I've recently converted one of my audio CDs to Monkey's audio using insane preset and under Linux I have around 20% CPU usage while playing them in XMMS (I've compiled monkey's library using -march=k8 -O3 GCC flags). My CPU is Athlon 64 3000 and I have 1GB of PC3200 RAM.
Is that normal to have such a high CPU usage for such lossless audio content?
Yes, Insane is very CPU demanding. Extra High is somewhat CPU friendlier and as far as I can tell, the compression ratio isn't much worse than Insane.
Yes its 'normal' for insane - that is why its called that. My Piii550 can't even play it.
So far, monkey's insane preset produces the least size files but with too high costs ;-) I would like to give OptimFrog a try but it's still not open sourced.
Personally I use "High", although even "Very High" is moderate at CPU usage. But there's a delay when seeking VH files in fb2k and the difference in size to H is neglectable for me.
Older versions of Monkey's Audio give me this seeking delay even at "High". So converting 3.97 high to 3.99 high has the same effect for me like converting 3.99 very high to 3.99 high (when it comes to the seeking delay).
So updating your ape files to the newest versions may improve performance, too.
If CPU usage remains a problem for you, then you should give other lossless codecs a try, FLAC or WavPack for instance.
I've recently converted one of my audio CDs to Monkey's audio using insane preset and under Linux I have around 20% CPU usage while playing them in XMMS (I've compiled monkey's library using -march=k8 -O3 GCC flags). My CPU is Athlon 64 3000 and I have 1GB of PC3200 RAM.
Is that normal to have such a high CPU usage for such lossless audio content?
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i'd personally suggest you choose for VH.. i have yet to find a cd that gains more than 200~300kB per 25MB from Insane vs. VH..
the VH cpu usage on my 2800+ is 2~3% compared to your 20% for insane, and i don't get any seek/init delays with it, so neither should you.. the only format i'm aware of with higher compression is OFR, but it's damn cpu intensive, and currently not worth the tradeoff in speed imo.. you'd have worse problems than with MAC insane with it, anyway
Boombaard, Is it possible to have gapless playback with VH mode ? , because it isn't on my system and Guruboolez also mentioned something similar. I'd hate to see someone encode many albums to find they are not gapless.
OFR in normal and high mode is perfectly usable on my old PIII550 cpu, BTW.
OFR in normal and high mode is perfectly usable on my old PIII550 cpu, BTW.
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WavPack would also be worth looking into. Definitely gapless, and very low CPU useage. Plays great on my old PII 350MHz. It also compresses a bit better than FLAC, although a small amout less than monkey's audio. Should even be a XMMS plugin for playback.
[a href="http://www.wavpack.com/]http://www.wavpack.com/[/url]
I compress all of my music using High mode with the -x option for that extra bit. Highly recommended, especially if opensource is a big deal. Then again, MAC isn't. If that doesn't cut it there is always FLAC.
Correct me if I am wrong here, and I may very well be, but aren't all lossless codecs by their very nature gapless?
Monkey's Audio VH & E levels don't play gapless in fb2k even for CDImages. Maybe it's a fb2k flaw that it doesn't cache ahead next track, but Very High and Extreme CPU usage is definitely a Monkey's Audio issue.
(Really I wanted to say "use WavPack" )
It has been said 1 Million times: all lossless formats are gapless.
Monkey's Audio VH & E levels don't play gapless in fb2k even for CDImages. Maybe it's a fb2k flaw that it doesn't cache ahead next track, but Very High and Extreme CPU usage is definitely a Monkey's Audio issue.
(Really I wanted to say "use WavPack" )
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Only insane won't play gapless on my Fb2k. Extra high plays gapless just fine.
Please stop the WavPack zealotry, this is not the first time you have done this