How do multiple cores work with PT?

[khoop2112]

I guess I'm wondering how PT deals with multi-core processors now that it's Snow Leopard ready. I know you can decide how many processors RTAS gets, but how does PT deal with the rest?

This all comes down to me trying to decide between a faster Quad core mac vs. a 'slower' 8 core machine.

[crizdee]

Originally Posted by khoop2112

I guess I'm wondering how PT deals with multi-core processors now that it's Snow Leopard ready. I know you can decide how many processors RTAS gets, but how does PT deal with the rest?

This all comes down to me trying to decide between a faster Quad core mac vs. a 'slower' 8 core machine.

Hi,

Each track can only access one core for its native processing! multi-cores rule if you use RTAS hogs

Chris

[Andy R]

Originally Posted by crizdee

Hi,

Each track can only access one core for its native processing! multi-cores rule if you use RTAS hogs

Chris

Aha, so you can choose how many cores are used in the Playback Engine. Have you used the Activity Monitor and see how it handles VI's?

A question for DTS - is Pro Tools a Grand Central Dispatch enabled program?

[DigiTechSupt]

Originally Posted by Andy R

Aha, so you can choose how many cores are used in the Playback Engine. Have you used the Activity Monitor and see how it handles VI's?

A question for DTS - is Pro Tools a Grand Central Dispatch enabled program?

No, it is not. GCD is really not made for audio applications - it's a 'bridge' (for lack of a better word) for applications that don't have multi-processor/multi-core scheduling built in to them.

Most modern applications already have multi-processor support built in and wouldn't benefit from Grand Central.

As far as processor scheduling goes, if you assign a processor to RTAS, only fully compatible RTAS processes can run on that processor. Some plug-ins don't meet that spec yet, so you may need to reduce the RTAS processors to give those plug-ins processors on which to run.

[Andy R]

Ah, so worst case, some RTAS plugins may be limited to 2 core scheduling, and mess up the whole deal - gotcha. Well, I just won't use those then.

Thanks for the quick response DTS, much appreciated!