SampleTank 4 performance and Stability - C7 Grand Pianos

[richmn]

I love those new C7 Grand Pianos - but am getting dreaded clicks and random crashes when using them. My favorite is C7 Grand Delicate. Does anyone have a similar experience or suggestions for this large sampled instrument? SampleTank 3 runs just fine. I am generally stable using ST3 sounds in SampleTank 4 also.
*Yes, I put in a support ticket.

Things I've tried:
-Change from 48K to 44.1K Sample Rate
-Increase buffers to 1024
-Disable Network adapters
-Only run Sampletank 4 in Standalone, close other programs
-Disable AV

Observations from Task Manager:
ST4 with "C7 Grand Delicate" hits my CPU harder when playing (35-45%). This is my favorite sound, but it introduce crashes and crackles. Am I stuck with 'eco mode' sounds?
ST4 hits my GPU harder - 15% is becomes 35-45%ish...this seems high for a music app- is there any way to reduce the GPU load?

My primary computer is a laptop for my mobile setup that handles other DAW/Instruments with ease.

i5 2.7Ghz
8GB RAM
Program and library installed on local SSD

[Peter_IK]

The only thing I can think of to suggest in the mean time is trying to turn off some of the effects to see if that helps?

[richmn]

Thanks Peter! >> Turning off a few of the effects made a difference! I've been playing that C7 Grand Delicate for 5-10 minutes without crash/crackle.

Another observation (since I'm sitting here watching Task Manager as I try things) - when I scale the app full screen my GPU's '3D' percentage sticks at ~80%. 'Seems like there might be some opportunity to optimize there. Between the effects toggles and scaling size I have something to work with now. I appreciate the suggestion.

[richmn]

While toggling effects helped, I just made a couple more changes that allowed me to turn those effects back on for the C7 Pianos:
-Disabled Background Apps in Windows 10 (so there's something I didn't know about)
-Changed processor scheduling to Background Services

While I'm not ready to say I'm clear of crashing, and I haven't tried much layering of multiple sounds, the tips in this Windows 10 Audio Optimization article gave me some new ideas and I seem to be able to enjoy that C7 Grand Delicate now:

https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/ ... Windows-10

[DarkStar]

That's a good article. Thank you for the link. "If in doubt, disable it"

[Peter_IK]

I would also recommend Sweetwater's article on Windows optimization for audio processing:

https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/ar ... indows-10/