Optimal settings for running one foreground program

[bpeterson1123]

I am using Process Lasso on a laptop that is used exclusively for music (live performance), where the laptop is rendering sampled and modeled instrument sounds then passing it through USB to an external audio interface. So I basically use the laptop as a dedicated, real time, single-purpose device, running one and only one foreground application. To minimize audio latency and avoid "glitching", I want to give this program the highest possible priority and resource allocation at the expense of all other background processes, except system services of course. What recommendations for Process Lasso settings in general and specific to the music application?  For example, should I enable or disable ProBalance, since I'm not running multiple applications concurrently? Enable or disable Performance Mode (I am using the Bitsum Highest Performance power plan)? I assume that I set CPU affinity and I/O priority at their highest values for the music app? If anyone has a template for optimizing a single application, I would be eternally grateful!

[edkiefer]

I am using Process Lasso on a laptop that is used exclusively for music (live performance), where the laptop is rendering sampled and modeled instrument sounds then passing it through USB to an external audio interface. So I basically use the laptop as a dedicated, real time, single-purpose device, running one and only one foreground application. To minimize audio latency and avoid "glitching", I want to give this program the highest possible priority and resource allocation at the expense of all other background processes, except system services of course. What recommendations for Process Lasso settings in general and specific to the music application?  For example, should I enable or disable ProBalance, since I'm not running multiple applications concurrently? Enable or disable Performance Mode (I am using the Bitsum Highest Performance power plan)? I assume that I set CPU affinity and I/O priority at their highest values for the music app? If anyone has a template for optimizing a single application, I would be eternally grateful!

Hi.

The very first thing I would do and test for any issues before going into manual tweaking.
Run Process Lasso everything at defaults, that means Probalance on and I would set your one foreground process to performance mode (right-click on the process and select performance mode).

That "should" work well and stop any background process from disturbing your music process app.

If that doesn't help enough, then I would slowly raise its CPU priority to a higher level.

See how that works.

PS: you mention your using USB, if you do have issues after defaults you might want to run the program LatencyMon to see how your system passes its recommendations.
Note you run it at the desktop, nothing running, don't test with a load.

Our FAQ can answer a lot of questions too.
https://bitsum.com/pl-faq/

[bpeterson1123]

Thank you, edkiefer!! I will indeed do as you suggest and reset all configuration to defaults and enable performance mode on my VST host application. I will report back with the results.

[bpeterson1123]

Well, I played a gig on Friday night using the default settings with my music application (Gig Performer) in Performance Mode. I had one episode of audio glitching during the first set and quickly changed the process and I/O priorities to "High" and enabled forced mode. Didn't have a problem after that, so I will stick with these settings for a while and see how it goes.

I am wondering if I should disable hyperthreading for this program? Any observations on how this might affect processing for real-time audio applications, good or bad?

[Jeremy Collake]

There is no perfect answer as to whether HT/SMT should be disabled for a process. Some people prefer to disable it for more consistent performance. However, the flip side is that less computational threads will be available. You'll have to experiment and decide which you prefer. Most likely, it won't matter either way for your use.