User Manual

CHAPTER 29. COMPUTER AUDIO RESOURCES AND STRATEGIES 484
Fortunately, Live supports multicore and multiprocessor systems, allowing the processing
load from things like instruments, effects and I/O to be distributed among the available
resources. Depending on the machine and the Live Set, the available processing power can
be several times that of older systems.
If you are working on a multicore or multiprocessor system, you will want to enable support
for it in the CPU tab of Live's Preferences.
The CPU Load Meter.
The Control Bar's CPU meter displays how much of the computer's computational potential is
currently being used. For example, if the displayed percentage is 10 percent, the computer
is just coasting along. If the percentage is 100 percent, the processing is being maxed
out  it's likely that you will hear gaps, clicks or other audio problems. Note that the CPU
meter takes into account only the load from processing audio, not other tasks the computer
performs (e.g., managing Live's user interface).
Audio calculations have the highest priority in Live. Therefore, even if the CPU shows a high
percentage of processor usage, the audio stream should remain uninterrupted. However,
non-critical functions (such as screen redraws) might slow down because these tasks are
handled only when the audio processing lightens up a bit.
29.1.1 CPU Load from Multichannel Audio
One source of constant CPU drain is the process of moving data to and from the audio
hardware. This drain can be minimized by disabling any inputs and outputs that are not
required in a project. There are two buttons in the Audio Preferences to access the Input
and Output Conguration dialogs, which allow activating or deactivating individual ins and
outs.
Live does not automatically disable unused channels, because the audio hardware drivers
usually produce an audible hiccup when there is a request for an audio conguration
change.