arne

When plugins are inserted into tracks, but not receiving audio, are they adding to the CPU load?

In other words, do I need to use poly~ to turn processor intensive plugs on and off when I'm not using them in a track?

processor-load

if it is turned on in the host it runs, if it is 

(it does not receive audio when turned off)

if it is turned on in the host it runs, if it is 
turned off in the hosts it does not run.

(it does not receive audio when turned off)


I'm more curious about the other way around.

I cannot have 16 spectral EQs running in MSP at the same time - even if no audio is going through them, the processor load jumps way up with them just sitting there. Thus, poly~ or mute~ is necessary.

Does the host do this for me automatically, or do I need to have an on/off parameter within the plugin?

if it's an effect, processing will be shut off when no audio is received by the plugin - (i think the time before the procissing is stopped can be set with the 'tailsize' message to plugconfig....

if it's an instrument it will always run,- to be ready when you play a note ;))

well my previous post seems to be wrong for some hosts, in logic it's true, so maybe poly~ is a good idea for cubase and others ;)

instruments also should not run when turned off. :)

Arne ... if the 16 effects are in one plug-in you

need to use poly~ , if it is 16 different plug-ins 

the ones which are turned off require 0 CPU cycles.

generally speaking pluggo does not behave differently

from other plug-ins; the audio simply does not run

when turned off - only messages or midi output are 

active in a turned-off plug-in when you dont do anything

Arne ... if the 16 effects are in one plug-in you
need to use poly~ , if it is 16 different plug-ins 
the ones which are turned off require 0 CPU cycles.

generally speaking pluggo does not behave differently
from other plug-ins; the audio simply does not run
when turned off - only messages or midi output are 
active in a turned-off plug-in when you dont do anything
against that in your code.

> In other words, do I need to use poly~ to turn processor intensive plugs on and off when I'm not using them in a track?

When using turning an audio subpatch on or off in max I tried mute~ or poly~ or pcontrol but I ran into two problems: clicks (even with pass~), and filters that explode when you turn it back on.

Instead I now build the subpatch to a vst, load it in vst~ and use the bypass message to turn it off. This saves cpu just as the others but doesn't have this nasty behaviour.

btw I didn't do any of this inside another host but max.

> In other words, do I need to use poly~ to turn processor intensive plugs on and off when I'm not using them in a track?
>

When using turning an audio subpatch on or off in max I tried mute~ or poly~ or pcontrol but I ran into two problems: clicks (even with pass~), and filters that explode when you turn it back on. 

In a word yes. You could use plugsync's host features to turn processing within the plugin off if need be [while the sequencer is sitting still] , but it sounds unreliable. Check the leftmost outlet of plugsync~ and the mute~ object. Also theres bypass and mute for the Vst~ object if you're using that.

In a word yes. You could use plugsync's host features to turn processing within the plugin off if need be [while the sequencer is sitting still] , but it sounds unreliable.  Check the leftmost outlet of plugsync~ and the mute~ object. Also theres bypass and mute for the Vst~ object if you're using that. 

I tried some times ago to create a "CPU gate" thru the use of the mute~ object and idle detection. THough it sometimes was too slow to react (max data rate).

Would it be possible to control mute~ with signal rate ?

Or for poly~ to accept signal based disable control ?

I tried some times ago to create a "CPU gate" thru the use of the  mute~ object and idle detection. THough it sometimes was too slow to react (max data rate).

Would it be possible to control mute~ with signal rate ?
Or for poly~ to accept signal based disable control ?

if poly~ would accept signals for turning signalling on

and off, you could only turn it off once.

if poly~ would accept signals for turning signalling on
and off, you could only turn it off once.


Processor load