Cubase Pro 8 Performance Comparison Mac OS X 10.10.5 and Windows 7 Video

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yes it makes sense to use a free non ilok plugin.. don't worry about daw bench, we can make our own.

Every test is valid as long as they are identical on all the machines benchmarked.

I don't known aom though and the demo will drive me crazy with the dropouts so really, let's pick a free plugin.

the asio meters ARE reliable in what CUBASE can handle before pops and clicks or total overload occurs. They are not a measure of cpu usage no, but they are a very accurate tool to determine the max plugins a machine can handle.

That said, in cubase 4,5,6,7 - at low buffer settings, the mac version would give clicks/pops/stuttering when the asio meter was low. This is the core audio issue they refer to at GS.. It's basically a low latency issue, everything from 32-256 buffer - asio guard minimises this (in your case, by using a 1024 buffer internally for non armed tracks).

The real test comes when we compare programs without cheat buffers - S1, Reason, Ableton, Bitwig - S1 on my ivy bridge 2.3ghz windows laptop, gives 4x the plugin count of S1 on my 2.2ghz sandy bridge. 100mhz and ivy bridge does not give 400% better performance - it's the OS and bios. (20 ambience instances to 80). Now if it was like 80 vs 69 i'd say they are on par and it's just the minor speed bump and architecture change, but the difference is massive.

This is where it gets interesting - On my brand new retina 2.8ghz, absolute maxed out top of the line MBP currently available, with that blazing fast flash drive also, the windows laptop beats it in low latency (s1, ableton), STILL! when it comes to plugin counts - by about 1.5 - 2x

What i am agreeing with here is that asio guard has helped tremendously and KUDOS to steinberg for recognising that macs have a real problem.. they even said they developed it primarily to help mac related performance issues..but i don't think clock for clock, regards to maximum plug in count, in any daw, a mac can equal the pc. That's my belief and i guess we are going to put that to the test.

Ambience is a good one, just set it to high performance mode and 100% dry so it has no impact on the sound, and copy inserts over and over.

And we can try some other totally free high cpu plugin also.. OOOH!!! I have a GOOD One.. what about the tube emulator sga1150 i think it's called? That's MEGA HEAVY.

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i tell you what, i will create a 32 track audio project,I will make sure all volumes are set so it does not blast any ears or overload the master (or come anywhere near it), playing simultaneously, that are ready to be evenly bombarded with plugins. I will upload it to my dropbox. I was waiting to upgrade to cubase 8.5 but no matter, i will do it very soon as i am sure i am close enough now to get 8.5 for free hopefully anyway when it comes out. I can create it today in cubase 7 though and you can still open it in 8.
test conditions project wise at least, will be exactly the same.

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TheoM wrote:i tell you what, i will create a 32 track audio project,I will make sure all volumes are set so it does not blast any ears or overload the master (or come anywhere near it), playing simultaneously, that are ready to be evenly bombarded with plugins. I will upload it to my dropbox. I was waiting to upgrade to cubase 8.5 but no matter, i will do it very soon as i am sure i am close enough now to get 8.5 for free hopefully anyway when it comes out. I can create it today in cubase 7 though and you can still open it in 8.
test conditions project wise at least, will be exactly the same.
That sounds good to me. Would something like the built in MB compressor tax the CPU? Could maybe use that as I think it is the same in version 7 as 8. I'm trying to avoid installing extra plug ins that run installers. I haven't used that SGA plug. If it just comes as a zip with a DLL I'm fine using that then.

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monkeymanx wrote:
TheoM wrote:i tell you what, i will create a 32 track audio project,I will make sure all volumes are set so it does not blast any ears or overload the master (or come anywhere near it), playing simultaneously, that are ready to be evenly bombarded with plugins. I will upload it to my dropbox. I was waiting to upgrade to cubase 8.5 but no matter, i will do it very soon as i am sure i am close enough now to get 8.5 for free hopefully anyway when it comes out. I can create it today in cubase 7 though and you can still open it in 8.
test conditions project wise at least, will be exactly the same.
That sounds good to me. Would something like the built in MB compressor tax the CPU? Could maybe use that as I think it is the same in version 7 as 8. I'm trying to avoid installing extra plug ins that run installers. I haven't used that SGA plug. If it just comes as a zip with a DLL I'm fine using that then.
that sga plugin is fabulous - one of the very best tube emulation around, and free. But it's heavy. I think it's just a dll from memory. I will update the topic when project is done. Ambience is *definitely* just a dll/component.

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I couldn't find the SGA1150. Is that Shattered Glass Audio? They have the 1566. I think that is the plug you are talking about. I will check it out.

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The SGA plug in has an installer. Ambiance doesn't though so I can go with that.

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sorry about the delay, setting up an all new machine is so time intensive! So much to install still too!

Also right in the middle of moving house!

Anyway, i have some time right now, and actually upgraded to Cubase 8 so will create the project and have it uploaded to my dropbox within the hour. I will even install the ambience on first insert of every channel, all you will need to do is copy and paste. I do believe we should also agree on a second plugin though, as different sorts of effects tax the cpu, well, differently. Ambience is a really good test for a heavy time delay based plugin - maybe we can find another free/non installer plugin as number 2.

edit, well, ambience is off the cards cause there is no intel vst mac version, so it's kind of a pointless test. It won't be like for like as will be using cubase power pc bridge (if that even still exists in V8, not sure).
I presume you have 64 bit cubase installed? I need to find something in vst 64 that's free.

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Could just use the built in plug ins... Something like the MB compressor... Or Revelation.

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ok i am such a doofus, there is a reverb there that IS ambience. i forgot steinberg re skinned it and included it in cubase.

here is the project..

all done and ready, with all instances i could muster.

i could do the 128, BUT.... then the fans kicked in and the temps throttled so I have disabled instances and i am at the point where i can loop that all day with no high fan speeds or throttling.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h8dy7p5dqj164 ... r.zip?dl=0

just a small file all audio included master limiter for safety, all levels fine. Please set your buffer to 128 and asio guard to "medium".

and let me know how many you can activate, if any more, that can be played for a sustained period of time without pops and clicks.

Also, if you could report your asio meter results with the amount of instances exactly as i have them i.e when you load project and play, that would be very useful too. Will BRB with a pic of my asio meter with the default project settings. Oh we can do videos too if you like.

btw, i was so tired from spending 8+ hours testing all the bug in the absolute vst collection, that i just couldn't name and colour tracks properly tonight sorry.. i need to crash now but I will fix it in the AM. For now it's a good test for performance at least though.

Never thought i'd see 100+ roomworks at max quality in cubase on a mac in this decade TBH.. very surprising. I mean on a hexacore (sandy bridge) 3.3ghz windows machine a few years back i only got 64.. and this is only a quad core clocked slightly higher.. just shows how much asio guard helps.. wow.. cubase i actually usable on a mac now performance wise.. I had one crash, as i was testing all the plugins in a row (the fx) one after the other, i forget which it crashed on now, need to find the crash dump, it happened when i accessed the preset box. but other than that, and the very flakey absolute vst 2 collection, cubase itself seems stable. But i do get annoyed when something crashes with it's own plugins LOL.

Ok here it is:
CubasePerf.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

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Alrighty, I could run 152 instances before it crapped out on me and it looked like the average load was full but not peaking and I could still do things without it going over here are the screen grabs. I haven't down clocked my processor yet though, I can do that in the morning.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rxb6jy2rviuow ... 1.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1v9imcwpfz7na ... 2.jpg?dl=0

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ok it will be on par then once o clock disabled

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My limit was 131 instances once I set my speed to 3.8Ghz which is your turbo setting and performance is pretty much the same at the 128 buffer with ASIO guard on the normal setting. Here are the screen grabs:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rsu81jlm3i2dw ... 3.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ix3iyu09ldjuj ... 4.jpg?dl=0

So some things to note. My over clock that gains me 700Mhz gives about a 15% performance boost from this test. There is no noticeable difference between Windows and Mac OS with this test. Like others have said though the performance historically has evened out at higher buffers. When you lower the buffer without ASIO guard would be the real test.

Also some other things to note. For me in Windows, Studio One actually seems to handle more than Cubase without ASIO guard on. On Mac OS X, Studio One isn't a great performer. So I think it may have to do with more than just ASIO vs Core Audio.

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50 instances at 32 buffer
https://www.dropbox.com/s/23asfq3n228bo ... r.jpg?dl=0

52 instances at 64 buffer
https://www.dropbox.com/s/aguzru4oap088 ... r.png?dl=0

60 instances at 128 buffer
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p3vkn9rdwrrlw ... r.jpg?dl=0

128 instances at 256 buffer
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kjxb18yv9fqox ... r.jpg?dl=0

I think the lower buffers could handle more if the ASIO peak bug due to USB mouse events bug existed. I think other things could be causing the real time peaks at lower latencies too. Some people said it has something to do with graphics drivers too.

Everything really stabilizes at the 256 buffer. I think the ASIO guard is essential somewhere around the 1024 buffer and would be why it is so stable.

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So in OS X 10.10.5 running at 4.5Ghz I can do the same 152 instances at 128 buffer with ASIO guard at normal settings.

I can do 45 instances at 32 buffer with no ASIO guard
I can do 84 instances at 64 buffer with no ASIO guard
I can do 128 instances at 128 buffer with no ASIO guard
I can do 134 instances at 256 buffer with no ASIO guard

Granted when I did the test without ASIO guard on Windows I was clocked 700mHz lower so those number are naturally lower. Also the low latency Windows number may be jacked up due to the ASIO spiking bug in Cubase on window due to the mouse events. Either way running ASIO guard the Windows and Mac performance seem to be right together. With that bug though in the Windows version it is hard to test the low latency reliably.

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ok so it's definitely a hackintosh thing. My figures halve without asio guard.

I am telling you it's the efi vs the bios - mine could only play 128 instances at most for about 1 minute till it overheated and throttled (use smc fan control to monitor temps and fan speeds also), the stable instances are what you are seeing active in the pic..

that means i am getting with asio guard ON, at 128 buffer, at the same ghz as you, edit, i just tested 100 is stable. So 28% less.

Mind you, that gap is much smaller than cubase of old eg v4 and 5 and 6 vs mac...

Studio one difference is huge though as you yourself have experienced.. and studio one for me on windows AND mac, performs the same as cubase 5.. ie no asio guard.

in other words, it's awesome on windows, terrible on mac.

On a mac pro that has WAY better cooling with a massive fan, they will indeed be very very close in performance to windows.

What i am concluding without a doubt, is exactly what the pro daw testers concluded years back, that mac at LOW LATENCY, *true* low latency, i.e with cubase asio guard off, Reason, Live, Studio one - performs only half as well as windows can at the same specs. I would bet that even for a mac pro.

You get 128 instances with no asio guard at 128 buffer - i barely get 64.

there's the answer.. and this machine is running as smooth as can be, all ssd throughout, plenty of HD space left, NO junkware, just cubase/logic and purchased plugins (about 150 plugins). That's it. It's not my mac.

but i tell you what - i have my 7 day old retina macbook pro - on the imac i have mavericks.. this has yosemite.. this is haswell and imac is sandy bridge.. so theoretically, a 2.8 haswell should be bang on par with a 3.4 sandy...

Edit - WoW, i got identical results - ! 128 instances at a pinch, then overheat to 95c (mobile processors can go this high prior throttle) then around 102 instances stable - 128 is doable - just - if i am happy to have the fans operating at 6000 rpm LOL. So the MBP gets 2 instances stable (with normal fan noise) more than the imac!

This is cool news for me as that mens i can perfectly exchange projects between the 2 machines and know they will run the same :) Finally, 2 macs on parity in the same house LOL!

Edit: sorry been writing this post for ages coming back to it, ok time to submit. The only thing i still need to test is macbook pro NO asio guard, i will do 32/63,128 and 256 buffer.

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