Mix System Configuration Q's

[Table Syrup Records]

I'm trying to find the most current Mix System Mac and Pro Tools configuration list.....

Can't seem to find anything specific (General Troubleshooting is pretty general and doesn't cover these things):

Mac settings, such as power save settings (I'm sure mine are right), Display settings, memory settings, etc.

Pro Tools settings..... etc.

I've seen entire lists for other stuff, but the last list I saw didn't seem to be 'up to date' for mix. Was showing allocating 30-50 MB or some crap for memory for something, based on 128 or 256 MB of Ram.... LOL Little old?

Anyone know where I can find this?

This is the one I found, but not sure if it's 'current' to Mix systems.

1. What are the optimum settings for Pro Tools on a Mac?

Appearance Control Panel:

• Under Fonts, change all fonts to Chicago & Disable "Smooth all fonts on screen."
• Under Sound, set Soundtrack to "none."

Energy Saver Control Panel:

• Set sleep time to "Never."

Memory Control Panel:

• Select "Custom" twice under Disk Cache and set it to 512k. You will see a warning regarding system performance. Do Not Panic! This warning does not affect Pro Tools' performance. 512k is the optimum setting.
• Set Virtual Memory and Ram Disk to "Off."

Monitors Control Panel:

• If using a 9500 or 9600 (or lower) Mac, set colors to 256.
• If using a G3 or G4, setting the color to "thousands" should be adequate.
• AV users should set the monitor attached to the ABVB card to "millions."

Extensions Manager:

1. Under "Selected Set," select the OS Base Set (Listed by OS version...ex. OS 8.6 Base Set)
2. Select "Duplicate Set" and name the set "Pro Tools."
3. Add/enable:

• OMS Preferred Device (control panel)
• Digidesign DSP Manager (ext)
• Digisystem INIT (ext)
• Open Music system (ext)
• Digidesign Stream Manager (ext) (if applicable/needed)
• Digidesign Output Drivers (ext (if applicable/needed)
• Digidesign Direct I/O (ext) (if applicable/needed - v5.01 and higher)
• Digidesign Sound (control panel) (if applicable/needed - v5.01/OS9 and higher)

Pro Tools/DAE

Memory Allocation (Basic settings, based on 128-196 mb of RAM):

• In Digidesign folder>ProTools, 'get info' (Cmd-I)* on the Pro Tools application.
• Set the Preferred Memory to 30-50 mb (30000k-50000k)
• Minimum Memory should be left at the default (Enter a '0' if in doubt)
• In System Folder>DAE Folder, 'get info' (Cmd-I)* on the DAE application.
• Set the Preferred Memory to 40-60 mb (40000-60000k)
• Minimum Memory should be left at the default (Enter a '0' if in doubt)
• *NEVER 'lock' these "Get Info" windows

DAE Playback Buffer setting (DAE > File menu > Set Playback Buffer). Buffer size is dependent on your hardware. Use the following settings:

• Mix System - 2
• D24 System - 2
• Pro Tools III System - 0
• PowerMix Engine - 8

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[kurt]

Those guidelines are still valid on systems before OSX.
Just go for it.

[Andre Knecht]

How much RAM does the CPU hosting your Mix system have? The more, the merrier — you should have at least 1GB, for optimum performance.

When entering RAM allocations for PT and DAE applications (in fact, for all apps) use values that are multiples of 1024 (i.e. 30,720 MB instead of 30,000).

If you use your system for more than just running ProTools, see if you can get hold of Conflict Catcher, a great utility that allows you to administer system resources (such as extensions, control panels, fonts, etc.) with far more control and flexibility than Apple’s Extension Manager. CC also allows you to assign keyboard shortcuts to invoke different sets at startup, which is a big time saver.

While you’re at it, get yourself a copy of Disk Warrior, which was indispensable back in the days of OS8 as it remains now.

IHTH.

[John_Toolbox]

If you use your system for more than just running ProTools, see if you can get hold of Conflict Catcher, a great utility that allows you to administer system resources (such as extensions, control panels, fonts, etc.) with far more control and flexibility than Apple’s Extension Manager. CC also allows you to assign keyboard shortcuts to invoke different sets at startup, which is a big time saver.

Though he didn't put it in this post, he's running 6.4.1, so this won't apply for anything after OS9. But just for show and tell, here's a cool little blurb about the demise of conflict catcher:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_Catcher

[John_Toolbox]

DAE Playback Buffer setting (DAE > File menu > Set Playback Buffer). Buffer size is dependent on your hardware. Use the following settings:
Mix System - 2
D24 System - 2
Pro Tools III System - 0
PowerMix Engine - 8

This is kind of interesting. Notice that PTIII has the lowest setting?

[John_Toolbox]

Oh yeah, to answer the original question, this list is correct for OS9, up to PT 5.1.3. Most of this stuff doesn't apply anymore with OSX.

The biggest caveats for your config are making sure not to go past quicktime 6.5.2.

The second post on this thread covers pretty much everything you need to know for OSX:

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music...nce-audio.html

I don't think the matched RAM matters on mdd g4's, it's more of an intel mac thing.

[Table Syrup Records]

thnx again john.

I'll give it a look later and print it out!

I was just remembering that tweaking the OS and changing display settings etc helped performance tremendously on my XP machine.

Obviously XP and OS are vastly different, but I did notice the OS list instructing to turn off 'font smoothing' or whatever. A change also recommended in XP, so I figured it's benefitial to make recommended changes on OS.

[Grey]

think of it as an old car
you have to keep them tuned up

i have a G4 DP 1gig
1gig RAM
mix+
OS 9 and 10.3.9
PT 5.11 and PT 6.4.1
mostly just Pro tools on this system

I use it everyday...never crashes!