Hello Rimotalik,
Thanks for the update.
The 'audio CPU' meter in Hauptwerk shows the amount of time that Hauptwerk is currently taking to calculate each chunk of sound, compared to the amount of time that the driver allowed it. I.e. it the meter specifically shows the risk of an audio glitch occurring.
First of all, I'd suggest:
- Make sure you have the latest BIOS installed for the PC's motherboard. Check on its manufacturer's website for the latest version, and how to install it, if relevant. That's very important, and can solve all manner of performance issues.
- Make sure you have all power-saving functions in the BIOS disabled, if relevant.
- Make sure all current operating system updates are installed on your new computer. (Use Windows Update to check for updates, apply all available, reboot, then keep repeating until there are no more. Note that you might need to click the 'check for updates' button *twice* before Windows actually performs the check.) (Please note, however, that the recent 'Windows 10 Fall Creators update' is known to cause organs to load and unload slower, so you might want to avoid that for now.)
- Make sure that you have the latest versions of the drivers and firmware installed for all of your hardware, especially your audio/MIDI interface(s) and graphics card, checking on the manufacturers' websites.
- Download and install the driver for the Hauptwerk USB key, the current version of which is always available on our main downloads page here:
http://www.downloadhauptwerk.com/ . (It doesn't hurt to re-install it if you aren't sure whether you already have the current version.)
- Disable all Windows power-saving functions, including the options for putting USB ports/devices to sleep. For example, on Windows 10 you would use '
Windows Control Panel | System | Power and sleep | Additional power settings', select the '
High performance' power plan, then click its '
Change plan settings | Change advanced power settings', then make sure that the settings are set as follows:
- Sleep: Hibernate after = Never (for 'plugged in' if present)
- USB settings: USB selective suspend setting = Disabled (for 'plugged in' if present)
- PCI Express: Link state power management = Off (for 'plugged in' if present)
- Processor power management: Minimum processor state = 100% (for 'plugged in' if present)
- Hard disk: Turn off hard disk after = Never (for 'plugged in' if present)
... then OK all of the screens.
- Reboot if you updated anything.
- Make sure that that you have (the latest version of) your audio interface's manufacturer-supplied ASIO driver selected on Hauptwerk's '
General settings | Audio outputs' screen (*not* DirectSound).
- Make sure you aren't over-filling your PCs memory, if the problem only occurs with a large sample set (but doesn't occur with the St. Anne's, Moseley organ, for example).
- If Hauptwerk's 'audio CPU' meter is only going into the red when thousands of pipes are sounding at once then please see the '
Performance tuning' section in the main Hauptwerk user guide (pages 200-213 in the current v4.2.1 version), and especially the '
Summary: quick guidelines for troubleshooting audio or performance problems' subsection (page 213):
If the CPU meter is showing red then audio glitches are likely; make sure you're using a good-quality audio interface and have the latest manufacturer-supplied driver (ASIO on Windows) installed for it and selected on the General settings | Audio outputs screen, and that the audio buffer size isn't set too small (1024 or 512 should be safe). If the problem persists then use the adjustment buttons to reduce the polyphony limit on the control panel to lower the limit.
If those things don't solve it:
If Hauptwerk's audio-CPU meter is going into, or nearly into, the red when few or no pipes are sounding then it indicates that the audio driver/host is calling Hauptwerk too late for Hauptwerk to have time to calculate the audio before the hardware needs to play it (i.e. resulting in a 'buffer under-run'), either because the audio driver isn't performing properly, or because the PC is having underlying hardware/driver timing issues (e.g. DPC latency). The following utility should help to identify whether the latter is the issue, i.e. whether the PC and its drivers are performing sufficiently well to support real-time low-latency audio:
http://www.resplendence.com/latencymonLeave it running (but without Task Manager being open) for half an hour or so whilst Hauptwerk is running with an organ loaded. LatencyMon needs to report that the PC is performing well enough for real-time audio before the PC will be able to work reliably for Hauptwerk (or any other real-time audio applications).
There are also some documents with more suggestions for troubleshooting PC audio problems here:
https://www.hauptwerk.com/clientuploads/documentation/Tutorials/WindowsOptimizationsAndDiagnostics.pdfhttps://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/
Best regards, Martin.
Hauptwerk software designer/developer, Milan Digital Audio.