Strange behavior... can render axefx non responsive using ext preamp (not necc an axefx issue)

[unix-guy]

it's ok... when I play those presets I only play "highway to the danger zone". I've always been under the assumption that the danger of being at 80% is that you trigger something that uses the other 20% and run out of capacity and get lag. All my presets are in that range and I've never had any problem. My presets are setup in a way that only half the blocks are "on" on any scene and I think because of that the "spikes" I see in practice are never more than 2-3%. It would seem to me that if high cpu usage caused my issue I'd be seeing that issue all over the place. Not that I don't believe you... I hope my inflection is coming off in the right way - as much stating as questioning myself... fully willing to consider I could be wrong... and I'll keep that in mind.

(edit: having read thru the wiki on cpu best practice it appears the consequence is going to be disabled effects and potential audio drop outs... have not experienced either but good to know)

Judges? Is there a fractal official who can sufficiently scold me for abusing my axe fx and tell me to behave and reduce cpu usage?

The Axe Fx doesn't disable effects - it will lock up or completely disabled audio.

Additionally, controllers can become very laggy.

Also, blocks consume the same amount of CPU regardless of whether or not they are "on" - if they are in the preset, they use CPU.

Page 42 of the manual says this, among other details:

The maximum allowable load is about 80%, and if you manage to get much above that, audio performance may be compromised.

The 80% idea is that there are other background processes and some things that have more "dynamic" CPU use... You can spike without actually changing what is in use.

 

[mistermikev]

"When CPU usage gets above 90%, the FX8 and AX8 will automatically disable blocks. The firmware will look for effects which are the biggest offenders, starting with the last edited one." now this is regarding the fx8/ax8 but I would assume the sm applies.

 

[unix-guy]

"When CPU usage gets above 90%, the FX8 and AX8 will automatically disable blocks. The firmware will look for effects which are the biggest offenders, starting with the last edited one." now this is regarding the fx8/ax8 but I would assume the sm applies.

No, it doesn't. That's why I already said the Axe Fx doesn't do it.

 

[mr_fender]

Yeah if you're presets are high CPU, the background tasks of stuff like switching, modifiers, controllers, MIDI functions, etc. can make it spike too high and cause weird issues. The more background stuff you use in your presets, the more headroom you should leave to avoid issues. I personally would not gig with presets above 80%. If weird shit's going to happen, my luck means it's going to be mid-gig.

 

[mistermikev]

No, it doesn't. That's why I already said the Axe Fx doesn't do it.

ok I stand corrected afa blocks turning off but it does state the the dsp may "stop working" which I would assume would arrive at the sm effect ie effects "turning off" or "not rendering". All this is sort of beside the point, because as I removed every block from the preset... literally NO BLOCKS WERE LEFT and still it was sluggish and not responding and not deleting.

 

[unix-guy]

ok I stand corrected afa blocks turning off but it does state the the dsp may "stop working" which I would assume would arrive at the sm effect ie effects "turning off" or "not rendering". All this is sort of beside the point, because as I removed every block from the preset... literally NO BLOCKS WERE LEFT and still it was sluggish and not responding and not deleting.

If the DSP stops working, your unit is hung. There's no audio and no function. It's not the same...

Are you deleting blocks from the editor or from the unit itself? When the CPU is high, the editor often doesn't work as intended and possibly it hasn't actually removed the blocks on the hardware?

If you want to delete a preset, do the following on the hardware, not the editor:

1. Navigate to an empty (or "safe") preset
2. Press the Store
3. When prompted for the preset slot to save to, select the number of the preset you want removed
4. Press Store again

At this point I would suggest you contact support if that doesn't work.

 

[mistermikev]

If the DSP stops working, your unit is hung. There's no audio and no function. It's not the same...

Are you deleting blocks from the editor or from the unit itself? When the CPU is high, the editor often doesn't work as intended and possibly it hasn't actually removed the blocks on the hardware?

If you want to delete a preset, do the following on the hardware, not the editor:

1. Navigate to an empty (or "safe") preset
2. Press the Store
3. When prompted for the preset slot to save to, select the number of the preset you want removed
4. Press Store again

At this point I would suggest you contact support if that doesn't work.

I guess it's not clear at this point I solved my issues quite a few posts back - was just responding in the interest of convo. I had tried exactly what you described to overwrite the preset... and several other methods as well... none worked. what did work was clearing via "preset -> clear" in the editor (browser clear didn't work). I'm not sure if removing all blocks impacted this.

for the record - I was deleting blocks using the editor but going to/from the preset to ensure they were in fact deleted. At the time I was trying to see if it was a particular block that caused the issue. Even going back to the preset, with no blocks on it (and I don't generally do a lot of automation behind the preset)... it was still sluggish and non responsive altho audio would go through fine.

I do sincerely appreciate your help non the less.