Be warned over increased CPU usage jump from GA SE4 to GA5

I’ve been using GA SE4 up until I decided to purchase GA5 yesterday.

The way I use it is by having multiple instances running per project, I was shocked to find out that GA5 uses far more CPU then SE4. I didn’t expect such a big jump.

I’ve provided comparisons, please see attached image.

I loaded 12 empty instrument tracks into an empty project and then made note of the CPU usage. I did this separately for both SE4 & GA5.

I thought CPU use was to be improved with full product versions not to mention latest versions. This isn’t very welcome and somewhat disappointing considering I’ve just spent £153 on GA 5.

Interesting.
I find the full version of GA 4 to be rather CPU hungry so I compared it to GA SE 4 and they seem the same. So from your experiment I would conclude that GA 5 would be more of a CPU hog than GA 4. Considering that and the price I’ll not be upgrading.

GA SE is 16 bit…. GA is 24 bit… just to talk about kit … But GA have more editing features more mixing features more effects etc.… So more heavy…

I see no CPU difference in loading 16 or 24 bit samples here on GA 4. Just more ram.

In another thread on here a poster indicated he loaded the same kit in both GA SE 4 as in GA 5 and noticed a considerable difference in CPU.

Like Home Studio 87 mentioned, I assume it’s because it’s a full version with more features etc that there might be a slight CPU increase but I didn’t expect as much considering I loaded them all empty in there default states. The difference I doubt would be noticeable if you only had one or two instances loaded but it’s when they start to stack where the jump in CPU is more felt.

Maybe it’s just my system so I’d still advise to do your own tests if given the chance with the demo if/when it arrives. I always hope that CPU is brought down with each future release so fingers crossed they can address this going forward.

Apart from the CPU-comparison, which calls for clarification/confirmation either way:

Why would anyone need so many GA tracks, ever, with 4 slots plus extensive routing possibilities available per GA instrument track?

Up until I purchased GA5, I was using SE 4 which could only load one kit per instance. As a sample heavy producer, I found my self loading many instances. And to be fair, although I did the test by loading 12 tracks, I only did that as it highlights the increased CPU use, something that’s harder to notice (ie hidden) when only 2 or 3 are loaded. It’s simply to demonstrate that more CPU is being used ‘under the hood’ wether you notice the bump or not.

As for clarification/confirmation on this, I welcome any other GA5 users to do similar tests on their own systems and post the results here.