Mac Memory Problems

[toddhayen]

Hey...I have just come back from a foray into LOGIC and am so happy to be in DP again! Several years ago I upgraded my whole system with 16 gig RAM and a new Mac Pro quad and had terrible problems with DP...crashes, out of memory warnings, jittery faders on playback etc. After months of trying to resolve things I gave up and went to LOGIC...and other than the fact the program can't compare to DP (my opinion) it worked very well.

Now I am back to DP8, and started experiencing the same problems...but then looked into various issues regarding available RAM and found a program called Memory Scope (as well as ifreemem) that frees up "inactive" RAM. All the problems miraculously went away.

Has anyone else had these sorts of memory problems? And is this solution I have found really going to fix it all or is there something else I am missing? I find it odd that when I was having my original problems no one I talked to could resolve them (I did not present the issues here!)...and no one suggested that the Mac was allocating RAM to other programs that were not even running and that I had to free up the memory. It does seem like an odd thing to have to do, especially when no one else I talked to needs to do it.

??

Thanks!

Todd

[jloeb]

One possibility: there's some plugin or VI you're using that has problems with DP's pregen mode (not many out there, but they do exist).
Turn pregen off - does the problem go away? If so, turn it back on and reintroduce your plugs/VIs until you find the culprit, then set the default for all instances of that plug to pregen off.

[Armageddon]

Hey...I have just come back from a foray into LOGIC and am so happy to be in DP again! Several years ago I upgraded my whole system with 16 gig RAM and a new Mac Pro quad and had terrible problems with DP...crashes, out of memory warnings, jittery faders on playback etc. After months of trying to resolve things I gave up and went to LOGIC...and other than the fact the program can't compare to DP (my opinion) it worked very well.

Now I am back to DP8, and started experiencing the same problems...but then looked into various issues regarding available RAM and found a program called Memory Scope (as well as ifreemem) that frees up "inactive" RAM. All the problems miraculously went away.

Has anyone else had these sorts of memory problems? And is this solution I have found really going to fix it all or is there something else I am missing? I find it odd that when I was having my original problems no one I talked to could resolve them (I did not present the issues here!)...and no one suggested that the Mac was allocating RAM to other programs that were not even running and that I had to free up the memory. It does seem like an odd thing to have to do, especially when no one else I talked to needs to do it.

It almost sounds like your buffers are turned down. I can't remember what they default to (I believe it's 512) You only want it turned down that low (or lower) for tracking audio or working with VIs and MIDI. Once you're mixing, you want to set it to 1024 buffers or even 2048, if your system can handle it, which should clear up your problems with your plugs. I dunno how DP 8 and 64-bits handles it, but it still might be the same problem you had on your earlier version of DP. On my 32-bit system, 1024 set across the maximum amount of buffers works great for an intensive 88.2 kHz/32-bit float mix with a decent amount of high-end plugs on DP 7.24.

[HCMarkus]

Are you running in 32 or 64 bit mode?

When I moved to 64 bit (admittedly, at some expense due to the need to update some essential plug-ins), I left memory issues behind. I run 24 gigs of RAM, and though I don't do massive orchestral template stuff, I make use of a significant number of VIs (multiple Kontakt, Ivory, Stylus, BFD2, Wallander and more) in almost every production.

And I have not found it necessary to bump the buffer from 128 on my Hex 3.33 for all but the biggest productions; even then, it was just a precaution.

[bdr]

I have DP 8 and Mountain Lion and still find I have to use ifreemem now and then..I dont think it's a DP thing, I think it's things like Kontakt or other apps not entirely releasing their memory upon quitting.