same sequence “track”. Is it possible to achieve in Podium? Any workaround?
Not on a single track. You can set up multiple tracks with VSTis, and then make phantom copies of the sequences on the tracks. Changing the note sequence in one track will then automatically be reflected in the other tracks.
I’m going away for the weekend, so I won’t be able to respond to your reply until monday night.
DanielK@Zynewave wrote:
Please describe the appearance of “negative CPU usage”. Can you post a screenshot?
It’s very hard because those negative spikes only appear for a split second and at totally random moments.
I have created some screenshots for you to take a look.
http://i41.tinypic.com/157zpxk.png – everything is OK, only 1 core is running
http://i44.tinypic.com/2vbk8qs.png – everything is OK, only 1 core is running here as well, ASIO driver report
http://i41.tinypic.com/1zno2o3.png – 2 cores, problems start here, it takes 2-10 seconds for the transport to respond to first time PLAY or after being stopped. Also see the CPU meter.
http://i41.tinypic.com/34nk70y.png – 2 cores, same problems here, take a look at CPU meter.
http://i42.tinypic.com/zj9bi9.png – 2 cores, take a look at the ASIO driver report and compare.
http://i43.tinypic.com/11vmwbc.png – 2 cores, transport does not start upon pressing PLAY, the timing bar does not move from 0:00.
http://i39.tinypic.com/2pqko7a.png – 2 cores, transport does finally start after 20-30 seconds. Notice the CPU meter.
http://i40.tinypic.com/egtkpw.png – 2 cores, managed to catch the CPU spike on a screenshot here.
@Zynewave wrote:
Instead of limiting the processor affinity to one core, try disabling the “plugin multiprocessing” option in preferences. Does this also work to get rid of the spikes? If so, try with a new arrangement using other plugins. The spikes may be caused by a plugin that is not coded to be multiprocessing compatible.
Disabling / enabling multiprocessing was the first thing I checked before posting here. I have tried 3 other VSTs from different makers, same effect.
@Zynewave wrote:
You can set up multiple tracks with VSTis, and then make phantom copies of the sequences on the tracks. Changing the note sequence in one track will then automatically be reflected in the other tracks.
Thanks a lot, worked like a charm!
Daniel
DFusionWhat OS are you using (XP or Vista) ?
ZynewaveThanks for the detailed description. I’m thinking that the problem is related to the way that Podium measures the CPU usage. That’s the “Performancecounter: …” line in your interface reports.
Does your AMD machine have multiple AMD processors, as opposed to a single dual-core CPU?
Is your machine a laptop? Or more specifically, does your AMD chip use speed-switching depending on power usage etc.?
Can you try to see if the problem also exists when using a different driver than ASIO4ALL? If you don’t have another ASIO driver, then try the normal wave driver.
The next Podium 2.10 release has a new option that will ignore plugin bypassing in case of CPU overload detection. That may help in your case, if the problem is with the CPU usage measurements, and not actual CPU spikes.
bfloyd6969@DanielK wrote:
this also causes the audio to dropdown every few seconds
Hi Daniel. Could the volume dropping every few seconds be from the demo restrictions? Don’t forget that in demo mode this will happen. Just an idea and it could be something different.
Conquistador@bfloyd6969 wrote:
@DanielK wrote:
this also causes the audio to dropdown every few seconds
Hi Daniel. Could the volume dropping every few seconds be from the demo restrictions? Don’t forget that in demo mode this will happen. Just an idea and it could be something different.
Good point bfloyd6969 yes, from the download page regarding the demo…
“Audio output will drop temporarily every 60 seconds.”
ZynewaveI’ve added some code that will compensate for wildly fluctuating CPU usage measurements. Podium 2.10 will be released in a day or two, so I would appreciate if you could try the 2.10 demo and let me know if this version improves the CPU spike behaviour on your PC.
DanielK@DFusion wrote:
What OS are you using (XP or Vista) ?
Windows 2000 SP4
My PC has only 1 dual core CPU. It’s a desktop, I doubt I have any thermal throttling enabled 🙂
I’ve just done the same tests with MME instead of ASIO, effect seems to be the same.
Sure, I’ll be glad to help you 🙂
Apart from that issue, what a great program. I have tried Tracktion 2, Music Studio Producer, Anvil Studio, nTrack, Reaper, MULAB and Podium knocks them all out, mainly in how responsive it is compared to the others.
The only thing I don’t like about Podium is the .msi package.
Wouldn’t it be possible to make a portable .zip package?
It would be awesome!
