Derek Holzer wrote:
Well, without any flags defined by the starting command or the saved settings, then PD would start with two channels (stereo) and adding more with the [adc~] or [dac~] would have no effect.
Ok, so I need to specify on the commandline how many channels I need...
I can tell you for sure that extra channels add extra CPU, due to PD maintaining connections with the audio drivers. I notice this when, for example, I use my Hammefall DSP with -channels 18 instead of -channels 2 or -channels 8 or whatever. Some audio drivers are "greedier" than others, so switching between them can show you a difference in load.
Ok
Of course, you can always test these things yourself ;-)
Sure, 32 channels, pd idle uses 3,3%cpu, 2 channels, pd idle uses 2%. This is on my IBM T41 laptop running jack at 128/3 (latency 8,71 ms).
But I was wondering if it had any impact that would be sporadic, but it seems not. However I'll modify my startup script to start with appropriate number of channels...