The Audio Performance Monitor panel shows the current audio processing load and hard disk transfer rate, and visualizes any audio dropouts that have been detected during the playback of your project. It provides detailed information about dropouts and suggests measures to decrease the processing load.
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To open the Audio Performance Monitor panel, select .
- Real Time
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Shows the average load of all audio processed in real time.
- ASIO-Guard
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Shows the average load of audio that is preprocessed.
NotePreprocessing only takes effect if Activate ASIO-Guard is activated on the Audio System page of the Studio Setup dialog.
- Peak
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Shows the peak processing load in the real-time path of the audio engine. The higher this value, the higher the risk of dropouts.
- Processing Overload
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The overload indicator at the top right indicates dropouts. Dropouts occur when the processing load exceeds 100% or when the audio engine is restarted due to the internal detection of excessive processing delay.
If the overload indicator lights up, we recommend the following:
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Activate the ASIO-Guard.
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Reduce the number of active audio effects.
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Reduce the number of audio tracks or instrument tracks that play back simultaneously.
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Activate monitoring for audio tracks and instrument tracks only if needed.
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Record-enable instrument tracks only if needed.
NoteTo reset the overload indicator, click its display. In the Audio Performance category of the Key Commands dialog, you can also assign a key command for this.
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- Disk Cache
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Shows the hard disk transfer load.
- Disk Cache Overload
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The overload indicator to the right of the disk indicator lights up in case the storage device does not read/write data fast enough.
If it lights up, we recommend using Disable Selected Tracks to reduce the number of tracks for playback.
You can show a simplified view of the performance meter on the Transport panel and on the Project window toolbar. These meters only feature the maximum load value and the disk cache load.
Dropouts section
- Performance display
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Shows the values for ASIO-Guard (orange curve) and Real Time (blue curve), as measured during playback. Dropouts are indicated by red vertical lines. When hovering over the curves, the exact values at the current position of the mouse pointer are displayed above the display.
The section below the performance display provides detailed information about detected dropouts.
- Previous Dropout/Next Dropout
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Allow you to select the previous/next dropout.
- Position & Related Tracks
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This column shows the position of the selected dropout on the timeline and lists the tracks that are related to it. The tracks are sorted in descending order, based on their influence on the processing load at the dropout position.
- Locate Dropout Position in Project
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Allows you to move the project cursor to the selected dropout position.
- Suggested Operations
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This column allows you to take action to reduce the processing load:
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ASIO Buffer opens the control panel for the audio hardware, where you can increase the buffer size.
NoteIncreasing the buffer size also results in a higher latency and is not recommended if you record audio or play virtual instruments in real time.
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ASIO-Guard opens the Audio System page of the Studio Setup dialog, where you can adjust the ASIO-Guard and further performance-related settings.
NoteIf dropouts occur during playback, we recommend the following settings in the Advanced Options section:
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Activate ASIO-Guard is enabled.
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ASIO-Guard Level is set to High.
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Activate Multi Processing is enabled.
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Activate Steinberg Audio Power Scheme is enabled (Windows only).
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Freeze Track allows you to freeze the corresponding audio track or instrument track and its insert effects.
Frozen tracks are locked for editing. You cannot edit, remove, or add insert effects applied to a frozen track. To unfreeze a frozen track, you can click Freeze Track again.
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