Disk Cache oddity

[TrentWilliams]

Originally Posted by Frank Kruse

Yeah, I get the meaning of the DC bar, but not the memory bar. What's 100% memory usage? All available RAM? I get 100% and an error when there are still 10GB physically available. (see first post of this topic).

Anyway, doesn't matter. Shrug and move on...

;-)

According to the reference manual;

The Memory Meter

"The Memory meter displays how much of the installed physical RAM in the system is being used by Pro Tools. This includes RAM used by the audio engine, the video engine (if enabled), plug-ins, and the disk cache. Other than Pro Tools, it does not show any other RAM usage by the system. If the Memory meter approached 100%, install more physical RAM or lower the Disk Cache setting in the Playback Engine dialog".

Cache Size

"The Cache Size setting in the Playback Engine determines the amount of memory AAE allocates to pre-buffer audio for playback and recording. In most cases, the default setting of Normal is the optimum Cache Size for most sessions.Pro Tools can also load audio files used in Pro Tools sessions into RAM for cached playback. Pro Tools prioritizes files closest to the current play head location. This way, when you start playback, those files are already cached for playback. This is especially useful when working with shared media storage (such as with Avid Unity ISIS shared storage systems). To determine the maximum amount of RAM available for the Disk Cache, Pro Tools polls the computer for the amount of RAM installed and subtracts 4 GB of RAM. For example, if your computer has 16 GB of RAM installed, the total amount of RAM available for the Disk Cache will be 12 GB".

"Pro Tools prioritizes files closest to the current play head location".

This explains why its showing Timeline:0 in the pop-up - I guess if there's no audio near the playhead, it will show as 0.

[Frank Kruse]

Yeah I read those. Still doesn't explain why it's showing 100% memory used when there are 10GB out of 48GB total still free. Or 83% used when 25GB are free.

Also I had plenty of audio around the playhead when checking the DC meter including 5x5.1 Stems at cursor position.

I guess that whole thing is a bit buggy. It surely can't be trusted as an indicator for the size of the timeline.