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Software: FX go into standby mode when audio is not triggered?

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written by: geert

Adding this to the wiki reference also http://wiki.eigenzone.org/wiki/Reference

written by: stuwyatt

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:01:11 +0000 GMT

Hi guys,

I spent quite a while trying to use Mobius and SooperLooper as a send FX on EigenD, thinking that it would be a simple setup to pipe all the audio from EigenD into a looping device, and I though that I was running into RAM difficulties, as the loops kept stalling and stopping.

I then realised that the AU goes into 'idle' mode when there is no sound triggered, which is why the loops kept stalling. Is this an option that can be altered at all with belcanto? Or is there another (preferably free) way that I can pipe the audio from EigenD into either SooperLooper or Mobius?

Thanks in advance :)


written by: geert

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:00:14 +0000 GMT

Indeed, I've had problems with this also. Using Kontakt for example, when you load a large sample, you have to keep playing notes on the Pico while loading, otherwise it goes to idle mode and the load never finished. This is also the case for a bunch of sample edit operations or multi operations.

I'm curious why audio units need to be put into idle mode by EigenD. Eigenlabs, any thoughts on that?


written by: stuwyatt

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:31:36 +0000 GMT

I can understand that it is good to save CPU if an audio FX unit is not being used, but in certain instances (like the ones you and I mentioned) it can cause probs.


written by: geert

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:48:41 +0000 GMT

I'm wondering if audio units that aren't really doing any work take up that much CPU resources. I'm using quite a lot of audio units in my Bidule setup, instruments and FXs, that all stay loaded at all times. This doesn't seem to be a hit on CPU unless I actually send MIDI or audio to them.


written by: john

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:34:52 +0000 GMT

Audio Unit behaviour when idle is a real bag of worms. Most AU's automatically go into an idle state themselves and stop consuming much CPU. If this were the case for all AU's we could just ignore them. However, some AU's do not turn off their render loops and eat a lot of CPU when idle, which is not very nice. For this reason the AU host agents in EigenD can be set to force them idle if there is no audio or performance data being sent to them This is configurable in Belcanto, both whether it happens and how long to wait before shutting them down. I'll ask Sam to show you a couple of scripts to change this.

John


written by: geert

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:36:13 +0000 GMT

Thanks a lot John, that would be extremely helpful!


written by: stuwyatt

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:35:48 +0000 GMT

Echoing Geert's thanks from me too. Thanks John!


written by: sam

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:05:09 +0000 GMT

Hi all,

The Audio Units have a parameter called 'tail time' within EigenD. This is the length of time (in seconds) that the Audio Unit host keeps rendering once it stops receiving audio or performance data.

Here is an example script which sets the tail time the two instrument audio units in the Pico Factory Setup. If you copy and paste this into a text editor and then save a file in your ~/Library/Eigenlabs/Scripts, you will be able to use the Script Browser to navigate to this file (in unstable releases):
--
description
This script sets the tail time of Audio Units 1 and 2 to 60 seconds.
script
audio unit 1 hey tail time to 60 set
audio unit 2 hey tail time to 60 set
--
This script will set the tail time of the Audio Unit plug-in's default for the two AU FX on sends:
--
description
This script sets the tail time of Audio Units 1 and 2 to default
script
audio unit 3 hey tail time un set
audio unit 4 hey tail time un set
--
And this will set the tail time of the Audio Unit Inline FX to maximum:
--
description
This script sets the tail time of the Audio Units Inline FX to maximum.
script
audio unit 6 hey tail time to 100000 set
audio unit 7 hey tail time to 100000 set
audio unit 8 hey tail time to 100000 set
audio unit 9 hey tail time to 100000 set
audio unit 10 hey tail time to 100000 set
audio unit 11 hey tail time to 100000 set
audio unit 12 hey tail time to 100000 set
--
You are welcome to adjust the times and the Audio Units in question to suit:

Audio Unit 4 = FX Send 1 Audio Unit
Audio Unit 3 = FX Send 2 Audio Unit

Audio Unit 6 = AU Inline FX 1 (for Sampler 1)
Audio Unit 7 = AU Inline FX 2 (for Sampler 2)
Audio Unit 8 = AU Inline FX 3 (for Sampler 3)
Audio Unit 9 = AU Inline FX 4 (for Audio Unit 1)
Audio Unit 10 = AU Inline FX 5 (for Audio Unit 2)
Audio Unit 11 = AU Inline FX 6 (for Cello)
Audio Unit 12 = AU Inline FX 7 (for Clarinet)

Please let me know if you have any more questions about this.

Sam
Eigenlabs Software Department


written by: geert

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:57:59 +0000 GMT

Hi Sam,

Thanks a lot for this, I'll try it out as soon as possible.

Take care,

Geert


written by: stuwyatt

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:29:40 +0000 GMT

Thanks for this Sam! I'll give it a go tonight :)


written by: geert

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:30:52 +0000 GMT

Adding this to the wiki reference also http://wiki.eigenzone.org/wiki/Reference



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