Heads-up: new Airwindows plugin builds with improved CPU performance

elcalen · 03-14-2022, 07:46 AM

This is something you might have missed if you don't regularly follow the weekly Airwindows updates. I was checking up on some of his recent plugins, and happened to hear Chris mention in a recent video that he's going to be recompiling all plugins with some new optimizations that should significantly improve CPU performance. (Some stuff that'll affect all platforms, but also apparently some Linux-specific fixes.) It's not like these plugins were massive CPU hogs even before, but hey, when working on a big project, every little bit helps...

My understanding is that that work was completed about a week ago (I think he mentioned it in the video for 'Dirt'). So if you're using these plugins, it might be a good idea to grab the bundle zip now and update all of them, if you haven't done so very recently!

vitalker · 03-14-2022, 08:44 AM

You can already download all plugins in one bundle?

elcalen · 03-14-2022, 08:55 AM

My understanding, based on the videos I saw, is that yes, all the Linux and Windows versions of the plugins in the zip bundles from the website should be updated. (The signed Mac versions weren't yet updated a week ago, I don't know of their current situation.) I downloaded the LinuxVST zip today and it does indeed look like the CPU use of a few plugins I tried is smaller than what I remembered it being when I was comparing them to other plugins fairly recently.

(That's purely based on vague memory, though, not hard data...)

vitalker · 03-14-2022, 09:13 AM

I remember when Chris was making his plugins free one-by-one, you had to open every post on his site to get single plugin.

elcalen · 03-14-2022, 10:58 AM

Oh yeah, there's definitely been an all plugins zip for as long as I've been using these plugins...

Though for a long time it was just one zip with all the plugin versions... These days there's individual zips for different platforms, which is much more handy.

In any case, there's lots of cool stuff in the Airwindows line, and Chris making them more CPU efficient only makes them more appealing to me.

MonkeyBars · 09-28-2022, 08:41 AM

I don't know if it was this rebuild in March or a later one, but Mac ARM performance was dismal (+10x CPU usage in M1 compared to x86) but at some point this year Chris fixed that issue and now they work fine in M1

/AND/ · 09-28-2022, 11:43 AM

That's great to know, thanks for the update!

03-14-2022, 07:46 AM	#1
elcalen Human being with feelings Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: Finland Posts: 874	Heads-up: new Airwindows plugin builds with improved CPU performance This is something you might have missed if you don't regularly follow the weekly Airwindows updates. I was checking up on some of his recent plugins, and happened to hear Chris mention in a recent video that he's going to be recompiling all plugins with some new optimizations that should significantly improve CPU performance. (Some stuff that'll affect all platforms, but also apparently some Linux-specific fixes.) It's not like these plugins were massive CPU hogs even before, but hey, when working on a big project, every little bit helps... My understanding is that that work was completed about a week ago (I think he mentioned it in the video for 'Dirt'). So if you're using these plugins, it might be a good idea to grab the bundle zip now and update all of them, if you haven't done so very recently!

03-14-2022, 08:44 AM	#2
vitalker Human being with feelings Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 13,336	You can already download all plugins in one bundle? __________________ Donate►Chroma - coloring tool►SoundCloud►All the REAPER names

03-14-2022, 09:13 AM	#4
vitalker Human being with feelings Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 13,336	I remember when Chris was making his plugins free one-by-one, you had to open every post on his site to get single plugin. __________________ Donate►Chroma - coloring tool►SoundCloud►All the REAPER names

09-28-2022, 08:41 AM	#6
MonkeyBars Human being with feelings Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Hollyweird Posts: 2,637	I don't know if it was this rebuild in March or a later one, but Mac ARM performance was dismal (+10x CPU usage in M1 compared to x86) but at some point this year Chris fixed that issue and now they work fine in M1 __________________ My ReaScripts: Superglue – Buss Driver – Fold Source – Various Utilities – My ReaPack repo URL

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03-14-2022, 08:55 AM	#3
elcalen Human being with feelings Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: Finland Posts: 874	My understanding, based on the videos I saw, is that yes, all the Linux and Windows versions of the plugins in the zip bundles from the website should be updated. (The signed Mac versions weren't yet updated a week ago, I don't know of their current situation.) I downloaded the LinuxVST zip today and it does indeed look like the CPU use of a few plugins I tried is smaller than what I remembered it being when I was comparing them to other plugins fairly recently. (That's purely based on vague memory, though, not hard data...)

03-14-2022, 10:58 AM	#5
elcalen Human being with feelings Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: Finland Posts: 874	Oh yeah, there's definitely been an all plugins zip for as long as I've been using these plugins... Though for a long time it was just one zip with all the plugin versions... These days there's individual zips for different platforms, which is much more handy. In any case, there's lots of cool stuff in the Airwindows line, and Chris making them more CPU efficient only makes them more appealing to me.

09-28-2022, 11:43 AM	#7
/AND/ Human being with feelings Join Date: Aug 2022 Posts: 731	That's great to know, thanks for the update!