DomPaul

I currently use to run the activity monitor because I am working on a project involving a lot of display and midi computations and want to know what happens.

Even with not a single patcher loaded in Max, and just after starting both my macbook and Max, tha monitor shows sometimes a 20% to 30% activity for Max, sometimes much lower, a few %. It appears to be more or less random. The cpu load disappears when I close Max, even if no patchers have been loaded in the session.

Not a real problem, but I would appreciate to understand what is "sometimes" consuming power in the background, sometimes not. And perhaps is there something to tune in my own system (recent Macbook pro, 2*2,33 Ghz, 2 GB RAM, IAC driver on, Edirol midi interface UM1 plugged, MaxMSPJitter 456).

20-cpu-load-for-max-when-doing-nothing

Well, 9 - 10% is also the basic cpu load I get usually. Periodically, I get that 20-30% value even with nothing loaded, which doesn't change until I relaunch Max.

in case we are talking about the CPU load which is shown in maxmsp by the dspstate object (thats what is used in the audio prefs window) that should be 0% when doing nothing, even in OS X and vista.

but i had it also from time to time that after errors, after swithing stuff regarding audio hardware settings, after chrashes of patches, or patches with a high CPU load which was cause by very full vectors (like a patcgh where 100 signals are connected to the same object) maxmsp suddenly used 5% CPU for doing nothing ... as if some objects in a DSP chain where still running ... like they would not have been deleted from the RAM when closing the patcher.

a restart of max and/or the audio driver helped here though.

but i had it also from time to time that after errors, after swithing stuff regarding audio hardware settings, after chrashes of patches, or patches with a high CPU load which was cause by very full vectors (like a patcgh where 100 signals are connected to the same object) maxmsp suddenly used 5% CPU for doing nothing ... as if some objects in a DSP chain where still running ... like they would not have been deleted from the RAM when closing the  patcher.
a restart of max and/or the audio driver helped here though.

I found out, that removing the Java Stuff reduces the basic CPU load quite drastically! So, if you don't need that Java Stuff, this may help. 

For me, running Max on a iBook G3/466 (OS 10.4.) definitely benefits from removing the Java folder if it's not needed.

I found out, that removing the Java Stuff reduces the basic CPU load quite drastically! So, if you don't need that Java Stuff, this may help. 
For me, running Max on a iBook G3/466 (OS 10.4.) definitely benefits from removing the Java folder if it's not needed.

Thank you all for answering. Obviously I am not alone to see those variable unpredicatble cpu loads. I will check the java idea, though as I intend to share my current development, I don't mind asking people to uninstall java stuff prior using the program ;-)

Those modern machines are quite surprising. I saw today the activity monitor suddenly increase upon launching safari. But it did not decrease after closing that safari session. It finally decreased only when I closed Max.

Quote: DomPaul wrote on Fri, 08 June 2007 07:58

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Is 4.5.6 binary universal? I'm running Macbook Pro 2.16Ghz, 2GB Ram with MaxMSPJitter 4.6.3 and the activity monitor shows between 10-13%.

Quote: DomPaul wrote on Fri, 08 June 2007 07:58
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> MaxMSPJitter 456).
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Is 4.5.6 binary universal?  I'm running Macbook Pro 2.16Ghz, 2GB Ram with MaxMSPJitter 4.6.3 and the activity monitor shows between 10-13%.


Sorry, I made a mistake. I run 4.6.2, not 4.5.6.

When my max is running under Windows vista idol it only shows 2% on 1 core and 1% on the other. 20% sounds far to much. is it only when your using max or does it do it on other programs while idol. By the spec of your cpu's an the fact that unix is far less resource hungry than vista i would of thought yours would be on 0%. What do you mean by removing the java...does that mean actually deleting the folder from within the max directory..if so i may try that as i don't use the java but sometimes have heavy cpu loads.

>es, removing the java folder from the cycling74 folder does the trick for me.

20% cpu load for MAX when doing nothing ???