HD as a serious midi music production platform ?

[Stjernholm]

Is it just me, or it it virtually impossible to use protools HD as a serious music making platform ? There is so many problems with timing (rewire / RTAS intruments ), clicks and pops when running just a few tracks. I use different intruments - some external hardware synths, RTAS instruments and rewire applications like REASON 3.0. Timing can be fine for a short while, and then start to slide..
Pops and clicks are introduced in periods and then dissapear. Very, very frustrating to use !

I run a QUAD G5 with 5 GB ram, a expanded HD system with a 192 I/O. Protools HD 7.2cs1, OSX 10.4.6
Buffer 128 samples (the expansion chassis doubles this figure ) 2 CPU`s set to 99%

Here is a typical music making setup:

2 reason instruments playing
6-10 rewire channels running
1 indigo TDM synth (instrument track)
1 Machfive RTAS instrument playing on one channel playing ONE note
1 external synth inserted in a Instrument track

This very simple setup will give me the hassle stated above !

Using the same system for mixing or sounddesign with 100 tracks running and lots of processing plugins ( no RTAS involved ) is just great and very tight.

Are we talking a general midi/RTAS/TDM/REWIRE issue here or what ? Can anybody else reproduce my problems ?

It is really a shame, as all the new, strong features with midi and intruments really look good on paper - in practice though...it seems like another story, - at least to me !

[hearttimes]

my smaller system uses all the virtual instruments you've listed save one - the mach 5.

i am able to do way more than you've listed with no problems. i also have spectrasonics, and arturia synths

HD2/10.3.9/6.9

you might look into the mach 5 latest version and compatiblilty issues. or try a different sample/freq rate.

best wishes.

[studiojimi]

i much prefer to program on my sequencer then dump to PT

that way my clients can have a hard copy master

i hope to get into the virutal synth when i read you guys are enjoying it in PT

until i see this

the only thing i've heard at the seminars i've attended with the midi guys form PT there is

"help is on the way"

but Prezzie Bush said that oo didn't he?

[Kryst]

Is it just me, or it it virtually impossible to use protools HD as a serious music making platform ?

Sorry, I offer no help, just snooping around. But that made me laugh as it contradicts the usual statements of Pro Tools being the "industry standard". If it wasn't a serious music making platform, it wouldn't be suggested as "industry standard". If you want to try a program that's REALLY impossible to use as a serious music making platform, try searching "ejay" on google. That company makes quite the amatuer looping program, and uses OpenGL, which is IMO an incredible waste of programming for something that doesn't need such graphics.


Oh yea, and if you click on the "Top Artists" part of their page, I laughed to read "You!" on the next screen.

[crizdee]

Are we talking a general midi/RTAS/TDM/REWIRE issue here or what ? Can anybody else reproduce my problems ?

It is really a shame, as all the new, strong features with midi and intruments really look good on paper - in practice though...it seems like another story, - at least to me !

Hi,

Its you and your system! i have the following VI's and often use upto 10-12 on a session...

Mach five
Sampletank
Korg Legacy
BFD
GURU
AURORA
ReFX Vanguard
Albino
CronoX
Octopus
Virtual guitarist
indigo
hybrid
xpand

Obviously some of these VI's are CPU intensive so you can't have limit less instances!

Remember to use VI's like Mack five as 1 instance and use it in multi timbre mode then set individual outputs (i often see people trying to have multiple instances! 1 for each part in the mix etc, this will eat all the CPU)

Most VI's also allow you to set the amount of voices used! by lowering this setting will ease the CPU hit.

VI's like BFD default to stream the data from the hard drive! so is equivelent to playing 20 plus audio tracks from hard drive! there's an option to load to ram if you have enough ram in your mac etc.

There are lots of things that can be done to maximise these VI's, But too many people just insert them and complain when things don't run smooth.

Midi in Pro tools still needs some updating! but is capable as a serious production platform.

Mute midi note please Digi?
Audio to midi please Digi?

Chris

[Evil Jack]

I don't use Mach 5 but I recently dumped my Gigastudio PC to go with Kontakt2 running as RTAS.

Doing fine so far: 50 - 60 midi channels and 4 RTAS instances of Kontakt2 is pretty much my regular 'writing' session.

Reason is working fine for me too.
Sure, I get the occasional crashes and weirdness happening once in a blue moon, but nothing to stop me making music.

G5 2.5Ghz 6 GB RAM

Mute midi note please Digi?
Audio to midi please Digi?

What Chris said - and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE sort out the zoom toggle weirdness for midi [as well as audio]. I need THE SAME MIDI NOTE HEIGHT/ZOOM EVERYTIME I HIT THAT 'E' KEY!!!!!!!!!!

[MiamiMusicMan]

Its gotten allot Better....But still has a Way to go.........7.1 seemed really buggy 7.2 appears to be working much smother for me. I have been using Xpand and Hybrid quite a bit and really like them. Native Instruments Battery 2 and Kontakt 2 and Stylus RMX all appear to be very buggy with all 7.x release which kinda blows cuz i use them allot.............

If they could give us a separate window for editing MIDI with the normal toolset with Eraser, Scissors,Glue,Mute Tool, Solo Tool, etc as well as a good sampler thats really CPU efficient that has a nice GUI (Not like Kontakt or Mach 5).......Instead with Tabs like Stylus RMX, VIRUS TDM,Hybrid, etc. then that would make working in PT allot easier. Also elastic audio would be great too.....

[BrianJG]

you need to bring down the cpu from 2 processor to 1, and then allocate around 75%. mach five and reason need more than 1% to run. 99% of BOTH your cpu's are reserved for rtas you are not using. REWIRE apps like reason and mach five are seperate apps SLAVED through rewire and are not part of this allocation. use 99% if your sessions is friggin HUGE and full cpu hungry rtas plugs like verbs etc.

hope that helps.

[len branville]

Quote:

"If you want to try a program that's REALLY impossible to use as a serious music making platform"...

LMAO!!!

Been there, as I'm sure some others have.


However, when it comes to Midi? Other applications aren't perfect with Midi though either .

leonard

www.labranville.com

[TiPo]

Morten, do a total System Cash cleaning!

Delete the contents of the following Cash folders:

1. /System/Library/Caches
2. /Library/Caches
3. /Users/your_account_user_name/Library/Caches

and restart your machine.

See if it helps or not.

Also make sure that each and every third party software is up to date!
Also try to adjust your Pro-Tools Prefs. according to BrianJG's comment and see if that helps!