Why are There Frequent Crashes in Digital Performer 6.0.2

[lluvaas]

Hello,

I recently purchased this version of DP from version 2.7 which never crashed. I also purchased an I Mac, 3 gigahertz, 4 megs of ram, 1 terabyte hard drive with two external drives. I had the buffer size set to 1024 and just lowered it to 512 to see if that makes any difference. I also had tried to load DP from the Applications Folder rather than the dock to see if that made the application more stable, but it didn't. I just removed DP from the dock.

It seems to crash at different times. This time I was recording using Modulo Effect and it crashed.

Does anyone know why this is happening? I've read some, and I've sent an email to DP support, but haven't heard back yet. It's very disconcerting and I'm worried about this version of DP.

Please help!

P.S. Forgot to mention that my OS is Leopard, 10.5

[waxman]

I was solid with 10.5.6 and DP 6.02

then after updating to 10.5.7 I have had many crashes. It seems to me we are in a transition. OSX 10.5.7 DP 6.02 has not updated in a while. So many of the plugs and vi's and 6.02 need a tune up. Until that happens it is unstable city.

[kassonica]

I was solid with 10.5.6 and DP 6.02

then after updating to 10.5.7 I have had many crashes. It seems to me we are in a transition. OSX 10.5.7 DP 6.02 has not updated in a while. So many of the plugs and vi's and 6.02 need a tune up. Until that happens it is unstable city.

I've noticed this as well, I've been having many crashes since the update as well and since (probably not related BWTFKs) since I downloaded safari 4.

The good thing is it's near 5 months since the last update and Motu seem to get it right after a few updates.

Here is hoping.

[dpdan]

let's just face it, DP 6 is unstable, and not a professional "snappy" program anymore.
But I still use it because there is nothing better, BUT... Pro Tools sure is fast and responsive.

But I just don't know that program like I do DP.
Dan

[lluvaas]

Well, golly! these answers tho' appreciated are not too reassuring. DP was stable for me: version 2.7 which is old I know, but I can't use it obviously with Leopard, that's why I upgraded the app. I also bought Logic Express which is wonderful and never crashes. Soooooo...I'm not getting good answers from tech either. I guess I'll just have to live with it. What about increasing the buffer size over 1024? would that help do you think?

[KEVORKIAN]

This is slightly OT... I have a bunch of old DP 2.7 files that I am thinking of working on... were you able to open your 2.7 projects in 6.02 with ease?

Thanks!

[lluvaas]

I haven't tried, but you should be able to with no problem.

[KEVORKIAN]

I haven't tried, but you should be able to with no problem.

I hope so. I thought I had seen some folks having problems with projects that old. Let us know when of if you open any projects from 2.7... My files all need to be imported from CD-ROM so it will take me a bit before I get to it.

Thanks!

[KEVORKIAN]

I haven't tried, but you should be able to with no problem.

I hope so. I thought I had seen some folks having problems with projects that old. Let us know when of if you open any projects from 2.7... My files all need to be imported from CD-ROM so it will take me a bit before I get to it.

Thanks!

[James Steele]

A couple of things: You're moving from a decade-plus old setup to a modern system. From DP 2.7 and OS 9 all the way to DP 6.02/Leopard. Tell me you didn't expect some bumps in the road with such a gigantic leap forward from your old system, and I'll tell you, gently, that your expectations were unrealistic.

As far as people having problems with 10.5.7, it has come to light in another thread that Apple is seeding a new version 10.5.8 which fixes some issues with Core Audio and Core MIDI that apparently were introduced in 10.5.7, so it might just be that 10.5.7 is at least partially at fault here. If you can go back down to 10.5.6 that might be worthwhile. Here's more info on that:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=718970

I for one am staying with 10.4.11 because I'm on a PPC machine.

[Armageddon]

I for one am staying with 10.4.11 because I'm on a PPC machine.

I've stayed with 10.4.11, despite being on an Intel machine. Too many wild stories about issues with Leopard and audio/MIDI for my taste that I've avoided (so far). I also don't feel like I'm missing out on too much by sticking with Tiger, since iTunes, QT, Java, Security Updates and the like all seem to continue being upgraded and supported by Apple (for now), and none of it has certainly affected my software in any way.

Well, golly! these answers tho' appreciated are not too reassuring. DP was stable for me: version 2.7 which is old I know, but I can't use it obviously with Leopard, that's why I upgraded the app. I also bought Logic Express which is wonderful and never crashes. Soooooo...I'm not getting good answers from tech either. I guess I'll just have to live with it. What about increasing the buffer size over 1024? would that help do you think?

DP 5.1.3 was actually pretty good about dropping you a warning if your buffer size was set too low. However, I recently trashed all my DP 6.02 prefs and hadn't thought to check on my hardware buffer size, which had defaulted back to 512. I noticed incredibly choppy audio performance when running my VIs and received no warnings from DP that my buffers were set too low -- I had to figure this out on my own. 1024 is pretty much your ideal buffer size, try not going lower or higher than that unless you're having severe performance issues and you've tried everything else.

My first and most important piece of advice is: before opening DP 6, close everything else. Absolutely anything that doesn't need to run, like wireless, local networks, any programs or windows you have open, quit or close them. DP 6 eats up an amazing amount of CPU and any VIs you have loaded are going to eat up even more, so it's a safe bet to make sure as much of your computer as possible is freed up to devote to it.

[bjornln]

Hello,

I recently purchased this version of DP from version 2.7 which never crashed. I also purchased an I Mac, 3 gigahertz, 4 megs of ram, 1 terabyte hard drive with two external drives. I had the buffer size set to 1024 and just lowered it to 512 to see if that makes any difference. I also had tried to load DP from the Applications Folder rather than the dock to see if that made the application more stable, but it didn't. I just removed DP from the dock.

It seems to crash at different times. This time I was recording using Modulo Effect and it crashed.

Does anyone know why this is happening? I've read some, and I've sent an email to DP support, but haven't heard back yet. It's very disconcerting and I'm worried about this version of DP.

Please help!

P.S. Forgot to mention that my OS is Leopard, 10.5

Just a few things:
What kind of interface are you using (MIDI and/or audio) ?
Find the 10.5 drivers for the interface and update them to the right version if you haven't done that already.

Check the console ( you'll find it in the /Applications/Utilities folder)
Find Crash reporter => Digital Performer to look at what happened at the last crash. This will hopefully help you find where the problem happened...


/B


P.S
Hopefully you don't have 4 MEGA bytes of ram....... but 4 GIGA bytes.....
D.S

[lluvaas]

James,

I didn't go from OS 9 to Leopard. I have three machines and one is OS X as well. This one I have DP on is a new machine. And, I am running OS 10.5, not later versions.

L.

[lluvaas]

Sorry! I do have 4 gigabytes of ram...! my mistake. Yes, I have the updated driver for my Motu828. It hasn't crashed with that powered on, but I haven't really been using it much either. Not right now at any rate. And, yes: I don't have other apps open while working in DP, especially since the crashes.
Thanks for the advice about the buffer size. I have kept it at 1024. That seemed to work well with DP 2.7 too. That version never crashed that I can remember. Maybe this is an incompatibility with aspects of Leopard. However, as I mentioned, Logic works very well and is very stable perhaps because it's a Mac application.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions and advice. Perhaps I'll need to work until these problems are sorted out.

L.

[James Steele]

James,

I didn't go from OS 9 to Leopard. I have three machines and one is OS X as well. This one I have DP on is a new machine. And, I am running OS 10.5, not later versions.

L.

Good to know. I was not able to ascertain that from your original post.