I was using BB 2018 build 507 and I happened to notice it launches a process called System - 'NT Kernel & System' that hangs around 25% cpu usage continuously in Task Manager. I installed BB 2018 build 508 and it does the same thing. This causes my System Idle Process to be around 73% whenever BB is running. The bbw.exe process is showing 0% cpu utilization during the entire time.
I see the same process launched when using RealBand 2018-4-0 even if the program is minimized and not being actively used. I never noticed this constant CPU usage before and just wondering if it is something new in the 2018 versions? If I close BB or RealBand my system Idle process returns to 98%.
I'm using Windows 7 on an AMD quad core CPU.
Perhaps it has always done this and I just never noticed it before. I would appreciate it if someone could verify this happening on their system.
What Audio driver? Could be that an ASIO 'always On' driver or such has been initiated by launching the program.
For what it's worth I often use a W7 64 AMD based system also and I have never seen that. I would notice something using 25% processor right away.
I'm one of those that, when it is time for music, I make sure all un-needed processes are removed/killed and often leave Task Manager open for a few, even if just to see how long it takes to truly settle down. In recent Beta testing this was normal for me to watch what was happening, performance wise, for both load and unload as well as while running it.. don't recall seeing that behavior at all..
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
I checked the audio driver in BB and it was set to WAS, 'Output always on' was also checked. I unchecked the output always on and tried changing the audio driver to MME for both input and output audio but this didn't change my CPU utilization. As soon as BB is closed, the CPU goes to 99% idle.
Realband was set to WAS also and output always on was checked. I tried unchecking 'Output always on' but this had no effect. Something did change though when I set the audio output driver to Microsoft Sound Mapper. Then the CPU utilization went to 99% idle with Realband running. It stays this way until I check the 'output always on' box, and start playing a song in Realband. As soon as I hit the play button I see the process NT Kernel & System jump to 25%. It stays at 25% if I stop the song playback and minimize Realband.
If I leave the audio output driver set to MME and uncheck the 'Output always on' box, then the NT Kernel & System process goes to 25% while the song is playing but drops to near 0% when the playback is halted in Realband so this seems to act a little different than it did in BB.
Easiest way to find out what's using CPU cycles, start Task Manager, go to Processes tab, sort by CPU. You can also get even more information from Resource Monitor:
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
Thank you VideoTrack, Yes, that is the method I use also. The image below is what I see in Task Manager when running RealBand. The Realband application is open but doesn't have a song loaded and is minimized. Audio Driver set to MME and 'Output always on' is checked. The second entry in Task Manager shows 25% utilization and it will stay that way until I uncheck the 'Output always on' box when the output audio driver is set to MME.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
No feedback loops that I can detect, everything sounds normal. I'm using a USB mixer as I always have into the PC, the only way I can get the System NT Kernel & System utilization to drop down is if I change the output audio driver to MME and uncheck the 'Output always on'.
I tried the factory reset method and that didn't do anything for me. I tested recording audio and playback and that worked fine
Update: after the factory reset on Realband, now it doesn't matter what I do with the audio drivers. Even setting it to MME with 'Output always on' unchecked does not get rid of the 25% utilization of System NT Kernel & System.
Update: This issue seems to be with my system and not with Realband. I tried some other audio playback sources on my PC and each one of them showed the same CPU utilization. Sorry to bother the forum with this, I had myself convinced it was due to the upgrade.
Rharv, You pointed me in the right direction concerning the audio driver. After 4 days of testing I finally figured out it was an audio driver from another piece of software called sound tap by NCH. The driver that was causing the problem is stdriverX64.sys I used ProcessHacker software to figure out which driver was causing the issue.
I uninstalled the Sound Tap software and now my CPU is running about 93% idle with Realband.exe taking about 5%.
Thanks also to VideoTrack for your suggestions, I appreciate the help!
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