Is this typical performance?

[TurboD]

I recently upgraded to PT9 on my home setup and I've been having some pretty nasty problems with performance. My studio uses PT|HD 8 so this is my first time properly using an 'LE' version of Pro Tools to its max - I therefore don't know whether what I'm experiencing is typical, or whether there's something wrong with my system!

I find that I'll be partway through a mix and all will be fine until Pro Tools will start interrupting playback and telling me to increase the H/W Buffer Size. It's already at 1024 samples and my plug-in streaming buffer is optimized for streaming content from my external drive. There aren't too many tracks in the session (it's a live recording) and I'm not pushing it all that hard in terms of plugs.

Here's my computer specs:

Apple Mac Pro
OSX 10.6.7
2 x 2GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
7GB 667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM RAM
Bus Speed: 1.33GHz
Pro Tools 9.0.2

The computer, which I bought from eBay a couple of months ago, has always felt on the sluggish side, even compared to my old G5 (which is stood beside). In fact, I get better performance out of Logic Pro 7 on the G5, which I've been mixing in here for the past 4 years! However it was formatted, had a fresh install of 10.6.7 and the only hardware difference is an upgraded graphics card.

Any ideas? How might I squeeze better performance out of the computer, both in Pro Tools and in general?

[fakir_cz]

That looks like you are running out of CPU power. Could you get us more info about your settings and the session you are working on? So, what's your playback engine settings, how many tracks are you using, how many plugins... and finally, what does your System Usage window shows you?

Tom

[Darryl Ramm]

Or possibly running out of disk I/O. Although it sounds like your sessions are recording to the external drive, so at least the sessions are not on the OS drive. What is the disk configuration of the Mac Pro. How many disk drives, what type (FW, USB 2, eSATA, SATA?), what RPM, and what disk drives are the OS, Pro Tools sessions and sample files on?

Darryl

[basslik]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Or possibly running out of disk I/O. Although it sounds like your sessions are recording to the external drive, so at least the sessions are not on the OS drive. What is the disk configuration of the Mac Pro. How many disk drives, what type (FW, USB 2, eSATA, SATA?), what RPM, and what disk drives are the OS, Pro Tools sessions and sample files on?

Darryl

Also open that pup up and see if the ram in it are from different brands?, try matching set in it to see if it makes a difference.

[dbaisden]

I recently had the same problem when I upgraded my computer with a new Hard Drive I upgraded the OS to 10.6.7 my old system was 10.6.6. After two days of frustration and reading the forum I decided to start over and put my system back to 10.6.6 and after I did that the problem went away and runs perfectly. I don't believe that 10.6.7 has been officially approved by Avid yet. Hope this helps.

[TurboD]

Guys, thanks for the responses!

The session is running from a 7200rpm Western Digital external drive (which has always been perfectly reliable) while Pro Tools is running from the system drive - a 500GB drive with 435GB free, formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

The system usage window - CPU (RTAS) generally gets no higher than 62%, while the disk never goes above 30%. The session is 23 audio tracks, a single stereo instrument track with Addictive Drums, and 9 Auxiliary tracks either parallel compressing, grouping and treating or verbs/delays.

With it being a live recording, the whole set sits in one session and there's therefore a lot of automation of plugins, FX and EQ but since those are tiny amounts of data each I can't imagine it would be changing much. I'm using the PSP package quite a bit, Soundtoys, and the SSL Duende Native plugs.

One thing that makes me wonder is that I'm using a LiquidMix. The delay compensation is all within bounds and happy (no reds) but could that be causing my CPU to top out?

Also, when I run GuitarRig 3, even a single instance in a session with a single audio channel, it idles at around 15-16% CPU but will occasionally peak and mute the audio. Does that give any more of a clue what might be going on?

Thanks again for your replies!

[bradch00]

Because you original post indicates 7GB RAM, I might suspect that mismatched memory, could... possibly.... mmmmaaayyyybe an issue. I have always matched 2GB sticks or 4GB sticks, but never 3 2GBs and a 1GB... perhaps try taking the 1GB out and see if there's any improvement.

[basslik]

Originally Posted by bradch00

Because you original post indicates 7GB RAM, I might suspect that mismatched memory, could... possibly.... mmmmaaayyyybe an issue. I have always matched 2GB sticks or 4GB sticks, but never 3 2GBs and a 1GB... perhaps try taking the 1GB out and see if there's any improvement.

I agree bradch00

[Darney]

Originally Posted by basslik

I agree bradch00

I agree with Brad and Basslik... check for properly paired memory first. I suspect the 7 G is because of two 512 sticks (original config?)... also check to see if you have a bad memory stick too.
You might try putting a second HD in the Mac Pro.. the FW should be able to handle it but you'll get better performance with an internal drive. That being said, I've got a session on my FW drive with 61 tracks, 4 VIs, and tons of plugins with no issues at all.

[carlone]

You should also post your playback engine settings.

How many processors do you have it set to. Better yet, just make sure it's set to an odd number or at least 1 less than the total number you have.