CPU Optimization for vital

Feature Requests
#22

I had a lot of trouble with Vital on my Win 10 laptop. 4k display, with an external 4k monitor connected. I noticed that it struggled more with the Vital UI visible; if I closed the Vital window, CPU came mostly under control. But still not great (I could only run 1 or 2 Vital instances - had to do a lot of track freezing.

At some point I found that CPU usage really went down when I turned off the laptop screen and only used the external monitor. In that configuration, I can usually run 3-4 Vital instances without freezing tracks. I suspect that most of my problems were actually GPU related.

My next move is to ditch Windows and get an M1X macbook pro when they come out later this year.

#23

your right, but that doesnt mean that you wanna tell someone who may not have the money to spend some thousands of dollars on a more powerful laptop or a pc.

i think vital should be balanced. it should be working great on the lower end computers and also on the high end beasts

#24

It is also not true…

I have 4 instances of vital running nicely on a 2012 Macmini i7

#25

I run a Macbook Air 2018 and can go up to 8 instances generally with other FX busses. I think the UI consumes quite a bit of power so I only design visually and then record or pianoroll my midi data. I don’t open the UI unless I need non-controller tweaks.

#26

Sorry but again you’re being unrealistic Horu5. Modern synths require modern hardware. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for some optimizations in Vital but you can’t expect it to run on ancient systems.

Just because someone can’t afford to keep up with technology doesn’t mean every developer has the responsibility to make every plugin work on older hardware. That’s just not realistic.

#27

Yes sure, I agree, but just that a guy has an ancient system, doesn’t mean that he has every right to face the issues and not get a 100% experience of the software. There is a solution for everything. Can we agree on that

BTW-Even serum was once cpu intensive ok?, And I definitely know vital just released In the end of November so there is room for a lot of changes in the future

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#28

Sorry but there isn’t a solution for everything. Some tasks require more CPU demand, there is no getting around that fact. Yes there might be room for optimization but again you can’t expect every plugin to run on every system. It just doesn’t work that way.

We don’t have a “right” to anything especially if you’re using the free version. You get what you get and if your system can’t run Vital then it’s not Matt’s problem.

That’s just a unwarranted sense of entitlement.

Again we ask developers to push the envelope of sound and features in new synths so we’ve got to expect to make some effort to keep up with new technology.

I ran my first VSTi on an Athlon 700. Should I expect Vital to run on it ? No of course not that would be silly.

I’ve done patches for Vital that can take a big chunk out of my i7 8700K which is certainly not state of the art so someone running a Core2Duo just isn’t going to be able to run Vital at least at full power. That’s just simple physics.

Vital’s CPU demand to sound quality and range is very balanced in my opinion but I’m sure if Matt can optimize Vital without compromising that quality and range he will do so. But you can’t expect miracles.

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#29

yes, you do talk facts. i completly agree. Let me compare vital with when it came out with what it is now. I see a lot of difference, even in terms of the the cpu usage. i feel its better

so yes, there is room for development ( and for a sec lets put aside the free and paid users thing)

Also, let me state one more fact
even the people who have good pc’s say that vital uses up a lot of their cpu power, now what do you say about this. It should work good on a good pc according to simple physics right?

anyway, its all up to matt to take decisions. I am just using the synth as a free user and even want to provide a voice for free users too. it doesnt mean that if you did not pay for the synth, you cant express you opinions about it and give ideas for its development. Vital is a free synth with paid options for the ones who can afford it. Afterall your just paying for the extra wavetables, presets and extra support features and not for extra synth features. I hope you got my point

btw, if you feel i intend to start a fight, not at all, very sorry if you feel like that

#30

Here’s a quick comparison of cpu usage on a very modest home PC with what synths I have :-

Ableton on its own - 32%
with surge (initialize) - 33%
with zebra2 (initialize) - 33%
with vital (initialize) - 56%

Although there is no graphics movement, by closing vital’s window the cpu usage falls to near the other synths.

#31

No you’re paying to support the developer’s work and to fund future development of Vital. I hope you got my point.

Vital (or any synth) is going to demand the same CPU with the same patch on every system so the only question is can the system handle the demand.

DIVA in divine mode will eat even the most powerful CPU but that’s the price people are willing to pay for quality. I can run it on my studio computer but this system would melt down if I tried to run DIVA in divine mode. But I understand that and I understand why.

I’m sure if Matt could reduce CPU demand without compromising quality he’d do so and may well be working on optimizations as we speak.

But again no modern quality synth is ever going to run on every system, that’s just a fact.

#32

Wait Ableton is using 32% at idle with no plugins loaded ? How many notes were you triggering in your test ?

What CPU model do you have ?

On my internet computer which is running an old i5 3470 I get about 10-14% CPU in the task manager with four notes using the Initialize Patch with the GUI open. That’s really nothing considering the system specs.

Now of course like any great synth you can push Vital’s CPU much higher by adding Osc’s, Unison, FX, Modulators, etc. Again I find Vital’s CPU demand to quality ratio very good but of course any optimization would be welcome as long as it doesn’t compromise quality.

#33

Ya True. I just hope Matt can go for optimization without compromising the quality tho

#34

teksonik :
Just triggering one note for each synth. I don’t understand the figures, they are what they are. It’s an AMD A9–9410 cpu.
It appears that your figures bare no relation to mine.

#36

And my computer specs?, It’s a 2 GB ram laptop lmao
More worse than what u got over there. Vital still runs perfect, only some issues that may seem annoying and yes, I use audio rendering everywhere.

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#37

Here’s the CPU Benchmark for your system and my internet computer which is where I ran the test:

CPU%20%20040721-1

The higher the score the better so you can see why the numbers we each got were so different. There would be an even larger disparity if I tested on my studio system. Like I said Vital is going to have the same CPU demand on every system with the same patch it’s the system specs that will determine whether it can be run with patches that take full advantage of Vital’s power.

I sympathize with those who can’t afford to keep up with technology. I wish I could buy everyone a new computer.

#38

Ya…Renoise has a lovely little feature called render vst to samples. I can then take that and manipulate even further. I was trying to use a Vital patch that was hitting me around 70 percent CPU with everything else turned off. Rendered to sample instrument and was running a 6 percent . Love that feature.

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#39

Really was excited about Vital, but after a few weeks playing with it i find it a bit unusable CPU wise. For what it does, Hive is still my go to wavetable synth. Blue 2, and my old trusty Sylenth still gets the job done as far as analog sounding soft synths and don’t bog down my old ass computer. Maybe things will change with Vital but i have to agree with you at the moment.

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#40

I’ve noticed that there’s a tendency for some patch programmers to go crazy on EVERYTHING. I think that’s part of the problem. Yes, with a VI this powerful you can make a nice 2 sawtooth pad and then max out on filter modulation AND effects, then cross-wire modulation macros just because you can, but if you test the patch, disabling some connections, you might find that a lot of the extra routing is a waste. It doesn’t sound thinner if you detect redundant routing that doesn’t add anything audible, and put some effort into keeping the CPU load reasonable.

#41

I think there’s a misconception going on here. Vital, using OpenGL, runs (at least) two threads parallel, OpenGL and audio. But, this advantage only pays off, if you actually use a dedicated graphics card. If you use a CPU with “in-built graphics”, the CPU is still marking processing time for the graphics in the task manager. The same is of course true for all apps that make use of OpenGL. In other words, even the cheapest dedicated graphics card will improve your experience with Vital, even if that dedicated card is only as potent as the CPU’s in-built graphic chip (it comes with its own memory, which avoids sharing RAM, and is its own process, to name just two advantages).

#42

Benchmarking Vital
OS: Win10Pro (latest)
Hardware: i9900k @ 4.7Ghz, 32GB Ram, RTX 3080, Scarlet 6i6
DAW: BitWig

–

- Base line test: BitWig no track open, no other programs running bar notepad++
Global CPU Usage: 2% to 4%
Global RAM: 16%
GPU Load: 4%
BitWig CPU Usage: 0 to 0.4%
BitWig RAM Usage: 540MB

–

Measurements 1
= Open BwitWig
= Open song (Contains 1 layer, vital and 1 piano roll block and looping timleine)
= Vital is NOT in view
= Play has not been click and song is not playing

Global CPU Usage: 1% to 3%
Global RAM: 17%
GPU Load: 4% to 6%
BitWig CPU Usage: 0.5% to 1.5%
BitWig RAM Usage: 815mb
BitWig DSP Load: 1% approx

–

Measurements 2
= Open BwitWig
= Open song (Contains 1 layer, vital and 1 piano roll block and looping timleine)
= Vital is in view
= Play has not been click and song is not playing

Global CPU Usage: 11% to 14%
Global RAM: 18%
GPU Load: 30% to 34%
BitWig CPU Usage: 10% to 11%
BitWig RAM Usage: 905mb
BitWig DSP Load: 1% approx

–

Measurements 3
= Open BwitWig
= Open song (Contains 1 layer, vital and 1 piano roll block and looping timleine)
= Vital is in view
= Song is playing

Global CPU Usage: 8% to 11%
Global RAM: 18%
GPU Load: 36% to 48%
BitWig CPU Usage: 7% to 9%
BitWig RAM Usage: 913mb
BitWig DSP Load: 30% approx

–

Measurements 4
= Open BwitWig
= Open song (Contains 1 layer, vital and 1 piano roll block and looping timeline)
= Vital is in view
= Song stopped clicked
NOTE: Can still hear some Vital sounds extremely quietly

Global CPU Usage: 8% to 11%
Global RAM: 18%
GPU Load: 36% to 48%
BitWig CPU Usage: 2% to 4%
BitWig RAM Usage: 913mb
BitWig DSP Load: 30% approx

–

Measurements 5
= Open BwitWig
= Open song (Contains 1 layer, vital and 1 piano roll block and looping timeline)
= Vital is in view
= Song stopped for x amount of time, bitwig DSP graph confirms no load from Vital anymore
= Can’t hear any extremely quiet sound from Vital anymore

Global CPU Usage: 3% to 4%
Global RAM: 18%
GPU Load: 32% to 38%
BitWig CPU Usage: 2% to 4%
BitWig RAM Usage: 914mb
BitWig DSP Load: 1% approx

–

Measurements 6
= Open BwitWig
= Open song (Contains 1 layer, vital and 1 piano roll block and looping timeline)
= Vital is in view
= Changed preset to Analog Stab
= Dropped piano roll 1 octave
= Duplicated layer, upped notes 1 oct
= Duplicated layer, upped notes 2 oct
= Duplicated layer, upped notes 3 oct
= Duplicated layer, upped notes 4 oct
= Total 6 vital instruments

NOTE: Load actually didn’t increase much on duplication.

Global CPU Usage: 15% to 16%
Global RAM: 21%
GPU Load: 38% to 46%
BitWig CPU Usage: 14% to 16%
BitWig RAM Usage: 2GB
BitWig DSP Load: 20% to 30% saw tooth rise and fall based on notes being played

–

Measurements 7
= Same as above just vital is no longer in view

Global CPU Usage: 9% to 11%
Global RAM: 21%
GPU Load: 15% to 20%
BitWig CPU Usage: 8% to 110%
BitWig RAM Usage: unchanged
BitWig DSP Load: unchanged

** Values have been confirmed via multiple tests doing the same tasks in sequence… **

–

NOTE: Mac Hardware
Apple hasn’t been known for using latest generation hardware in their machines for many years +12. While your laptops and imac’s may be good enough to render video 3D etc, audio is time critical in milliseconds. Even that mac that costs over £20,000 doesn’t even use the latest hardware, only thing good about it is that it uses error correcting memory (ECC Ram).

–

CONCLUSION: Vital load

  • Could it be optimised better? Yes (But I expect this to come in time, v1.0.7 is early days)
  • Does it consume a lot of CPU compared to others? It’s not the lightest, but it’s also not the worst, I’ve seen Arturia Pigments swallow 3 times the ram and eat 60% of my CPU and 75% of BitWigs DSP load with just 1 instrument.
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