pro tools LE and ram

[sorceron]

i only have 512 megs or ram on my pc and seriously, running pro tools can suck on it sometimes once i start adding plugins, i ordered another gig so soon ill have a gig and a half. is that enough do you(anyone) think? will having more allow me to run more plugins or what, what are the benefits? i asked this question a while back on a computer geek forum and all they knew about was photoshop and video games so i figured id ask some people with actual studio experience.

 

[Jak3y]

i only have 512 megs or ram on my pc and seriously, running pro tools can suck on it sometimes once i start adding plugins, i ordered another gig so soon ill have a gig and a half. is that enough do you(anyone) think? will having more allow me to run more plugins or what, what are the benefits? i asked this question a while back on a computer geek forum and all they knew about was photoshop and video games so i figured id ask some people with actual studio experience.

I have 768Mb RAM on my iBook G4 gets the job done nice.. u just have to use bus's intelligently when it comes to multiple EQ's and reverbs Once u can do that you'll getta 5min 16 track song mixed alright or process the tracks seperately and then mix.. just an idea.. or just tank it with RAM.. but it has alot to do with CPU also :hotjump:

 

[Mendel]

I have 768Mb RAM on my iBook G4 gets the job done nice.. u just have to use bus's intelligently when it comes to multiple EQ's and reverbs Once u can do that you'll getta 5min 16 track song mixed alright or process the tracks seperately and then mix.. just an idea.. or just tank it with RAM.. but it has alot to do with CPU also :hotjump:

so howdoes the cpu work then . if you have moe ram the cpu will go down right ?

 

[Heb]

i only have 512 megs or ram on my pc and seriously, running pro tools can suck on it sometimes once i start adding plugins, i ordered another gig so soon ill have a gig and a half. is that enough do you(anyone) think? will having more allow me to run more plugins or what, what are the benefits? i asked this question a while back on a computer geek forum and all they knew about was photoshop and video games so i figured id ask some people with actual studio experience.

Plugins has very little to do with ram in pro tools, 512 mb should work though adding more never hurts What processor do you have? That is much more important for plugins. Check digidesigns site, much info on their forum and compatibility list.

 

[sorceron]

Plugins has very little to do with ram in pro tools, 512 mb should work though adding more never hurts What processor do you have? That is much more important for plugins. Check digidesigns site, much info on their forum and compatibility list.

its a p4 3.0 ghz. Im using pt le 6.7, i usually have about 28 tracks going. 1 reverb 1 delay (both waves) a wavs 6 band eq on kick, snare, toms, oh, hat, guitars, bass, shit pretty much everything actually. a joe meek compressor on the snare (gives a nice crack), comps on like 3 vocal tracks, a couple of antares tubes, and a couple of the sansamps. heh. maybe thats alot i dunno but i get that "audio processing is conflicting with other cpu tasks" message all the time. maybe because my processor has to work extra to stream the audio because of my lack of ram? in that case having more would free up processor to useon plugs? hopefuly thats the case.

 

[Exsanguis]

That's quite a few plugins. My suggestion would be to use busses and submixes to minimize the individual uses of the plugins. More RAM is always a good thing, but i don't believe that that'll really help your current problem.

 

[unsilpauly]

its a p4 3.0 ghz. Im using pt le 6.7, i usually have about 28 tracks going. 1 reverb 1 delay (both waves) a wavs 6 band eq on kick, snare, toms, oh, hat, guitars, bass, shit pretty much everything actually. a joe meek compressor on the snare (gives a nice crack), comps on like 3 vocal tracks, a couple of antares tubes, and a couple of the sansamps. heh. maybe thats alot i dunno but i get that "audio processing is conflicting with other cpu tasks" message all the time. maybe because my processor has to work extra to stream the audio because of my lack of ram? in that case having more would free up processor to useon plugs? hopefuly thats the case.

for audio recording on a computer, the more ram the better. get the most you can afford. and with pro tools le the plugins are deoendant on the ram and the cpu. in hd systems the hardware provides most if not all of the processing power. as far as other cpu tasks when doing audio, i would shut everything else down, especially on a windows based machine where crashes effect everything running on the cpu at that time. this doesnt happen as much with osx . audio projects(especially mixing) really bog down most computers to the point where running other programs at the same time isnt really worth it.

 

[sorceron]

for audio recording on a computer, the more ram the better. get the most you can afford. and with pro tools le the plugins are deoendant on the ram and the cpu. in hd systems the hardware provides most if not all of the processing power. as far as other cpu tasks when doing audio, i would shut everything else down, especially on a windows based machine where crashes effect everything running on the cpu at that time. this doesnt happen as much with osx . audio projects(especially mixing) really bog down most computers to the point where running other programs at the same time isnt really worth it.

yea i been thinking about swiching to mac for a loooong time believe me, but given the cost its hard to give in. if i was running just as many plugs on a mac say like a g5, do you think i would still have this problem?

 

[unsilpauly]

yea i been thinking about swiching to mac for a loooong time believe me, but given the cost its hard to give in. if i was running just as many plugs on a mac say like a g5, do you think i would still have this problem?

hell no.

 

[Heb]

its a p4 3.0 ghz. Im using pt le 6.7, i usually have about 28 tracks going. 1 reverb 1 delay (both waves) a wavs 6 band eq on kick, snare, toms, oh, hat, guitars, bass, shit pretty much everything actually. a joe meek compressor on the snare (gives a nice crack), comps on like 3 vocal tracks, a couple of antares tubes, and a couple of the sansamps. heh. maybe thats alot i dunno but i get that "audio processing is conflicting with other cpu tasks" message all the time. maybe because my processor has to work extra to stream the audio because of my lack of ram? in that case having more would free up processor to useon plugs? hopefuly thats the case.

You could run the plugins that allow it as audiosuite, that would free up some power for you.
Also disable any bands that you don't use in the eq's or use one with fewer bands... Just a thought

 

[egan.]

Have you tried setting your CPU limit and buffer higher?

 

[sorceron]

yea when mixing the cpu and buffer is maxed. and i audiosuite anything i can, but you know how it is, i hate setting compression and eq as a final thing. guess ill have to start saving.

 

[egan.]

yea when mixing the cpu and buffer is maxed. and i audiosuite anything i can, but you know how it is, i hate setting compression and eq as a final thing. guess ill have to start saving.

The biggest thing to try would be substituting other pluggins. For ex. IMO the new digi rack eq is actually usable and is less of a resource hog than the Q10. Also, for the pluggins you do print, you can alway print them on a duplicate playlist so you can easily start over on the uneffected track. Just a thought.

For what it's worth, edit density can tax your system too so if you have a ton of edits sometimes it helps to consolidate regions when you're happy with them. Also, sometimes you can buy yourself some more headroom by thinning your automation. Hope any of this is helpful.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

for audio recording on a computer, the more ram the better. get the most you can afford. and with pro tools le the plugins are deoendant on the ram and the cpu. in hd systems the hardware provides most if not all of the processing power. as far as other cpu tasks when doing audio, i would shut everything else down, especially on a windows based machine where crashes effect everything running on the cpu at that time. this doesnt happen as much with osx . audio projects(especially mixing) really bog down most computers to the point where running other programs at the same time isnt really worth it.

What can you get away with shutting down on XP? If you hit ctrl+alt+delete, what processes do you have to run?

 

[kryckan]

Do you really need six band eq on all your channels? Look into that, and if you can go down to 4-3-2 yo're saving CPU power. But look into your configuration. I use eq's on most channels, bunch of compressors, TWO reverbs and one delay + more on my XP 2500+ (slighty oveerclocked to maybe +2700- +2800).

 

[sorceron]

thanks guys, yea i consolidate all the time and i did an msconfig and took everything off my startup, im going to look into what processes i have running as well. ill have to download the new digi eq. i just got 6.7 and its cool, but i guess i have to get the plugin seperate.

 

[unsilpauly]

What can you get away with shutting down on XP? If you hit ctrl+alt+delete, what processes do you have to run?

i just meant when doing any cpu intensive audio work, in windows i wouldnt be running any other programs besides the audio program. so when you do the ctrl+alt+delete thing, shut down any programs that dont have to be running, chances are there are probably a few especially if you go on the internet with the same computer, or even if you dont, windows always seems to let random things run that the user hasn't started. windows sucks like that.

 

[sorceron]

i just meant when doing any cpu intensive audio work, in windows i wouldnt be running any other programs besides the audio program. so when you do the ctrl+alt+delete thing, shut down any programs that dont have to be running, chances are there are probably a few especially if you go on the internet with the same computer, or even if you dont, windows always seems to let random things run that the user hasn't started. windows sucks like that.

yea no programs are running but there are processes, i dont know what does what as far as those go though.

 

[NathanSoulfracture]

just make sure you dont close down the program you are using and explorer.exe everything else should be fine to shut down.

 

[Kazrog]

For doing digital recording, I consider 1 gig to be the minimal amount of RAM you should have in order to run smoothly. Even my PowerBook has 1.25 gigs of RAM, and my G5 has 2 gigs. If you're using any software-based samplers, 2 gigs is a healthy amount, and 4 gigs is ideal. I use a fair amount of software based samplers, but I never run more than 2 or 3 at a time before I start bouncing things down. It's good practice to do that anyway, regardless of your setup, because MIDI lag increased exponentially the more crap you have going on!