Digital Performer

What's the business DAW World? I recently received a few comments and I will answer them one post at a time, so stay tuned in to get my feedback on your comment. First off I would like to address my main man DJ KC about a workstation called Digital Performer. MOTU's Digital Performer actually has more history than I thought. Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) created "Professional Composer" for Apple Macintosh back in 1984. That was one of Apple's first application programs ever. A year later the MOTU crew dropped Performer, a music sequencer that was also Mac based. Performer was designed to arrange and perform with synthesizers that were compatible with MIDI. Since MIDI has many features complicated features, Digital Performer was introduced in 1990, and helped unlock many capabilities in MIDI. Interesting enough, DP was originally designed as an extension of Digidesign Audiomedia hard disk recording system, which became Pro Tools. As earlier stated, DP worked extremely well with MIDI, users could record their MIDI instruments and mix with live audio recorded in the studio. Since computers at that time (early 90's), weren't fast enough to handle such capabilities, DSP co processor cards were needed to maintain a functioning audio recording. DP fell off the radar as Pro Tools took over the DAW scene, but was rewritten and introduced in 2000. Digital Performer has created several versions in the last decade, all written for Mac OSx and version 10.5. DP8 was recently released in October 2012, with Mac and Windows 7 version due soon.

Getting the most from Pro Tools Setup 2 
  What's up DAW World? I would like to continue where I left off on the last blog. If you recall, we were discussing how to get the most from your Pro Tools setup. On the memory side, RAM plays a big factor. Since Pro Tools has a limitation of 32 bits, the program can only access 4GB of RAM from your computer. Memory usage is shared by the OS, plug ins, editing and recording regions, etc.. With that being said, the actual RAM available is more like 2 to 3 GB. The infamous memory errors codes such as "low memory error-108" and "critically low memory" are tell tale signs of low RAM. I have researched a few tips for your convenience to lessen the chance of you receiving these codes. If you do receive these codes, don't panic, try a few of these tips to reduce RAM usage.
   1. Use the "thin all automation" function. Excessive breakpoints in playlists can eat up significant amounts of RAM.

   2. Reduce the number of playlists in the session.

   3. Reduce the number of regions in the session.

   4. Reduce the number of undo steps, especially in sessions where region groups are used, or you're using lots of automation AND playlists.

   5. For sessions with virtual instruments - some virtual instruments don't unload their RAM after being deinstanciated. The workaround there is too low and the session needs to be reopened.

   6. Reduce the number of virtual instruments overall- or commit the audio to a track, remove the virtual instrument, save, quit, and reopen the session.

   7. Along with #6- using VEP or ReWire to host RAM killing virtual instruments, can reduce the overall Pro Tools RAM usage, which allows you to use more virtual instruments.

Hope this post can help my fellow up and rising engineers who have had issues with memory errors. One last tip I just recently learned. Outdated/ incompatible plug ins will cause issues. Be sure to keep only compatible plug ins in your plug ins folder. Peace, love, and DAW World............

Get More Performance from ProTools

What's up DAW World ? I'm back with a few tips to get the most from your Pro Tools system. We all know the processing power of our computers is the key to how well the Pro Tools system will perform. The hard drive has lots of work to do, audio processing duties, data management, routing, driving the screen and so on. Hard drive bandwidth can be an issue, you might be able to play back a session with 24 tracks, but the system may slow down if you do lots of editing or add lots of plug ins. Let"s start at the Playback Engine window "under the Setup menu", various settings to gain extra performance is done here. CPU usage limit can be set to as high as 85% . But that only leaves 15% to handle all other duties, like displaying meters and graphics, controlling automation, and dealing with MIDI.You should allow 35% to handle those processes. Remember using fewer RTAS  plug ins lets you set lower CPU usage limits.Your computer will let you know if your CPU usage limits are too low with a -9128 error.Try lowering the CPU usage limits by 5-10 % if this happens. Also, reduce H/W buffer size while recording to minimize latency that will cause monitoring problems. Raise the buffer size when you come to mix so that you can run more effects. Ok DAW World that's it for today. Tune in to my next blog for more tips. Peace, love, and DAW World!

We're back on DAW World! Sorry for the lapse in time folks. Apparently Ive been writing blogs but not publishing them. Sounds dumb right? I have my moments. But to get you caught up, last week I interviewed Jake "Naughty" Mr. Nice. Nice is a long time intern at Minbal Studios on the west side of Chicago. Minbal has made a name for themselves recording major and up and coming rock bands. They use Pro Tools 8 HD to record. I have had the privilege of recording in Minbal for a couple sessions. My group SHOTTAZ WORLD recorded songs for our soon to be released mixtape HII LIIFE, at Minbal. I must say the place is impressive, even though its located in the notorious Humboldt Park neighborhood. Minbal has a Quad 8 Ventura 24 track mixing console, and an Apogee interface for the  Pro Tools set up. Not only are the booths and control room spacious, but the live room for bands is huge! They've got the standard seperate kitchen too. Nice gave a sweet tour of the place and I noticed a sizeable inventory of band equipment too. Snares, cymbals, kicks, and guitar amps were in abundance. This studio has it all if you're a band member who needs a spare anything. But since my crew was there to rap and sing, we appreciated the vast space to lounge in while waiting to record. We were even able to use the place for video footage which you can view on youtube, SHOTTAZ WORLD- CRIME SWAG. hey come to think of it Jake has a short cameo in the video too!  Check out the interview and video if you get a sec. Peace, Love, and DAW World......