Static

[domdompompom]

Once again I am hearing static as I record and playback. I used the trim plugin on all my tracks and I believe I have resolved my issue of CPU power running out and giving more headroom, which was an issue previously on another thread. However, back to the issue at hand. Is there a way to resolve the static?

My session only contains MIDI on instrument tracks, no audio. Just to clarify.
This issue is really keeping me from wanting to play with pro tools and is deflating to know i will encounter this issue when Im in a session

[CygnusX-1Bk2]

What OS? How Much RAM? What are your Playback Engine settings? What IO are you using? What's the MIDI setup? What midi software are you using?

So many factors but so little information.

[domdompompom]

OS X yosemite version 10.10.5
Mac book pro
Processor 2.5 GHz intel core i5
Memory 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Ram: 4 GB

Playback engine: pro tools Aggregate I/O at 44100.0 Hz
H/W Buffer Size: 1024 Samples
Host Engine: Ignore errors during playback/record (On)
Minimize additional I/O Latency (On)
Dynamic plug-in processing (On)
Cache Size: Normal

I/O: (Input) Built in microphone 1-2 at 44100.0 Hz 2ch-24 bit integer
(output)Built-in output 1-2 at 44100.0 Hz & 2ch-24 bit integer

MIDI setup: Oxygen 25 keyboard with built in microphone

MIDI software: Pro Tools Using XPand, structure free, and boom as plugins on instrument tracks.

Also if any of these settings affect my CPU power.

I went to a local music store to see if they could find the issue with the CPU power and static but nothing on my activity monitor showed an issue and my computer was only reaching 7% usage. They had no idea what could be wrong.

[Southsidemusic]

My guess is that the computer is under spec'd.

What hard drive do ou have? Speed? 4GB ram too low when using VI.

How many tracks etc. And of course i5 is not that great.

we need the info on all these questions please.

[domdompompom]

I currently have: 10 instrument tracks (all with virtual instrument plugins and compressor and EQ plugins located on the inserts), a click and master fader, 3 aux tracks (1 acting as a send aux for reverb and 2 for combining tracks into groups).

Can I increase the GB????

I cannot find what hard drive I currently have, if you know where it is located I will find it and let you know and the speed (rotational rate) is 5400 and the processor speed is 2.5 GHz

[Southsidemusic]

Thats your problem right there 99.99999%

That 5400rpm drive will not work and the issues you experience are down to the Drive being way to slow.

If you want to run PT you NEED a new drive and a secondary drive to record to. With 4GB ram you will have further problems and that Macbook is too old and slow for Audio and PT especially.

You would need a new 7200 rpm or SSD drive inside the Mac and a secondary drive same specs for recording.

Althought IF you get a fast new SSD drive like 512GB and up the RAM to 8GB (your computer might not be upgradable to more than 8GB) you can use PT without a second drive for now but difinitely a new SSD inside that machine.

[domdompompom]

I actually found the hard drive: A 500 GB Serial ATA (5400 RPM) hard drive

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by domdompompom

I actually found the hard drive: A 500 GB Serial ATA (5400 RPM) hard drive

Read my above post.

[domdompompom]

Perfect! Thank you for clarifying my issue. Just some questions. Why do I need a secondary drive for recording? Why can't one new drive do the job? Also, is there a setting inside my mac book pro that will allow me to increase my RPM so i do not have to buy an SSD drive?

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by domdompompom

Perfect! Thank you for clarifying my issue. Just some questions. Why do I need a secondary drive for recording? Why can't one new drive do the job? Also, is there a setting inside my mac book pro that will allow me to increase my RPM so i do not have to buy an SSD drive?

You need a new drive and there are no settings to increase a Hard drive speed on any computer.

Also you need a second drive to record to as Pro Tools is set that way. To offload from the internal hard drive we need to use the secondary drive to record our sessions to. I am not that tech savvy that i can explain in detail why but Avid has been stating this for many years and we all have to get the right tools for the job.

You would have to get -

1 SSD drive for OS and PT so you have one fast hard drive
2 You need atleast 8GB RAM
3 A secondary harddrive in either a USB3 case or Thunderbolt case. If you have firewire you can use a FW Case. If your computer doesn't have thunderbolt and or USB3 then get a good Firewire case with either a fast spinner 7200rpm 64MB cache and minimum 9ms seek time or an SSD for that second drive aswell.

The SSD drive would be atleast 256GB but better yet 512GB
The secondary recording drive should be a minimum of 512GB if SSD and 1TB or better if you buy a spinner drive.