big delay when starting recording on PT HD3

[pepasmax]

Hi friends !!! I'm so sorry to disturb you but if one of you can take a bit of time to answer to my little question .... it would allow me to win a lot of time !!

So, first, my configuration :
-G4 733 with 768 Mo ram
- digi Pro Tools HD 3 cards
-video card dual monitor DH Pro Max
-Atto scsi card UL3D(2 channels Scsi 3 ultra 160)
-2 HD 18go IBM Ultra 160 10k (Ultrastar)one per channel .

When I start recording, I ve got a delay between the moment I click record and when it really starts recording . Indeed this delay length is about 12seconds !!!!! its a really uncomfortable situation .... !!!

I've already checked the termination, cables, the disks were formated with Atto Express Protools .... following the digidesign compato page .

The really problem is that when I disconnect the scsi hard drives, and when I create a session on the internal Ide Ata 40 go drive, I ve almost no delay !!!!!!!

I do not understand and I think I m gonna fall mad in a few days if i dont shoot this pb ..
Ive bought very good scsi drive, very good atto card and I realise that my internal ata hd is more efficient !!!! it's a bit strange isn't it ?

Please help me there's surely something to optimise no?
thanks by advance
max

[carlone]

You could try going to preferences/operation then find OPEN ENDED RECORD ALLOCATION. Select limit to 10 minutes or something like that. THen PT won't try to allocate the remaining space on your drive.

Also you could try going to Playback Engine and making sure that the playback buffer is on 2 and not 8.

[uno1234]

Turn off the wait for note and/or the midi countoff.

[nozza1]

The one time this happened to me was when I first installed two new 36GB Glyph Hot Swap UW Drives and went in the studio to track a band. The drives came formatted as HFS+ from the dealer. I had the same problem as I tried to record on 16 tracks simultaneously with Auto Punch activated. I didn't really see what the problem could be as I'd done this countless times before with my previous seagate drives. After a call to digi support UK it turned out to be the HFS+ formatting that was causing me the problem. It might be more efficient in terms of space but HFS+ appears to make it more demanding for Protools to record and playback audio. As soon as I re-initialized the drives as HFS standard the problem disappeared and I was back to my usual performance. Surprised this isn't mentioned more on the DUC as I can't believe there's only me that's experienced this problem.
Good luck and hope this may of been some help.

[uno1234]

Actually, this problem has been brought up dozens of times on the DUC.

The "set record allocation" is related to HFS+. Unless you specify a record time, Pro Tools will allocate the whole drive for every recording pass. And since HFS+ has so many blocks, it takes much longer to allocate for recording. If you have quickpunch turned on and a track in record, Pro Tools will allocate for any possible recording, even if you only play back.

The other possible reason for a delayed start time is the wait for note turned on.

[DaveCarlock]

In prepping for live recording with my HD3, I tested several drives repeatedly with a 62 minute allocation. Drives were formatted HFS+ with the ATTO EPT utility without "digital audio" optimization.

32 tracks consistently drop into record in 2-3 seconds. I did not use quick punch in my testing.

However, FWB formatted drives took a few seconds more to drop into record and had more than double the PCI usage.

DC

[nozza1]

Thanks for explaining that for me uno. I'd not come across it on the DUC before, but your explanation explains the the reason behind the solution I found. Thankyou.

QUOTE]Originally posted by uno1234:
Actually, this problem has been brought up dozens of times on the DUC.

The "set record allocation" is related to HFS+. Unless you specify a record time, Pro Tools will allocate the whole drive for every recording pass. And since HFS+ has so many blocks, it takes much longer to allocate for recording. If you have quickpunch turned on and a track in record, Pro Tools will allocate for any possible recording, even if you only play back.

The other possible reason for a delayed start time is the wait for note turned on.[/QUOTE]