pro tools running with issues

[milan cutlac]

Hi all,

I'm using PT for less than a month since now and had a lot of issues that still persist.

I've created a 48Khz/24 bit session. While running PT 7.3.1 on Leopard I had a lot of problems that I thought that should disappear after upgrading to 7.4.2. But still, I get CPU errors with my 2 tracks session :
On the 1st audio track I have a guitar, and I just made some Elastic Audio processing and applied the modifications to the track, and the modified it's gain. On the second instrument track I have the output for the Reason 4.0. During playback, I've recorded some drums in Reason. I got some "rrrrr" sound effects, like the processor freeze, and then the error message:

"you are running out of CPU power. Elastic Audio processing could not keep up. Please switch Elastic Audio tracks to render mode, disable Elastic Audio processing, or remove some RTAS plug-ins (-9403)".

The only plug-in that I have attached to a track is Reason.

That "rrrrr" sound effect appeared not just only once, but many times before and after my upgrade to 7.4.2, and not just while recording. I'm using Macbook's hard drive for PT recordings and work.

I really hope that I miss something, so can you please advice.
Many thanks,
Milan

Macbook 2.4 Ghz/2 Gb RAM, 160 Gb HDD
Leopard 10.5.4/ PT 7.4.2
MBox2 Mini

[Phil Ogden]

1. Did you do a clean install of PT7.4.2? This is recommended so as to avoid leaving any non Leopard PT components behind.
2. The CPU 'spike' is symptomatic of incompatible plug-ins. Make sure all third party (non Digirack) plug-ins are fully Leopard compatible. Update as appropriate.
3. Running with one less CPU allocated to PT can sometimes help with this problem.

http://www.myspace.com/philogg

[Obsidian Dragon]

You should be recording to a physically separate hard drive. While the internal hard drive on the macbooks may support limited functionality, the system requirement clearly states to use a separate hard drive. In the case of a notebook like the macbook, the internal drive may be too slow (5400 rpm) and the overhead of the OS makes it not a suitable place to record to. An external firewire drive with the Oxford 911 chipset and running at 7200 rpm is the recommended solution. USB 2.0 drives are not recommended as they can not sustain the throughput necessary for streaming multitrack audio.

[milan cutlac]

Hy,

Phil,
1. I made an installation of PT 7.4.2 while having PT 7.3.1 installed, then I note and read that PT 7.4.2 upgrade from Digidesign is a full installer, so I uninstalled my fresh PT 7.4.2 installation, then manually removed some files that where not deleted, then I made a clean installation that runed successfully. Think I'll make again a clean install, but I'm not putting hopes in this attempt of solving the problem.

2. I'll make sure that Reason 4.0 is fully compatible with Leopard. (Reason is the only plug-in attached in my session).

Obsidian Dragon,
I know about the Digidesign recommendations regarding using an external firewire hard drive, I intend to use one a.s.a.p., but my concern is that I have PT errors regarding CPU speed within a 2 track session - this is very basic, I didn't put tones of tracks and plug-ins, just two. Shouldn't this be a piece of cake for a full compatible PT with Leopard and my Macbook ? It is obvious that for complex recordings you need fastest machines and dedicated recording drives, but what I did is like a child game that could not be handled.

Thank you for the replies.
Milan

[milan cutlac]

Hi,

The propellerheads guys sustain that Reason 4 is fully compatible with Leopard : http://www.propellerheads.se/support...le=leopardinfo .

The Digidesign PT 7.4.2 supports Reason Adapted 3.0.5 : http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?...n=news_details , but I saw one of the James Bernard videos on linking pro tools and reason adapted, in which he was finishing his tutorial by saying that you can upgrade to a full Reason and use it with PT, so I guess that he knew what was saying.

Milan

[Phil Ogden]

Originally Posted by milan cutlac

Reason is the only plug-in attached in my session)

It does not necessarily follow that Reason is the culprit. Incompatible plug-ins can cause these CPU problems even if not instantiated in a session so your investigations should concentrate on ALL third party plug-ins.

http://www.myspace.com/philogg

[milan cutlac]

Reason 4.0 is the only third party plug-in installed on my system. The error is still poping-up from time to time; I still didn't found the cause for this behavior.

I'm looking now for performance tests for my Mac, to check if it hads built-in issues.

Any advice shall be appreciated.
Milan

[lectrohowie]

It might be informative to open Activity Monitor and see if there are any other processes that are hogging CPU during your sessions. Also, check to see the RAM allocations (also in Activity Monitor). 2GB is not that generous amount of RAM these days. BTW, how much free space is left on your Hard Drive?

[lectrohowie]

Another thought or 2: Make sure that Spotlight and TimeMachine aren't running. I would also have a look at your Login items. Sometimes you find things there are set to open at Login that you aren't aware of! Which brings another thought: have you tried creating a brand new user account and running Protools from there?

[lectrohowie]

Just FYI, I have the original MacBook and I routinely do 2 track live recording with it to the internal hard drive (which I had changed out for a 7200 RPM model). Just to see what I could do with it, I've mixed down 12 track recordings with a bunch of plug-ins and it actually worked o.k.

One of the things that affects the results is the edit density of the sessions - that is, how many edits there are in a short time. If there are a lot then the session may not work well, or at all.