Help me change my mind

[dp3]

I've been a DP user for about 3 years now. Run a dual 1 gig and use DP for mixing only.

I have 2 UAD cards, MH Channel Strip and Waves gold bundel, auto tune.

I'm just sick and tired of running out of CPU. I run out at 15 tracks sometimes. I've tried everything to make the performance better. It's not getting any better. And i'm not so sure DP4 on a G5 is going to be that much more horse power.

So i'm looking at PTs HD very hard. Not for the HD but for power. Please convince me that I should stick with DP and that there is a solution to the CPU limitation.

I know some of you are going to say you do 50 tracks with no problem, well then tell me how to do it with what I have.

I love DP, but i'm going to leave if I can't find a solution.

I just read i'm a junior member with 2 posts, I've got hundreds of posts on here from about 3 years back, don't know what that's about.

<small>[ April 03, 2005, 08:47 PM: Message edited by: dp3 ]</small>

[studiodog]

How much ram do you have? I only have 768 megs in a dual 867 G4 and I can do well over 32 audio tracks.

<small>[ April 03, 2005, 08:52 PM: Message edited by: studio dog ]</small>

[amplidood]

I think it all depends on how many plugs you are trying to run....that's where the rub happens. Also make sure your hardware buffer is set to 2048 or higher for mixing. You can leave it there unless you start using VI's or don't have a 424 card for monitoring live inputs. If you've had this set lower, you'll get a lot of power back.

[willtompkins]

I've ran close to 50 tracks on my dual 1ghz with a single UAD-1. How many plugins are you using on each track? Waves plugins use more processing power than Motu's. I use the Motu parametric eq's most the time instead of Waves Q series for that reason. Definitely having more RAM helps in any situation.

As far as PT goes, being engulfed in Digidesign's world for the last year in my sound design studies and earning music and post certifications, I would urge you to stick with DP. PT has a lot to offer, but for the price, it's not really worth it unless you're working in the professional music/post industry where it's somewhat more necessary. Digidesign is a one-sided card, and when you dive into that world financially, you better prepare yourself for the future. I'm personally sticking with DP. For the amount of money you'll spend on an HD rig, you could buy a dual 2.5ghz (soon to be 3.0) G5 (if not two!), a Magma expansion chassis (loaded with 4 UAD-1's plus Powercore's), or Powercore Firewire's. And by the way, PT does not play well with others. Hope this helps.

-Will

[donreynolds]

I have a G4 dual 1 gig with DP 3.1 and have waves native gold also installed.
I do run many many more track than what you described. I also use plenty of plugs.
Are you using your aux sends effeciently? lIke i mean using multiple sends to one reverb etc. the less plugs that you have to duplicate the better, especially reverb, delays and choruses.
also have you defragged you HD lately? Optimized/
Are you using another HD to place your recorded audio on and using your main HD for the application.
When I get to 40 or 50 tracks I do usually have to start bouncing to get my processor back down.
Plus I use my computer for Internet ,e-mail, etc.
You should have better processor power than what you have described.

Hope this helps

[iMAS]

Originally posted by amplidood:
I think it all depends on how many plugs you are trying to run....that's where the rub happens. Also make sure your hardware buffer is set to 2048 or higher for mixing. You can leave it there unless you start using VI's or don't have a 424 card for monitoring live inputs. If you've had this set lower, you'll get a lot of power back.

How do you get your buffer up to 2048...the limit on mine is like 1048...or was it just a typo.

[dpdan]

My G4 dual 1 ghz (2 gigs ram) has never been able to be set higher than 1024.

The biggest project I did was 52 stereo audio tracks and roughly 40 MIDI tracks.
You should indeed be able to use more tracks than you are.

Dan

[willtompkins]

I think the 2048+ buffer setting was only achieveable on DP 3 (depending on your hardware), because I can remember doing it. I cannot set the buffer higher than 1024 with my PCI-324 (1224 & 24i) running DP 4.12 on a dual 1ghz G4.

-Will

[studiodog]

Host buffer multiplier when set to 2 doubles the buffer setting.
Or so I read somewhere on this board. Haven't had to try it yet...

[chrispick]

I think the 2048+ buffer setting was only achieveable on DP 3 (depending on your hardware), because I can remember doing it. I cannot set the buffer higher than 1024 with my PCI-324 (1224 & 24i) running DP 4.12 on a dual 1ghz G4.

It's dependent on your sound card. I have a G5 running DP 4.5 with an M-Audio Audiophile and I can get 2048 buffer size.

re: Sticking with DP. I think if it's not working for you, find a DAW that will. You need to be happy with your tools.

[willtompkins]

That's good to know, thanks for the info.

I'm not trying to be a DP advocate, I'm just simply stating that, for the most part, all DAW's essentially perform the same functions (especially PT, DP, Nuendo). It's quite possible to achieve the same results on any of the aforementioned with some workflow and command modifications.

-Will

[dweiss]

Originally posted by studio dog:
Host buffer multiplier when set to 2 doubles the buffer setting.
Or so I read somewhere on this board. Haven't had to try it yet...

I've tried it and found no substantial cpu boost.

[studiodog]

Well, I read it here on the board. I was just repeating info and like I said, I haven't tried it.

[dp3]

I just want reliable power. Not have to cringe in my seat and constantly watch the performance meter. I've done 40 track mixes using 2 UADs, but everything was very sluggish.

I've never really liked the sonic quality of PTs, but i'm at a point now where I need to fix this CPU problem.

Dude, it's impossible to run 50 tracks on 1uad. Come on. I haver 2 and can't. Nobody here came open a blank project and have 50 instances off 1 UAD .

<small>[ April 03, 2005, 11:14 PM: Message edited by: dp3 ]</small>

[glmusic]

I agree with others that if you like DP as a platform, invest in a Dual G5. The current Dual 1.8 machine is powerful and has the old PCI slots which play well with the UAD and Powercore cards. With 2-3 gigs of RAM I would guess you would come close to doubling your current track / plug count and still have a bundle of cash in your pocket that you would have spent setting up PT HD.