Pro Tools 7.3.1 Delay before Play on Laptop

[JazzyJ]

Hi all.

Problem: DELAY B4 PLAY! Hit Space bar, wait, wait, wait, zzzzzzzz..... - ah here's the song!

I'm running:

Mbox Original USB
Pro Tools LE 7.3.1
Dell Inspiron 6000 Laptop, 1.73ghz Intel, 512 Ram, Win XP Sevice Pack 2

Set up exactly as in Manual - DMA, Drives never sleep, fonts, flash Mbox etc etc.........
No other programs installed, Network cards disabled, Wireless disabled etc.....
Fresh install and defraged all concering drives.

For Audio drive I've tried both USB 2.0 and Firewire 400

I keep all Samples and Sounds for Virtual Instruments on USB or Firewire Drive.
I only use one of the dives - a USB one or a Firewire one at any one time and have been trying them both out individually to see if there's any noticeable difference in performance. I know Digi recommends Firewire so I'll stick with that.

Basically, I don't know what else I can do to optimize what i've got.

Anyway, if I open a song (eg. 24 bit, 44.1khz, 10 - 12 Tracks), I have to wait about 10 - 40 seconds after hitting the space bar before the song plays. If I've opened a VI plugin then the wait is about 40 secs, if I just have no plugs or just a couple(normal Rtas ie. not VI's), then the wait is about 15 seconds. But even after closing, say GURU Drum machine for example, then the delay is more than it was originally before I inserted it even after I've taken it back off again!
The CPU bar is about 10 - 15% max maybe less. The buffer size is at 1024 samples and I've tried CPU settings from 65% to 85% (max available for my system) and it makes no difference.


Is this a case of RAM or is my CPU just too slow, irrespective if the Dell 6000 is a named compatible Laptop on Digi website?

I've ordered another 1Gb of Ram (Am waiting for replacement, as first one from crucial was faulty!)
but am curious to know in advance whether this problem will go away if I increase the Ram. If the Ram fixes this, then I'll get another 1Gb afterwards to make the max of 2GB to smooth out anything else that might come up.

It's strange, as the CPU bar reading is very low. In fact with the same amount of plugins, it's actually reading lower than my Dual 1.3ghz G4 MAC (Digi 001, PT 6.4)does with the same song and plugs, although the G4 songs are at 48khz rather than 44.1khz.


Can anyone enlighten me as to whether I can expect any "usable" performance from this Laptop set up or is a "travelling studio" a "no no" for me with my Dell 6000 and I'll have to wait to get home to use the Dual G4.


Any PC Laptop people out there let me know what I can expect. Also, will running PT6.9 instead of PT 7 use less power and give me better performance?

cheers

JazzyJ

[kRokksOn]

are you sure you don´t have the countoff button enabled in the transport bar?
It´s a stretch but sometimes the solution is as simple as that.

[JMS40]

Try this.
Go to SETUPS>PREFERENCES>OPERATION
Uncheck "Use All Available Space" under "Open Ended Record Allocation" and "Limit to" a short time period such as 10 minutes.

[JazzyJ]

Thanks for your advise. Both things are cool to know, but they haven't made it smoother.

I really do think it's a Ram thing. I've only got 512MB installed.

I've ordered a 1GB from Crucial, so I'll have 1,256MB Ram soon (Have only got 2 slots!) and will be able to see what's the story.

Thanks for your help. I'll post the results here in 3 or four days time when the Ram arrives.