DP4 less stable than DP3?

[JackMaverik]

Heya, I posted earlier about recently upgrading to DP4 and OSX (Panther) and trying to get everything working.

After finding out that Panther doesn't like the drivers that come with the 2408, and having to do that 6 meg download on dial up. I got the system working, and have been recording and playing back alright.

But only okay. Not as well on DP3. See, sometimes when I go to split a track (Command + Y) the program unexpectantly quits. And by "sometimes", I mean, more often than not.

I have a Dual 1.25ghz G4, with 1gig of RAM, and at least once a day, I'll get a "Playback has overloaded processor" and I crash. An error I've never seen in DP3, and I had Waves Gold in DP3, so I was running more memory hog plug-ins.

Since I'm waiting for the cash to get Waves Gold, and DP4 seems so unstable, I should just go back to OS9 and DP3. I really want find a way around all these problems. Is it a problem with Panther? Should I go back to like Jaguar or something? Is it a problem with DP4? Should I really make the leap to 4.52? Should I just say screw it and go back to DP3?

I have my buffer up at 1024, and the multiplier at 4. It's more stable, but not stable enough.

Help!

[PJ]

DP's achilles heel seems to be that it works very different way with different setups. DP 4.52 is the most stable DP I have ever used (2nd was 3.1x), but reading these posts it seems to be also unstable.
For me the 10.3.7 and 4.52 has been the best configuration. So I would definitely try 4.52.

Does your DP crash if you split tracks while using Mac's internal audio? If it doesn't then the problem could be 2408's drivers..
Waves Gold works fine with DP4, but you should read this: http://www.osxaudio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17800

[waterstrum]

I agree with PJ.

DP seems very sensitive to the individual setup.

That being said, 4.52 with 10.3.8 is the most stable version of any DAW I've ever had.
I still hit save after every move, but I've gone weeks without a crash.
I didn't know this was possible.

Kudos to MOTU

[Rob Castiglione]

I also have had a very stable experience with DP 4.52 and latest Mac OS. In fact I have not had a single crash at all. But my sympathies and hope you work it out.

Rob C

[sdfalk]

It has been fine for me.
I've tried plugin combinations with DP 4.52 and 10.38
I wouldn't have dared try under System 9.
Pluggo plugins for example.
Always a disaster for me under 9.
Not anymore.
Obviously there are problems though.
This many people can't be having issues with DP under X
without something being wrong.

[UprightJoe]

3.1 under OS 9 was rock solid for me. My problems began with 4.0 and were magnified significantly when I added a UAD-1 card. I crashed like mad when I first made the switch to OS X.

Now that DP and the UAD software have gone through a ton of updates, I'm almost back to the stability I enjoyed in 3.1. I would say I average one crash per 5 hours of work and only when mixing. Usually it seems to happen when adding or removing a plug-in. I save very frequently but I still occasionally lose some mixing work.

Dual 1GHz G4 768MB RAM, 896HD, UAD-1

[demonsp]

I too suffer from "playbuffer" issues.
4.52 is a great version but there seem to be issues handling playback.
I can't get a basic track count with my system.
=(

I say move to 4.52 definitely BUT write to MOTU tech for advice.

[editdroid]

I find 4.52 very stable now that it has "settled down".. that is we seem to have tuned it a bit.. It's been more of an art than a science as I'm not totally sure what we did that cured the initial instability.

But it does seem to need to be set up "just right" to function well.

I upped the memory from 1 to 2 gigs and I get the impression that helped... sorry this is not too scientific..

Right now all is well running on a dual 1.8 g5, waves gold v5, (had to upgrade from 4 as the plugs kept losing settings) 2408 MK1 and 1224 interface.

jason

<small>[ April 12, 2005, 06:45 AM: Message edited by: editdroid ]</small>

[markwayne]

Well, I'll be the freak here. I purchased DP 4.5 and have been using it for new projects without any increase in stability problems than SVPro 4.51 had under os 9.2. (SVPro under os 8.6 is a different story. That remains my benchmark for a how a daw should perform.) I asked MOTU for a copy of 3.11, so that I could more easily archive 7 years worth of SVPro projects into DP, which they graciously provided. However, I have been unable to get dp 3.11 to even run. It runs okay MIDI-only or using sound manager. I have gone back to simply exporting standard MIDI files, rebooting into osx and reimporting said files and audio into DP 4.52. What a pain!

[JackMaverik]

Thanks for all the replys everyone.

At least I know I'm not alone in my sadness.

I swear, it makes me feel like a complete and utter retard everytime I post in here about this stuff. I feel like I'm a pretty knowledgable guy, who can figure stuff out on his own pretty well, but this stuff has me just going nuts.

I'm trying a fresh install on a new user account as soon as possible. We'll see how that goes. I have a Tom Petty shirt that says "Sell your computer, buy a guitar" and I'm half tempted to do just that.

But... that's just frustration talking.

You know what has been fun? I have the Alesis ADAT HD24 running through a 2408mk3, and being able to get 24 channels of 24 bit simultaneous digital recording has been a blast. While the most I really ever find myself using is 14-16 channels for drums and bass, it's been fun to have.

I've really enjoyed using the Optical ins and outs of the 2408 with the HD24. I've no problems, and DP has been pretty reliable chasing the ADAT which is good.

Now once I get a spare 700 dollars, I'll upgrade the HD24 to do 96khz recording and we're good to go.

I just want a stable DAW. Please?

[mattymac1000]

I truly believe that a common dream we all share is to have a software company come out with a "major" upgrade in their product that doesn't have one single new feature except streamlining the previous version to near-flawless performance on a computer.

It would be a very ballsy move on the part of such a company, but I think the response would be huge among its loyal base of users and potential new users. I would imagine well received reviews touting a major upgrade in stability actually would attract attention. I'll just keep dreaming though . . .

-Matthew

<small>[ April 13, 2005, 09:06 AM: Message edited by: mattymac1000 ]</small>