Hmmm... My Mac is JUST about to quit

FMiguelez · Post by **FMiguelez** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 5:15 pm

Hi, everyone.

I‘ve noticed recently that my Mac (G5, dual 2.0, 3 gigs of RAM) does not handle gracefuly as much stuff as I‘d expected...

It always slows down towards the middle of the projects, as I start editing, mixing, applying plug-ins, etc.

The first time was a session with around 30 mono tracks of recorded vocals. It was all fine until I started doing heavy editing to the audios (lots of fades in-outs, splitting soundbites, etc.) The music was less than 30 seconds. By the time I was finished with the editing work, the Mac was SOOOOO slowwww....... The counter was dancing to the rhythm of the tracks, I mean, not smooth at all. The seconds were like dancing a ballroom swing...

Anyway. I merged all the soundbites and then everything returned to normal. Until I started doing pitch corrections... By the end of that, it was so slow again (no plug ings at this stage yet).
I flushed the undo history, but still, it didn‘t make a big difference.
Of course, It did not look like I was going to be able to orchestrate those vocal tracks in that same project, so I did a "pre mix bounce" of the vocals to a stereo track, and started a new project with that file to do the orchestration. BUT... what worries me the most is that, today, only with 40 MIDI tracks and a couple of stereo audio tracks, it is starting to do the same. Well, I have 3 instances of Trilogy and 2 of Stylus. The rest are just normal MIDI tracks sending stuff to the PCs (VSL).
The counter, and the wiper, are like drunk... the wipper litterarily moves like "zoom, zoom, zoom". I can‘t imagine this is normal... is it? By the way, my buffer size is at 1024.

Is this normal behavior for a Mac like that? I use, still, DP 4.61 and a 2408 MK3 audio card.

Any ideas?

Thanks, everyone.

Fernando

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:58 pm

Hey Fernando--

You're asking a lot of a machine that is only at about 40% RAM capacity.

DP can otherwise access 4GB if it were available. With a full load of RAM you could run some VI's in standalone mode, give OSX some room to work and probably not feel so much slow down.

One cycle we're all in is one where the software can do more than the hardware, yet we keep loading in plugins just because the DAW *can* open them and because the software is available. That's no guarantee that DP and the computer will *run* everything we throw at them.

Software developers are creating bundles that work on today's computers, but consumers are often stuck with using older models out of necessity.

With that said, it doesn't sound like there's anything *wrong* with your 2.0, except that it's working very hard.

Suggestions:

1. if you are working in the Sequence Editor, zoom out on playback. Some have suggested putting in a faster display card to handle screen animations, but I've not done this myself.

2. add more RAM

3. close any unused windows hiding beneath larger ones

beyond that... start planning ahead for the future.

4. consider adding a second mac for distributed processing in a network of some sort. PPCs will come down in price sooner than later, and even Mac Minis have proven to be worthy of running VIs at a more affordable price.

5. take note of the kind of projects you are doing and start planning to replacing your 2.0 with a model that can better handle all of the plugins and tracks you need to run. This might be a faster PPC or an Intel.

You may be experiencing simple growing pains-- you may be outgrowing your 2.0.... it happens, it's not always a happy thought, but it happens.

travisbrown · Post by **travisbrown** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:25 pm

You shouldn't have a problem with 30 audio tracks on a 2xG5 w/3gb with only edits and fades. I do 24-32 tracks of 24/48 audio on my 12" PB G4 with 1.5 gb ram just fine. I wouldn't run much more than that, but I'm editing a 1.5 hour program with 28 tracks right now.

Just because you're not full up with ram doesn't mean it's not enough for the task. More ram never hurts, but...

This being said. Frodo's suggestions are good for increasing performance and may compensate for whatever slowdown you are experiencing.

Bad ram, memory allocation problem, or other hoggy processes maybe.

When you look at the performance meter, or the system performance utility in the OS, what do you see? what is your host buffer and work priority in DP set at?

FMiguelez · Post by **FMiguelez** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 8:56 am

Thanks, guys, for replying.

Well. The reason this concerns me is that I could get ALMOST the same mileage from my old G4, even with less RAM, particularilly when using mostly MIDI tracks.
The Audio Performance meter in DP goes to around half to 2/3rds of it. But the wiper and meter and counter are VERY bogged down.

TravisBrown: Where is this system performance utility itn the OS that you mention? What should I look for?
I mean, if I can KIND OF understand the slowness in the Audio session, but come on, in the MIDI one???

Anyway, like Frodo wrote, it might be time to think in a second Mac, but I still would like to see if I can squeeze more of the one I already have.

Based on you experience, is this normal, or there‘s something bogging down my system.
By the way, my buffer size is at its maximum (1024), the Host buffer multiplier set to "1", and the work priority to "high".

Thanks, everyone for your help

Fernando.

jgest · Post by **jgest** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 9:37 am

these performance stats realy make me miss os 10.28 dp 4.12.....
24+ tracks playback along with reason and other MIDI data....seemlessly on the internal (partitioned) 4200 drive.

I have been on a tech hiatus with child raising duties, so I haven't really done a "heavy project" in a while, and only had a measly powerrbook 800 with 512 alongside a dual 500 with a gig.

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 12:18 pm

I've been wondering if some models of the he G5 series are ••••ed... You can run around these forums and read so much about how people have insane amounts of plugs and or tracks when you have guys like yourself burning out way too soon. i include my dual 1.8 4gb ram system in this faulty line. Something doesn't run right with me. I feel like my system should def be some what more powerful as well.

I wish there was a way to diagnose this.

FMiguelez · Post by **FMiguelez** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 7:41 pm

Paradeatw:

EXACTLY!!!!! I know people with the same system as mine are getting soooo much more than I. Could it be some kind of configuration, or just, as you nicely wrote it, some macs are ••••ed....

This is an audio-only Mac. No crap, no nosense in it.

I‘d REALLY appreciate it if some one with a similar set up and that same mac model would chime in.

Gracias, amigos.

Fernando

cyborg haines · Post by **cyborg haines** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 1:27 am

First you could have a look in Utilities -> Activity Monitor,
while your DP project is open.

Maybe the reason of the slowness is, that DP analyzes audio for beats and pitch. This can be turned on/off in preferences -> Background processing.

Anyways, this behavior is not normal.
The number of tracks and plugs should run very relaxed on your mac.
Maybe the activity monitor gives you a hint.

Que estes muy bien, muchacho.