Project loading times

gjonny wrote on 2/27/2023, 10:13 PM

NOTE: This is a follow-on from the thread "Quick Loading Projects" started by Wesley-Houser
(https://www.magix.info/us/forum/quick-loading-projects--1320359/) reporting an issue with opening a project file (*.MMM) by double-clicking on it.

@johnebaker wrote:

. . . . The project took about a minute to load after MusicMaker had opened (my files are stored on a NAS, so that may be why the delay . . . from a local (ssd) drive. . . the project appeared to begin loading a few (5?) seconds after MM had started . . .

That could be as from the local drive the time is more realistic, is your NAS box:

On a 1gb/100Mb LAN connection direct to the PC or going through a router?

Has HDD or SSD drives, how many and which RAID configuration, or is it JBOD

Are the drives/NAS box network connection going to sleep after a period of inactivity?
John EB

The NAS, computer, and router all plug into a cheap 1GB-capable Switch. The NAS is a low-end Synology box, with a mirrored pair of 5400 rpm HDDs, always on. The computer is an i5-7500t, 16 GB ram, with ssd drives. MusicMaker is v31.x.x.35.

My original "took about a minute to load" comment was a purely subjective guesstimate. So, I've gone and done some further testing . . .

A) opening a project/file in an app by double-clicking on the file
1.a MusicMaker file (*.MMM) stored on the NAS
- 1000 KB ~ 70 sec
- 90 KB ~ 20 sec
1.b MusicMaker file (*.MMM) stored on the local (ssd) drive
- 1000 KB ~ 20 sec
- 90 KB ~ 17 sec
2.a Music file (*.mp3) stored on the NAS (defaults to opening in VLC Player)
- 125 MB ~ 2 sec
- 7 MB ~ 1 sec
2.b Music file (*.mp3) stored on the local (ssd) drive (defaults to opening in VLC Player)
**Times are too short to be measurable.

B) opening a project/file from within the (already open) app
1.a MusicMaker file (*.MMM) stored on the NAS
(Timing starts when the file has been selected and the "Open" button is clicked, ie: it ignores time to walk through the menu)
- 1000 KB ~ 8 sec
- 90 KB ~ 4
1.b MusicMaker file (*.MMM) stored on the local (ssd) drive
(timing as in 1.a above)
- 1000 KB ~ 6 sec
- 90 KB ~ 4 sec
2.a/b Opening times for *.mp3 files in VLC are negligible, so I didn't bother.
You will spend much more time walking through the menu, etc than in actually opening the file.

Timings were taken by eyeballing the clock while clicking files, and watching MusicMaker open, so are very approximate.

I note the sizeable difference in timings when opening the 1000 KB file by double-clicking, depending where it's stored (70 sec NAS vs 20 sec local). I speculate some of this difference is because MusicMaker itself needs some settling (for want of a better word) time when first opened. You won't see that when opening the file from within MusicMaker, since MusicMaker is already open.

This is the first time I've opened a MusicMaker project by double-clicking on the file. Normally, I would open a project from within MusicMaker, so I'm not really concerned about delays.

John (gjonny)

Comments

browj2 wrote on 2/28/2023, 6:03 AM

@gjonny

Hi,

Yesterday, I tried double-clicking a small project on my laptop. It took more than a minute to load Music Maker and the project. Just loading Music Maker took longer than usual. One problem is that the program has to log in when you are connected to the internet. Yesterday everything connected to the internet seemed very slow. Even my hot desktop was having problems. Some users on the Vegas forum also noticed this.

This morning, I started up Music Maker normally on my laptop and it was very fast, then I load the project from the Welcome screen and it was very fast.

I just tried loading the same project by double-clicking on it from Windows Explorer. It took about 35s to load Music Maker and another 12-15 seconds to get the project. During this last period, the Arranger has no objects on it and one could think that the project didn't or wouldn't load, it did.

I restarted MM alone and used my stopwatch. It took 36s to load MM and get logged in, about a second or two to react to clicking on the project and it was quickly loaded giving a total load time of 42s.

I restarted by double-clicking on the project - 35s to load Music Maker straight to the Arranger and logged in, another 20s before the project was loaded for a total of 55s.

I have a lot of Soundpools so it takes about 10s just to initialise them.

I will test on my desktop later.

For now, it seems that the quickest way is to load MM first, then the project.

John CB

browj2 wrote on 2/28/2023, 8:03 AM

@gjonny

Hi,

Futher to the above, I tested this on my desktop and starting by double-clicking on the project took 23s to load Music Maker to the Arranger, and the project was finally loaded at 70s.

Starting Music Maker normally took 19s and quickly selecting the project from the list on the Welcome screen immediately opened the project on the Arranger - total time 22s.

John CB

johnebaker wrote on 2/28/2023, 1:58 PM

@gjonny

For comparison to @browj2 results

PC - project on second HDD as are most of the other folders eg AudioTemp, Soundpools on SSD drive:

double-clicking on the project took 27s to load Music Maker to the Arranger, and the project was fully loaded at 39 secs ie 12 secs for project only.
MMM open, project only took 5 secs to load fully.

Laptop - all on single SSD drive.

double-clicking on the project took 10 s to load Music Maker to the Arranger, and the project was fully loaded at 15 secs ie 5 secs for project only
MMM open, project only took 5 secs to load fully.
Laptop pulling project from PC over 5GHz wifi network as above.

I did try setting my laptop up for pulling the Soundpools over the network ie mimic a NAS box with Soundpools installed on it - MMM does not display Soundpools even after rescan !

Specs in signature.

HTH

John EB

gjonny wrote on 2/28/2023, 9:08 PM

@browj2 @johnebaker

The biggest take-away I get from this is: results are variable, depending on each user's system and setup. But overall, it seems loading a project from within MusicMaker (rather than double-clicking on the file) yields a faster response.

@johnebaker
>> I did try setting my laptop up for pulling the Soundpools over the network
Not sure if you thought I keep Soundpools on the NAS? I don't -- they're on the local drive. It's just the project files that are stored on the NAS. But it's an interesting idea, I'll have try that.

John (gjonny)

gjonny wrote on 3/6/2023, 3:42 PM

@johnebaker

A follow-up re Soundpools stored on the NAS . . . it worked here, using a mapped drive. Maybe you tried it a different way? I haven't been concerned about the loss of Soundpools, since I know I can re-download if needed (all my Soundpools/Loops have been purchased through the in-app Store). I think that's why I never considered storing them on the NAS.

John (gjonny)

johnebaker wrote on 3/6/2023, 4:33 PM

@gjonny

. . . . Maybe you tried it a different way? . . .

I have fixed that issue - MMM did not like to method I used to connect to the Soundpools on the PC - a mapped drive fixed this and then I tested - same conditions as previously

Laptop via wifi

Music Maker to start screen 40s
Music Maker running, project took 8s to load
Double click project - 39s to MMM ready, 52s to project loaded and ready

Laptop via cable - 1Gbps connections for both laptop and PC to router

Music Maker to start screen 23s
Music Maker running, project took 8s to load
Double click project to MMM ready, 30 secs, 38s to project loaded and ready.

As you can see respectable times.

One comment you made got me suspect the network chain may be performance limited :

. . . . a cheap 1GB-capable Switch . . . .

I would suspect this is not delivering anywhere near 1Gbps - note the small b not B - switch speeds are measured in bits per sec not Bytes per second, additionally if the network cables are of unknown specification, unmarked or economy cables they may Cat 4 cables which are good for up to 100Mbps.

Good quality Cat 5e cables are the minimum for a 1 Gbps connection.

Cat 6 and higher are not practical as these cables are shielded, thicker and much stiffer to bend around sharp radii.

Have you measured file transfer speeds across the network - Task Managers Performance charts will show you the data rates if you transfer a large file to and from the NAS box.

HTH

John EB

gjonny wrote on 3/8/2023, 4:43 PM

Hi @johnebaker,
>> switch speeds are measured in bits per sec not Bytes per second
Yes, I should have said "Gigabit" switch. In a process of elimination, I recently changed over to Cat6 cables, with no improvement, which tends to point the finger towards the Switch.

>> Cat 6 and higher are not practical
In terms of texture and stiffness, my Cat6 aren't any different from my older 5/5e cables. It appears though, that Cat6a have a different physical spec -- maybe that's what you were referring to?

>> Have you measured file transfer speeds across the network
Only by watching the numbers in the "Copy" progress window. I'll have a look at Task Manager.

Speaking of transfer speeds. . .
In my timing test with loading projects, I used a larger and a smaller file. Larger files were noticeably slower (when double-clicking a file to start the loading process). But you mention only one test time (per test), and no file size. Do you have any further info?

John (gjonny)