running out of dsp for the mixer?

[travista00]

i'm using and hd|3 system, and i'm running out of dsp for the mixer with 66/160 voices used and 75/512 time slots used. even if i have a complete chip empty on my accel card, pt will not allow new outputs or bussing. any reason why or way to get around this? thanks!!

[crizdee]

Originally Posted by travista00

i'm using and hd|3 system, and i'm running out of dsp for the mixer with 66/160 voices used and 75/512 time slots used. even if i have a complete chip empty on my accel card, pt will not allow new outputs or bussing. any reason why or way to get around this? thanks!!

Hi,

Try less DSP's per voices. so to make more chips free! seems you don't need all 160 voices if you're using 66 now

Chris

[travista00]

i thought all the mixer dsp was handled on the chips allocated for that, ie, when you allocate 4 chips for 128 voices, you get 128 voices guaranteed, when you allocate 5 chips for 160 voices, you get 160 voices guaranteed. you're saying the number of voices you get depends on how many free chips are available in the system?

ps- the 5 chip/160 voice playback engine seems the most stable on my pt8, g5 ppc rig. some of the other playback engines give me constant assertation error crashes.

[Dizzi45Z]

This is the third post like this that I have seen and none of them find any real answers. I would really appreciate it if DTS would step in and give us some more info. I have been unable to find out any extra info on this. There appears to be nothing in the manual about it.

[crizdee]

Originally Posted by travista00

i thought all the mixer dsp was handled on the chips allocated for that, ie, when you allocate 4 chips for 128 voices, you get 128 voices guaranteed, when you allocate 5 chips for 160 voices, you get 160 voices guaranteed. you're saying the number of voices you get depends on how many free chips are available in the system?

ps- the 5 chip/160 voice playback engine seems the most stable on my pt8, g5 ppc rig. some of the other playback engines give me constant assertation error crashes.

Hi,

What i'm saying is if you don't need to absorb 6 DSP when you're only using 66 tracks, then reduce the dsp's per voices, this will free up chips!! problems always occur when running close to max. chances are you won't get the problem with several more chips free.

Unless there's something unusual about your session? like you have 100 busses all assigned to the same output etc, then this should be a breeze.

Chris

[travista00]

i'm just trying to get a better grasp on dsp management within an hd system. to tell you the truth, i wish there was a completely native hd system, so i wouldn't have to deal with it! just let the computer handle all that stuff, instead of me having to allocate voices and delay comp to chips, then also worry about having enough chips to get dsp power for the mixer. then i gotta worry about what plug-ins use how much chips, whether they do plug-in sharing or take up a whole chip, etc. it's becoming a real time waster in the studio. seems like it's a bit of a black art with no 100% explanation of how it all works. thanx for the help though crizdee!

[DrFord]

I actually get this problem as well. It usually occurs when I have a maxed out session. In PT HD2 I have 96 tracks at 96khz and when I have a maxed out mix with RTAS and TDM plugs maxed, the mixer sends stop being active when trying to instantiate new ones. I usually start printing insert plug ins on new playlists so I can go back to older versions for remixing, (label appropriately.)

Once I have printed as much plugs as possible using audiosuite, it usually does the trick enough to open up all the needed bus sends.

HTH's

[john1192]

maybe related ...

i was trying to get my buffer size lower for tracking virtual instruments ...

at 24/48 the setting for getting 64 samples is 96 voices on 2 chips ... you only get down to 256 with other settings ..

i am using an HD2 so i try to track with color on the way in .. less taxing on the mix .... and like others i print to alternate playlists to save DSP ...

take this for what it is worth ... happy mixing

cheers

john

[Dizzi45Z]

Originally Posted by crizdee

Hi,

What i'm saying is if you don't need to absorb 6 DSP when you're only using 66 tracks, then reduce the dsp's per voices, this will free up chips!! problems always occur when running close to max. chances are you won't get the problem with several more chips free.

Unless there's something unusual about your session? like you have 100 busses all assigned to the same output etc, then this should be a breeze.

Chris

Chris,

Are you sure that this is how it works? I thought the same exact thing until I read the manual. Pg 46 in the Reference Guide reads:

Quote:
Select the number of voices and DSPs to allo- cate for voicing by selecting a value from the Number of Voices pop-up menu as follows:

• Select minimum voice numbers if you are using high-bandwidth PCI or PCIe cards (such as video capture cards) along with your Digidesign cards. These settings place the lightest processing load on each allo- cated DSP chip, but generally require more DSPchipsbededicatedtovoicingandmix- ing (leaving fewer available for plug-ins).
• Select medium voice numbers when your Digidesign cards are in an expansion chas- sis, or when you are using other PCI or PCIe cards along with Digidesign cards. These settings generally provide an optimum bal- ance between number of chips needed for voicing, and the processing load placed on each.
• Select higher voice numbers when your Pro Tools|HD cards are the only PCI or PCIe cards in your computer, or when you are using an expansion chassis to run higher track counts (such as 64 tracks at 96 kHz) and you want more voices per DSP (such as 16 voices per DSP at 96 kHz). These settings use fewer DSP chips for mixing (leaving more available for plug-ins) but place the highest processing load on each.

End Quote.

I tried changing the number of voices per chips on a session that I couldn't seem to bus or route anymore. I found that actually using fewer chips per voices solved my problem. When I tried using more chips per voices, I ran out even sooner. Maybe things have changed since Pro Tools 8.0. But that has been my findings.

This is the only information I can find anywhere regarding this issue.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by travista00

i'm using and hd|3 system, and i'm running out of dsp for the mixer with 66/160 voices used and 75/512 time slots used. even if i have a complete chip empty on my accel card, pt will not allow new outputs or bussing. any reason why or way to get around this? thanks!!

Open your system usage window and see if you have used all your DSP chips already. Yes you're right about "HD Engine" guaranteeing the voices, but that's not the whole story. There are also lots of chips used for the mixer, which means internal inputs and outputs (=busses,auxes,etc) and if you have delay compensation enabled, there are also chips used for the delays.

If that's the case and you don't have free DSP chips, then just use smaller HD engine (DSP chips used for guaranteeing voices), and the freed chips can be used for larger mixer.