Performance HUD

The Performance HUD is a debugging tool that shows real-time diagnostic information about how Orbit is performing on your system. It's especially useful with large, complex sessions: if something doesn't sound right — glitches, dropouts, or audio that isn't behaving as expected — the HUD can give an indication as to why.

Opening the HUD

• Orbit → Toggle Performance HUD (⇧⌘P) — opens a floating window with real-time performance metrics.

Metrics to watch

Metric	What it means	Healthy range / guidance
CPU Usage	Host CPU usage sample	Low and steady; spikes with render time suggest contention
Sample Rate / Buffer Size	Device clock and buffer length	Buffer 128–512 frames typical; unexpected changes = device switch
Render avg/p95/max (ms)	Engine render time per buffer	Stay well below buffer duration (<25% is comfortable); p95/max near buffer size risk underruns
Load (%)	Render time as % of buffer duration	<50% steady is good; >75% sustained or spiky warrants attention
Underruns	Buffer underrun count	0 and not increasing. A single blip might be benign; rising counts during playback need attention
Faults	Engine fault count	0; investigate any non-zero value
Active Objects	Objects currently contributing	Matches ADM expectation; big jumps without timeline changes suggest ADM/mute/solo issues
Event/Prep/Log Queues	Internal queue depths	Near zero or stable; growth correlates with contention or I/O stalls
Blocks	Total buffers rendered	Reference counter to align timing between runs
Transport	Engine transport time (s)	Should track playback; sanity check HUD sync

When to use

• Investigate glitches: watch underruns and render p95/max.
• Compare routing/mode changes: ensure active object counts and queues stay stable.