Studio One - 100% CPU load

Not sure if they have a v6 version of that but this is applicable.

Batman119 said:

Recently I went into the task manager and saw that my processor was at 100%... and it wouldn't even drop to 99%...
So I created a new project... made a few MIDI tracks... converted them to audio tracks... added plugins that I could use in the usual workflow... opened up the task manager in Windows... and there it was again, the 100% load...
I started uninstalling the plugins one by one... but no, zero plugins and 100% CPU load... while Studio One was showing almost no CPU load at all, 0-1%, with no plugins.
Help me identify the problem and solve it... or maybe this is the norm at all?

Windows 10 Studio One 6

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Same here. But I'm on a Mac. My CPU is over the top for no reason. I've done everything like you. Bouncing audio, shutting off plugins, etc. Still it happens. I opened a different Song and it's occurring in there as well. It seems to be under the hood for any project/song now. Any resolution for you?

Can you send me the project that takes 100% CPU? Unfortunately, I don't have some of your plugins, so it won't be 1 to 1.

Wilus said:

Same here. But I'm on a Mac. My CPU is over the top for no reason. I've done everything like you. Bouncing audio, shutting off plugins, etc. Still it happens. I opened a different Song and it's occurring in there as well. It seems to be under the hood for any project/song now. Any resolution for you?

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This is sadly what keeps me from using Studio One. I'm hoping for better optimization in version 7. I really do like it a lot otherwise! And I like their on-line team (Gregor and Joe).

This is rather not about optimization. If the application is using 100% of the CPU (and no plug-in is causing this CPU load), there's something seriously wrong. An antivirus, firewall, virus, disk utility running in the background, incompatible audio or graphics driver. Windows Task Manager is generally not a suitable tool for determining the performance of a DAW: Too imprecise and it does not measure what you actually want to know. But this is definitely not normal behavior.

JCold said:

Not sure if they have a v6 version of that but this is applicable.

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There is a recent and very in-depth article about improving performance on an audio computer. Highly recommended.

This isn't necessarily a Studio One problem. Have you run a virus scan for example? Could be a problem with your pagefile. Or with a device driver. Or with your power profile settings. Is your OS up to date?

I recently had a user in Studio One coaching who also had problems with high CPU load without any plug-ins loaded. In his case (new Windows 10 system), some things were not yet configured as they should be for an audio system. In addition, for some reason Windows 10 was constantly downloading, installing, downloading again and reinstalling a certain update. The detection was probably faulty and the update routine was stuck in an endless loop, even after a system restart.

have you tried updating your Studio One to the latest version?
even on potato pc studio one 6 works great here

Lukas said:

This is rather not about optimization. If the application is using 100% of the CPU (and no plug-in is causing this CPU load), there's something seriously wrong. An antivirus, firewall, virus, disk utility running in the background, incompatible audio or graphics driver. Windows Task Manager is generally not a suitable tool for determining the performance of a DAW: Too imprecise and it does not measure what you actually want to know. But this is definitely not normal behavior.


There is a recent and very in-depth article about improving performance on an audio computer. Highly recommended.

https://support.presonus.com/hc/en-us/articles/22234009300877-How-to-Improve-Computer-Performance-for-Digital-Audio

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My case isn’t 100% of the CPU so yes, better optimization would help!

I actually ran the same tracks with the same plugins to see how 4 different DAWS handled it and Studio One (now to clarify this was version 5!) struggled. Version 6 definitely might be better!

Batman119 said:

Recently I went into the task manager and saw that my processor was at 100%... and it wouldn't even drop to 99%...
So I created a new project... made a few MIDI tracks... converted them to audio tracks... added plugins that I could use in the usual workflow... opened up the task manager in Windows... and there it was again, the 100% load...
I started uninstalling the plugins one by one... but no, zero plugins and 100% CPU load... while Studio One was showing almost no CPU load at all, 0-1%, with no plugins.
Help me identify the problem and solve it... or maybe this is the norm at all?

Windows 10 Studio One 6

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Hey Vengeance, I won't add much than what was commented but I hope you don't take this the wrong way: please at least stop the Bittorrent process running in the background and, in general, try to have a lean system where no crap is running in the background. Like, you also have 29 instances of Vivaldi (known to be cpu heavy) running and etc.. debloat it the most you can, use windows or regedit or a tool like glary utilities to disable some startup apps and services. Audio use needs that concern, like even disable internet while working as well as make Windows Defender to work only at a specific period of time (it can scan exactly at the time you are using the DAW)

a) If Process (Performance) bar in Studio One doesn't peak, doesn't matter what the Task Manager reports.
b) If you don't have slow / audio / visible performance issues (pops, farts, lags, latency) while playing, editing, doesn't matter what the task manager reports.
c) Try installing park control, disable parking and monitor CPU cores spikes in RT

I'd bet it's not S1 nor your hardware, a clean install of Windows with proper optimizations settings and park control should give you proper results and also get rid of any malware you may have. Today a clean install is fast and simple, just download the windows media creation tool (that macthes your OS version) and wipe away.

But first of all, audit what runs in the background.

Latency of your audio interface can also push CPU to the limits if set too low. I at least use rather high latency in favor of good CPU performance, particularly during mixing phase.
However, I doubt that this is the key to solving your particular CPU issues, because 100% is really extreme.