Please help me with pro tools m audio 8 cpu overload!!!!

[rsvstudios]

Thanks a lot for that advice!

And yes my iMac does have 2 FireWire 400 ports and 1 FireWire 800 port.

Should I connect my Glyph HD to the FireWire 800? because, I read on Avid's troubleshooting my Glyph drie has an Oxford 924 chip which should be used with FireWire 800.

Yes, when my iMac gets really hot, I consistently get that problem. But it also happens when I add a plug in on different tracks. So for example, say if I had 4 vocal tracks in my Pro Tools session, in order for the artist to hear themselves in the headphones (as well as the instrumentals), I need to put a plug in Compressor on the vocal track, because the output of my ProFire is so low.

I see you have ProFire's @barters81, do you have this problem, with artists hearing themselves?

Thanks for all your help!

[tribedescribe]

The firewire 400, 800 port on your mac all share the same bus regardless of weather you are daisy chaining or uses both. M-audio devices get errors when sharing firewire ports or daisy chaining. I went through a six month battle with these errors. So I feel your pain. First I though it was the interface(projectmix), so I went out and bought a 2626, same problem. I changed out cables did all the trouble shooting. It was frustrating. Finally I read a post and it realized it was daisy chaining!!!! So I went out and bought a used macbook pro with a express card slot and run my firewire hard drive off that. It has worked flawlessly for the last 8 months! Another workaround is to upgrade to PT9 and buy a USB audio device like the Rme Babyface, UC or UFX. In fact you could get the babyface and pipe the 2626 in via adat. Since its usb you would not be sharing buses. Also I would not track with alot of effects. Did you know the master volume knob on the front of the 2626 can affect the overall volume. I keep it in the center. The 2626 provides uber volume for phones, enough to cause serious hearing damage. I would learn how to set the 2626. How are you setting up headphone mixes?? Do you have a master track?

[rsvstudios]

Yes, I thought it was the sharing of busses.
The only thing is that my school use a Mackie Onyx 1620 mixer via FireWire 400 to their iMac, without recording to a hard drive and using Cubase, and it worked perfect!

I actually did a recording session today, and suprisingly everything was working pretty well, nearing the end though I started getting some frequent DAE playback issues, the session was around 3 hours all together, so its not too long.

At the moment I can't afford to get a new mac, my sister has a MacBook Pro, but I wouldn't be able to use that, lol!

I don't set up headphone mixes, what I do is; I plug in my headphones to the Headphone input on the ProFire, then I create a track in Pro Tools for the microphone, then the artist can hear the backing instrumental and their own voice (with a plug in compressor). Is there something I am doing wrong?

[Dirt_]

rsvstudios- do you use the profire's built in mixer for monitoring? if not, try this:

-record enable the track which you want to record to.
-mute that track in protools.
-open the m-audo/profire mixer and un-mute whichever channel your mic is plugged into (for instance, if you're using the first input in the back of the 2626, un mute it in the software mixer). Make sure the fader on that mixer is all the way up. No worries, that fader doesn't affect the recording level writing to disk.
-create a master fader in your protools session if you haven't already.
-bring down that fader so that the incoming vocal ends up louder than the music. (the reason the vocal will stay loud is because you'll now be monitoring it outside of protools)
-compensate the volume now with the headphone volume knob for the artist, or your master volume. (depending how you are feeding your studio monitors, the master volume will affect your headphone mix as well)
-once you've recorded a take and you'd like to hear it, be sure to unmute it in protools. It's kind of a pain in the arse but once you get the hang of it, it's not so bad.

there should be no reason at all you need to use a compressor to get the volume up.

[rsvstudios]

Thanks for that Dirt_
Here are some images of what my ProFire Mixer looks like:

http://i52.tinypic.com/y1260.png
http://i51.tinypic.com/2qxvxh1.png
http://i52.tinypic.com/2d8i1bm.png

Also my monitors are in the back of my ProFire, in output channels 1 + 2.

Does everything look alright?

[Dirt_]

1- the faders for 17/18 should be all the way up.
2- one way to eliminate the headphone jacks from being controlled by the master volume knob is to set your main outs to 7/8. If it's not a concern then just leave it. There's a lengthy post on the m-audio forum explaining why that is, but it kinda boils down to them screwing up essentially or something like that. Not a big deal really. I run 5/6 for my sub, and 7/8 for my NS10's. The profire is fairly flexible for that kinda stuff. Play around with it, you'll see how simple it really is.

[rsvstudios]

17/18 are now all the way up, I plugged my jacks into outputs 7/8 and made the software return 7 and 8 for channels 17/18.
then i went to the router and made analog out 7/8 to mixer out and no sound came out? am i doing something wrong?

here is a photo:
http://i52.tinypic.com/10p6elf.png

thanks!

[Dirt_]

i'm not at my studio right now but i'll post pics of my settings to help you. just go back to your default settings for now to continue working.

[rsvstudios]

Have you been at your studio yet @Dirt_?

[Dirt_]

I run two PF2626's so it'll look a little different but this is essentially what you should see for your outputs. Sorry bout the quality... cell phone pics