pulling my hair out cause of my mac.

[dont]

So I was initially trying to make music through a daw on my Mac G4 Ibook with just 512 mb of ram. After adding about six tracks (audio and midi) my computer started to choke and skip and sputter and sound awful basically. I figured it was a ram problem So I went out and increased it to a maximum of 1 gb and it helped a bit but it still chokes after I add effects and such (after about ten tracks). Does this sound like a ram problem or something else.. am I doomed to buy a new more powerful computer?

[manning1]

i'm not a mac user.
but it would help to know the bit depth n sampling rate your useing.
it will also depend how resource hungry your plug ins are.
i would list your plug ins also so mac folks can help.
are you recording to the same drive as the mac OS is on ?
or a dedicated drive for recording ?

i would also state the daw software your useing so folks familiar with it can respond.

[clonewar]

Like manning1 said, you really need to list your DAW and plugins for more help.. but yeah, a G4 iBook with 1 GB of ram is getting pretty long in the tooth, it probably doesn't meet a lot of minimum requirements anymore..

[heyman]

I know this doesnt help, but if you are interested, I have a Powerbook for sale in the classifieds. Please let me know via email message or PM. I am willing to take a little more off to get it sold. It is a great little workhorse.

Thanks..

[JVstyle Productions]

get more ram .

[YUGA]

No info on the sampling rate, bit depth, which DAW etc.
But getting an Intel MacBook with 4GB RAM will probably put a smile on your face.

[ProducerBoy]

You're doomed to upgrade. The iBook G4 isn't gonna do well with even a little midi etc... I was happy to sell my Powerbook G4 for a MacBook. Major improvement. Now I'm up to the Mac Pro and finally able to work without compromise.

[dont]

Ahh .... That is interesting thanks

I run on a 16 bit system but my fire box only allows a 44100 in and out sample rate at the lowest. I dont know how much the plugins take up but I use the native instrument bundles mostly and I use synths ( little phatty, nord wave). I use ableton live for my daw

[videoteque]

Great records were made even with G3 macs.

If it can play some audio + midi tracks your iBook have some problem.

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by ProducerBoy

You're doomed to upgrade. The iBook G4 isn't gonna do well with even a little midi etc... I was happy to sell my Powerbook G4 for a MacBook. Major improvement. Now I'm up to the Mac Pro and finally able to work without compromise.

Not a Mac guy myself, but I had a G4 Powerbook (an 800 mHz) around for a while and they were very much not powerful or fast even when they were new. It was sluggish at everything.

Get a MacBook or another new machine [EDIT: of whatever platform you desire]. That's my advice.

[dont]

um... would a hp a6342p pc be a good swap. I actually have one of those available. I would just have to make room for it. Would that have enough power out of the box.

[Kyle S]

i made music for years with 256m of ram.

[stratton]

Originally Posted by dont

um... would a hp a6342p pc be a good swap. I actually have one of those available. I would just have to make room for it. Would that have enough power out of the box.

The HP would be a vast improvement over your iBook.

[str1ke4ce]

Originally Posted by ProducerBoy

You're doomed to upgrade. The iBook G4 isn't gonna do well with even a little midi etc... I was happy to sell my Powerbook G4 for a MacBook. Major improvement. Now I'm up to the Mac Pro and finally able to work without compromise.

Double that my man, had a G4 tower, maxed out the Ram, same problems your having, kept telling me to increase buffer size and such. Upgrade is worth the money...you plant corn, you get corn.

[str1ke4ce]

Originally Posted by Kyle S

i made music for years with 256m of ram.

not PT 7 with any plugs.

[gdeusthewhizkid]

Originally Posted by ProducerBoy

You're doomed to upgrade. The iBook G4 isn't gonna do well with even a little midi etc... I was happy to sell my Powerbook G4 for a MacBook. Major improvement. Now I'm up to the Mac Pro and finally able to work without compromise.

what kind of mac pro do you have. Im running a ton of soft synths a on a g5 1.8 dual with 4 gigs of ram . and it's still not fast enough with all the sample libraries im running....


I need to make some moves and get a mac pro or something...

[manning1]

dont.
re that hp.
how much memory do you have ?
if you dont have one i would add a 7200 rpm drive with 32 mb cache
to record to. they are dirt cheap.
then add reaper (reaper.fm) and you can record as many traks and use as many plug ins as the
hp is capable of. prolly easy 50 traks. or way more.
just run tests.

[dont]

The hp has 3200 mb of memory... and im unfamiliar with reaper.fm is it as good as Ableton live ? I would have to get comfortable around a pc......but i hear that it is wise to run on both mac and pc just to be well rounded. I guess i will start setting it up thanks - (i guess you already did but) will you all let me know how to get the most out of that computer.

[theblotted]

bounce the VI's down to audio file (unless Live lets you freeze the tracks).

optimize your Mac, software wise. do a search around here on GS, plenty written.

make buffer size largest.

have samples/session files on a separate external FW drive.



i made plenty of music before using Powerbook 1GHz w/ 1GB RAM. sure it wasn't pretty but if you know how to work around the issues, you can do it.

[dont]

Im a newbie so sorry but I dont really understand what that means. Does that mean resample or copy the tracks as one.

[Reptil]

It means resample or "print", so you only use processing power to run plugins for THAT track and not afterwards. you'll have to make choices. if you "freeze" the track the computer does the same for you, and you can go back. I just bounce/print/resample, since that works for me.

Originally Posted by dont

So I was initially trying to make music through a daw on my Mac G4 Ibook with just 512 mb of ram. After adding about six tracks (audio and midi) my computer started to choke and skip and sputter and sound awful basically. I figured it was a ram problem So I went out and increased it to a maximum of 1 gb and it helped a bit but it still chokes after I add effects and such (after about ten tracks). Does this sound like a ram problem or something else.. am I doomed to buy a new more powerful computer?

use software designed for that computer. (logic 6 or 7 for example or cubase or DP or whatever was from that moment)
use 44.1 or 48 Khz not higher.
look at the buffers, and adjust. (longer=more latency=less processing power)
use a dedicated harddrive for audio recording and keep your system mean and lean (create two partitions, one for audio, the other for stuff) (rebuild locate database often) REMOVE junk from your drives.
use OS 10.4, not higher
turn off widgets and wifi (airport) and any other stuff you don't need

and if that doesn't do the trick workaround by bouncing track by track, or freeze.

On a G4 too here. It still does the job, but is not a macpro 8 core.
the suggestion to switch to PC (pentium 3?) is bordering on insanity cause it will mean the same problem. (no offence meant)

good luck

[dont]

I am unfamiliar with bouncing a track. can someone explain that please.

[Reptil]

Originally Posted by dont

I am unfamiliar with bouncing a track. can someone explain that please.

just edited my post. it's just another word for "resample" or "print".
it works if the bottleneck is processing power. (which it is)
the G4 has a good harddrive management, so with a nice disk, running bounced tracks (turn them into audio, without plugins) works.

[dont]

heard that in my bad ear thanks

[manning1]

dont .
re your hp.
just install reaper on it.
with 3 gigs of ram your good to go.
it'll take all of 5 secs to install reap on that machine.
there are oodles of positive to raveing with happiness user comments on reaper.
as youll see if you read these GS forums by putting in the search field "reaper".
or go to the reaper user forum at the link i gave where people can give you comparisons with
every daw under the sun.

just do it mate. no big deal. you have the computer...use it.

[uncle duncan]

Have you checked over at the Ableton Live forum? There may be tips for running it on your Mac. Also, checking for a newer driver for your interface might help, as long as it's compatible with your OS. It's always tricky running current software on an old computer. Ideally, the software and the computer are of the same vintage.

If you find the Ableton Live forum, you could also see how it works on PCs. You would also have to consider how your Native Instrument things would run on a PC.

On freezing tracks: In other DAWs, you solo the one instrument track, and then either render it or simply play it into a new track and record the audio. Then you turn off the VI track and just play the audio track instead, because playing one audio track uses a lot less processing power than running a virtual instrument in real time.

Eventually, you're going to need a new Mac or PC, because of OS limitations of the software you want to use. (New software releases require the latest OS, and the latest OS could very well bog your system down, or be incompatible with ancient hardware.) With this in mind, it would be wise not to put too much into your current Mac.

Although using a second hard drive for audio recording and a third hard drive for VIs and samples is recommended, it's also reported that running a firewire interface and firewire hard drives together on the same firewire buss can cause problems - meaning your current system is probably limited to it's current configuration. That's one reason serious music producers get a desktop - they can mount extra hard drives inside the case, and also run two screens (on a new Mac desk top, this is a stock feature) and install PICe cards for DSP and such - like the UAD2 card.

[beingmf]

Originally Posted by Reptil

use software designed for that computer. (logic 6 or 7 for example or cubase or DP or whatever was from that moment)

Keep in mind that an iBook will only boot OSX - and Logic 6 on OSX is unbearable, Cubase on G4 as well more or less.

Originally Posted by Reptil

use 44.1 or 48 Khz not higher.
look at the buffers, and adjust. (longer=more latency=less processing power)
use a dedicated harddrive for audio recording and keep your system mean and lean (create two partitions, one for audio, the other for stuff) (rebuild locate database often) REMOVE junk from your drives.

No - never ever record any audio on a partitioned drive! That's the worst advice you can give.

Originally Posted by Reptil

use OS 10.4, not higher
turn off widgets and wifi (airport) and any other stuff you don't need

and if that doesn't do the trick workaround by bouncing track by track, or freeze.

On a G4 too here. It still does the job, but is not a macpro 8 core.
the suggestion to switch to PC (pentium 3?) is bordering on insanity cause it will mean the same problem. (no offence meant)

good luck

Well, using a cheapo Windows C2D notebook is not the worst idea. Maybe check the HCL of OSX86, there are some models that work almost from scratch. Best of course would be if you know someone who installs OSX86 on a regular basis, so he will help you there. If not, in Windows world Reaper (though I have maximum problems with the current 2.51 version) is quite good. Samplitude is fantastic. I know some people that even like Sonar...

(you really have the unluckiest of the Apple portable series: G4, which runs superb on OS9, but thie machine won't boot into that anymore :-/) Good luck!

[clarkcontrol]

So far some great advice on optimizing your mac...

My mac is a G4 tower with 1.5 gigs.

I can have about ten audio tracks and 20+ sampler tracks (VSL, Mirslav) before I hit the wall. You should be doing better.

My advice? Check your interface/driver situation. Is your interface on the same bus as your audio drive? If you are recording on your internal HD, is it almost full? These WILL cause your problems.

My m-audio firewire 410 is a pos. I was getting pops, clicks, and Logic would freeze/quit. I don't care how many people say "get the right drivers" because I DID and STILL my old emagic PCI interface kicks its a$$. So the m-audio just sits there.

It's not your computer. So feel good about that.

Clark