more stable version of OSX + DP for on location recording

fafalio · Post by **fafalio** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:05 am

dear friends,
i have to make on location classical recording and i need a system truly STABLE for this porpuse.
i have a macbook pro.
which is the better version of OSX and the better version of DP5 to have a very stable system in order not to have problem in recording?
best regards,
Alessandro.

Eleventh Hour Sound · Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:40 am

Ciao Alessandro!

I really like OSX 10.5.3. with DP 5.13.

There's a lot of other factors that can help toward stability. If you're only recording a couple tracks, it shouldn't be a big deal. If you're recording a lot of tracks for a long period of time things get more crucial.

I'd put at least 3Gigs of ram in, make sure your drives are defragmented, with enough room, and set your buffer at like 1024. What are you using for hard drives and an interface? Having at least one separate drive for your audio to go onto will help.

It would be nice if the interface and the hard drives were on their own separate firewire bus.

I would test it at home first.

One thing that can help with OSX 10.X is to turn off spotlight, some say to turn off WiFi. You could check the sticky at the top "Do's and Don'ts for a crash free DP"

It's probably better not to run Doom in the background. : )

fafalio · Post by **fafalio** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:38 am

thanks you very much!
i use mac book pro 3 giga of ram with hard disk internal 5400 rpm.
for audio i use firewire 800 hard disk external via firewire lacie 7200 rpm.
my sound card is rme fireface 800.

martian · Post by **martian** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:24 pm

wasn't there someone crying about this a month or so ago?

Honestly - I wouldn't use DP!!!

Eleventh Hour Sound · Post by **Eleventh Hour Sound** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:31 pm

? What would you use?

martian wrote:wasn't there someone crying about this a month or so ago?

Honestly - I wouldn't use DP!!!

Eleventh Hour Sound · Post by **Eleventh Hour Sound** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:36 pm

I think DP has got to be as stable as any program out there.

If it is a mission critical, do or die recording, I would have a backup system in place such as a Tascam MX2424 or another DP rig.

I would do this no matter which system I was using.

kassonica · Post by **kassonica** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:02 pm

martian wrote:wasn't there someone crying about this a month or so ago?

Honestly - I wouldn't use DP!!!

I have done quite a few location recordings with DP and never had a problem.

Although It was on 10.3.9 and DP4.61 which was incredibly stable for me.

martian · Post by **martian** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:14 pm

4.61 was terrific and the reason I'm in this mess now!

2 dp rigs sounds like a better idea for those once in a lifetime things... I mean it probably won't go wrong but.....?

I did see a pro multitrack location recorder out there ... someone mentioend on a similiar thread 6 months to a year ago...

but seriously there was a thread on static in the recording for someone doing exactly what you are palnning, apparently the waveforms were drawing and everything -

Actually I have a Zoom H4 and an edirol rc09 -- ( i suppose the zoom is slighlty better... altho the new 4 channel edirol might have improved?

I did use DP 4.61 to record some small orchestra a few years ago - but I ran a DAT machine too..

maybe hire a DA88?

you take chances with all of this really don't u?

duncan · Post by **duncan** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:18 pm

Alesis HD24XR - 24 input hard disk recorder with 2 hard drives, so you can backup data from one to the other after you record - and before you shut it down and move it. The XR version has great convertors, 24 line-ins and outs at +4, but no way to calibrate analog levels going in, meaning you'd need to take care of that with external preamps. Using a HD24 with -10 prosumer gear can be problematic, since, at +4, it will be wanting to see more level at the inputs. (The original ADATS were -10)

The standard HD24 is no slouch - with sound quality better than a stock Motu unit. The XR upgrade (with 96k capability @ 12 tracks) comes in a kit, for around $650 or so. It only takes an hour to swap out the boards, and requires no tools other than a screwdriver and a nut-driver for the in/out jacks.

My HD24 has never crashed or lost data. Now and then, I tape the top 40 countdown off the radio, letting the thing run for 4 hours straight. The nice thing about using the HD24 with motu gear is, you can slave-sync a DP rig to the HD24 via the ADAT sync cable (sample-accurate), and you can transfer 24 tracks into DP via lightpipe in one pass if you have a 2408.

pcm · Post by **pcm** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:26 pm

I do live venue recording with DP fairly regularly. My systems (I have several) NEVER go down. Here are some of the rules I live by:

Get a firewire Express34 card, and run your audio drive off of that. Now your machine will have two independent firewire buses, and that goes a long way toward stability. Especially when you are tracking a live show with a lot of inputs. Your fw800 port IS NOT a second bus, it shares the same bus as the fw400 port. If you use both, the speed on both will drop to fw400 speed, and you will be squeezing twice the data into the firewire bus. For live venue recording, this is particularly dangerous. You may well get away with it, but then again you may not. Don't risk it.

Create a separate account just for location recording, and don't use it for anything else. That will cut down on excess baggage and background processing stuff that could bring your system down.

Always restart the machine at the venue, that will clear it of cashes and/or memory leakage. Log into the recording account ONLY. Turn off Airport.

Make sure your fw drive is in top form. Best to erase it with Apple's Drive Utility, or make sure it has a VERY large amount of free space. Otherwise, the OS will be forced to be searching for nooks and crannies to store your data. That will slow down access and possibly pull the whole game down.

Get a software utility that will allow you to time your drives. SpeedTools / Quickbench is one that comes to mind. You can see right away if your drive has access issues. If your fw400 drive won't read & write at least 30 megs per second, your show is going to be in big trouble. Find out at home before you pack.

A properly functioning fw400 drive will have no problem recording 24 tracks of 24-bit 44.1hz audio for as long as you care to keep DP in record. The key here is PROPERLY. Don't use cheap drives. Buy a Seagate 7200.11 drive, and stick it into a fw case from places like transintl.com. Off the shelf "retail" solutions use garden variety drives. They will probably work, but for mission critical stuff like live venue recording, you want something that is 100%. A drive like that plugged into it's own firewire bus will just coast through the gig.

In DP, make sure work priority is set to LOW.

Avoid touching the machine while the show is running. Play with your mic preamps if you need to, but leave the machine be.

Set up your system the night before, put as many tracks as you plan to use for the show into record, and walk away from it for an hour or two. If it's still running when you come back, you're proably good to go. If it's not, consider yourself lucky that you found out the night before. Find the weak link and fix it.

None of the above will help you if your machine has issues. That's the main reason for the above test. Just because it worked last month doesn't mean it will work tomorrow night. Sometimes even a system update will change the game. TEST IT!

Don't use USB drives or USB interfaces. They are not fast enough or reliable enough for live venue recording.

That's it for my list!

burn em · Post by **burn em** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:08 am

Hi.

I use DP specifically for location recording and have done professionally for years and swear by it. In my experience it is *THE* most stable DAW and platform for this purpose. Period. Especially if you are using Motu interfaces. the only other app i was happy with tracking with was audiodesk in OS9 on an 867mhz powerbook!

I regularly (once or twice a week) get paid to do 32 track and sometimes 40 and 48 track live recordings and have only every had trouble with my system when I threw an M-Audio interface into the mix which i have since gotten rid of. (M-Audio = BAD, MOTU = GOOD)

Stand alone 24 track 3RU racks and the like have cost me more time, money and effort than they are worth. And, they are *NOT* reliable at all!

As other people have mentioned put your interface on the built in FW port on its own and your drive on a fw port on an xpress or PCMCIA card. Do not use the one FW bus for both. if you plan to use more than 1 fw interface, make it the same brand (using the same driver) and don't chain them, use a FW hub.

test! test! TEST! and don't run any other apps at the same time. Can't vouch for Intel macs/Intel osx/ as I'm on G5/PPC/motu and Apogee. I'm very confident With 10.4.11 and 5.13. What more do you need to know?

Eleventh Hour Sound · Post by **Eleventh Hour Sound** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:03 am

You guys showed him!