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What's a workable max DSP for an iPad performance?
Hello Learned Ones
New to performing with iPad. Using AUM + a bunch of effects. Currently happy with my setup which runs around 65-71% DSP. Is that a workable level?? 2018 iPad. Thanks in advance, John
Comments
That’s pretty high, but as long as it’s not getting dropouts you should be fine. CPU monitoring can be very misleading on iOS.
Memory usage is more of a concern than CPU, but there isn’t any way to measure that so it all comes down to experimentation. If apps aren’t crashing or being killed in the background, and you’re not getting dropouts, and you test the hell out of it, then don’t change your setup without more testing …
What I’m trying to say is on iOS there are no formulas or meaningful measuring tools. It comes down to testing what works. That said, at that level if indicated load, I’d test a lot.
For best performance, run in Airline mode.
As @wim mentions CPU metering can be very misleading (on both desktop and iOS). You can even get away with momentary highs of 100% without dropouts, it's the average that's more important. You'll also want to balance things with regard to latency. Longer latencies will provide a more stable workload as they have a greater opportunity to average things but longer latencies will of course affect live playability. As long as the latency isn't too long, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to adjust your playing style to account for latency.
But if you're using AUM strictly for live performance, you'll want to factor in overruns, as a stable performance can still end up with occasional dropouts. Personally speaking, I'd push no further than 50-60% load for live performances. Yet again, as @wim recommends, your mileage may differ. Just be sure to run lengthy sessions in advance of live performances to see exactly how reliable your processor load is.
If you're using a modern iOS device like the M1 iPad Pro (with a decent audio interface) and mainly use your device as a DAW, you can lean on multicore processing in Cubasis 3 to maximise performance. Unfortunately, only Cubasis 3 utilises multicore processing at this stage, but hopefully, other hosts will introduce multicore capabilities in the future.
Much appreciated comments. Will test and then test some more! Thanks, John
some auv3 fx gui's will increase cpu use enough to break things. i can run a gen1 ipad pro at 70-80% pretty well. but open TH-U for instance and crackles are audible. Nembrini not so much. so perhaps factor in what gui's you will need open into your testing. also, if you can afford to dedicate the ipad completely to music, turn off icloud and all the other web bits, delete all unneeded apps, etc. anything that can limit possible background activity would be good for live. apple in it's infinite wisdom may decide the middle of the set is a perfect time to look for new faces in all your photos. siri needs to know. :^)
Also there’s that memory threshold, where the full power of your memory doesn’t kick in until you cross a certain threshold, at which point it’s activated and the full processing power is applied. Or so I’ve learned on this forum and based off my experience seems to be true. I believe there are articles on the matter, somewhere.
Also certain presets in certain apps will put a strain on cpu, so it can definitely be misleading, As @wim mentioned.
I go until I hear audio crackles and stuff, usually at that point apps will open and move slow when I’m running hot.
I need to freeze the audio more.
Also working in airplane mode, if doable works wonders.
Now that I think about it, device temperature is an unusual but effective warning sign of overwork. I know I’m really headed for trouble if heat buildup starts to get noticeable.