9 "feels" slower compared to 8 on same Mac

[dkrz]

I'm running a dual boot Mac. I can boot into Snow Leopard with PT9 or Leopard with PT8 DVTK2. Each system is installed on it's own hard drive in the internal SATA drive bays.

I'm pretty much disappointed in 9. I've been a music editor working on the same program for a little over 10 years now and I'm used to working very quickly under heavy work loads and pressure. I've been doing this job on PT all this time so I know what I'm doing. I work either on an PT HD system (in studio) or from my studio at home. Same job anyway... The rest of this post will have nothing to do with any HD system.

First off, comparing video playback performance between the two systems (SLeopard w/PT9 or Leopard w/PTLE8 DVTK2), it's immediately clear that running video (using the same session) in PT9 is choppy when the video window is pulled open beyond a certain size. On my LE8 set up, this is a complete non-issue. I run a dual 23" display set up at home with the QT video running on one of the displays. Remember, this is the same session(s) I'm talking about.

Next, I compare the "feel" of the user interface. More specifically, the laggy feeling I get with PT9 when drawing automation with the mouse (I draw A LOT of automation for what I do). In LE8 DVTK2, there is no such lag. I'm not talking a big difference here but for anyone that works professionally with PT, even a small performance drop begins to take it's toll after a while. Even dragging regions around in 9 feels a bit "sloppy".

Anyway, I'm sure this is not even noticeable to people with different types of work-flows or uses for Pro Tools. Obviously everyone works differently. But for my personal work style, PT9 "feels" pretty crappy compared to my DVTK LE8 version.

I'm thinking this may be because Snow Leopard is more of a resource hog than Leopard. Or that my Mac is at the lower end of the system requirements for PT9. Whatever the reason - if PT9 requires the use of a "newer" computer (I'm running a 2006 quad-core 2.66GHz machine w/ 6GB RAM), then that is just ridiculous. I'm sure my Mac Pro can run circles around any PT9 qualifying laptop right? Just saying...

Again, PT9 is not terrible. But compared to 8 with Tool-kit. I don't see it as an upgrade at all...

I'm curious if anyone else out there has a similar impression. Anyone?

[Slim Shady]

I'm also a music editor, and aside from the video issue which I do agree with you on, I've had the opposite result.

I find 9 to be more responsive and less laggy than 8 was. Snow Leopard in general is a snappier OS than 10.5 was (less of a resource hog), and I remember seeing a noticeable positive difference in the way PT8 operated when I moved from 10.5 to 10.6.

I'm now on a HD Native rig, but that's only a week old, prior to that I was using PTLE with the complete production toolkit and liked 9 a lot better than 8. Like you I kept 2 different boot drives to be able to swap between the two should any issues arise in 9, but I never ran into any. Both my boot drives are 10.6.5 though.

Do you perhaps have ADC turned on in your PT9 boot drive? That might explain some of the lagginess - if you don't need it, then turn it off.

[dkrz]

Hey Slim - interesting response. Thank you. I don't have ADC turned on so I'm a bit at a loss. In any case, I can get my work done with either system. I would just prefer to stick with Snow Leopard if I could...

On a side note. I remember WAY back seeing your posts in the good old 001 and PT Free days... I don't post nearly as much as you though. Looking at my join date and then at yours just makes me feel old... Oh wait - I am! LOL.

[HD2]

Just a thought. do you have the system preferences set up the same on both boot drives? Also is there anything else on the PT9 boot drive that could be affecting it's performance. Is the drive more than 75% full? How many processors are you allocating under set up>playback engine?

[dkrz]

Originally Posted by HD2

Just a thought. do you have the system preferences set up the same on both boot drives? Also is there anything else on the PT9 boot drive that could be affecting it's performance. Is the drive more than 75% full? How many processors are you allocating under set up>playback engine?

Yeah, both systems are set up exactly the same. PT playback engine also set the same for both. 4 Processor / 95% CPU / 1024 HW buffer.
I've tried many different combinations. Nothing seems to make any difference whatsoever.

As far as the drive, it's a brand new Seagate Baracuda 1TB 7200rpm which I got specifically for my Snow Leopard/PT9 upgrade. As of right now, I have 760 gigs of free space on it.... Thanks for the input!

[Dism]

Originally Posted by dkrz

Yeah, both systems are set up exactly the same. PT playback engine also set the same for both. 4 Processor / 95% CPU / 1024 HW buffer.
I've tried many different combinations. Nothing seems to make any difference whatsoever.

As far as the drive, it's a brand new Seagate Baracuda 1TB 7200rpm which I got specifically for my Snow Leopard/PT9 upgrade. As of right now, I have 760 gigs of free space on it.... Thanks for the input!

I would turn down your processors to 1 less than the max. You may find you have better performance.

Turning off ADC if you don't need it will make a difference too. That's the only thing to me that prevents Pro Tools 9 from actually being more CPU efficient for me. I noticed almost a 10% increase in RTAS efficiency from PT8 to PT9. (dverb test)

[dkrz]

Originally Posted by Dism

I would turn down your processors to 1 less than the max. You may find you have better performance.

Turning off ADC if you don't need it will make a difference too. That's the only thing to me that prevents Pro Tools 9 from actually being more CPU efficient for me. I noticed almost a 10% increase in RTAS efficiency from PT8 to PT9. (dverb test)

Thanks for the reply but as I stated, I'm not running ADC and I've tried all combinations of CPU usage etc.. No difference. I don't use a lot of RTAS anyway. There is no logical reason why 9 can't run as smoothly as 8 with the exact same settings on the same computer... Anyway - this post was only about my impression of 9 and a general performance comparison. I'm not having any serious issues at all. User interface feels slower in 9 and video playback is choppy after expanded beyond a certain size. So for now I'll just keep working with 8.