critically low on memory...? WTF? We have 16GB.

[KingTor]

I've been getting the error message Pro Tools is critically low on memory on and off for a few days. Granted, I'm asking Pro Tools to do some heavy lifting, reconforming a temp mix with 170 tracks or so and a boatload of automation, but, even so, as far as I can tell from the Activity Monitor utility, Pro Tools is using 2GB or less of the 16GB RAM installed in this machine. What could possibly be causing that?

(I've run ProTools Pref and Database Helper and repaired disk permissions; those steps helped the responsiveness of the session when I wasn't trying to edit across all the tracks, but it didn't fix the critically low on memory error when I did try to sync all the tracks to the new picture.)

TIA.

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by KingTor

I've been getting the error message Pro Tools is critically low on memory on and off for a few days. Granted, I'm asking Pro Tools to do some heavy lifting, reconforming a temp mix with 170 tracks or so and a boatload of automation, but, even so, as far as I can tell from the Activity Monitor utility, Pro Tools is using 2GB or less of the 16GB RAM installed in this machine. What could possibly be causing that?

Pro Tools is a 32-bit application. This means that the theoretical maximum amount of RAM it can use is 4GB. Practically speaking, it can only use up to about 2.7GB on Mac OS X. I think it can use up to 3.2GB on Windows if you do some tweaking.

Originally Posted by KingTor

I(I've run ProTools Pref and Database Helper and repaired disk permissions; those steps helped the responsiveness of the session when I wasn't trying to edit across all the tracks, but it didn't fix the critically low on memory error when I did try to sync all the tracks to the new picture.)

Are you using any soft synths or a large number of native (not DSP) plug-ins?

[KingTor]

Originally Posted by Chief Technician

Pro Tools is a 32-bit application. This means that the theoretical maximum amount of RAM it can use is 4GB. Practically speaking, it can only use up to about 2.7GB on Mac OS X.

Delightful. I guess I bought the RAM for future-proofing, then. I'm curious, Pro Tools 10 has this RAM cache feature and is still a 32 bit application. Can that feature use more than 2.7GB?

Are you using any soft synths or a large number of native (not DSP) plug-ins?

No soft synths, but a fairly large number of RTAS plugins. I'll try disabling them while I'm doing these big edits.

Thanks,
Tor

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by KingTor

Delightful. I guess I bought the RAM for future-proofing, then.

That and any applications that are 64-bit, such as the OS. It's a limitation of Pro Tools v10, not of every process or application running on your system.

Originally Posted by KingTor

I'm curious, Pro Tools 10 has this RAM cache feature and is still a 32 bit application. Can that feature use more than 2.7GB?

Yes it can.

[KingTor]

Originally Posted by KingTor

a fairly large number of RTAS plugins. I'll try disabling them while I'm doing these big edits.

no better. looks like I'll keep doing these big edits a few tracks at a time... PITA

[KingTor]

FYI, breaking the movie up into reels seems to have solved the problem

[KingTor]

The other thing I've found which helps is to limit the number of undos available, or to clear the undo cue before it fills up with a bunch of big edits. Does Pro Tools keep all the undo information in RAM?

[Chief Technician]

Originally Posted by KingTor

Does Pro Tools keep all the undo information in RAM?

I do not know the answer to your question, sorry.

[KingTor]

No worries. Thanks for your help and support.

~ Tor