Subject:Why can't I start Acid7 with "HIGH" pri?

Posted by: darrena

Date:11/21/2008 5:35:23 PM

When you run an exe using the following command line:

start /HIGH appname.exe

It gives the app high system priority and therefore provides a greater guarantee of performance and makes everything else take a back seat when Acid needs to do something.

I have tried this with:

start /HIGH notepad.exe

It works.

However, when I do:

start /HIGH acid70.exe

it boots Acid7.0a, but it's set to Normal priority. The only way this would happen is if Acid explicitly asks to be Normal priority.

Why?

Subject:RE: Why can't I start Acid7 with "HIGH" pri?

Reply by: pwppch

Date:11/21/2008 8:53:48 PM

Works for me.

What do you think you will gain by doing this? Do you have some specific reference made by Microsoft or others that claim this will improve performance?

Peter

Subject:RE: Why can't I start Acid7 with "HIGH" pri?

Reply by: darrena

Date:11/23/2008 10:59:49 AM

interesting that it works for you and not me. i'm not sure why.

i can only assume that giving the exe a higher priority will ensure that no other service takes cycles away from acid. i don't have any specific reference from msft, but i guess i'd wonder why would they have priorities above normal if there wasn't a need for them ;-)

Subject:RE: Why can't I start Acid7 with "HIGH" pri?

Reply by: pwppch

Date:11/23/2008 2:50:55 PM

With threaded applications, the control of the process priority does not have the affect that it implies.

I can help, but it can also hurt. We do not recommend it. If we did, we would change the priority internally.

It may be that Vista is preventing this method. I have tested against XP and cannot reproduce. I tried it on Vista and 2 out 3 attempts worked. I will look into it further.

However, I do not believe it will buy you anything.

Peter

Subject:RE: Why can't I start Acid7 with "HIGH" pri?

Reply by: darrena

Date:11/24/2008 9:46:00 AM

ok, no biggie. i'm going to start another thread on how to buy the optimal PC for AP7. i think i've hit the upper bound of my ultralight Sony TZ laptop. AP7 works fine, but the VSTi softsynths with the coolest sounds suck up CPU like there's no tomorrow.

Subject:RE: Why can't I start Acid7 with "HIGH" pri?

Reply by: pwppch

Date:11/24/2008 11:33:10 AM

the VSTi softsynths with the coolest sounds suck up CPU like there's no tomorrow.

This is what MIDI Track freeze is for.

Peter

Subject:RE: Why can't I start Acid7 with "HIGH" pri?

Reply by: thirdnostril

Date:11/24/2008 11:58:03 AM

This seems like the perfect time to ask:

Is there an advantage in using MIDI Track Freeze as opposed to rendering the MIDI track as a new audio track? Does track freeze reduce CPU usage even more than going from soft synth to audio loop?

Thanks in advance.

Subject:RE: Why can't I start Acid7 with "HIGH" pri?

Reply by: pwppch

Date:11/24/2008 3:01:56 PM

The advantage is that it takes a single track and you can unfreeze and loose nothing. It also allows you to change the volume at the synth bus and change FX on the bus or routing/sends as you desire with out having to re-render.

Try it, you might actually find it a useful workflow. If not, then you can continue to render the MIDI track as a new audio track.

In the end it depends on how you want to work.

Does track freeze reduce CPU usage even more than going from soft synth to audio loop?

Depends on what is being frozen and whether you have any additional MIDI tracks routed to the soft-synth and how the softsynth uses CPU.

Peter

Subject:RE: Why can't I start Acid7 with "HIGH" pri?

Reply by: darrena

Date:11/24/2008 5:28:13 PM

I use freeze tracks liberally.

It's still ideal to be able to play at least one live MIDI track, and some synths take up so much power they literally freeze up Acid for several seconds of glitchy play.

Subject:RE: Why can't I start Acid7 with "HIGH" pri?

Reply by: thirdnostril

Date:11/25/2008 7:27:38 AM

I should try it just to learn the new feature, shouldn't I?

Thanks!