Hi I am using Studio One and have purchased the headphone room simulations for CLA NX and Abby Roads Studio 3. When active CLA NX uses additional 23% of CPU vs Abby Roads 20% CPU.
I am using a Macbook 14inch, M1 Monterey OS.
Question I have is this CPU usage normal? Are they are any updates that coming that can improve this. I am using V13 so it should be ok on M1, correct?
Look forward to feedback on this, thanks in advance.
I’m not sure about NX, but it certainly is for the Abbey Road plugins, especially the reverbs.
The higher the quality, the higher the calculations, the higher the CPU load. Unfortunately, in a universe governed by physics this will always be the case. But the high CPU plugins of today will quickly become the low CPU plugins of tomorrow. Meanwhile there will be something newer to take away your CPU power.
Thanks the funny thing is I demoed the new Waves Germano studio plugin this only uses 5% CPU. All versions are v13.0.0 so not sure what is going on. I am using stereo version for all plugins. Snaphot below.Also compared with Activity monitor and similar issue.
Oh right, yeah the M1 thing. It might be that while the older plugins do run natively, they might not be optimised for M1 yet. Possibly.
If that is true, though, then we might be waiting for V14 for the optimisations. There are A LOT of plugins they need to refine.
Try running them in 5.1 or 7.1 (Abbey Roads 3)… My DAW’s audio engine maxes out and my DAW kills the audio engine to prevent it from crashing the DAW!
They adverise that it can mix 5.1 for Abbey Road Studio 3 and Nx Germano, yet they fail to mention that it’s only for 2 DAWs… you have to find the page that says supported hosts… anyhow… at least it works for stereo?
I wonder if it would work in REAPER 6 like they say… cause as soon as I get the money… I’ll go buy REAPER 6 just to prove a point. I think the software does not support 5.1 like it says it does!
I would say that’s more likely the limitation of the DAW more than anything. It’s my understanding not every DAW can do the Atmos thing. But yeah, they should make it more clear.
It also doesn’t mean that support in the other DAWs won’t be there soon.
As far as usage, Nx, is effectively like a convolution reverb, which can by already quite taxing on a CPU. But it also has important head tracking features thrown in, without those the on the 3D field collapses into something more akin to 2D.
It’s also possible that it takes advantage of chipsets only found in more modern computers, where the rest of us have to deal with the extra load. I don’t know, I’m just theorising here. But there would be a reason for it. 25+ years of optimising code tends to make you pretty good at it. As always, though, there’s usually trade off between quality and CPU load.
I run the CLA Nx in Reaper and it only takes about a 1.3% of CPU power.
I’m running 24gig of RAM, though, and I don’t do the head tracking thing.
The head tracking is really important for the plugin. Without either the camera or BlueTooth tracking it collapses the “space emulation” into like a glorified reverb.
There are a few published papers about how the ear perceives sounds and locates them within a space. The brain relies on the constant stream of information coming from our every movement. Unless your head is actually locked solid in a vice there is always movement, even very subtle ones introduced by our breathing.
It’s this information that the brain needs to interpret a 3D space. So the tracker’s job is to provide the software with this information so that it can change accordingly and relay it to the ear. It’s more than just simple crosstalk emulation.
It’s really worthwhile considering turning on the tracking, even if it’s only just for that periodic check.
Maybe. I just need to get a webcam. Will a cheap one do or should I spend the money for more accuracy in tracking?
To be honest, their bluetooth head tracker attachments for headphones is more effective as you can move more freely about without your face having to be locked to the camera
Hey guys. Do you actually have a tracker, Simon? For me, the tracker was “almost the most amazing thing ever.”
Key word being “almost.” It has always been a headache to get sync’d up with the computer - there’s something different about the way it uses BlueTooth versus headphones. On PCs where headphones always connect, I have to do a dance of turning BT on and off multiple times to get them to communicate.
This has been true with three different PCs and two different trackers! (I returned the first one.) Maybe it connects better on Mac. I also had problems with the tracker disconnecting between songs. So I’d close down Reaper to open my next song fresh and it would be unsync’d and I’d have to reconnect it all over again. Minutes per day added up to hours over time.
When it works, it really is amazing because it’s basically twice the frame rate of a webcam, and like you said – it works anywhere… That said, it loses its orientation and you have to reset it frequently or it drifts such that straight ahead is no longer straight ahead.
So – in the end, based on my experience, I would STRONGLY recommend a webcam over the tracker. In my experience the webcam ALWAYS works. I’ve never had it fail.
Also, they did an update to Nx last year, I think, and ever since then the webcam face tracking rarely needs to reset orientation. It seems to operate a little more intelligently now and when it detects that it’s no longer oriented, it re-orients itself. So I can use it now without having to re-align orientation. It’s amazing!
I’m a big fan of the Nx plugins. I could never finish a mix in them – but they work WONDERS in the initial composition and initial mix stage. I like to work in mono, initially, and mono is miserable in headphones… But mono encourages you to make sure sounds work on top of each other and works as a reminder to not make a song or mix too dense…
So I put a monofier plugin before Nx and then suddenly the mono-in-headphones is pleasing to listen to. It’s brilliant.
In the end I use it for initial composition, initial mix balances — and then I cycle through all the Nx plugins (and Abbey Road Studio) toward the end to check the mix for problems. Each room reveals something else.
Also, Germano Studios Nx has a cool NS10 emulation where the bass is rolled off a bit. I thought something was wrong with it at first but then I learned the unique frequency response of NS10s is why people like them, and Ocean Way has that! So cool.
PS. Another benefit of the webcam is it can detect forward/backward distance, which the tracker doesn’t detect. In the end — if someone can get their tracker to work consistently then that WOULD be ideal. But for anyone who is stuck with a webcam, don’t feel bad about it. I personally prefer it.
Oh, CJames, make sure you see my other reply about the Tracker vs. Webcam. (Spoiler: I prefer the webcam due to technical issues with the tracker.)
But about which webcam to get — there is a framerate issue. My webcam will only send video to Nx at 15 frames per second. I think the tracker gets 60 frames per second which does feel more immersive because it’s so instantaneous.
If I was buying a webcam today… If you’re on a budget a basic one (like I have now) is good enough. But if you can afford it, a webcam that will deliver a higher frame rate would be helpful for Nx. The problem is even if your webcam is capable of a higher frame rate, you need a way to set it to that mode and such settings aren’t available within Nx. So you need good driver support. My Logitech doesn’t support the ability to change frame rate in an external app.
If someone here is getting 30 or 60 fps with a webcam successfully, it would be awesome if they’d share what camera they have.
Also, I will test my Tracker again and report back to see if anything has improved. They did an update to Nx which improved webcam support and maybe it helped the Tracker, too.
I did have one, until the batteries leaked. My fault, they said not to use rechargeable and guess what I did!?! 
I’ve been meaning to replace it, I just hadn’t gotten around to it. Daughter’s 21st is coming up so that makes it financially difficult at the moment too.
It was more effective than the cam in my opinion, more refined. Plus more freedom of movement. I found that with the cam, I kept having to hit the rest button every 10-15mins to recenter it. With the bluetooth tracker I got much more milage. Though simply scratching your head could knock it just enough that you may have to reset it then too.
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