Not a Bug Axe-Edit III 1.05.11 Macbook Pro CPU and Fan Noise

Here are two sampling results, HighCPU vs NormalCPU, the former was taken when the issue was happening, while the latter is take when the issue is gone after "pause".

1. Both Samples share some common threads, however note stack trace of "DispatchQueue_1: com.apple" and "Thread_6457890" are quite different, please see attached files below to see the details.
2. The sample with the issue has a few extra "DeviceManagerThreads", which is not present in the sample without the issue.

Both samples are attached below. @iaresee @Michael Pickens
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  • Sample of Axe-Edit III High CPU.txt
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  • Sample of Axe-Edit III Normal CPU.txt
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@Mark Al bizarre but great data. I’ll try again tonight to recreate the issue.

Anything else running on the Mac? Virus scanning?
 
iaresee said:
@Mark Al bizarre but great data. I’ll try again tonight to recreate the issue.

Anything else running on the Mac? Virus scanning?
Click to expand...

Hi all, I did notice, while running Axe Edit, that when my MacBook performs a Time Machine Back-Up the fan seems to come on.... If I stop the Back-Up the fan stops....

Axe FX III 12.08 Public Beta
Axe-Edit III 1.05.12 Public Beta 1
MacBook Pro 15" Catalina 10.15.4
 
Is there any way to disable “MIDI-over-USB” to see if MIDI was causing the issue? Since midi stuff shows up often in the sampling thread, and I was NOT using any MIDI at all. @iaresee
 
I did a quick comparison of the two sampling result I attached above (the samples were taken directly from Axe III Edit process in Activity Monitor), perhaps carefully analyzing through them w.r.t. your codes would explain what is causing the CPU to run so hot, e.g.

1. " ??? (in Axe-Edit III) load address 0x10605d000" repeated showed up as hotspots.
2. So are a bunch of things realted to "CoreGraphics"
.....
comparison.png
 
Mark Al said:
I did a quick comparison of the two sampling result I attached above (the samples were taken directly from Axe III Edit process in Activity Monitor), perhaps carefully analyzing through them w.r.t. your codes would explain what is causing the CPU to run so hot, e.g.

1. " ??? (in Axe-Edit III) load address 0x10605d000" repeated showed up as hotspots.
2. So are a bunch of things realted to "CoreGraphics"
.....
View attachment 67103
Click to expand...
Do you have a 15” or 16” with the dedicated GPU? Or 13” with the single GPU or whatever it’s called?

I currently have a base model 16” with dual GPU but have used many 13” without it And no problems on any. iMacs etc too.
 
chris said:
Do you have a 15” or 16” with the dedicated GPU? Or 13” with the single GPU or whatever it’s called?

I currently have a base model 16” with dual GPU but have used many 13” without it And no problems on any. iMacs etc too.
Click to expand...
15 inch with dedicated GPU, which is set in "System Preferences" => "Energy Saver" to "Automatic graphics switching"
Screen Shot 2020-05-06 at 11.30.58 AM.png
 
Sounds like the GPU is turning on for Edit for some reason. My fans immediately come on when it switches and battery drops quickly (but again this isn't happening for Edit for me).

is there any change if you do "Get Info" on the Axe-Edit app and choose Open in Low Resolution? i haven't done that before, but i wonder if it will force your GPU to stay off.

Screen Shot 2020-05-06 at 8.38.33 AM.png
 
chris said:
Sounds like the GPU is turning on for Edit for some reason. My fans immediately come on when it switches and battery drops quickly (but again this isn't happening for Edit for me).

is there any change if you do "Get Info" on the Axe-Edit app and choose Open in Low Resolution? i haven't done that before, but i wonder if it will force your GPU to stay off.

View attachment 67106
Click to expand...
Thank you Chris, from Activity Monitor, it seem Axe Edit has 0 GPU usage and does not require the graphic card. Nether-less, let me give it a try to "Open in Low Resolution"
GPU usage 0.png
not_using_graphic_card.png
 
chris said:
worth a try. especially since the usb is pass thru to it, but it could also be straining the CPU so that Edit is the straw.
Click to expand...
JUCE is a pretty weird GUI framework and it wouldn't be the first time there was weird interactions like this. Eliminating all variables @Mark Al can help us narrow down what combination of elements needs to be present for the problem to occur.
 
iaresee said:
What happens if you don't use your external monitor?
Click to expand...
I tried that last night (see my post above), the problem remains, with or without external monitor. However, you might want to try it as well to see if that change things for you when reproducing.

I am using "Open in Low Resolution" suggested by Chris for Axe Edit at the moment, this seems to have alleviated things a little, e.g. its CPU usage is a bit lower, and CPU temps are hovering between 78~82 C (note closing/pausing Axe III would drop it to 70C). And the fan is humming at a lower speed/noise that I can totally tolerate :)

However, due to the intermittent nature of the issue, I will observe it for longer and will report back if the extreme heat/noise issue comes back again.
1588794680036.png
 
Mark Al said:
I tried that last night (see my post above), the problem remains, with or without external monitor. However, you might want to try it as well to see if that change things for you when reproducing.

I am using "Open in Low Resolution" suggested by Chris for Axe Edit at the moment, this seems to have alleviated things a little, e.g. its CPU usage is a bit lower, and CPU temps are hovering between 78~82 C (note closing/pausing Axe III would drop it to 70C). And the fan is humming at a lower speed/noise that I can totally tolerate :)

However, due to the intermittent nature of the issue, I will observe it for longer and will report back if the extreme heat/noise issue comes back again.
View attachment 67112
Click to expand...
definitely sounds like the dedicated GPU is kicking in for retina level graphics or something. i'll try to see what my CPU usage is later today.
 
This is mine:
Screenshot%202020-05-06%2021.39.25.png

I have gone through and applied the above tips, and the fan is more civilized now.

I added the "Open in low res" bit to more than just AxeEdit, too, as the Scarlett MixControl certainly doesn't need high-res graphics to do its thing, and the same for FractalBot and CabLab3.

Opera web browser's rendering helper was jumping up a bit as well....
 
So far the issue is alleviated via "open in low res" option, however, it's definitely not eliminated, the fan is not as crazy/noise as before, but the machine remains quite hot. And:

1. CPU temp still increase about 10~13 Celsius after open Axe Edit (or un-pause it), I am not sure if such increase is necessary for a program like Axe Edit... It's likely that the same bug is still causing unnecessary heavy load on the system, howbeit, to a lesser extend with "open in low res" option.
2. The CPU further increase when the "cab" block is highlighted, this phenomenon is quite consistently reproducible on my macbook, e.g. see screenshot below, with cab block selected, it still drive the temp up high.
cab is hot.png

@iaresee hope you guys figure out the root cause of the problem soon, finger crossed :)
 
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One interesting observation is that:
1. Personally, I am not sure if the dedicated GPU is at the root cause of the issue, e.g. the GPU card temp has remained low all this time, and Activity Monitor consistently reported zero GPU usage and not using the graphic card.
2. If Juice framework misuse is at play, it's likely we are stressing the on-board GPU cores, which would explain why CPU temp is reported high while CPU usage is not that high.
3. Certainly, it's also possible there is some cpu intensive tight-loop logic that is running wild somewhere...

I hope you guys have a tool to profile the app better than I did. Often with the right tool, the problem reveal itself quickly, and then fixing the issue might be the easier part ;-)
 
I also had the "WindowServer" process jumping up there a bit. I found a bit that helped lower it considerably. All is not 100% perfect, but a lot less screaming fan now. Definitely in the ballpark of "tolerable" now.

It was suggested, in the Accessibility > Display area, to check these two boxes to reduce some of the GPU-heavy effects.
Screenshot%202020-05-07%2000.04.54.png

A restart later, and WindowServer is a fair bit better behaved.
 
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