EZ Drummer 3 CPU insanely gone wild

[Max Quaini]

Hello there,

I’ve finally just got EZD3 after being using SD3 for a while.

It feels like the perfect tool for my needs, it has all the options I like from SD3 without the extra complicated things of its bigger brother – they are amazing but most of the time I don’t need them.

I was extremely excited to start playing with EZD3 – thinking I would have had an easier life in term of usage and especially CPU loading but here it came the nightmare.

When I started my Logic session – with an empty project and any other plugin – I could not believe my eyes realizing the CPU was going 100% busy in just a few seconds of EZD3 usage. At this point I tired to upload SD3 (which normally load the CPU around 30/40%) to verify if there was some issues on my Logic session, but as usual, I had zero problems, with the normal CPU usage and a smooth work.

At this point I’m wondering, am I missing something in EZD3 setting?

Based on my personal experience I should believe that EZD3 is way heavier than is big brother SD3 but it honestly does not make any sense to me. I was wondering if someone else experienced the same issue, or if you have any suggestion, I wanna think I’m missing something, maybe some settings?

Thank you in advance!

Max

EZdrummer version: 3.0.3
Operating system: macOS Big Sur (11)

• This topic was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Max Quaini.

Topic

[Bear-Faced Cow]

You will need to be more specific about your system and settings. I use EZD3 & Logic on a 10-year old MacBook Pro without the issues you are experiencing.

jord

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Jordan L. Chilcott

Web Site: https://jordanchilcottmusic.com/

[vsdookie]

I find when I highlight the drum track with EZ Drummer 3 plug in, it raises the cpu on playback. But if I highlight a guitar or vocal track it lowers the cpu back to normal.

[Bear-Faced Cow]

That’s not EZD3. Logic is going into “live” mode when you are selecting an instrument track, which means that it is allocating as much CPU core to the track.this can be turned off in the preferences, but you might experience glitching when recording.

Jord

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Jordan L. Chilcott

Web Site: https://jordanchilcottmusic.com/

[Max Quaini]

Hello there,

Thanks a lot Jord and Vsdookie.

The system is a late 2014 Mac mini, 2,6GHz, dual core Intel i5, 16GB Ram

Actually yes got what the problem was, it was exactly the LIVE thing. When I selected another track, an audio track with no plugins for example, things went pretty much better. I was missing this thing actually, I came back to Logic after a while so thanks for the useful feedback.

I am still a bit surprised by the fact that for some reasons, SD3 still seems to be less CPU demanding. But in any case I can tell problem solved. I am just gonna select another track for the Logic “live” behaviour and I can easily keep tweaking on my EZD3 setting, mixing in particular. I like to keep the drum track natively mixed since I need to have a fast work with my tracks, and it seems EZD3 is already doing an amazing job!

Thanks again!

Max

EZdrummer version: 3.0.3
Operating system: macOS Big Sur (11)

• The post has been modified 3 times, last modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Max Quaini.

[Bear-Faced Cow]

Where are your EZD3 libraries in relation to your SD3 libraries. Despite everything being loaded into RAM, there should be something at play causing your CPU to have to work harder with EZD3. I use both as well and haven’t really noticed that heavy a CPU hit with either.

jord

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Jordan L. Chilcott

Web Site: https://jordanchilcottmusic.com/

[Max Quaini]

Hey Jord,

thank you for your feedback, yeah I was thinking the same, it feels like there’s something at play causing the CPU hard work.

EZD3 and SD3 are both located in their default location, under Toontrack folder in the hard disk library, while I usually run my projects on an external hard drive.

Thank you in advance for caring, any idea would be welcome.

I must confess anyway that having another track highlighted seems to help getting rid of the CPU wildness.

Max

[Bear-Faced Cow]

What type of external drive are you using? Is it USB or TB? Also, considering that I am hearing that it sounds like you are using only one external drive, it is possible you are potentially creating a bandwidth bottleneck issue that is only being exacerbated by EZD3. It might help if you list your system specs.

jord

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Jordan L. Chilcott

Web Site: https://jordanchilcottmusic.com/

[Max Quaini]

Hey Jord,

in the meantime I did double check my Logic Project and I realised it was by default saved on the Mac hard disk.

Since I was still in the beginning it was easy to start it back again on the external drive (yes, one and SSD USB) but all troubles went away.

I am actually having a EZD3 multi out without any issue.

Thank you for all your support, pretty much appreciated!

Max

EZdrummer version: 3.0.3
Operating system: macOS Big Sur (11)

[Bear-Faced Cow]

That would explain it. Using the same hard drive that every thing else is on will definitely cause the CPU to go up. There’s a lot of drive traffic.

For audio production, I would recommend at least two TB3 SSD drives. That will improve your bandwidth by keeping the drive traffic low. Bandwidth is very important to audio production due to the number of files that are read simultaneously.

jord

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Jordan L. Chilcott

Web Site: https://jordanchilcottmusic.com/

[vsdookie]

Bear-Faced Cow wrote:

That’s not EZD3. Logic is going into “live” mode when you are selecting an instrument track, which means that it is allocating as much CPU core to the track.this can be turned off in the preferences, but you might experience glitching when recording.

Jord

Would this be the Playback and Live Tracks setting under MultiThreading?  For some reason I been getting crackling when recording. I assumed it was my usb on my MacBook. If I unplug interface and replug it, the crackling sometimes has gone away. Unfortunately I have Thunderbolt 2. I would connect my drives and interface with TB instead of usb.

[Max Quaini]

Yeah it makes sense.
But right now after addressing the problem I’m not having any particular issue, my projects usually are not busy with tracks and I can handle them.
Thank you again for the whole support!

Max

[Author]

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