Contents:
Are the new Dual Macs
and HD working well together?
Which files are installed
with Pro Tools and where should they be located?
What are some basic/optimum
settings for Pro Tools? ( TDM Mac )
How to record to stereo tracks internally with
no external conversion.
Mac OS X and Pro Tools Warning
Aurora Fuse™ Software Revision
2.0.2
Run Pro Tools 4.3.1 PowerMix
on a Powerbook G3
ProTools unexpectedly quit
What's the reason
for Disk Cache being set to a low of 512k?
What's is the maximum RAM that can be allocated
to ProTools & DAE, before it becomes unnecessary, or starts causing
problems?
Lexiverb Preset Shuffle
Links
*PRINTABLE
VERSION*
Are
the new Dual Macs and HD working well together?
Although Pro Tools 5.x does not utilize the extra processor, you can leave
the Multiprocessor extensions enabled for other programs if you install the
Apple Multiprocessor and G4 PowerBook Expansion Chassis Fix: http://www.digidesign.com/download/mp.html
Which
files are installed with Pro Tools and where should they be located?
-Digidesign Folder -----> on root level of boot hard drive (usually called
Macintosh HD)
-Document Readers Folder
-(Other Digidesign Applications, if installed)
-Pro Tools Folder
-Pro Tools Utilities folder
-DigiTest
-Track Transfer Utility Folder
-Calibration Mode Templates Folder (TDM only)
-OMF Tool Folder (TDM only) ... if installed
-Pro Tools (Application)
-Release Notes & Documentation Folder
-DAE Folder ------> in System Folder (which lies on the root level of the
boot hard drive)
-Codecs Folder
-Controllers Folder
-DAE (application)
-Plug-In Settings Folder
-Plug-Ins Folder
-16 or 24 bit Optimized Mixer (required)
-Other plug-ins
-Plug-Ins (Unused) Folder
The following are installed into the Extensions and Control Panel folders in
the System folder:
OMS Preferred Device (control panel)
Digidesign Sound (control panel)........ if applicable - v5.01/OS9 and higher
Digidesign DSP Manager (ext)
Digisystem INIT (ext)
Open Music system (ext)
Digidesign Stream Manager (ext)......... if applicable/needed
Digidesign Output Drivers (ext)........ if applicable/needed
Digidesign Direct I/O (ext)........ if applicable/needed - v5.01/OS9 and higher
What
are some basic/optimum settings for Pro Tools? ( TDM Mac )
- Appearance Control Panel > Fonts, change all fonts to Chicago & Disable "Smooth
all fonts on screen."
- Under Sound, set Soundtrack to "none."
- In the Energy Saver Control Panel Set sleep time to "Never."
- In the Memory Control Panel Select "Custom" twice under Disk Cache
and set it to 512k. You will see a warning regarding system performance. Do
Not Panic! This warning does not affect Pro Tools' performance. 512k is the
optimum setting. See: Why
- Set Virtual Memory and Ram Disk to "Off."
In the Monitors Control Panel:
- If using a 9500 or 9600 (or lower) Mac, set colors to 256.
- If using a G3 or G4, setting the color to "thousands" should be
adequate.
- AV users should set the monitor attached to the ABVB card to "millions."
In the Extensions Manager:
- Under "Selected Set," select the OS Base Set (Listed by OS version...ex.
OS 8.6 Base Set)
- Select "Duplicate Set" and name the set "Pro Tools."
- Add/enable:
OMS Preferred Device (control panel)
Digidesign DSP Manager (ext)
Digisystem INIT (ext)
Open Music system (ext)
Digidesign Stream Manager (ext).... if applicable/needed
Digidesign Output Drivers (ext)... if applicable/needed
Digidesign Direct I/O (ext)... if applicable/needed - v5.01 and higher
Digidesign Sound (control panel)... if applicable/needed - v5.01/OS9 and higher
Pro Tools/DAE
- Memory Allocation (Basic settings, based on 128-196 mb of RAM):
- In Digidesign folder>Pro Tools, 'get info' (Cmd-I)* on the Pro Tools application.
Set the Preferred Memory to 30-50 mb (30000k-50000k) Minimum Memory should
be left at the default (Enter a '0' if in doubt)
- In System Folder>DAE Folder, 'get info' (Cmd-I)* on the DAE application.
Set the Preferred Memory to 40-60 mb (40000-60000k) Minimum Memory should be
left at the default (Enter a '0' if in doubt). NEVER 'lock' these "Get
Info" windows
- These settings are merely a starting point.
DAE Playback Buffer setting (DAE > File menu > Set Playback Buffer).
- Mix System - 2
- D24 System - 2
- Pro Tools III System - 0
- PowerMix Engine - 8
It
is easy to record to stereo tracks internally with no external
conversion.
- Route your tracks to a Bus pair (13-14 for instance).
- Create an Aux track with the input on the same bus pair (13-14) and the output
to another bus pair (15-16). Then put any output plugins, dither etc. on this
aux.
- Create a Stereo Audio Track with input on the same bus as the aux Output
(15-16).
- Make the output of this any pair of Audio outputs.
- Then put this track in record and roll.
If you do not need plugins, then bypass the aux track and go direct via bus
to the other stereo audio track.
Using this with Powr Dither allows mixing a 24 bit session to tracks that play
in the 24 bit session but also function as 16 bit so you can burn a CD from
the file created. I usually allocate a seperate folder for this mix track so
I can easily find my mixes.
8/17/01
Mac OS X and Pro Tools Warning
Installing OS X on the same computer that you run OS 9.x with Pro Tools can
cause serious file corruption and permanent damage to Pro Tools-related disk
directories.
Digidesign has received reports that some users have installed Mac OS X on
the same computer with their Pro Tools system. Pro Tools will not run at all
on OS X, but more importantly OS X should not be installed on the same computer
with your Pro Tools system. Even when using Pro Tools with the approved OS
9.0.4 or 9.1, there have been reports of unrecoverable Pro Tools errors on
computers after users have installed OS X in addition to OS 9.x. Digidesign
is currently investigating these reports along with our development partners,
including Pace Anti-Piracy and Apple Computer.
Digidesign has been actively working with Apple for over a year towards supporting
OS X with Digidesign products, but please be strongly advised that Pro Tools
is currently not compatible with OS X.
8/15/01
Aurora Fuse™ Software Revision 2.0.2
Pro Tools users with certain configurations of Pro Tools software, Apple CPUs
and Aurora Fuse cards have experienced intermittent stuttering in the output
of QuickTime movies to external monitors when their sessions rely heavily on
the host processor. Intensive host processor usage will affect video playback
on any system. To mitigate this condition, Aurora has developed new drivers
for the Fuse card which dramatically reduce the stuttering previously seen
with processor-intensive applications like Pro Tools. These drivers are now
available for free download from Aurora
This is the way I've been
able to install Pro Tools 4.3.1 PowerMix on a G4 or a Powerbook
G3 (Pismo) with OS 9.0.4 and 9.1:
-Installed version 2.0 (2.1 is the current
version) of the USB
Floppy Enabler
-Installed version 3.3a of the USB
SuperDiskClass and USB SuperDiskUT Drivers
-Disabled virtual memory, reduced Disk Cache to 512k and restarted the computer
-Double click: Install Pro Tools icon
-Click the Triangle next to the Pro Tools PowerMix Installer and enable the
following items:
-->Pro Tools Application
-->DAE
-->DigiSystem INIT
-->DigiRack AudioSuite Plug-ins
-->Pro Tools Utilities
-->Real Audio Encoding
(I downloaded the OMS 2.3.8 installer from the Opcode website)
-Restarted the computer
-Connected Imation SuperDisk, inserted key disk and authorized the PT app
and the DigiRack Plug-ins. Pro Tools then launched without incident.
If you are still experiencing problems with record and/or playback, download
and install DAE
3.4.2cs1 from Digidesign's website for the compatibility with Mac OS
9.
Once Pro Tools is authorized, you must leave the USB Floppy Enabler enabled
in the active extension set. Otherwise the Pro Tools will freeze on launch.
Whenever I quit ProTools,
I get an OS error saying that ProTools unexpectedly quit. DAE is
still open and has to be quit manually. What happened? (OS 9.0.4
/ DAE 5.01 G4-500)
The "....application unexpectedly
quit" error messages usually refer to problems or conflicts
with the Mac OS (corrupted software, extension conflict):
-Trash the DigiSetup File, Pro Tools preference, DAE prefs (the entire folder)
and Finder preferences from the System Folder>Preferences folder. Empty
the Trash and restart the Mac. When you go back into Pro Tools, do so from
the Pro Tools Application Icon and not by double clicking on a session.
-Create a Mac OS Base+Digi (Digi Control Panel, DSI, DSP Mgr, Digi Direct
I/O, OMS) extension set.
-Rebuild Desktop File.
-Zap PRAM
-Reinstall Pro Tools
-If you still have problems, perform a Clean Install of the Mac OS
What's the reason
for Disk Cache being set to a low of 512k?
Disk cache information taken
for Apple's
Tech Info Library:
Disk cache is a static area in RAM set aside to help the Macintosh work more
quickly and efficiently.
When a program asks for data from the disk (such as a part of a document),
many times the next piece of data the program will need (such as the next part
of the document) can be anticipated. Therefore, instead of transferring from
disk to memory only the amount of data you are immediately working with, the
system puts a larger amount (the size-of-disk-cache) of data into memory. This
way, instead of spending the time to search for data on the disk again, the
next piece of information will already be available. Disk cache works better
on non-fragmented disks.
It may seem that the size-of-disk-cache should be configured to be quite large
so that the need to search on the disk is greatly reduced. But this is not
so because the memory allocated to disk cache cannot be used for opening more
applications or documents. Thus, giving disk cache a huge amount of memory
only makes that unavailable for use as RAM; it will not result in an increase
in performance.
If the total memory of your system software appears to be very large under "About
this Macintosh..." you should consider decreasing the memory allotted
to disk cache. Open the Memory control panel and click the down arrow in the
Disk Cache box.
We recommend a low Disk Cache setting because DAE uses its own buffers (i.e.
cache) to handle all audio processing and disk read/writing. In other words
(or at least this is how I understand it), DAE and the Mac OS Disk Cache compete
for the same resources and can conflict if the Disk Cache is set too high.
What's
is the maximum RAM that can be allocated to ProTools & DAE,
before it becomes unnecessary, or starts causing problems?
Although increasing the amount of RAM might
help offset a large Disk Cache, DAE still competes for the information
stored in the cache. Therefore, lowering the Disk Cache for Pro
Tools is the preferred course of action.
Although you are free to allocate as much RAM to DAE and Pro Tools as your
system is capable of, I generraly recommend a Preferred memory setting of:
-DAE= 60MB+ (more should be allocated when using Waves plug-ins)
-Pro Tools= 50MB
-Never change the minimum memory size. If you have, you can set it back to
the default setting by typing a 0 into the field and press Enter on the numerical
keypad.
-Depending on the Mac OS being used, I think 128k is the lowest setting you
can specify.
- While Digidesign used to recommend this setting for PT 4.x, they don't
think it will pose any problems with PT 5.
PT/DAE Memory Settings:
For Pro Tools 5, I recommend
the following Preferred memory settings:
DAE: 50MB
Pro Tools: 40MB
If you are running Waves then you should increase DAE another 10-20MB. Otherwise,
these settings should be fine for most situations. Lastly, never change the
Minimum memory size. If you have, you can set it back to the default setting
by typing a 0 into the field and press Enter on the numerical keypad.
Why am i not getting the factory plug-in settings when I click
on 'Factory Preset'? I have seen in another system that when
I use Lexiverb and I click on the Factory Preset button I get
a pop up window showing Chambers, Gates etc. In this system
I have the presets in the Plug-in settings folder in the DAE
folder in the System Folder but it does not show up. If I import
a setting once, the it shows up each time! There are also factory
presets with the Digirack plugs which do not show up. It is
a pain to import each one of them individually and then I do
not get sub-folders like Hall, plate etc.
Any ideas?
This happened to me too. Move the settings in to a folder called Lexiverb
(followed by the TM) instead of the Lexiverb 1.0 folder that it creates.
This allowed me to see the settings.
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