Long Story...Need Help...Memory Problems?

[Vambo Productions]

Hey guys, here’s my situation, I recorded 2 songs:

Song 1:
KIK
Snare
Hi tom
Mid tom
Lo tom
Hi Hats
OverHead Left
OverHead Right
Sound Replacer KIK
Sound Replacer Snare
Bass
GTR (Mesa)
GTR (Mesa)
GTR (Sans amp)
GTR (Sans amp)
Lead Vox
“NO PLUGINS”

Song 2:
KIK
Snare
Hi tom
Mid tom
Lo tom
Hi Hats
OverHead Left
OverHead Right
Bass
GTR (Mesa)
GTR (Mesa)
GTR (Sans amp)
GTR (Sans amp)
Lead Vox
Bk Vox
Bk Vox
“NO PLUGINS”

All recorded on separate tracks, no problems up till there, But I still need to lay down my Lead Gtr track on both songs and still need to edit and Sound Replace the KIK and Snare on Song 2 (just like I did on Song 1)

I chopped (edited and added fades to) all the GTR/Vox/Toms in Song 1… still no problem

So 2 days ago I decided to do the same for Song 2… Done, fine, no problem.

Now I want to start on the Sound Replacer KIK track…. OK I do that, (had to do it a few regions at a time, but I was getting threw it,) until the last region that I was creating took forever, then I got a “Low Memory Error Please allocate more memory…”

So I change my Buffer size from 128 to 1024 (or whatever it is), that helped me get back into the song to delete the new “Sound Replacer KIK” track, (I figured it screwed things up some how and I would just bite it and redo it from scratch.)

Anyway after deleting the track I was still getting the same error, I would keep reloading the session and after a few times I was able to get into it without the “Memory Error” but I am never able to load the session every time without any hassle’s since my first error.

Once the Error comes up it’s the same Close session/Open session game until it loads without the Error.

So I recorded my leads to Song 1 last night…still no problems with that one.

On to Song 2 (the one with the error).

Ok I go threw the same loading process and get it up. Time to start recording right?
Well I do and it’s recording BUT my Waveforms are not showing up?? (Just for my new Lead track, all others are showing) Audio for the new track is there but I decided to reboot the Mac… Play the loading game, and ok now the waveforms are there for what I recorded but not for anything new that will record (basically I need to reboot after each take if I want to see the Waveforms).
So I’m getting real worried because of all this cr*p that is going on. Time for more research.

Ok, so I realize after doing search’s on the DIGI001 DUC & phoning the place I bought the Digi001 off of that I need to allocate more memory to the DAE (changed to 140 000) and to Protools itself. (changed to 85 000).
I do that and it still gives me the same “Memory Error”

So I say ok let’s try loading Song 1 again, **BANG** now I’m getting the error on that song as well. Now I’m really worried!!

1- Is this because of the high number of edits and fades I did to clean up the high gain GTR stuff (almost anally)?
BTW I can load older (unedited) sessions of these songs with no problem.

2- Anyone know what is going on here? How can I fix this?


3- I need to get these songs finished (Song 2 still needs 2 tracks of Sound Replacer added to it)
If I bounce to disk the Edited GTR tracks to make one solid .WAV file then import it back into the session in place of the heavily edited ones. Will this help or hurts things? (I’m still new to MAC and I don’t want to make my problem any worse)

4- Will bouncing to disk degrade the sound of my tracks?

Thanx

Digi001
Pro tools 5.1
733MHz PowerPC G4
O.S. 9.2
256K L2 cache
640 mb RAM (pc133)
40GB Ultra ATA drive (system)
40 GB Ultra ATA drive 7200 (Audio)
CD-RW drive
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX
Gigabit Ethernet

[Mr T]

Man, you lost me after the 2nd "No plugins"...
No offense but could you make this a little shorter?...

[Vambo Productions]

Hi,
Sorry about that.
Just trying to include ALL the info, and I guess I ended up rambling.

Basicaly I recorded 2 songs, same band.

Song 1... I had no problems with, even after editing up the GTR parts into tiny little pieces.

Song 2... after editing the Gtr's into little pieces I also had no errors.
Then I duplicated the KIK track to add a sample to it (using Sound Replacer) The KIK was poorly played so I had to separate it into different regions so I could apply the Sound Replacer to the regions at different thresholds.

During my last Separate region command I noticed it took forever and eventually gave me a "Memory error" ...allocate more memory. I did that and it did not fix my problem.

On top of that the first song which was fine before, is now getting the same error.

I'm thinking that...
A: too many edits!! will this happen when doing to many edits in a song?

B: both songs are using the same "Audio Pool" so maybe that is getting too full to load with the sessions?

C: The newest track (the one I used Sound Replacer on) was/is corupt. So I deleted it from the edit window but I'm still getting the same error in both songs. (maybe because it is still in the Audio Pool)

Thanx, Hope this helps you, help me. [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[Vambo Productions]

OK my long winded stories are probably just making more people confused than helping.
I guess this is an good example of "Too Much Information"

Basically I am getting the "Memory Error" but even with allocating more memory to Pro tools and the DAE I still get the error.

Is there anything else I can try to fix this?

Thanx

[img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Mr T]

More infos please!...
OK, just kidding...
Now:
Having a G4/733 and way enough RAM , you shouldn't have problems with "wild editing". What memory allocation do you use with PT and the DAE?
Meanwhile, have you tried to use the Save session copy in command? Try this, and while you're there, copy the session on another drive (if you can).
If this still doesn't work, have you tried to use the Select unused region command (from the region list) and then remove some unused regions.
I remember that ,some months ago, as I was working on a Techno/House remix involving a lot of small edits (most of them only being used to get to one final edit on the different regions = simply residing in the region list but not used in the edit window), I finally got a message from PT saying that too many regions adresses where used in the regions list and that I should get rid of some of them for better performance. So I did and everything was fine.
Hope that help. Good luck.
PS: and thanks for making your post a little shorter; my tired brain appreciates...

[Vambo Productions]

Hi Mr. T,
Thanx for helping me along, and sticking with me.

I increased Pro tools memory size to 85 000
and I increased the DAE memory size to 140 000.

I will try all of your suggestions when I get home and let you know how it goes.

I'm scared to start deleting unused regions from the regions list.I'm worried that I might delete parts or all of the session not open at the time, cause I made the newbie mistake of using the same setup from the first song for the second song (just saving it under another name... I have since learned not to do that)

Do you know of anyway to avoid deleting the parts from the song session that is not open?

I will keep researching it myself, I just thought since your here (thank god) that I would ask.
Thanx again

[Mr T]

When selecting unused region and then choosing Clear selected you have the choice to either Delete (gone forever...) or remove the regions.
I didn't advise you to use "Delete" but "Remove" selected (unused region).
To be completly safe, don't delete (or remove) whole files (in bold characters).
Hope that help.

[Vambo Productions]

Hi Mr.T,

Ok I tried the "Save session copy in command" on to a different drive and didn't fix it.

Also I removed the "Sound Replacer" file that I thought was corupt, and that didn't do the trick either.

A couple of things I have noticed:

1= If I reboot my Mac the session seems to load fine the first time, althought I have not tried to push things by recording or editing. (I wanna try and fix this first)
If I close session then reopen it gives me the "Memory Error".

2= When it is going to give me the "Memory Error" I can tell because it takes a long time at the part when it says "Restoring Audio Regions".

Im going to try to remove ALL unused audio regions. (I have like 606 regions for each drum!!... That can't be good)

Any tips on how not to let this happen next time?

Thanx
[img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

[Vambo Productions]

OK, I think that fixed the problem.

I renamed all my regions being used. (man THAT was a chore!! My eyes are still killing me)

Then I removed all the unused regions. (they were cleared)

I loaded the session a few times and no error... Couldn't stand to try too many times cause my eyes were bleeding, but I will put it through a work tonight or tomorrow.

Thanx for all your advice, Hope it stays fixed.

I know editing creates a ton of regions, but what can I do while tracking that can cut down on the mess?...

If I record tracks and they decide to redo them, is there a permanent delete in Pro Tools that wont put these files in the Regions List?

[Doug Ring]

If you mean, "that take we've just done was cr*p, let's not keep it and do another one right away", there's a blindingly obvious way to remove it from your disk. So obvious it took me years to notice.

Command-Z, i.e. Undo!

And once you undo it, you can go into your file menu and be offered the delightful option, "Redo Record Audio"!

You don't have to do it right away either, since there are 16 levels of undo (although you wouldn't be able only to keep take 4 of 6, obviously).