Extremely long loading time for Studio One Pro 6 using EZKeys2!

[Hakan Lindholm]

I have extremely long loading time (as well as closing...

I have extremely long loading time (as well as closing time) for Studio One Pro 6 when using it together with EZKeys2 (10-15 seconds each)

It is the combination with EZKeys2 that is the problem. It works fine with EZDrummer3, EZBass etc and other VSTi.

I wonder if any of the EZKeys2 or Studio One users here on the forum have had this problem and what might cause it and how to fix it.

I have now also tested it with Reaper it is the same problem extremely long loading time when using EZKeys2 so I guess the problem lies with EZKeys2

 

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: Windows 11

• This topic was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Hakan Lindholm.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Hakan Lindholm.

I have extremely long loading time (as well as closing time) for Studio One Pro 6 when using it together with EZKeys2 (10-15 seconds each)

It is the combination with EZKeys2 that is the problem. It works fine with EZDrummer3, EZBass etc and other VSTi.

I wonder if any of the EZKeys2 or Studio One users here on the forum have had this problem and what might cause it and how to fix it.

I have now also tested it with Reaper it is the same problem extremely long loading time when using EZKeys2 so I guess the problem lies with EZKeys2

 

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: Windows 11

• This topic was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Hakan Lindholm.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Hakan Lindholm.

Topic

[Glenn Stanton]

the CW simply allows the plugins to load at their own pace without tying up the main process thread. not sure it’s configurable but there is an option for “multi-threaded / load balancing” plugin support in the preferences.

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: Windows 11

Glenn

www.runnel.com
www.reverbnation.com/fossile

[Glenn Stanton]

Hakan Lindholm wrote:

I have extremely long loading time (as well as closing...

I have extremely long loading time (as well as closing time) for Studio One Pro 6 when using it together with EZKeys2 (10-15 seconds each)

It is the combination with EZKeys2 that is the problem. It works fine with EZDrummer3, EZBass etc and other VSTi.

I wonder if any of the EZKeys2 or Studio One users here on the forum have had this problem and what might cause it and how to fix it.

I have now also tested it with Reaper it is the same problem extremely long loading time when using EZKeys2 so I guess the problem lies with EZKeys2

 

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: Windows 11

• This topic was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Hakan Lindholm.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Hakan Lindholm.

I have extremely long loading time (as well as closing time) for Studio One Pro 6 when using it together with EZKeys2 (10-15 seconds each)

It is the combination with EZKeys2 that is the problem. It works fine with EZDrummer3, EZBass etc and other VSTi.

I wonder if any of the EZKeys2 or Studio One users here on the forum have had this problem and what might cause it and how to fix it.

I have now also tested it with Reaper it is the same problem extremely long loading time when using EZKeys2 so I guess the problem lies with EZKeys2

 

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: Windows 11

• This topic was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Hakan Lindholm.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Hakan Lindholm.

it looks like each plugin load is serialized so a 9.5 second load then translates into num plugin X single load time = 38 seconds…  running 4 instances of EZK, 3 instances each of EZB & EZD – project takes ~10 seconds to load. oddly it took nearly the same amount of time to close…

Glenn

www.runnel.com
www.reverbnation.com/fossile

• This post was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Glenn Stanton.

[Hakan Lindholm]

That is good news.  It is 4 times faster for  EZKeys2 than on my setup. 4,7 sek vs 19 sek.

I just wonder what could be the problem?

I have a pretty good hardware setup so it should not be any problems.

I wonder if it is any configuration details that I have missed. I haven’t seen anything in EZKeys or Studio One that seems related to this and that is configurable and I have’t changed anythings in Windows 11.

I have put in a second SSD drive.

I might try and install the Toontrack software onto that drive if the Installation Manager lets me (but I am not sure that I can control were every part of the software sound banks are stored)

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: Windows 11

[Brad]

Hakan Lindholm wrote:

That is good news.  It is 4 times faster for  EZKeys2 than on my setup. 4,7 sek vs 19 sek.

I just wonder what could be the problem?

I have a pretty good hardware setup so it should not be any problems.

I wonder if it is any configuration details that I have missed. I haven’t seen anything in EZKeys or Studio One that seems related to this and that is configurable and I have’t changed anythings in Windows 11.

I have put in a second SSD drive.

I might try and install the Toontrack software onto that drive if the Installation Manager lets me (but I am not sure that I can control were every part of the software sound banks are stored)

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: Windows 11

Which drive are your samples loaded on? You can simply move the EZKeys sample folder to your SSD (intact) and see if there’s an improvement.

Shutdown EZKeys and PM. Move the EZKeys 2 sample folder to the new location, startup EZKeys and it should complain it can’t locate the sample and give you the option to navigate to the new location.

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: macOS Ventura (13)

Mac Studio M1 Max, RAM 64 GB, 1TB Drive, OSX 12.x/13.x and Windows 10 (VM)
DAW: Studio One Pro (always up to date)
DTX Express III (Extreme triggers), Nektar LX88
OWC Thunderbay Mini (4 X 1TB Sata SSD), Express 4M2 (4 X 2TB M.2 SSD), Envoy Express (1TB M.2 SSD)
Presonus Quantum, Faderport & Faderport 8
Black Lion Sparrow Mk2 A/D, FMR-RNP-RNC, MIDI Xpress 128, BM5A, KRK VXT4, Equator D5
2020 Macbook Pro 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD Audio(mobile rig)

• This post was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Brad.

[Glenn Stanton]

using SSD should be a significant improvement. even the best HD has rotational latency and if there is fragmentation of the file contents (meaning it has to seek to other locations on the disk in order to assemble it) then the seek time (head movement) and the rotation speed (5400 vs 7200 RPM for example) results in “milliseconds” to retrieve a file. some tricks like large sector formatting and regular de-fragmentation can help keep things running as quickly as possible. for SSD, the internals are nearly as fast as RAM and only limited by the disk IO speeds (which nowadays will be 30K IOPs+) vs the HD which even 10K enterprise disks will be hard put to be more than 250 IOPs.

for content drive if yours rarely change much, then HD can be cost effective if maintained and formatted for larger sectors to enable smooth reads with minimal seeking. and being patient about load times 🙂 but once you go SSD there is really no going back…

Glenn

www.runnel.com
www.reverbnation.com/fossile

• This post was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Glenn Stanton.

1

Thanked by: Brad

[Hakan Lindholm]

I already have Windows and all software including sound banks installed on a new SSD drive 2TB. The measurements above is from that setup. I am now thinking of moving either the all of the Toontrack software including sound banks over from this SSD to a 2nd SSD drive. I got the feeling that something is clashing and is locking something out.

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: Windows 11

[Brad]

Hakan Lindholm wrote:

I already have Windows and all software including sound banks installed on a new SSD drive 2TB. The measurements above is from that setup. I am now thinking of moving either the all of the Toontrack software including sound banks over from this SSD to a 2nd SSD drive. I got the feeling that something is clashing and is locking something out.

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: Windows 11

Did you move the plugins and standalone app to an external drive, if yes, then for sure they should be installed to the default location, on your system drive. Only the samples should be moved to a custom location.

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: macOS Sonoma (14)

Mac Studio M1 Max, RAM 64 GB, 1TB Drive, OSX 12.x/13.x and Windows 10 (VM)
DAW: Studio One Pro (always up to date)
DTX Express III (Extreme triggers), Nektar LX88
OWC Thunderbay Mini (4 X 1TB Sata SSD), Express 4M2 (4 X 2TB M.2 SSD), Envoy Express (1TB M.2 SSD)
Presonus Quantum, Faderport & Faderport 8
Black Lion Sparrow Mk2 A/D, FMR-RNP-RNC, MIDI Xpress 128, BM5A, KRK VXT4, Equator D5
2020 Macbook Pro 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD Audio(mobile rig)

[Hakan Lindholm]

I only moved the sound banks to the 2nd SSD but there were no difference in performance so I have moved them back.

I think I rest with this for a while I am not getting anywhere and I have no more ideas.

But it is good to know that Studio One users with EZKeys2 have much better performance than me. So there must be a solution.

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: Windows 11

[Hakan Lindholm]

I have now made some more analyzes with ProcessExplorer.

It seems that the CPU hits the roof – 100% load when EZKeys2 is loading (and only then, the rest of the time it is very moderate usage).

That would explain why it hangs but I don’t know what my cause the problem. (it looks like a software problem) or could it be a configuration issue.

Application
Studio One 6.5.1.96553 Win x64

System
Microsoft Windows 11 Home

Version
10.0.22631

CPU Model
Intel64 Family 6 Model 158 Stepping 13

CPU Speed
3.60 GHz

CPU Cores
8

RAM
32.00 GB

Disk
Samsung SSD 990 PRO 2TB

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: Windows 11

[Brad]

Hakan Lindholm wrote:

I have now made some more analyzes with ProcessExplorer.

It seems that the CPU hits the roof – 100% load when EZKeys2 is loading (and only then, the rest of the time it is very moderate usage).

That would explain why it hangs but I don’t know what my cause the problem. (it looks like a software problem) or could it be a configuration issue.

Application
Studio One 6.5.1.96553 Win x64

System
Microsoft Windows 11 Home

Version
10.0.22631

CPU Model
Intel64 Family 6 Model 158 Stepping 13

CPU Speed
3.60 GHz

CPU Cores
8

RAM
32.00 GB

Disk
Samsung SSD 990 PRO 2TB

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: Windows 11

Hi there,

Good to see you continue on trying to solve the issue.

When running in Studio One have you opened EZKeys > Settings > Advanced and played with the CPU core settings?

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: macOS Sonoma (14)

Mac Studio M1 Max, RAM 64 GB, 1TB Drive, OSX 12.x/13.x and Windows 10 (VM)
DAW: Studio One Pro (always up to date)
DTX Express III (Extreme triggers), Nektar LX88
OWC Thunderbay Mini (4 X 1TB Sata SSD), Express 4M2 (4 X 2TB M.2 SSD), Envoy Express (1TB M.2 SSD)
Presonus Quantum, Faderport & Faderport 8
Black Lion Sparrow Mk2 A/D, FMR-RNP-RNC, MIDI Xpress 128, BM5A, KRK VXT4, Equator D5
2020 Macbook Pro 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD Audio(mobile rig)

• This post was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Brad.

[Hakan Lindholm]

Yes, I have tested various combinations from 1 to 8 cores in the settings for EZKeys2 it makes no difference.

[Brad]

When comparing the other EZx products, how is it when running EZkeys 2 standalone?

Mac Studio M1 Max, RAM 64 GB, 1TB Drive, OSX 12.x/13.x and Windows 10 (VM)
DAW: Studio One Pro (always up to date)
DTX Express III (Extreme triggers), Nektar LX88
OWC Thunderbay Mini (4 X 1TB Sata SSD), Express 4M2 (4 X 2TB M.2 SSD), Envoy Express (1TB M.2 SSD)
Presonus Quantum, Faderport & Faderport 8
Black Lion Sparrow Mk2 A/D, FMR-RNP-RNC, MIDI Xpress 128, BM5A, KRK VXT4, Equator D5
2020 Macbook Pro 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD Audio(mobile rig)

[Hakan Lindholm]

John wrote:

Hi,

this is what it looks like for me when loading your Project:

So while EZkeys 2 takes longer time to load than EZbass and EZdrummer 3, it’s still pretty fast given that library samples are loaded into RAM.
If you have fewer instances of the plug-ins active in your project, it should load faster but it’s still a big difference between our systems.

I would have to ask my colleagues for more input here.

BR,
John

Hello John,

You avarage loading times for EZKeys2 are very good (2.382 sec) compared to mine (9.951 sec).

 

What is your PC configuration? Can you see anything specific in mine configuration that could explain the problem?

PC config attached.

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: Windows 11

[John]

Hi,

I am on an Apple M1 Max, so my CPU has got 2 more cores and is a bit faster but not drastically so.
I do have twice the amount of RAM as you but unless your PC has to shuffle a lot of stuff to and from Virtual Memory, it *shouldn’t* have that much effect.
If you close the Project and re-open it, is it faster the second time? If so, Virtual Memory could be a suspect.

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Hakan Lindholm]

It takes the same time to load if I close the project and re-open it.

So I guess virtual memory is ok.

EZkeys version: 2.0.3
Operating system: Windows 11

[Author]

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