Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

Instantly change the active Windows power plan on Stream Deck (or similar device)

TheMysterium

TheMysterium

Member
On my 6 year old PC it is absolutely essential to change the Windows power plan to High or Ultimate Performance when working in Cubase on a lower latency. Otherwise, audio performance suffers tremendously and is very unstable.

For those like me who have to change power plan all the time (you'll want Balanced mode for normal PC operation, otherwise your PC won't even go into sleep mode), you can use a Stream Deck (or similar device) button to instantly change the active power plan.

For Windows 10 it goes as follows (not sure about Windows 11).
In the Stream Deck software, add two new buttons. Go to System -> Open and drag the Open (the little rocket) icon to the desired button.
Fill in the desired title and under "App / File" copy/paste the following command:

powercfg.exe /setactive 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e

(for the Balanced power plan)

powercfg.exe /setactive e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61

(for the Ultimate power plan)

That's it, now you can instantly switch between power plans before starting, or after closing your DAW.
Just one of those little things that makes DAW-life a little easier. :)
Click to read more...
 
Last edited:
Trying that on Win 11 when I get home tonight. I'm sure the GUID is different but we'll figure it out. I have a hunch that some bigger Windows updates will set certain things back to default, and this'd be great to put that back.
 
rgames said:
Cubase does that automatically if you use the Steinberg Audio Power Scheme.
Click to expand...
Huh, I did not know that, thanks!
I'll have to test whether it has the same effect on performance as the Ultimate performance power plan in Windows. It should have, I guess.
 
TheMysterium said:
Huh, I did not know that, thanks!
I'll have to test whether it has the same effect on performance as the Ultimate performance power plan in Windows. It should have, I guess.
Click to expand...
Yeah it creates a new power plan when you start up Cubase, makes it active, then removes it when you close Cubase. It makes a lot of sense but I'm not sure how many other DAWs do that.

If you look at the power plan while Cubase is running you'll see it there. The plan it creates is equivalent to the Ultimate Performance plan in terms of min/max CPU states and a few other things.

Also FYI I've found that the power plan options have much less effect than they used to. Especially as of Win11 some of the options don't actually do anything. And the way the new power plan settings (System->Power) interact with the old dialog is unclear, especially on laptops.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom