New Mac Pro and slow performance with DP and Mach 5

[rdhornst]

Hello,

It seems like I waited forever and finally received the best possible new Mac Pro:

-12 Core 2.77 GHZ Processor
-64 GB Memory
-All my samples on solid state drives with my BlackMagic Thunderbolt Multidock

I've been using digital performer for almost 20 years and never had the counter window slow down during playback when my Mach 5 instrument plays. I'm using both the latest versions of DP and M5 (DP 8.06 and M5 v3.2.1). I've only put 3 tracks from Mach 5 (v3) and a lot of times Digital Performer even crashes upon startup. I even kept only 1 track for playback and the counter window still moves slow when the piano track actually plays. I haven't even tested my system with my main sound library (Eastwest samples) and am afraid that this slow moving counter window is indicative of other sluggish performance possibilities.

I called up tech support and they had me change the settings in DP, Preferences<Audio Plugins<Plugins in real time preferences to "virtual instruments in real time". In Mach 5, they recommended that I leave Ring Buffer size at current setting-Medium. The gentlemen even mentioned that the fastest computers sometimes experience these issues and are fixed with his recommendations, but unfortunately I'm now writing this post because it hasn't.

This is extremely frustrating, since I spent an enormous amount of money so I wouldn't have to deal with situations like this and just focus on composing. I need to rely on my computer for huge amounts of orchestral sample tracks and so far this scenario is very disturbing. Please advise what other settings I should look into to assure normal to optimum performance. I'm hoping that there will be a few simple studio settings that will resolve this. Thanks in advance for your participation and suggestions!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

You're not the first person I've heard of who bought a 12 core MP and performance seemed/was compromised. If I can contact my friend and ask him if/how he solved it I'll let you know. In the mean time, how did you migrate over? If you used migration asst. it's possible some older cache, files, and plists, etc. could be part of the problem. I would wipe the drives and install EVERYTHING from original discs and IMG files and reauthorize as needed. For me that's a 2-3 process but it's the only way to be sure the old system junk isn't slowing you down.

Also, check your startup items and start if safe mode to be sure it's not a conflict there.

Gotta be annoying. Sorry you're having trouble. I'm surprised MOTU couldn't figure it out.

[mikehalloran]

And what version of DP are you running?

[rdhornst]

@MIDI Life Crisis: It's all fresh install and new sessions
@Mike: Latest version of DP 8.06

[HCMarkus]

How is DP running without Mach 5?

There have been some recent posts about issues with Mach 5.

[BKK-OZ]

I am not experiencing any performance problems on my 3.5Ghz 6 core new MP.
Very snappy.

Though I did have some problems in the first day or so. I asked Mr Google what he thought and the best answer I could come up with was the automatic 'optimizing' that the OS did when I upgraded to the latest version. Performance was sluggish for awhile (even iTunes struggled) but then it all settled down and everything has been snap snap snappy since.

[FMiguelez]

Any background processes running that you're not aware of (i.e., Time Machine, DP converting file formats on the fly, or the STUPID spotlight indexing)???

BTW, this Spotlight thing is so annoying!!! It tries to index anything you connect to the Mac right away. This caused some temporary clumsiness in DP until I noticed it, and told Spotlight to get the f*** away from me...

[mikehalloran]

A few things.

Spotlight stops getting in the way when it finishes indexing what you connect including Time Machine. It's best to let it do its thing. Once done, it stays out of the way. Yes, it really slows down Time Machine the first time you back u but, if you ever need to search TM, you can.

If you used Migration Assistant, try reinstalling DP 8. Don't uninstall first, just reinstall over. For some reason, this often clears up problems that I have had including slow startup. When I upgraded to DP 8.06, I'd get weird, intermittent start up errors due to the Mackie Control drivers not loading correctly - and sometimes they would. I reinstalled 8.06 again, rebooted and it went away.

Console is your friend here. Open it up and see what process is trying to load but can't. This is the cause of most slowdowns. Certain errors are cleared by a Safe Boot. Others are caused by old crap, often freeware, but you never know till you look.

Try a Safe Boot by starting with the Shift key depressed. When done, shut down and reboot.

I had a weird issue after I upgraded to TechTool Pro 7.02 just yesterday. It solved a problem with one of the tools and certain Apple ATi 5770 video cards (firmware bug that Apple never fixed - affects some Mac Pros and 27" iMacs) but now my iMac was slow to wake up from sleep and I had to turn my Magic Trackpad off and on after the iMac woke up. OK... I decided to tackle it tonight. Resetting the NVRAM (PRAM) fixed it right up. I have alerted MicroMat.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Someone recently posted that old MachFive authorizations on their ilok were causing slowdowns.

[James Steele]

I'm going to move this topic to the DP Troubleshooting forum instead of General Recording.

[Tidwells@aol.com]

For me, MachFive 3.2 crashes DP 8.06 a couple of times per hour, on the average. You would think that making their flagship VI work well with their flagship DAW would be a high priority for MOTU, but I'm starting to feel this is not the case. I suppose MachFive is actually developed by UVI in France, and then sold as a MOTU product....

I also suggest trying DP without MachFive to see if MachFive is causing your problems.

Doug

[Killahurts]

I've been using digital performer for almost 20 years and never had the counter window slow down during playback when my Mach 5 instrument plays. I'm using both the latest versions of DP and M5 (DP 8.06 and M5 v3.2.1). I've only put 3 tracks from Mach 5 (v3) and a lot of times Digital Performer even crashes upon startup. I even kept only 1 track for playback and the counter window still moves slow when the piano track actually plays. I haven't even tested my system with my main sound library (Eastwest samples) and am afraid that this slow moving counter window is indicative of other sluggish performance possibilities.

I started experiencing this problem when I went to 8.06. It would be playing along fine, and then when M5 MIDI comes up, would slow the whole system to its knees. I went back to 8.05 and all was well again.

Didn't seem to affect EastWest, Kontakt etc.

[Bennie Sims]

MachFive 3.2.1 when open during a session in DP 8.0.6 bogs down my MP 2008-3,1. When it is not instantiated DP runs fine. Wish I know what the problem is too!!!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Hmmm. Same machine. Not seeing that. Are your MachFive 2 or earlier authorizations still on your iLok? That's caused problems for some. I still use my ilok 1 and have the auth on there so maybe it's an ilok2 issue with multiple M5 auths? Just a wild guess.

[Timeline]

You likely have done some of these things but permissions, DW on all drives including SSD sample drives. May or may not help. I would also try running it in root and see if permissions are the culprit. Your machine should be a rocket and I agree there is no excuse for this. The only thing I would say is eventually I think things can be resolved. If your machine is new then cal Apple as well and let them perform some tier two tests. Best, GB