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CPU pegs momentarily and causes glitch during playback

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 4:55 pm
by jumpin
After upgrading to OSX 10.4.8, PCI drivers 1.0.8, DP 4.61 on
a G4 733 system with PCI-424 and two 2408 mkIIs, the CPU
pegs every now and then during recording/playback causing
audio glitches that scare my clients (and me). They don't seem
to affect the tracks themselves but I'm wondering how I might
fix this.

Thanks again,

Jon

correction

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 5:22 pm
by jumpin
pci drivers 1.1.0

Re: CPU pegs momentarily and causes glitch during playback

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 5:35 pm
by emulatorloo
jumpin wrote:the CPU pegs every now and then during recording/playback causing audio glitches
1. get a faster mac

or

2. optimize the one you have

-- get a freeware thing called DashOff from versiontracker.com. You use it to turn off the Dashboard function in 10.4. That will free up some CPU cycles.

-- implement the steps in this article:

Tracking The Big Cats
http://emusician.com/gencomput/emusic_t ... _big_cats/

See especially the section on older macs called "New Cats In Old Cages"

This will give you a little extra oomph.

3. Try resetting your motherboard. That helped me sort out some spiking problems once -- Do a search at Apple on reset PMU or CUDA -- involves holding down a little gray button on your motherboard for a few seconds, or perhaps removing the battery from the motherboard for a few hours.

4. Do you have enough ram?

5. Consider a CPU upgrade. Yes they work fine with DP. I have used both gigadesigns and sonnet with DP. I would not spend too much though. If you start getting in the 500.00 range, you should consider purchasing a used G5 instead or a new mac. Lots of threads on the pros and cons of this.

6. DP 5.11 is way more efficient with CPU than 4.6 was on my dual g4 mac. Other g4 users say the same thing -- more leftover headroom, fewer spikes.

See this thread, for example:

Less CPU Overloads in DP5?
http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... highlight=

GOOD LUCK

Re: CPU pegs momentarily and causes glitch during playback

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 7:03 pm
by MIDI Life Crisis
jumpin wrote:After upgrading to OSX 10.4.8, PCI drivers 1.0.8, DP 4.61 on
a G4 733 system with PCI-424 and two 2408 mkIIs, the CPU
pegs every now and then during recording/playback causing
audio glitches that scare my clients (and me). They don't seem
to affect the tracks themselves but I'm wondering how I might
fix this.

Thanks again,

Jon
Disable the alert message in preferences and it should go away unless the machine truly cannot handle the load.

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:29 am
by philbrown
buffer settings?

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:32 am
by kelldammit
when i first upgraded to 10.4.6, i had similar problems, but they went away by themselves after a while? burn-in, i guess.
i wouldn't count on that though...i'd suggest following the advice given previously. also disable automatic conversions, etc etc etc in preferences.

Re: CPU pegs momentarily and causes glitch during playback

Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:32 am
by Shooshie
jumpin wrote:After upgrading to OSX 10.4.8, PCI drivers 1.0.8, DP 4.61 on
a G4 733 system with PCI-424 and two 2408 mkIIs, the CPU
pegs every now and then during recording/playback causing
audio glitches that scare my clients (and me). They don't seem
to affect the tracks themselves but I'm wondering how I might
fix this.

Thanks again,

Jon
My one recommendation is to upgrade DP to 5.11.

Shooshie