Should the CPU meter be constantly moving?

I have a new Dell All-in-One computer and moved all my Hauptwerk there. I'm having some audio drop-outs and trying to determine why. I ran a Latency Monitor check and that seems to be OK. I am thinking that I 'minimalized' the computer to eliminate other activities as this computer is dedicated to my organ. But on the Audio/Midi/Performance window the 'CPU' meter is constantly moving into the yellow and occasionally into the red, even when I'm not playing. So, something must be running that I can't find.

Any thoughts?

The “CPU” meter does not show your processor usage. It is not the same as the performance indicator you can find in Window's Task Manager. It is an estimated “audio CPU“ / audio processor usage meter.

CPU - The meter indicates the approximate estimated peak audio CPU load/stress. Red indicates audio CPU overload or audio driver synchronisation issues and likely audio glitches (try reducing the polyphony limit, increase the audio buffer size, or check for updated audio drivers). More specifically, the meter shows the amount of time that Hauptwerk is taking to calculate each chunk of audio as a fraction of the amount of time the audio driver has allowed Hauptwerk to do it. Note: the meter doesn't show the same thing as the operating system's overall CPU usage figures. Hauptwerk's CPU meter is specifically designed to show the risk of audio glitches, which is heavily dependent on audio driver performance and the performance of other computer hardware/driver components, as well as overall loads on the computer's CPU(s).

Are you using your mainboard integrated audio card? Most probably it is not enough and it is failing to keep up with the amount of audio processing required by the sample set you are trying to use.

So, something must be running that I can't find.

I'm sure that's right. I had exactly this problem, or at least a problem with the same symptoms, with a brand new machine (running Windows 10). Eventually I just turned off everything not strictly necessary to run HW and it went away. If your machine is used for other things as well as HW you might need to be a bit more selective.

Nick

Did you follow all the applicable recommendations for Windows tuning in pages 200 - 216 of the HW User Guide, especially the long list near the end of the chapter? It really matters for Dell PCs.

What audio interface are you using? The built in sound on the motherboard isn't usable for HW.

Thanks for all the information and suggestions. Turns out the culprit was Reaper. There were a couple of settings that were not quite right. Once I corrected that the wildly fluctuating CPU meter is gone and behaving normally.

My process of arriving at that was to not use Reaper and route direct to audio instead of VST link. So, process of elimination lead me to the solution.

FYI, since the questions was asked several times I am not using Dell audio but Behringer U-Phoria.