Dp running really slow with Mach Five on imac G5
Moderator: James Steele
Dp running really slow with Mach Five on imac G5
I am runing Dp 4.1 sith Mach 5. i have about 6 MIDI track and 12 audio tracks. my computer is running super slow all of the sudden. does any one have any idea what might be the problem. it had been running fine for a while. i have 1.5 mb or RAM. help!!
Questions:
1. How does your system run without Mach5 loaded?
2. If it runs faster, then try one track of MIDI at a time, during which time you will load the M5 sounds one at a time as the MIDI tracks dictate. Keep an eye on your CPU meter and take note of how the work load builds as you add more samples.
3. You're running 4.1-- and not 4.12? Keep in mind that DP is up to v5.1. I've found 4.61 to be the most reliable in the 4.x series. There may be some important updates since 4.1 to address your problem
4. I've explained this on another thread, but consider that 1.5 Mb RAM is just above the minimum threshold for RAM in a DAW-- you really can't go by the minimum system requirements in the DP manual because it doesn't take into consideration all manner of plugins you might use.
12 mono audio tracks will require 5 Mb per minute. In a 5 minute project, that's 5MB x 5 min x 12 = 300 MB. Factor in the space required by Mach5 and the samples being loaded, plus DP's requirements and the RAM needed for OSX, and that doesn't leave a lot of elbow room for processes to page in and out of virtual memory.
Some important questions:
1. What computer are you using? Powerbook? Tower? Processor speed?
2. On what hard drive and what type of hard drive are you storing your M5 samples?
3. On what hard drive and what type of hard drive are you recording/playing back audio files?
4. How are your hardware buffers and work priorities set?
5. In what sample rate and bit rate are you running your project?
6. What other plugins are you running concurrently?
CPU lag can be caused by a number of things. It's hard to tell.
Sometimes, a simple computer reboot solves the issue, especially since you said it was running fine for a while.
Try Trashing your Preferences and repairing permissions to start, but it's going to take some serious hunting to pinpoint the problem.
1. How does your system run without Mach5 loaded?
2. If it runs faster, then try one track of MIDI at a time, during which time you will load the M5 sounds one at a time as the MIDI tracks dictate. Keep an eye on your CPU meter and take note of how the work load builds as you add more samples.
3. You're running 4.1-- and not 4.12? Keep in mind that DP is up to v5.1. I've found 4.61 to be the most reliable in the 4.x series. There may be some important updates since 4.1 to address your problem
4. I've explained this on another thread, but consider that 1.5 Mb RAM is just above the minimum threshold for RAM in a DAW-- you really can't go by the minimum system requirements in the DP manual because it doesn't take into consideration all manner of plugins you might use.
12 mono audio tracks will require 5 Mb per minute. In a 5 minute project, that's 5MB x 5 min x 12 = 300 MB. Factor in the space required by Mach5 and the samples being loaded, plus DP's requirements and the RAM needed for OSX, and that doesn't leave a lot of elbow room for processes to page in and out of virtual memory.
Some important questions:
1. What computer are you using? Powerbook? Tower? Processor speed?
2. On what hard drive and what type of hard drive are you storing your M5 samples?
3. On what hard drive and what type of hard drive are you recording/playing back audio files?
4. How are your hardware buffers and work priorities set?
5. In what sample rate and bit rate are you running your project?
6. What other plugins are you running concurrently?
CPU lag can be caused by a number of things. It's hard to tell.
Sometimes, a simple computer reboot solves the issue, especially since you said it was running fine for a while.
Try Trashing your Preferences and repairing permissions to start, but it's going to take some serious hunting to pinpoint the problem.
6,1 MacPro, 96GB RAM, macOS Monterey 12.7, macOS 10.14, DP9.52
thanks for the info
thanks for the info. i am using an imac G5 with a 1.8ghz processor. does this seem too weak to you? also. my sequence runs fine when i am playin it in the tracks mode but when i open up the sequence editior it starts taking a long time to play or really do anything. is there any thing i can change in terms of the buffer size?
thanks
D
thanks
D
Derek, the info you gave is very important.
If things are fine in Tracks Overview but are running more slowly in Sequence Editor, try zooming out as far as you can just to see if it runs any smoother. Also, try muting tracks and take note of the performance differences.
No, the 1.8, I think, was the start of the better Duals from there upwards. The 2005 version of the 1.8 was tons better than the 2003 1.6/1.8 series. Consider yours a thing of pride and beauty!
The major problem with most Macs in general has been the lagging video card. Even on my G5 2.5 Dual, the stock graphics card is a snail by comparison to other things out there. Some of the redraws in the SE take their toll big time on the wiper, especially when zoomed in horizontally. Until I swap out the card, I've been employing more frugal work methods such as
-- printing VI's to audio and then using a "sister" project file to mix. If I need to edit a particular VI, I go back, do the edit, print the VI bounce, and then port it back into the "sister" project file for mixing. It opens up loads of resources for effects-- and it elminates the wiper lag.
-- dump unused samples from VI's towards the end of the tracking/sequencing process
-- I print VI tracks and work from those as I go (in the same project), dumping the samples, but saving the custom setups for instant recall.
-- freezing tracks is something I've not had to do, but it is much more temporary and less dramatic than actually printing audio and dumping samples. Thing is, I'm not sure whether M5 frees up resources by simply being muting.
Try setting your buffers to 256 and then 512, and take note of the latency vs the performance. You may also try turning on and turning off "prefill buffers for quick start" to see what works best on your system. Higher latency = better computer performance = lousy MIDI input experience (why is it always a trade-off?) If your just mixing and not doing MIDI input, you could even raise the buffers to 1024 (2048 using Built-In). I've even used both Built-In and my motu card the best of both worlds-- in hardware setup, shift-click to choose both, if you like.
But I suspect that if your doing fine in the Tracks Overview, that the issue has more to do with horizontal zoom in SE.
If things are fine in Tracks Overview but are running more slowly in Sequence Editor, try zooming out as far as you can just to see if it runs any smoother. Also, try muting tracks and take note of the performance differences.
No, the 1.8, I think, was the start of the better Duals from there upwards. The 2005 version of the 1.8 was tons better than the 2003 1.6/1.8 series. Consider yours a thing of pride and beauty!
The major problem with most Macs in general has been the lagging video card. Even on my G5 2.5 Dual, the stock graphics card is a snail by comparison to other things out there. Some of the redraws in the SE take their toll big time on the wiper, especially when zoomed in horizontally. Until I swap out the card, I've been employing more frugal work methods such as
-- printing VI's to audio and then using a "sister" project file to mix. If I need to edit a particular VI, I go back, do the edit, print the VI bounce, and then port it back into the "sister" project file for mixing. It opens up loads of resources for effects-- and it elminates the wiper lag.
-- dump unused samples from VI's towards the end of the tracking/sequencing process
-- I print VI tracks and work from those as I go (in the same project), dumping the samples, but saving the custom setups for instant recall.
-- freezing tracks is something I've not had to do, but it is much more temporary and less dramatic than actually printing audio and dumping samples. Thing is, I'm not sure whether M5 frees up resources by simply being muting.
Try setting your buffers to 256 and then 512, and take note of the latency vs the performance. You may also try turning on and turning off "prefill buffers for quick start" to see what works best on your system. Higher latency = better computer performance = lousy MIDI input experience (why is it always a trade-off?) If your just mixing and not doing MIDI input, you could even raise the buffers to 1024 (2048 using Built-In). I've even used both Built-In and my motu card the best of both worlds-- in hardware setup, shift-click to choose both, if you like.
But I suspect that if your doing fine in the Tracks Overview, that the issue has more to do with horizontal zoom in SE.
6,1 MacPro, 96GB RAM, macOS Monterey 12.7, macOS 10.14, DP9.52