Dp4 Gives "disk Too Slow" Error Options

[smokinshaman]

Hi,

I am attempting to record 2 tracks live with DP4 on a 12" G4 powerbook and am getting a "disk too slow" error. I own a MOTU 828 mkII, but prefer to keep it in the studio and record with the built in audio for live purposes. I use a Rode NT4 stereo condenser mic with built in power and plug directly into the mac. I have adjusted the buffer settings to 1024 and still it gives me the error after recording for awhile. I have a total of 768 megs of RAM and feel this should suffice for 2 track live recording. I play in a jam band and hope to record continually for up to 3 hours, stopping from time to time to save of course. Do i need an external firewire drive? If so, do i install DP4 on it or keep it on the internal drive. Any help would greatly be apprectiated!

[destroyw]

what is your studio size set at in DP4? i'v recorded 20 tracks live on a 1.25 dual g4 and added up to 39 total tracks with waves plugins on each track with no problem. you should be fine to record 16 live tracks with your settings.

LP.

[smokinshaman]

THanks for the reply destroyw! My studio size set is 8 mono and 4 stereo("latte" setting) with 150 k bytes disk read/write size and buffer size per voice = 350. I am worried the 4200 rpm internal disk drive is being overworked. What do you think? I have recorded successful band practices; however it always seems to give the error during extended performances! Go figure! Our band is beginning to think a curse has been bestowed upon us! We have tried recording with other DAWs and always seem to get this error (ie- MBox w/ Pro Tools LE). Thanks again for reply.

[robomark29]

You might try a couple of things. First, find a program like Norton disc utilities to defragment the disc. This will help it run smoother as all files will be contiguous (sp?).

If that doesn't work, you could try going backwards and seeing if DP3 in OS9 behaves the same. OSX is a harsh operating system in terms of resources, OS9 is a lot easier for some slower machines to run. My G4 450 seemed fine in 9 but chunked along in 10.

If neither of those work or are possible, try an external firewire drive. Make sure it's at least 7200 RPM. Higher the better. Look into the company Gliph, as they make computer gear for your exact perposes.

good luck,

Mark

[smokinshaman]

Thanks for reply robomark29!

Unfortunately, I am new to mac and DP and do not have older versions of either the OS or software. A friend of mine agrees with you, and will only operate his studio in OS9. This is another situation, in which I find myself saying, "wish I would have known this before I plopped down big bucks on a new mac!"

Seems like my only option is to get an external firewire drive. I know glyph drives are the bomb, have you heard about seagate drives. How do they compare? Also, where do I install DP4? On the internal or external drive? THanks agian for reply!

[destroyw]

first off...i'm running dp4 in osx and i like it tons more than running dp3 in os9...of course i'm using a 2408 and a 1296 with the pci-424 card(this helps out quite a bit). anyway, keep the program on your computer and just save your new projects and files to the external hd.

[gdoubleyou]

Two things

1. DON'T use Nortons in OSX, the product has problems and has been discontinued for Mac.

2. Get a 7200 rpm firewire drive with 8Mb cache. Max out your RAM.

With OSX and hard drives with a large cache, defragging is not needed. I haven't defragged in years.
Also if your studio size is large and you are using RAM hungry plugins. You may be forcing OSX to use your hard drive for virtual memory. You would get that message if the OS and DP are trying access your internal drive at the same time.

[smokinshaman]

Thanks G-dub and everyone else who responded! I took your advice to heart and will be purchasing an external 7200 rpm hd just as soon as i gather up the cash.

[Dustan]

Hello! Everyone..

I was using a Pbook G4 12" 867 with 640 mb of ram (that's the maximum, how come you had 768 on yours!?!) and DP4.I had a 40 Gb(4200rpm) Hard disk on it and I was always getting the "disk too slow" message on DP4. The first thing you should do is just disable that on your preferences/audio options on DP and then you can work without having those alert beeps, the processor is still dealing with it but it doesn't stop your session, at least that's what happened to me. Give it a try!. With me that was a start, and made me able to record simple things, but I only took a giant step away from the problem when I changed my Hard Disk for a 60Gb(7200 rpm). That made a huge difference.

Another hint is: Open your System preferences, go to Energy saver and options. make sure your processor performance is set to "highest", and that you pump up your processor power also significantly.

Hope this helps...on something.
Best,

Dustan

[smokinshaman]

Thanks for the advice Dustan, i'll give it a try. I have a Pbook G4 12" that is expandable to 1.25 GB. Right now I have 512 MB module installed in addition to the 256 MB factory installed module.

After checking out various models of firewire drives (LaCie, Glyph, OWC, etc.), I think I'll be buying a Seagate 160 GB external firewire drive with 7200 rpm and 8 MB cache. At $220 (American) it is a little pricey; however, it seems worth it.

Take it easy,

KC