Resource hogging by SoundEasel in V7

[Lugia]

Welp...finally decided to drop the $199 for the upgrade from V5 and went up to 7. $199 per version jump just didn't seem equitable; I should note that monetary considerations of this sort are a big chunk of what drives the warez crowd. But I digress...

After getting V7 installed and firing up Ableton (Live Suite 10.1), I wanted to do some work with the Buchla SoundEasel emulator. It's been a hot minute since I've done anything on "proper" Buchla stuff, hardware or software. So I dropped a few generative pattern M4L objects into a track, set them in motion, then added the SoundEasel. And things seemed a little...sluggish, perhaps?

Imagine my horror when, a bit later, I glanced at Ableton's load indicator and it showed something in the 80%+ range! On only one track.

It's not like I use a very limited machine for this; in fact, I'm running a dual 8-core Xeon @ 2.8ish GHz, 32 GB RAM. And with pretty much every other synth emulator (Arturia or otherwise), I never see loads like this. And yes, it WAS the SoundEasel; when I stopped its process in Ableton, the load crashed back down to around 5%. Granted, some things I use in Ableton do exact quite a processor hit...Adaptiverb, for example, can add an easy 25-30% to the load figure, but then, it's doing some pretty complex things with respect to analysis and resynthesis in realtime. I have no idea what V7's SoundEasel's excuse is. Perhaps someone there at Arturia might explain why I'm seeing this sort of utterly unacceptable processor loading when running this one lone synth emulator...?

[LBH]

On Arturia Buchla Easel Vs product site - (https://www.arturia.com/products/buchla-easel-v/overview) - you can read this:

"* Note that while our extreme modeling at the component level on the Buchla Easel V delivers insanely great analog sound, each voice of polyphony requires significant processing power to pull it off—approximately 20 percent of an i7 CPU per voice."

So it's known and noted on the sales site, that Buchal Ease V can require significant power.
Some sounds on Buchla Easel V does require massive computing power, especially when you play polyphony.
I doubt you get a more detailed explanation from Arturia. But who knows.

But we can hope, that Arturia find a way to save some processing power when using Buchla Easel V.

Enjoy your VC7.

[Lugia]

Sure, I read that blurb as well...but there's a big difference between using 20%-ish of a single i7 (not noting which one) core and causing Live's load to jump that much when just one voice is in play. What I saw didn't look like 20% _at all._ Also, looking at my core use display showed that there wasn't really any sort of multiprocessor activity going on...everything the SoundEasel was chewing on was apparently under one single core with no multiprocessing awareness by the plugin.

Given that multicore CPUs are pretty much a given these days, it perplexes me a bit that if Arturia was aware of the processing hit the SoundEasel was going to incur due to its modeling method, why didn't they try and make a plug like this multiprocessor-capable? I suppose I'll have to find some sort of workaround if I'm going to make use of this; it's not like I have a bushel of ca$h laying around to get a new hardware one from Buchla USA.

[LBH]

I read you as you was just asking for more informations about Buchla Easel Vs CPU consumption. But perhaps that's not the case afterall? What's your purpose with this thread?

I was simply saying, that i doubt you get a more detailed explanation from Arturia. But who knows?
This is more words, but basicly the same: https://www.arturia.com/faq/buchlaeaselv/buchla-easel-v-general-questions

Some problems with informations like that is:
1. it's not telling which specific CPU - (i assume it's the faster desktop i7s, and it could be a single core performance much better than yours.)
2. the 20% per voice of a CPU is not very precise information - (4 voices might be 80% - but of the CPU or of a single CPU core?)
3. it's not telling anything about buffer settings and samplerate settings for your soundcard
4. it can't take your settings for different things into account

To me it's only saying, that Buchla Easel V can use so much CPU, that Arturia think they'll have to mention it.
In generel i personally think there should be better informations about things like this from all audio application vendors. I doubt it can be completely precise.

I assume your DAW show you the load for the most stressed CPU core. I don't know how it handle plug-ins either.

Unfortunately it's still very important to have a high CPU single core performance for usage like this.
Your informations is'nt precise either. With the informations you give, i can't check your CPUs benchmark or anything else. If your equiptment is opimized for the needed tasks, can also have an impact on performance, but you don't tell anything about your equiptment and your settings - including DAW settings - that's relevant for performance.

Anyway - As said, we can hope, that Arturia find a way to save some processing power when using Buchla Easel V. I think it use a lot of CPU, even if it's not a secret it does. I wish and think it should use less CPU, even if it's not the only synth out there, that can be a CPU hog. But what do you exspect Arturia to tell you more about why it use that much CPU and such?
In example - I know there are technically aspects in multicore programming, and the latency it can introduce, that might make some things impossible to put on multiple cores. You can't divide a single task between cores.
I would'nt mind an article about the technically aspects to consider in audio application programming in generel. That could be great to be able to see how far the developement currently is. So a link for such an article would be great.

Perhaps there are some things, you can do to get better performance. But i can't tell, espcially not without knowing about your equiptment, your settings and your work methods.

You can also add a feature request. Your intentions is unclear.
You can allways contact Arturia through your account, if you wan't some kind of response from Arturia.