Myriad Cloud 218% Throughput Performance Boost

Liam Burke • May 28, 2026

The Plan

The Broadcast Radio Myriad Cloud team have recently completed work on a wide ranging project to boost performance across the Myriad Cloud platform, and the results are quite impressive.

The performance boost project focused on two approaches to increasing performance:


  1. Upgrading underlying infrastructure.
  2. Software performance optimisations in audio ingest and processing.


The upgrades to the underlying cloud infrastructure are designed to increase performance across the board for all aspects on Myriad Cloud.


For the software optimisation, we focused specifically on the audio ingest, transcoding and processing as a recent customer survey identified these as potential bottlenecks in regular workflows.

The infrastructure upgrade is well underway with customers being seamlessly migrated to the new platform over the past few weeks. This process is on track to be completed by the end of May for all customers, who can expect immediate performance benefits once their station has moved across.


The software optimisations are included in the v6.9 release which recently entered beta testing on Myriad Cloud.


Once v6.9 goes full release, Myriad Cloud customers can upgrade by simply clicking the Update Now button in the Myriad Control Panel. Simply visit the portal, choose Settings > Myriad Cloud > Control Panel, then click on the top banner. 

The full release of v6.9 will also be announced in the notification bar on the Control Panel window.

If you can't wait to experience the significant performance gains included in v6.9, you can opt into the beta version via - Settings > Myriad Cloud > Control Panel > Manage Version.

This setting window allows you to select whether your Station is on the Alpha, Beta or Full Release track or to set a specific release version to use.

Please note that changing this option will result in your Station restarting with the selected version.

The Results

Audio Processing Performance Test Summary

Overview

A series of benchmark tests were carried out using a 55-minute audio file in WAV, MP3 and OPUS formats to measure upload and processing performance under three different environments:

  1. Current production platform (control)
  2. New host nodes with uprated CPUs and newer generation processors
  3. New host nodes + new Alpha software containing a range of optimisation improvements

Each test was repeated multiple times to ensure consistent and representative results.


Key Findings: Significant Processing Time Reductions Across All Formats

The combination of the new infrastructure and Alpha optimisation work delivered substantial improvements across every audio format tested.


End-to-End Upload + Processing Improvements

Compared to the current production platform:

  • WAV processing time reduced from 5.24 mins to 1.70 mins~68% reduction in processing time
  • ~214% increase in throughput performance
  • MP3 processing time reduced from 5.05 mins to 1.59 mins~69% reduction in processing time
  • ~218% increase in throughput performance
  • OPUS processing time reduced from 3.24 mins to 1.16 mins~64% reduction in processing time
  • ~179% increase in throughput performance


Processing-Only Improvements

When isolating processing performance alone:

  • WAV processing time reduced by ~61%
  • MP3 processing time reduced by ~61%
  • OPUS processing time reduced by ~64%

Equivalent throughput increases were observed across all formats as a result of the reduced processing durations

.

Infrastructure Improvements Alone Also Delivered Major Gains

Even before applying the software optimisations, the upgraded host hardware delivered significant improvements.


New Host Nodes Only

Compared to the current production environment:

  • WAV processing times reduced by ~41%
  • MP3 processing times reduced by ~42%
  • OPUS processing times reduced by ~63%

This demonstrates that both the upgraded infrastructure and the software optimisation work contribute meaningfully to the overall platform improvements.


Overall Conclusion

The testing clearly shows that the upcoming platform upgrades will dramatically reduce audio upload and processing times across the board.

The combination of:

  • newer generation processors
  • increased CPU capacity
  • container host improvements
  • ongoing optimisation work in the software platform

results in consistently faster processing for all tested formats.


In real-world terms, audio workflows that previously took around five minutes to process are now completing in closer to ninety seconds — representing both major reductions in waiting time and substantial increases in processing throughput.


These improvements will help deliver:

  • faster content turnaround
  • reduced waiting times
  • improved responsiveness
  • greater scalability under load
  • a smoother experience across the platform


Rollout of these improvements will continue over the coming weeks.

By Liam Burke May 12, 2026
Cloud Playout Phase 1 – Winding Down We initially launched Myriad Cloud Playout, now referred to as Phase 1, in the Autumn of 2020 to provide a solution for stations launching in the throes of a worldwide pandemic that rendered a more traditional approach to launching a radio station impractical. At the time we outlined a multi-phased approach to developing the technology in a way that would provide an immediate solution whist paving the way for wider adoption and deployment at scale. Phase 1 (Cloud Playout)– Desktop playout running on hardware hosted at Broadcast Radio HQ. Initially this involved Myriad Playout running on physical or virtual hardware with full remote access via RealVNC and voice tracking & live control via Myriad Anywhere. All other function (Myriad Schedule etc) was done via remote access. Phase 2 (Myriad Cloud Dedicated) – Desktop playout running on datacentre based VM’s offering higher levels of power and connectivity resilience. This was coupled with an extension of Myriad Anywhere to provide true web-based functionality for all major elements of Myriad including Schedule, Admin, User Management etc. Direct remote access is still included via RealVNC to allow for administration of 3rd party applications, Myriad Splits and BR Encoder. Phase 3 (Myriad Cloud Native) – Complete cloud solution running natively on MS Azure without the need for Windows 10/11 host VM. Control over all functionalities including encoding, audio processing and all Myriad functions provided via web interface. Includes native integration with streaming and web players etc. As there is no host Windows PC/VM, there is no direct remote access and no provision to run 3rd party applications. As part of out ongoing commitment to provide the best technical and cost-effective solutions for our customers, we will be deprecating Phase 1 services over the coming months with the option for customers to choose whether to switch to Myriad Cloud Dedicated or Myriad Cloud Native. Which should you pick? We have already identified which Phase 1 customers will likely need to switch Myriad Cloud Dedicated and which have the option to switch to Myriad Cloud Native instead, although the ultimate choice will be with you the customer. Broadly speaking the main factors to consider are: You should consider moving to Myriad Cloud Dedicated if: You are using Myriad Split Playout If you are using specialist 3rd party applications (audio processor, encoder, logging etc) If you are using Myriad Logging on the same PC/VM You want to retain direct remote access for other reasons You should consider moving to Myriad Cloud Native if: You want to avoid issues caused by Windows Updates or hardware driver issues. You want to be able to manage all aspects of your station (including encoding, streaming, archive etc) from a single web portal. Want to be able to add and remove stations and share content between stations managed via your portal. Get seamless integration with web player and optional website CMS / mobile apps. Want to benefit from the reliability and scalability of MS Azure. There are benefits to both platforms and we fully understand that whilst we can make a recommendation, it is down to the customers choice which is the best route for them. In either case, we will handle the migration for you so that all your content is replicated to the new platform and the transition is as seamless as possible. Phase 1 customers will receive emails in the coming days outlining the options and inviting them to contact us for more information and to confirm their decision. Phase 1 accounts for a tiny percentage of our overall Myriad Cloud (dedicated and native) customers so the vast majority of Myriad Cloud users will not be affected. If you have not received an email in the next ten days then you are already on Phase 2 or Phase 3 and the ramp down of Phase 3 will not impact you at all. As ever, if you have any questions, please contact the Broadcast Radio team for more information.
Media player interface showing a list of tracks with
By Billy Billany March 17, 2026
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