Lost Communication with device - increase hardware buffer - shouldn't need to.

[Matt Darcy]

Hi all,

I'm using what I'd consider a reasonably powerful home user setup.

I have a Macbook Pro 17'' dual core 2.6ghz cpu 4GB ram, 2 x 180GB firewire disk devices (one for recording one for software such as samples) connected to a Digidesign Rack 003


I am using the latest 10.5 Mac software and a fully patched Digi design ProTools 8 setup.

I have Toontrack superior 2 as a drumming engine and one direct input guitar no plugins at this time.

On some occasions I get the famous error "lost connection with digi device, try increasing your hardware buffer size".

To me this seems odd, I've limited my softrware plugins to %85 cpu as suggested by digi design, and the cpu / memory graph is hardly visable it's using that little resource,
my hardware playback buffer is set on "2 default", there is only one option above it that is hight which is "4 3000ms" I find it odd that with so little going on I'd need to use the higher buffer size.

I've added ampeg bass simulation plugins instead of superior 2 drum engine the the problem still appears, it seems to be when I use one plugin ????

I'm not sure how to debug it, but this doesn't seem right for the quality and power of the hardware I'm using

[nate9]

I've noticed this in certain situations when the channel get's overloaded

or doesn't have enough gain and cancels out...it's very odd when settings seem to be optimal....

I would make sure you have your gain set to a good, hot level, but not to hot

Say -6 to -8 and keep your hardware buffer at 128 or 256 for recording...

Also crank your cpu usage to 99% you want your cpu to take control of pt as much as possible!

[irwinmfletcher]

Matt,
I have a similar setup and had the same error problems. After weeks of tweaking settings and rereading ALL of the DIGI docs about all things LE, I finally realized that my problems were all heat related. I keep my MBP well ventilated and the temp down and I haven't had any problems since. Hard to believe it was that simple but it worked for me. My 2 cents.
--Fletch

[Matt Darcy]

it seems to be in a well "aired" spot, but I'm more than happy to look into this in more detail.

I'll double check my gain setting as that's also worth checking,

cranking the cpu up to %99 doesn't seem to be an issue here as digi advise you to limit your cpu for certain plugins to stop it over running, which is why it's set at %85, but seeing as it's currently not touching %2 I can't see any benifit to running this to %99 at this time.

[albee1952]

If the sample drive has USB, I would at least try that to see if it relieves stress on the firewire buss(I admit its a stretch but what the hey). Also, are you running 10.5.5 or 10.5.6? It looks like .5 might be a little more stable(but its open for debate).

[nate9]

You might want to connect your firwire drives directly to computer as well as your 003 rack....

It sounds to me like you might be daisychaining from your 003 to your drives back to your computer....

If so, I heard from somwhere not to do this....

Try connecting the 003 directly to your computer as well as all other external
devices....

[Matt Darcy]

the macbook pro only has one firewire connector, so it is not possible to connect the disks to the mac book and the rack 003 to the macbook on seperate connectors, hence the need to daisy chain, I have them connected in the digi recommended manner though.

[nate9]

Then you might want to try connecting the 003 directlly....

Then, using your second firewire connection on the back
of your 003, and daisy chain your drives that way...

In my guess, it would help you to have your 003 rack going straight into your computer, from what i've read...I'm not sure where you got that info, if from digi then I would keep it the way they told you based on the fact that you only have one firewire port on your computer....

[nate9]

I've used usb connections and they haven't worked out for me performance wise...

You can try connecting that way but you'll notice a decrease in data transfer speed

I'd definetly keep with your firewire connections

[Obsidian Dragon]

Originally Posted by Matt Darcy

(one for recording one for software such as samples) connected to a Digidesign Rack 003

Maybe I'm reading this wrong. I think the recommended way to connect the daisy chained firewire devices is as follows:

Computer <--> Firewire Hard Drive <--> Digi003

From the way it is stated in the quote above, it sounds like you are connecting:

Computer <--> Digi003 <--> Firewire Hard Drive

I don't know if this will solve your problem but that is what Digidesign recommends. If I am misinterpreting your setup, please forgive me. In that case, you might try swapping out the firewire cables as they are know to go bad without any physical damage.

Good luck