10.2 Demo, "computer too slow" message, CPU use is 10%

[Danilo Villanova]

Hi,

As the title says I'm getting the "computer too slow" message when playing one of the Demo songs. Buffer size is maxed out, CPU usage is barely 10%, according to Task Manager. I've tried disabling multi-core support and hyper threading with different combinations to no avail. Power settings are set to Ultimate Performance and I did all the recommended optimizations for audio there and in the BIOS. Even playing with one instance of Europa in the init patch can cause the error with max CPU usage set to 80% in the Preferences window. I get a bit more headroom if I set it to 95% or max but this one instance of Europa is still driving the DSP bars to max or close to it.

I'm running a Samsung Series 7 Chrome laptop with 3rd gen i7 quad core 2.3, 8gb of RAM and a 512 gb SSD.

Please HALP!

[WongoTheSane]

It's rather difficult to diagnose without having the computer on hand. I would first suspect something to interfere with the audio output, that could be an integrated audio driver trying to fight with an audio card driver (looking at you, NVidia!). If you have both, you'd have to disable the integrated one.

Also check if you have a choice of driver, like MME, ASIO, etc. Try them all, some may be more suited to your particular hardware than others.

Finally, if it still doesn't work, you'll have to diagnose your latency. LatencyMon is a free monitor:

https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

It's not intuitive at first but if there is a big problem somewhere, it should be able to pick it up. If you have trouble understanding it, don't hesitate to ask here (screenshots help!).

[Bananahead]

I'm running into the same kind of problem, with similar specs. However, I do not have a SSD. I am wondering if the 8GB ram is the culprit, and if increasing RAM would help, but I don't want to spend the money on RAM just to find out it won't help. I was going to ask on this forum which of the two (SSD vs. increased RAM) gives better performance.

I have found that reducing my bit depth to 44.1 instead of 48Khz had a very noticeable improvement, although if I try to run Ozone 7 and just a couple of VSTs, it becomes a real problem. I have had to set my CPU usage to "no limit", reduce my bit depth to 44.1, and minimize Reason (so no graphics are being rendered) to make it work.

[antic604]

I'm running into the same kind of problem, with similar specs.

If it's the same CPU as the OPs, then it's just 30% faster than what I have, which is way too little for "Ozone and couple of VSTs" especially in Reason... (at least until 10.3).

Make sure that:
- in Windows, you have high-peformance mode enabled, ideally set up a dedicated power profile with 100% power available to the CPU,
- in Reason, make sure you have multi-core enabled but hyper-threading disabled,

[Danilo Villanova]

I managed to avoid the "Computer too slow" message by setting the CPU limit to none, leaving multi-core enabled and disabling hyper-threading. CPU use is at around 28% and it runs fine but Reason's internal DSP meter is close to the max. I think that somehow Reason is not using the full capability of the CPU and when you select 80% max use is not really using that amount. Looking forward to 10.3, will the demo be updated when it comes out?

[WasteLand]

use windows optimizing tweaks, for example usb power stuff, but most importantly: use the high performance (how do you call it in english) energy --- control... even with low cpu load, if your proc doesn't stay at 100% of it's highest possible clock, this can lead to problems. the other tweaks are only necessary for midi controllers, and usb audio interfaces. and even in the balance power plan, is that the term? disable the usb power energy saving, also in windows device manager, all the usb controllers/hub's.
i do not know if it fixes this particular problem.

[WongoTheSane]

Looking forward to 10.3, will the demo be updated when it comes out?

Yes it will!

[antic604]

CPU use is at around 28% and it runs fine but Reason's internal DSP meter is close to the max.

That might typically be caused by one of 2 things:

- one of the tracks is particularly CPU heavy (e.g. a big synth + some complex insert FX); if that's the case, one of the 4 cores can be close to full, even though remaining 3 are doing almost nothing; since single track processing cannot be spread to multiple cores (in any DAW, not just Reason), the DSP meter shows you're close to the limit, even though the CPU as a whole (all 4 cores) is used to much lower extent

- you're using samples and your HDD is too slow (it's taken into consideration)

[ScuzzyEye]

I managed to avoid the "Computer too slow" message by setting the CPU limit to none...

The "computer too slow" thing one of the first items I turn off (indeed it's disabled by setting the limit to none). It's not really useful in most cases. The only place it would be helpful, is if you're recording, and you want to absolutely make sure there are no glitches from buffer under-runs. Then your recording stops if you run out of buffer, so you have to start over. But you do know there was a problem. For normal production/mixing/mastering, it's not helpful. I'd rather it just click and pop, but continue running.

It just causes confusion with unneeded warnings. They really should just remove the setting.

[Oquasec]

You're actually not supposed to be using balanced mode at 25% when using it.
Altho you could

[Heigen5]

The "computer too slow" thing one of the first items I turn off (indeed it's disabled by setting the limit to none). It's not really useful in most cases.

Also it helps you to automatically stop your project, as without it on it may freeze your project up and clicking on the stop doesn't respond.

[ScuzzyEye]

The "computer too slow" thing one of the first items I turn off (indeed it's disabled by setting the limit to none). It's not really useful in most cases.

Also it helps you to automatically stop your project, as without it on it may freeze your project up and clicking on the stop doesn't respond.

I've never had that happen. You're saying the computer gets so overloaded that the GUI isn't responding?

Once the clicking gets kinda bad and playback is noticeably slow, I always look to optimize the song to get the CPU usage back in hand.

[Heigen5]

Also it helps you to automatically stop your project, as without it on it may freeze your project up and clicking on the stop doesn't respond.

I've never had that happen. You're saying the computer gets so overloaded that the GUI isn't responding?

Once the clicking gets kinda bad and playback is noticeably slow, I always look to optimize the song to get the CPU usage back in hand.

If I remember right the sound got slowed down and totally phucked up and the GUi got grey. But I haven't tested it for a long time so maybe it has changed?

[Oquasec]

Reason wants a machine with a benchmark is minimum 4000.
Using balanced mode at min & max 25% would be way below 4000 depending on what processor you own.
Which is why they always recommend keeping it at 100% all the time.
---
Bouncing in Reason works like freeze tracks because midi data is saved along with the newly created waveform.
I think the oldest cpu they support is an Athlon & Pentium G.