MPC X, MPC Live, MPC One & MPC Key 61 Forum: Support and discussion for the MPC X, MPC Live, MPC Live II, MPC One & MPC Key 61; Akai's current generation of standalone MPCs.
By DokBrown Fri Jun 11, 2021 4:08 pm
processor / CPU limits - what uses the most power ?

I understand the memory limits. 2GB with the OS/firmware sucking up ~1/2GB.

EZ solutions
-convert stereo to mono
-TRIM & dump unused material.
-slices instead of new samples

What uses the most processor power ?
Plug-in synths ?
Fx chains ?
Warping ?


APOLOGIES if this has already been tackled, but I couldn’t find it in my searches.


https://www.mpc-tutor.com/reduce-memory ... pc-live-x/

I am asking not because it is a problem now but I want to totally replace my laptop so I don’t want to build a project template that leads to problems down the line. I don’t use any of the built-in synths, so I assume the next problem would be simultaneous FX & warping.

Is there anything else I should consider ?
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By Ultros Fri Jun 11, 2021 6:08 pm
Don't quote me i'm only human and base this on my own observations but it seems that the softsynths and effects smash away on the processor while audio recordings chip away at the ram. Another thing that really hogs up ram is large key-groups... If you sample every key of an 8 octave piano for 1 second you end up using like 1/3 of the machines ram. "oof!" right?

Also the underlaying linux system on the mpc does not use much memory or processor at all. It's a pretty basic command line linux set up. If you were to uart the machine or ssh into a terminal and check "top" after terminating the inmusic-mpc.service you'd be surprised to find out that it uses very little ram. 100mb give or take. Processor basically 99.9% free while at idle with that service terminated.

Ram will always be in shortage when it comes to digital sampling. Back in the day ppl used to gripe about having only kilobytes to work with. Now they can sample in a 32bit floating point recording for 20 min straight and they still complain lol.

Honestly if you want to use the mpc software on a machine that wont cak out, use the pc software! get some 64gb of ram whoring pig of a computer with like 48 cores of proc power and you wont have issues. Technically the PC software with a good soundcard + midi interface is actually better than the stand alone MPC units themselves. It's more feature rich and has modular soft synths you can add in with expansions. (im shocked no one has wrote their own .dll's)
By DokBrown Fri Jun 11, 2021 8:10 pm
In my opinion, AKAI software is weak relative to ableton/NI’s hybrid offerings. If I wanted to use my laptop I would have stuck with ableton/PUSH. ableton is cleary the future BUT I chose the AKAI b/c I dig hardware. When it comes chopping/sampling, I only need 1/4 - 1/2GB ram, I need the other GB space for audio tracks. I also assume the OS needs a certain amount of “swap space.”




2GB is plenty of RAM for an efficient OS. The fact that we need 8-16GBs nowadays suggests our “modern desktops” are loaded with bad code/bloatware. I use Linux Mint but I drop xubuntu or linux mint MATE onto old win7 desktops with 2-4GB RAM for friends.

32-bit perfection if I do say so myself.
https://www.linuxmint.com/release.php?id=36



Since I do not use the softsynths, I was wondering do the FX need to be off OR just not active. My template has all 8 audio tracks each with an fx chain of 4. I tend to use 2FX at a time with the other 2 off. I assume if there is no audio on track in the current sequence, the FX are not sucking up any juice. I have fiddled with the FX on/off but can’t see any major CPU change.



OFF – grayed out
Not active – no audio/pad running thru the FX in that sequence
By DokBrown Fri Jun 11, 2021 8:17 pm
Lampdog wrote:
Ultros wrote:Now they can sample in a 32bit floating point recording for 20 min straight and they still complain lol.


Yep.


I don’t use the MPC3000/60 vintage modes but I have changed all my MPC LIVE settings to use the lowest quality sampling. I’m sure this hurts me when it comes to mixing/FX quality but I’m old school.
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By Lampdog Fri Jun 11, 2021 8:49 pm
I'm old school too but I'll use the machine's features to get the old school out of it. I leave the preferences quality high.
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By Monotremata Fri Jun 11, 2021 11:15 pm
If Ableton is the future, they better get to stepping on getting it to run right.. 10 tracks with minimal plugins on a 2020 i7 Mac mini can hit like 30-40% CPU here. Add one single instance of Pigments (or any decent soft synth) to it, shit goes through the roof and you cant even play the song back without constant static and overloads. I just bought the suite 2 months ago and the workflow is awesome but this shit cannot handle anything close to what Logic Pro or Cubase or Reaper can before it dies.
By ace_of_dub Sat Jun 12, 2021 12:11 am
Monotremata wrote:If Ableton is the future, they better get to stepping on getting it to run right.. 10 tracks with minimal plugins on a 2020 i7 Mac mini can hit like 30-40% CPU here. Add one single instance of Pigments (or any decent soft synth) to it, shit goes through the roof and you cant even play the song back without constant static and overloads. I just bought the suite 2 months ago and the workflow is awesome but this shit cannot handle anything close to what Logic Pro or Cubase or Reaper can before it dies.


Exactly. I think it's Dj Techtools review of Ableton Live 11 that noticed a clear degradation with Live's performances and old projects were struggling to run. I feel like everything has gone downhill since live forcefully integrated MAX/MSP. Not only the size of the program ballooned, but core plugins based on MAX/MSP take more time to load, consume way more memory and are way less stable than before.

The future for MPC is working on ergonomics and workflow in order to make MPC easier to use. There are a lot of possible improvements suggested in other threads that do not require adding new effects, plugins (for instance track re-ordering, track deletion...)
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By Ultros Sat Jun 12, 2021 3:56 am
Lampdog wrote:Sidenote:
Everytime Mono posts I find myself zoomin in on the E6400.


Hah I've done the same thing like 10-15 times. He has one of the best profile photos.
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By Monotremata Sat Jun 12, 2021 5:38 am
Lampdog wrote:Sidenote:
Everytime Mono posts I find myself zoomin in on the E6400.


That one actually died back in February. :( I still won't take it out of the rack though, it looks way too cool having two in there haha. The SDE-1000 above it died right after too go figure.
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By Ultros Sat Jun 12, 2021 12:00 pm
Monotremata wrote:That one actually died back in February. :( I still won't take it out of the rack though, it looks way too cool having two in there haha. The SDE-1000 above it died right after too go figure.


Ouch.. you gonna get em fixed or fix them yourself? Seems a shame to just leave it.
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By Monotremata Sat Jun 12, 2021 2:42 pm
Ultros wrote:
Monotremata wrote:That one actually died back in February. :( I still won't take it out of the rack though, it looks way too cool having two in there haha. The SDE-1000 above it died right after too go figure.


Ouch.. you gonna get em fixed or fix them yourself? Seems a shame to just leave it.


The SDE is a lost cause. There's not a whole lot of info about it, and Roland used some parts that cant be replaced anymore unless you scavenge another one. I dont even know where to start with it, it just boots and shows 9.9.9.9 on the screen now. It was a neat old 12 bit 80s delay but I got an RE-20 right after and with that I dont need any other delays except more RE-20s.

The EMU I have no clue what part is bad on it. Based on the boot lights, I bought a new PSU from Digikey, bought a brand new white on blue LCD for it too, but neither one was the issue. Have a feeling the CPU itself is dead and that basically means buy a new motherboard. If I can find one cheap I will though! Everything else in it is ready to go. Im gonna have to find the Spirit Studio 32 mixer if I do though haha. The misses is still pissed about how big the Studio 24 is! :lol: :lol: :lol:
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By NearTao Sat Jun 12, 2021 4:50 pm
@Ultros... have you tried seeing about extending memory in your CFW with a USB or SSD swap? I imagine it might be trashy depending on usage... but also *might* squeeze a bit more memory out of the system if it isn't hard coded to 2gb in the kernel or software for some reason.
By SuperKonquer Mon Jun 14, 2021 2:43 am
Id say random arp generator uses the most for some odd reason. I crash almost every time i use it too long. Ive had the x since launch and the few standalone crashes that Ive had were from bass synth glitches. But my machine slows to a crawl then hiccups then either freezes or crashes after using random arp for more than ten minutes.