PT HD Veteran on an LE System - Interesting Problem

[spicyitaliano]

As promised, I wanted to report my findings. All this running on a Dual 1.25 G5 FW800 model with 2 Gb RAM.

First thing was to install at third-party FireWire PCI card.
Next install the latest compatible version of the OS; 10.4.8. (.9, .10, and .11 are not supported)
Then last was the latest compatible version of LE 7.1 cs10.

The result? TERRIBLE PERFORMANCE!!

I could hardly squeeze two audio tracks out of my system before it balked and locked up. Even trying a sampler. Simply switching patches during playback caused it to freeze up. Error -6086. This error does not appear in Digi's database, but it shows up all over the PTLE for Windows forums.

So can anyone explain what the hell is going on? And please don't say "Hey dude, quit whining and get a Mac Pro!" because I already own a farm of Mac Pros. I'm trying to make use of this machine while I've got it, and beyond that, I've produced dozens of records using a G4 far slower than this one running PTLE.

[ChuckS]

On the G4s and G5s, try an 'open firmware reset'. For unknown reasons (maybe device mapping?), these machines can tank performance wise. The reset can clear things up. It's the second item here:

http://www.macgeekery.com/hacks/hard...irmware_tricks

Just make sure to put the dashes in the commands and hit return after each.

[spicyitaliano]

Thanks Chuck, I'm going to try that.

Apple has also outlined a method to reset PRAM and NRAM here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

Does this look like a good option to clear things up?

[ChuckS]

NVRAM is reset with the Open Firmware Reset which is a little deeper than resetting PRAM. Combining them both is fine. The firmware reset referenced in your link refers to a specific condition where your Mac boots up into open firmware mode by itself. You'll need to startup in open firmware mode by holding CMD-OPT-o-f on startup.

[nedorama]

Another option -

Depending on how many instruments you're loading into Sampletank, if each one has multiple effects, that can bog down the system. If you're running 10 instruments each with 4 effects, that's 40 effects. Try turning them off.

On the preferences, I'm assuming you've already clicked "Hi Performance" vs. "Hi Quality".

I'm running Sampletank 2.5 and Sonic Synth with PT LE 7.4 on a Dual 2.0 Ghz G5, and it gets stopped sometimes as well.

[spicyitaliano]

Hey Nedorama. Let me re-emphasize here. The problem is not obvious. The problem is not a simple matter of "pushing the system too hard". The problem is something fatally wrong with the hardware. What it is, I'm still trying to work that out. But regardless of SampleTank (maybe I shouldn't have made such a big deal of that...), I can't even play more than a couple audio tracks without the system locking up. One virtual instrument (pick one) and one MIDI track, even that locks up the system.

If it were something as simple as "pushing it too hard" then I wouldn't still be here trying to figure this out. As someone who has spent years of time (and money...ugh) on hi-end PT systems, I would certainly know if it was something that obvious!

So far Digidesign support is miffed. They have no idea, and we've gone around again and again. The only answer I can get is "You're machine's processor must be messed up."

Great.

[flommer]

Have you tried eliminating all 3rd party plugins and getting a baseline system working? Then add 1 at a time etc...

[spicyitaliano]

Of course. I've reinstalled the OS and PT over again nearly a half-dozen times. I've even tried a 35x zero write, swapping out the RAM, and starting with a new system. I've tried every combination of OS Panther + Tiger, PT 6.2, 6.4, 6.9, 7.0, 7.1, 7.3, and with a variety of update points and CS updates. So what else you guys got?? This can't be good!

There is something seriously wrong, something that I don't think is a software issue. As suggested earlier, I went ahead and reset the PRAM and NRAM and with no success. Is there another hardware issue I may have overlooked?

[ChuckS]

Make sure all the cards are seated properly (video and any add in boards), reset the PMU (that little button on the motherboard) and replace the battery. Those are the only other hardware items I can think of.

[DigiTechSupt]

Which Firewire card are you using?

Can you tell me which OS and PT version you're running currently, so that I know what we're working with?

Also - have you tried removing all the plug-ins from your plug-ins folder, trashing preferences, and testing that way? I'm thinking there's still quite possibly a plug-in issue going on...