MOTUnation.com

Hello,

I am getting ready to produce tracks in 5.1 using MX4 with the 5.1 panners in DP 4.61. I have done some good preliminary tests with about 5 or 6 patches playing at the same time. I have not completed my 5.1 studio yet, so I have not tried to push my system to the limit.

At the moment, I have been running MX4 with DP 4.61 on an iBook 1.2 GHz unit with 768 RAM (Tiger OS). I have read some other posts where people said you should really have 1 GB or more of RAM.

I am curious if any of you have run into any latency issues or program crashes due to under performing speed and memory. If so, this may prompt me to buy one of the newer Intel line of Macs with 2 GB of RAM, especially since they are now up to 667 MHz.

Thanks,

Mitch Walcott
www.mitchwalcott.com

MAS will be able to handle your request, or it won't. Under normal circumstances, DP should not crash simply because you're asking too much of it. You'll clip the CPU, or MAS will throw up a dialog saying, "you can't be serious..."

Latency is under user control. If you want better patchtrhu performance, it is yours, at the expense of CPU cycles. If MAS can't handle it, it'll tell you.

One strategy is to write your composition in stereo. Once you are satisfied, render your MX4 audio to disk. Then do your surround mix. Don't try to play your VIs in real time AND mix surround.

Another strategy is to raise your buffer settings once you're satisfied with your VI tracks. You don't need great patchthru performance if DP is playing back the tracks. Your notes will be sample accurate regardless.

MX4 and DP are not Intel-compatible at this moment, so buying a new computer won't help. Better to wait until your software tools are ready, then invest in the latest hardware.