HELP / SOUND & PERFORMANCE
DSP load and how to lower it
What the DSP LOAD meter means, why audio clicks, and seven ways to make the chain lighter.
Your interface asks for a buffer of audio over and over. DSP LOAD is how much of the time between those requests the chain needs. At 100% it can’t keep up, and you hear a click or a dropout.
Reading the meter
The Complete Chain’s status bar shows DSP LOAD and PEAK, both over the last five seconds, with a graph of the last eight. It is green under 50%, amber under 80% and red above. A dropout leaves a red mark and a DROPOUTS count; click the meter to clear them. Hover over it to see each section’s share.
Make it lighter
- 01
Raise the buffer
One size up, say 128 to 256 samples, gives the chain twice the time per buffer. It adds a few milliseconds of latency. The standalone apps do this for you after four dropouts in a minute, one size at a time and never past 128 samples; a single dropout is left alone.
- 02
Monolith: CPU EFFICIENCY
Open Monolith’s MODE menu and choose CPU EFFICIENCY. It uses about a quarter less CPU on CH1, CH1.5 and CH3 with the same latency. QUALITY and BALANCED are the full-detail modes. The mode applies to every Monolith on the computer and isn’t saved in presets.
- 03
Switch off what you don’t use
Flip a section’s power switch down on its tab. A switched-off section sleeps and costs almost nothing.
- 04
Leave PITCH off
Monolith’s TRANSPOSE and Spectre’s DOPPEL are the heaviest effects in the chain. Use them when the song needs them.
- 05
Reverb to zero
Monolith’s reverb stops working entirely at 0.
- 06
Use 48 kHz
96 kHz doubles the work for every section. 44.1 or 48 kHz sounds the same through an amp.
- 07
Give the computer its power
Plug a laptop in. On Windows choose the Best performance power mode, and close other heavy apps.