Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
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aum dsp behavior heelp
Gentleman,
for sure someone out there can help me explaining why when I'm inside an running app in Aum (auv3, in this case Tal-u-no-lx, but happens with pretty much all the apps) my DSP is 8/9%, but when I close the window of that app, without changing a thing but just closing the window aka returning to the standard AUM panel, my DSP range betwen 24-38%?
Sorry, I know it's probably a noob question..
Comments
@ciga This is most probably related to CPU throttling, the synth UI you have open is probably adding enough steady load to keep the CPU at a higher performance mode, so the relative load is lower. I've seen this happen consistently and keeping specific AUs open is actually one of my workarounds to prevent audio drop outs.
CPU metering in iOS is often completely misleading. Unlike a computer, iOS devices actively vary the amount of processing at any time to conserve battery. So, as @NoiseFloored said, the jump could be simply due to iOS deciding it could throttle back on the processor because that processing power is no longer needed to manage the GUI.
It's best not to put much stock on any CPU meter in iOS, but rather to use it as a general indicator of when things are approaching overload. The only true measure of overload is when audio starts to crackle due to the CPU being unable to keep up with the demand.
Agree with @wim; I wouldn't pay much attention to any load percentage until you're hitting the 90s
Also watch for any sign of melting of your device. That's always a good indication.
yeah, well adding/opening more apps sometimes results in a momentary spike of 147% ahahah...I know that meter it's not super reliable, but whenever I reach 90% (luckly not in many circumstances, but it does not take too long actually), It start crackling et simila...
I'm just surprised seeing a lot of peeps running a tons of app + cubasis and dsp not even at 50%..
mmmmm not sure at what you are referring to..
A lot depends on the apps used and the complexity of the patches, etc. A lot goes into how much a device can handle. Hardware capabilities vary widely between models too.
One of the biggest factors is "buffers" settings. Different hosts refer to this in different ways, so you have to understand what each one is saying. Higher numbers of buffers mean greater latency, but reduced CPU load. In AUM, the higher the number you set for audio buffers, the less CPU load you'll see.
Latency is the time delay added to the signal chain to perform audio processing. High latency is fine for playback, but disturbing when you're trying to play or record live.
The part about watching for sigs of melting was a joke about overheating of the device due to high CPU usage.
ahahaha sorry for not catching that, im not a native speaker so I kinda assume I'm missing something before I consider a joke
for the rest yeah, I'm aware my air2 is not the latest spaceship, but nonetheless I was wondering if other things could influence the cpu load "besides" buffer and latency. Im no expert by any means, I know the theory (aka bigger buffer means less latency) but in AUM I tried switching those aaaaand kinda nothing changed...my buffer is 512 and latency is set to zero, but with the same set up if I raise the buffer to 1024, dsp increase of 13-14%... I wonder what I'm missing (besides the jokes ahaha)
(btw thanks everyone for the help..)
Sadly, the Air 2 is really starting to get left in the dust. I'm on an Air 2 as well. It's good for a half-dozen tracks at the very most if you're using heavier synths.
Buffers are the biggest influence over CPU usage, but Bit depth and Sample Rate can affect it too. Definitely don't try to go over 48000Hz on the sample rate, and not over INT 24 for the Bit Depth. If you try INT 16 for the bit depth, then be really careful not to clip on your channel levels.
Other things that can have an effect are disabling Wifi, and Bluetooth if not needed, force-quitting all other apps, doing a memory reset after every music session, and going in to iOS Settings > General > Background Refresh and disabling refresh all apps that don't specifically need it.
Also, I personally recommend updating to at least iOS 13.4 if you haven't already. People are often justifiably afraid to update their iPads, but 13.4 seems to be an improvement in many ways over 12. (IMO ... YMMV)
To do a memory refresh, first force-quit all apps. Then hold down the power button until the power-off slider appears, but don't press it. Now hold the home button until returned to the home screen. I do this every time I finish making music, and I'm convinced it's a major reason I seem to have fewer issues than other people.
But again ... try not to worry too much about that CPU meter. It tells you nothing concrete most of the time. And iOS is iOS, you can do a couple of minor optimization techniques, but other than that there's relatively little you can do to control how it chooses to manage CPU power.
I hope that helps. 👍🏼
Thanks @wim ! Great advice!
+1 great advice on the memory refresh.
@wim those are awesome suggestions, thank you so much!!
I just upgraded to 13.5.1...not my smartest move imho, but will see I guess. Sample rate always 44100 and bit depth INT16.
For sure I'll apply all the tips you mentioned...last thing: do you have suggestion over new ipad to buy? (I know all these are gigantic topic and I thank you again for the help!!)
@ciga
had to try your setting ..think this cpu spike is with TAL actually.. any other AUs behaves like this? a.k.a when TAL gui is visible=low dsp (5-8%ish), when its minimized it pretty much doubles up DSP ..
But as @wim and other wizards say, dont stare on those numbers until u hit 90%
Sorry, I avoid those threads so I don’t feel tempted. There are some good ones around though.