I/O causing Out of Realtime?

Question

I have a very processor-hungry Multigrid running fine with a Wormhole setup of 1 Pacarana and 1 Paca. The Pacarana is the master and is connected with FW800 to 400 cable to my Mac. Sometimes I get dropouts but I don't see an Out of Realtime message. I checked the DSP status on the Paca(rana)s and there are 4 processors used heavily and 2 processors are only at 3 or 4 %. However the I/O status of the Pacarana is at 99% while the Paca's is at 64%. Also when I record the multigrid to disc while playing I don't experience any dropouts on the recorded file.

Are the dropouts due to I/O being maxed out? What is the I/O status telling me? How can I solve this?

Thanks!

Comments

Update: It's my Wacom! When I use it the VCS isn't quite catching up. When I draw faster I get the described dropouts. Using the iPad w/ KymaControl and the Pen Tab works perfectly. I'm using an Intuos Pen & Touch here. Anyone else experiencing this?

Answer 1

The Wacom tablet is capable of sensing and transmitting changes to the pen position at greater than 1000 updates per second. If the Capytalk expressions in your Multigrid are complex, evaluating these expressions at such a high rate could cause the Paca(rana) to get behind and fall out of real time.

Have you tried increasing the input-to-output delay (found in the Configure drop-down menu in the DSP Status window)? For the Wormhole, we recommend setting it to 14 milliseconds.

Comments

I have tried that. But in this case it's really my wacom which is not working right: I assigned Amp and BPM of the Clicks prototype to PenX and PenY and experienced the same problem. I'll return it and get a second iPad instead ;)
Thanks!

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What still seems strange to me is that even without using the Wacom or any other controller my I/O status is quite high. Even when I play a simple Sound it is about 80%. Is there maybe something else wrong with my setup?

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The I/O processor usage depends not only on the amount of I/O to peripherals (like audio I/O, pen or OSC messages), but also on which windows are open in Kyma, whether or not you are playing a Sound and whether or not you are using a Wormhole.