Audio glitches

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Marco Raaphorst
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07 Jul 2017

sah wrote:
07 Jul 2017
Marco Raaphorst wrote:
06 Jul 2017


Are you sure? I noticed that because of VST in Reason 9.5 it will now always choose the discrete card when your Mac has one.
I hoped it would, but I had problems and I turned it off, and the problems was no more.
I was not connected to the power, so maybe that is why...
In my experience discrete is on all the time when using Reason 9.5. It is because of VST. Probably even when you don't have any VST installed.

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kuhliloach
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07 Jul 2017

I remember when Apple's Mac computers were ideal for audio and other professional uses. At least, in the past, you could pay the extra premium Apple charges and have some piece of mind about your workstation. Those days are long gone. Apple has a lot of work to do on their Mac line especially on the OS side of things. Until then there is no substitute for the performance, reliability, power, and affordability of Windows 7 computers, either pre-fab or built from scratch. They cut thru Reason projects like a hot butter knife, even with the ASIO4ALL audio driver. Apple is now a phone and tablet company. I cannot comment on Windows 10 as I've never used it.

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Marco Raaphorst
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07 Jul 2017

kuhliloach wrote:
07 Jul 2017
I remember when Apple's Mac computers were ideal for audio and other professional uses. At least, in the past, you could pay the extra premium Apple charges and have some piece of mind about your workstation. Those days are long gone. Apple has a lot of work to do on their Mac line especially on the OS side of things. Until then there is no substitute for the performance, reliability, power, and affordability of Windows 7 computers, either pre-fab or built from scratch. They cut thru Reason projects like a hot butter knife, even with the ASIO4ALL audio driver. Apple is now a phone and tablet company. I cannot comment on Windows 10 as I've never used it.
But what laptop would be a great alternative for the MacBook Pro?

Back in the day I used a Sony Vaio on XP which worked superbly. But Sony stopped producing laptops. I am not sure what would be good nowadays.

sah
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Joined: 25 Jun 2016

07 Jul 2017

Marco Raaphorst wrote:
07 Jul 2017
sah wrote:
07 Jul 2017


I hoped it would, but I had problems and I turned it off, and the problems was no more.
I was not connected to the power, so maybe that is why...
In my experience discrete is on all the time when using Reason 9.5. It is because of VST. Probably even when you don't have any VST installed.
I think it changes when using battery. Because it was a lot better when I turned it off.
Also Propellerhead told me to turn off automatic graphic switching.
Is there a way to check if it changes when using battery?
Someone from Propellerhead should be able to answer if it does:)
Do we need and want it to always be off? I needed it to be off when using battery because of the poor performance.
Maybe if Reason is more optimized it doesn't need to be off.

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Marco Raaphorst
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08 Jul 2017

sah wrote:
07 Jul 2017
Marco Raaphorst wrote:
07 Jul 2017


In my experience discrete is on all the time when using Reason 9.5. It is because of VST. Probably even when you don't have any VST installed.
I think it changes when using battery. Because it was a lot better when I turned it off.
Also Propellerhead told me to turn off automatic graphic switching.
Is there a way to check if it changes when using battery?
Someone from Propellerhead should be able to answer if it does:)
Do we need and want it to always be off? I needed it to be off when using battery because of the poor performance.
Maybe if Reason is more optimized it doesn't need to be off.
No, it only changes when the software demands it.

Even on battery the discrete card will be used in Reason 9.5.

Discrete should be ON when doing audio. That was my demand. Thanks to VST it is now ON all the time :)

You can use this tool which give you that information: https://gfx.io

sah
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Joined: 25 Jun 2016

08 Jul 2017

Marco Raaphorst wrote:
08 Jul 2017
sah wrote:
07 Jul 2017


I think it changes when using battery. Because it was a lot better when I turned it off.
Also Propellerhead told me to turn off automatic graphic switching.
Is there a way to check if it changes when using battery?
Someone from Propellerhead should be able to answer if it does:)
Do we need and want it to always be off? I needed it to be off when using battery because of the poor performance.
Maybe if Reason is more optimized it doesn't need to be off.
No, it only changes when the software demands it.

Even on battery the discrete card will be used in Reason 9.5.

Discrete should be ON when doing audio. That was my demand. Thanks to VST it is now ON all the time :)

You can use this tool which give you that information: https://gfx.io
I have now tried with and without power and I can inform that It does not change when using battery.
But it used the integrated GPU: Intel HD Graphics 530 only.
I have to turn off automatic graphic switching to use the discrete one! AMD Radeon Pro 450
I tried with and without VST.

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jappe
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09 Jul 2017

Micronini wrote:
13 Mar 2017
I noticed that the fans on my MBP are always on.

So, I opened my MacBook Pro, there was a little amount of dust, especially by the fans. With a vacuum, I removed all the dust and cleaned the grids after the outputs of the fans (without vacuuming the screws placed by the lap-top ;-) .

So, far, I have no more glitches playing an heavy rack with Reason 9.2.2 !

I think that the inside heat made a temperature sensor slowing down the CPU.
Hello Micronini,

I've sorted out problems with PC laptops before, due to cooling reduced by dust so this could very well be a reason for audio glitch problems for some users.
When I activate HyperThreading in Reason, the temperature rises - which I guess is expected. If the laptop has a dust problem, perhaps activating HT is makes the additional temperature rise that causes the MBP to throttle down CPU and causing audio glitches?

I made a thread showing my little experiment with this: (Don't know at which temperature a macbook would throttle down CPU though)
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7502252

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WillyOD
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09 Jul 2017

If you're running 5-6 year old computer (just stop for a moment and consider how long time that is and how you hardware is outdated), you should just upgrade instead of complaining to Apple or Props.

Especially if you're using Macs, I'm sorry but once again, you're running on INFERIOR hardware, and in the next sentence you're talking about ditching computers and going back to analog.
I used to make music but now I just cry on these forums. @diippii.com

sah
Posts: 17
Joined: 25 Jun 2016

16 Jul 2017

Marco Raaphorst wrote:
06 Jul 2017
sah wrote:
06 Jul 2017
PRO TIP: Remember to turn off automatic graphic switching on MacBook Pro when using Reason. That helped with the Computer too slow to play song message. And the audio did not Glitch when entering fullscreen mode.
Are you sure? I noticed that because of VST in Reason 9.5 it will now always choose the discrete card when your Mac has one.
I am Sure. Reason 9.5.1 does not use the higher performance discrete GPU.

Open Activity Monitor and go to the Energy Tab. You will see what Application is using the higher performance discrete GPU.

I am running Reason on MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016) MacOS Sierra 10.12.5

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Marco Raaphorst
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16 Jul 2017

sah wrote:
16 Jul 2017
Marco Raaphorst wrote:
06 Jul 2017


Are you sure? I noticed that because of VST in Reason 9.5 it will now always choose the discrete card when your Mac has one.
I am Sure. Reason 9.5.1 does not use the higher performance discrete GPU.

Open Activity Monitor and go to the Energy Tab. You will see what Application is using the higher performance discrete GPU.

I am running Reason on MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016) MacOS Sierra 10.12.5
Interesting. On my system, even on battery it is a Yes. So it is using the Discrete. Only since 9.5

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jappe
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16 Jul 2017

Marco Raaphorst wrote:
16 Jul 2017
sah wrote:
16 Jul 2017


I am Sure. Reason 9.5.1 does not use the higher performance discrete GPU.

Open Activity Monitor and go to the Energy Tab. You will see what Application is using the higher performance discrete GPU.

I am running Reason on MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016) MacOS Sierra 10.12.5
Interesting. On my system, even on battery it is a Yes. So it is using the Discrete. Only since 9.5
hmm...perhaps it's your gfxcardstatus that locks the discrete card selection...there is an unresolved issue about that here:

https://github.com/codykrieger/gfxCardStatus/issues/240

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Marco Raaphorst
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16 Jul 2017

jappe wrote:
16 Jul 2017
Marco Raaphorst wrote:
16 Jul 2017


Interesting. On my system, even on battery it is a Yes. So it is using the Discrete. Only since 9.5
hmm...perhaps it's your gfxcardstatus that locks the discrete card selection...there is an unresolved issue about that here:

https://github.com/codykrieger/gfxCardStatus/issues/240
I am not running gfxcardstatus at the moment. Discrete is choosen.

I am not on Sierra btw.

Might have something to do with just one of the VST plugins I have installed?

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jappe
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16 Jul 2017

Marco Raaphorst wrote:
16 Jul 2017

Might have something to do with just one of the VST plugins I have installed?
I guess VSTs could force Discrete card use as well!? I don't know if the VST framework allows Laptop/OS specific configuration, some developer who can shine a light on this perhaps?

RandyEspoda
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Joined: 14 Mar 2017

16 Jul 2017

Integrated graphics will always utilize 'more' of your cpu cause it simply cannot handle a lot of computations by itself. Non-integrated graphics will utilize less cpu cause it'll be able to handle and process more computations by itself. So that is indeed the crux of the issue.
Reason utilizes a lot of cpu, and with those integrated graphics, that gets interrupted a lot more than if you use the non-integrated more powerful graphics, which will interrupt the cpu handling of Reason a lot less...

Graphics and cpu always work together, yet when using Reason, using powerful graphics will demand less cpu FOR those graphics, which will benefit performance in Reason.

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Oquasec
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16 Jul 2017

dedicated, also doesn't use system ram.
Producer/Programmer.
Reason, FLS and Cubase NFR user.

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tumar
Posts: 385
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

16 Jul 2017

I have Macbook Pro 15" (late 2013: i7 2.2 ghz, 16 gb ram; 256 SSD). It has only one GPU, so no switching. Ableton Live and Presonus Studio One can fly on this machine, very complex projects at non existent latency.
Reason crackles at low latency settings (64 to 128) very quickly, just with i.e 3-4 Maelstrom pads and Audiomatic at one bar DSP load. It must be something wrong with Reason code.

sah
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Joined: 25 Jun 2016

09 Feb 2018

FYI: Ableton Live 10 no longer forces macOS to use the discrete graphics card in Multi-GPU machines such as MacBook Pros. This reduces energy use and heat, and improves battery life.

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Marco Raaphorst
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09 Feb 2018

sah wrote:
09 Feb 2018
FYI: Ableton Live 10 no longer forces macOS to use the discrete graphics card in Multi-GPU machines such as MacBook Pros. This reduces energy use and heat, and improves battery life.
yes but causes glitches on low latency.

it is a compromise. I am using gfxCardStatus to switch. swiss army knife.

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