G4 performance

[joao kahuna]

hi,
i've managed to get some help on previous posts, but i keep getting the system overload message. I run a 733 G4 with 1Gb Ram. I was expecting a better performance from it but when i aproach the 24 track limit with a minimum of 2 or 3 RTAS i get the message to free resourses, wich i did already... mmmm

i read there is somewhere a list of extensions i could disable, i've done it to the obvious ones. but there are many extensions with unavailable info... i wish i was using my time to make music... well, i imagine some of you have overcome similar limitations, i'll apreciate any help.

best wishes

[Morningstar]

Which 733 are you using, QS or Digital Audio?

[haak]

i am running 24 tracks with 5 or 6 plug-ins including trueverb by waves without problems on an old beige g3 with 266 mhz, 384 ram and 5400 rpm HD. So, there should be an extensions conflict. A very useful little shareware-programm is extension(s) overload - easy to find on the net. Very helpful is also the digidesign answerbase referring to the exact error code

[joao kahuna]

I'm using a QS 733.

I'm in Brazil, local Apple doen't seem to know there are pro-audio users in the country, I din't even know there was another G4 that might be better for audio...

well, i used to get a lot of 6042 and frozen sreens, now i've managed to get rid of most of these. all i keep getting are system overload messages, saying i should turn off plug ins and lower the performance in the set up. then i usually defrag (speed disk) and reboot, it helps, but i have to keep on bouncing any little eq i do, i expect i should be running more smoothly.

oh, i've also gone through the trash digi and dae preferences zap pram thing.

what would a minimum extension set for pro-tools be?

there are lots of extensions with no info attached...

mmmmmm

[Morningstar]

I'm still experimenting with extensions myself. Start, like digi says, from base, then add what you may need. I turned off appletalk, all the internet stuff, and networking. On the subject of the 733 QS, there are some users here that could help you, do a search and email them.

[John H]

I'm running an audiomedia III with protools LE 5.1.1 on a beige G3 with OS 8.6 and I've never managed to get protools to launch with network extensions (open transport) disabled, it seems to need them. Is this part of the reason OS 9 is the recommended minimum ?

I'd really like to make a trimmed down extension set for protools, I've got it down to the 170Mb free with 192Mb installed RAM with no problems so I guess that's as far as can go for optimisations without looking at a CPU upgrade. I plan on buying a new G4 (or G5 if they're out) near the end of the year as a replacement so the upgrade card wouldn't be an option.

[lukemaniak]

Sorry folks, I'll post it in portuguese:

João, eu rodei o PT LE em meu G3 350 com 192 de ram, com 24 pistas mais automação e varios plugins e aux send sem o menor problema por muito tempo.
Hoje eu estou com um G4 533 (512 ram), melhor ainda...consigo uns três reverbs a mais.

Bom pergunta básica, vc instalou o PT LE, seguindo passo a passo como dita o manual do LE ? Tipo, desligar virtual memory, o Ram Disk, acerta o cache em custom para 512k e etc..??????

No meu caso, eu só uso o PT LE (e seus plugins) e o Toast 5.01 na minha maquina. Portanto, no extensions menager eu seleciono o Mac OS Basic e desligo apenas as instençoes de impressoara (que eu não tenho), o Resto fica como default.
Desliga o appletalk também, caso não vc não esteja em rede, pois pode dar pau no midi, ou prejudicar performance.

Eu deixo o system usage do LE em 85%.

Acho impossivel a sua maquina naum ter uma performance melhor que a minha.

Na pior das hipoteses, de uma formatada (zero all data no seu hd do systema), instala um OS zerado e siga os passos do manual....
Qualquer duvida me da um toque aqui...abraços..

[joao kahuna]

thank you all for the bits of wisdom,

but there must be something seriously wrong here, everyone seems to be getting a better performance than me, and with slower machines, today it was the pci led on the system window - i'm making a habit of keeping it open - going red several times, and i only had a couple of tracks on, no plugin, there was a lot of midi in the song (shouldn't midi be light work???) anyway, midi was not on, the 2 audio tracks were soloed, and i had to reboot twice before i got the work done... i have already reinstalled the system, i might do it again.

and, ops, sorry, i'll have to say something in portuguese to the brazilian friend i seem to have foun in the list.

obrigado pelas dicas, onde vc esta? qual eh o teu e-mail?

abraco.

best wishes.

[Park Seward]

Here are some tips from Digi I found on the web site...

"•Please read all of the Digidesign manuals and installation documents that come with your Digi 001 digital audio system. In addition we highly recommend reading all of the manuals that make up your DAW
(Digital Audio Workstation) system to familiarize yourself with the software and hardware and any
books or classes on Digital Audio, Apple computers, and Audio recording.

•Your CPU should have a minimum of 128 MB of RAM (196 MB recommended) If you plan to use other audio or MIDI applications with Pro Tools additional RAM is highly recommended. Not having the minimum
or recommended system memory will cause your system to not launch, crashing during the launch of Pro Tools, system crashes, or DAE memory error prompts.

•Make sure your memory setting are as follows. Pro Tools preferred memory should be set to
@20,000-35,000k. DAE preferred memory should be set to @30,000-50,000. Pro Tools and DAE
minimum memory setting should be left at its default. You can confirm this by entering a zero into the minimum field and pressing enter on the keyboard, this will default the minimum memory setting. DAE's playback buffer size (Finder/DAE/File Menu/Set Playback Buffer Size) should be set to #2 The Disk Cashe setting in the memory control panel (Apple Menu/Control Panel/Memory) should be set to 512k or
lower.

where do you make the PTLE and DAE preferred memory changes?
------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Click on the (DAE or Pro Tools) application icon once to highlight it and choose File>Get Info in the Finder (shortcut: Command+I). Choose "Memory" from the Show menu in Get Info box.

•Make sure virtual memory is turned off (Apple Menu/Control Panel/Memory)

•Set your monitors to display 256 colors (Apple menu/Monitor's & Sound/Select Monitors/Select 256
colors for the color depth, then close the dialog). This effects the performance of your system and can
directly effect PCI bandwidth issues and produce DAE 6042 errors during playback.

•Enable the default set of extensions. Pro Tools requires that certain essential MAC OS System
extensions be enabled in order to run properly.
-Open the Apple menu/Control Panel/Extension Manager
-From the Selected Set pop-up menu choose the MAC OS base set
-Select "Duplicate Set" from the bottom right hand corner and name the duplicate set.
-In Extension Manager scroll down and turn on OMS preferred device in the Control Panel Folder.
-In Extension Manager scroll down and check DigiSystem Init, Digidesign DSP manager, and OMS in the
Extension Folder.
-Turn on any third party extensions that you might need.
-Restart the CPU with the new extension set selected.

•Make sure you disable (usually done by disabling the appropriate extension) any third party applications
that are running in the background...Norton File Saver, Disk Light, Virus software ect ect.

•After Pro Tools is installed successfully, locate the OMS applications folder and run the OMS installer
and configure OMS. Pro Tools requires that you disable the "Use Apple Serial DMA Driver When
Available" option. In OMS Setup(OMS Setup application/Edit menu/Preferences/Deselect "Use Apple
Serial DMA Driver When Available"/Select OK)

•If you're using a SCSI accelerator card to connect your external audio drives to your CPU please set the
sync transfer rate to 10mHz. This effects the performance of your system and can directly effect PCI
bandwidth issues and produce DAE 6042 errors during playback. SCSI accelerator cards are currently
unsupported and are still being tested with Digi 001 systems. Look for compatibility documents in the
near future.

•Do not rename your system folder.

•RTAS (Real Time Audio Suite Plug-ins) Plug-Ins provide features and functionality similar to their
TDM(Time Divisional Multiplexing) counterparts, but are designed for use on non-TDM-based Pro Tools systems running Pro Tools LE software. Unlike TDM Plug-Ins, they rely on and are limited by the processing power of your computer. The more powerful your computer, the greater the number and variety of RTAS Plug-Ins that you can use simultaneously. Because of the dependence on the CPU or host processing, the more RTAS Plug-Ins you use concurrently in a session, the greater the impact on other aspects of system performance such as available track count, edit density, and automation."

Boa sorte.

[sphonemus]

What RTAS plugs exactly are you trying to use when your machine gives out after 2 or 3 instances?