hi folks! i'm working with my patch and noticing that even when idle the CPU is 30% or so. this is with DSP on of course. otherwise it drops to about 5-6%.

after some sleuthing i found that the culprit appears to be my synth bank and fluidplayer objects, so i'd like to implement a switch~ object to shut off their outputs which are stereo but i don't want to manually control it. i'd more prefer a sort of timed noise gate where it waits something like 3 seconds once the sound has reduced past a nearly silent threshold, and then ramps the signal down and shuts off the DSP.

anyone have some examples of this kind of thing?

additionally, i have experienced a substantial DSP spike of over 100% that unfortunately i cannot reproduce at the moment. i am running Jack with a very small buffer because this is a live performing instrument and i need instant, or near instant response from it.

advice or examples appreciated!

@metaphysician The [switch~] object needs to be in the synth module, but detection of audio level would normally need to be outside so that it continues to function when the dsp is off in the synth....... the 3 second delay, and the fact it is not an effect module, means that is not necessary in this case......
dsp-off.zip
You can use [env~] after the synth to shut it down when the level drops below a threshold...... but then you need to bang a 1 into its [switch~] inlet when you want to start it up again.
If you need to debounce then use [threshold~] instead of [env~] but again, with the 3 second delay that shouldn't be necessary.
David.

thanks very much - will give this a try!

@metaphysician The way I've been doing it for enveloped synths is to send 1 to switch with the note on message, and if the sustain is equal to zero, schedule a 0 to send to switch after the attack+decay times. If sustain is different than zero, with the note off message schedule a 0 to switch after the release time. This assumes you use an ADSR type of envelope, but the concept can be easily adapted I think. logic_switch.pd

I use that method. I've had to add an extra delay in ms to avoid clicks when the dsp switches off in a voice. I adjust while playing until problems stop.

You can do this and still use vline~ in your patch because the output always starts exactly one block after receiving input.