Newbie in Pro Tools hell

ughh

I really hate computers,

I typed out this message and it disappeared.

anyway... here it is again....

I am really new to the world of computers and digital recording. I downloaded Pro tools free version and although my computer has the minimum requirements, it crashes when ever I try to record a track. I think this is a memory problem and not a software problem. Any other pro tools free users have problems recording with 128MB of RAM, and are there any tricks to squeeze more performance out of the program or the system to make it work. I am going to buy more RAM at some point, but any advice to get me up and running before then is appreciated.

thanks
 
Amanderthad,

Im running Pro Tools Le software with 128Meg of ram and LE software has a little bit more than free, It's hard for me to answer your question until I know what kind of computer you are running. I'm running a PC, 500MHz PIII overclocked to 633MHz, Delta 44 sound card, CDRW, CD, Zip, Floppy, 13Gig 10,000rpm, dedicated audio hard drive, and my computer never crashes, If you could forward that information someone here with Pro Tools experiance will help you.....

Peace

Carter
 
Do you have a soundblaster live soundcard?

If so make sure you set the sample rate to 48kHz or PT Free will crash
 
Actully, the place to go is at the digi site were they have a set space for PTfree and it's problems/fix's.

I don't use the Free version so I don't think I can help.
 
Thanks

Thanks for the advice.

My system specs

533Mhz PII, YamahaXG(?) sound Card, CDR, CD, Floppy, 15(?) Gig - I am not sure about some of these as I am not to savy

I have made a few adjustments and now seem to be able to record, although It still crashes after about a minute of recording. At least I had the brief pleasure of hearing a playback, and being able to do a little experimenting with the package. It seems like a great piece of software, but I think I am going to have to get some more RAM to really make it work. I think the problem is that the 128mb is being used inefficiently by my system, 30% of it is being used by drivers, devices and God knows what else, which brings me beneath the minimum to run PT smoothly.

I am going to try to do a little more research on the PT web site and see if I can get some general Computer Config Advice from the IS guys at work...

Thanks again
 
Amanderthad,

The bad news that I have for you is that I use to have one of those Yamaha XG sound cards back when I first tried Pro Tools Free, I had crashing problems too!! so I went out and purchased my Delta 44 soubd card and Pro Tools LE software, I installed the sound card first and tried it with Pro Tools Free and I didnt have any crashes with 128 Meg RAM. then I installed LE and I havent had a crash since I got rid of the XG.

You might want to look in spending $250.00 on a good sound card, The Yamaha XG is $30.00

Hopes this helps


Carter

P.S. check and make sure your hard drive is at least 7200 RPM, a 5400 RPM hard drive can cause crashes in Pro Tools
 
I was thinking that my soundcard might be a bit cheap, but I thought that it would only effect sound quality and not recordability. I have a Creative Labs AUE 64 that I can put in, anyone know if this soundcard would be much of an improvement, or should I just spend the coin for a decent one?

Also I have the 5,000rpm hard drive, is it worth it to upgrade to a faster one?
 
Amanderthad,

I think you should go and get you a good sound card, as for your hard drive, I would definetly upgrade, if you ask any of the BIG boys they will tell you, at least 7200 RPM but they prefer, like myself a 10,000 RPM SCSI drive



Carter,

What I ment with the sound card is the Yamaha XG sound card is not very compatiable with Pro Tools...
 
How do you use pro tools L.E with the delta Carter? Pro tools l.e. only works with digidesigns audiomedia and digi 001. You must mean pro tools free.

Also, I might reccomend when you get a new soundcard that you also get n-tracks from:
www.fasoft.com.
With n-tracks there arent track limits, and you can use vst and direct x plugs;there are lots of FREE vst and direct x plugs about. So Id think you should investigate n-tracks.

And you NEED a 7200 rpm hard drive. GET ONE.
 
To free up some resources, use Control-Alt-Delete to close out everything but Explorer and Systray.....then open up Protools....Protools has a bit of a learning curve to it....Id take Robert Jaybirds advice about N-Track....before getting a second hard drive, see what you can do with what you have, but eventually youll want to get a second one.....
 
N- tracks

Well, after trying to get Proo tools free running with what I have, I have realized that it is not enough. Hopefully I will be able to upgrade hard drive, sound card, memory and the like, but until then I think I will stick with N- Tracks. I downloaded it over the weekend and have had only a few minor problems. I liked it so much that I registered it yesterday and I am 8 tracks into my first recording. So far with limited effects processing I think my CPU is pumping at about 65%. If I add more tracks and processing I assume this is going to get unmanagable soon. Short of upgrading my existent computer is it possible to link up with a second computer and hard drive to help share the load. I have an old 133mhz computer that I can get from my brother, which has I think had a fairly large harddrive for it's time. as a newbie I have no idea what is possible or not, so any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks
 
Personally, I'd just work with what you have for right now, unless you have a bunch of extra cash to blow...The setup you have, at least computer-power wise, should be fine...You're running w/ twice as much RAM as I have, about 200mhz more than i have, twice as much hard drive space as I have, and on and on :) The first thing I would upgrade would be the soundcard, N-track should work fine with what you have, for probably at least twice that 8 tracks that you have now...

The most i've ever tried to get out of my system was 12 tracks awhile ago, and that was with my 366mhz, and only 32mb of ram, so you shouldn't have any problem...

-travis
 
you can adjust virtual memory, but i dont think you can disable it...im no Bill Gates so I could be wrong...this is something you dont wanna play with....but i think you can set it at two times your free ram..or was it half....see...dont play with it....
 
I definately wouldn't disable virtual memory... I don't think you should be having a problem w/ 128mb of RAM, but if you have a bunch of crap that loads when windows starts, you could either just close them all down before you record, or what I did is set up seperate users for recording and just normal use...That way when I want to record I just log in as a different user, and only have the stuff I need for recording start up, it frees up quite a bit of memory, especially if you have icq, a firewall, etc loading up...

-travis
 
Amand..
first make sure that you control al delete (just once) to free system
what system ? pentium ?
also the graphics end of pro tools-
you may need directx update
(i am guessing here)
i looked at pro tools demo and pretty much settled for
cakewalk and cooledit pro
the later for post process effects hope that helps
 
pglewis said:


Good God man, no! :eek:
Click to expand...

Sorry,

protools would not even open a session till I disabled virtual memory. Before this, opening a session would have frozen the system so cold that you could not even move the mouse.

Also, disabling virtual memory is recommended on the digidesign users conference.

Make sure that your had drive has the DMA box checked, if your hard drive supports this feature

disable frills like :
system sounds
power management
screensaver
memory hungry icons

Also disable:
audio acceleration.


Finally, virtual memory does have a disable option. Disabling virtual memory did not slow down performance of my other programs like vegas.
 
gidge,

it is recommende to set virtual memory at double your physical memory.

bops,

I don't know if this works on windows 98 or 95, but in windows me, if you start programs/accesories/system tools/ system information,

you can automatically disable all those things, including systray. You can also disable all static vxds
 
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