Ram Question

[jrdmcdnld]

I've been watching the activity monitor (system memory) while recording 16 tracks at 24bit/48k. When everything first starts up, inactive memory is at 40 MB, and Free is at 650 MB. After a couple of minutes of recording, Free is depleted to almost nothing (11 MB) and inactive is up over 500 MB. I've recorded with software other than DP and had glitchiness. I think this is the cause. Why would the computer make so much ram inactive and run my software on the edge of usability?

Any Ram experts out there, I would appreciate your help.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Might be your buffer settings. For one, a GB of RAM sounds like a lot, but it is pretty much on the edge of what you need. 16 tracks (stereo? mono?) will puch the system a bit, especially on an older machine. First thing you want to do is get more RAM. As much as you can afford up to about 4GB.

Might consider your plug-ins as well. These take up RAM to process (pre-process) as do fades and other track contents (dense data in general will use RAM fairly fast. As the sequence progresses, and more demands for pre-processing become needed, RAM gets consumed.

Are you running a G3? G4? G5? What OS? What hardware? VI's? Widgets? These are ALL factors in RAM consumption. On my G5,it runs fairly smooth on 2.5 GB of RAM but that will go to 4GB later this week. At that point, many applications stop looking for RAM, so I don't think anyhting over 4GB is going to help much until the apps are updated to take advantage of it.

[jrdmcdnld]

Thanks, MIDI.

I'm using a MacMiniG4 1.33/1gig, 828/AI3 for remote work. I use Mackie tracktion when I want to write Aiff or Wav files. This is the software that gives me problems. DP 4.6never glitches on me. Unfortunately my ram is maxed at 1gig. I have OSX optimized for audio as far as I can tell.

What could be causing all that ram to be going inactive? Thermal issues?

I have a PNY 1 gig ram module. Right on the box, it says "compatible with mac mini and G5".

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I use Mackie tracktion when I want to write Aiff or Wav files. This is the software that gives me problems. DP 4.6never glitches on me.

Then I doubt you can get much help in this forum... sorry.

[jrdmcdnld]

oy. Is the "General Macintosh" Forum not as general as I thought it was?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

oy. Is the "General Macintosh" Forum not as general as I thought it was?

You might get an answer, maybe not. I believe Gen'l Mac relates primarily to how it relates to MOTU stuff. I don't mean to be elitest about it, just letting you know you are in Unicornland and the people who come here tend to do so regarding their MOTU stuff. Surely they know more about matters you discussed, but the chances of finding a Mackie user who stumbles on your post, uses your same setup, and knows enough to help, will be slim at best.

Surely there must be a Mackie forum and tech support team?

[jrdmcdnld]

Even when I'm using the mackie software, I'm still sampling with motu hardware....

Anyway back to the subject. I believe I've found my own answer if anyone still cares

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107918

Straight from apple, this is a good explanation of how OSX uses Ram. The unused ram is simply cached' ram and can be accessed for new data when needed. It is not a bad thing that the amount of free ram is low - according to this article.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Even when I'm using the mackie software, I'm still sampling with motu hardware....

Well you can see how many responses you got. But you did find your answer. Thanks for posting it for others to benefit from in the future. You might have gotten more responses by posting in the hardware section (for future reference).

[jrdmcdnld]

You might have gotten more responses by posting in the hardware section

You're right, I probably would have had more luck finding users with software other than DP over there. My mistake!