Any Recommended Tweeks for OS9.2?, Performance Tips Options

Hello.

I am a relative newbie to Macs and the depths of it's OS's. I had just finally got me a G4 1Ghz Dualie w/1.5GB ram, a few months back, and its performance is not too bad,,, I must confess I was expecting something a bit more spectacular. Perhaps, this is simply due to the simple fact that I have no clue yet how to optimize my machines performance. Can you suggest any real good, tried and tested tweeks to help improve overall system performances and stuff for us neophite or even intermediate Mac musicians?

One example of a concern: When I try to load an Instrument or even a sound in Reason 1.0.1, it seems to hang for a while, takes quite a bit longer for the Reason module to load and finally appear (approx 8-12 sec!!!) on my G4 as it would on my lil P3 500Mhz peecee beastie (within 1-3 sec). Why is this? There has got to be a tweek for this, I even tried boosting reasons memory to almost twice the required amount

Another issue I am having is Macs retartedly SLOW browsers, any good suggestions for a nice quick browser? or any tweeks to speed up a relatively slow browser like,,, oh, lets say: IE ,or what have you?

Oh, and how the heck do we best defrag our drives??? My mantra used to be 'Defrag Daily' until I got a Mac.

Thanks for any help. Cheers!

[Synthetic]

hey.... glad to see that a PC user has seen the light and went to Mac hehe. I can give you a few tips that might help but not sure if you know them yet or not. First, if you have 256mb of ram or more... turn virtual ram off in memory control panels. Doesn't work well with audio apps anyhow. Also, go to your extensions manager in control panels and select mac OS9.2 base set... then make a duplicate and name this set music set. Now go through the list of control panels and extensions and turn on any that you may need for any of your audio apps such as Reason etc. Now reboot and use this set for running music apps. This frees up a little cpu speed and RAM for music apps. Also set your disk cache in memory control panels to something around 512k... recommended by most music apps. This may help you a bit.

As far as defragging... you will need a copy of Norton Utilities and run speed disk on your drives. Sometimes easiest method is to partition a big drive and use one partition just for music recording... then you can simply erase the disk inbetween recording sessions to keep it running smoothly. Also... don't know if you know about rebuilding desktop but hold apple+option button when booting to rebuild desktop file every once in awhile helps too.

[resorax]

When I first got my DP 800 I was also a bit let down of performance. SIx One main thing that I found so important and made a drastic performance increase ( less crashes, more stability and faster launchng) is::

1) Under General Controls switch menu blinking off!

I don't know why more sites or mac techies don't mention this. This is the cause of so much misery in MAC OS, believe it or not


There are lots more tweaks, but when I have more time I'll make a proper info sheet and post on all the MAC music sites etc.

Good luck

PS IE Explorer on the MAC is also a major conflict causer

[Francois Déchery]

others good tips in random order:
(sorry for the english.....in advance...)

- Turn AppleTalk Off IF not connected to a (CLEAN) network. (apple talk is NOT an issue, as sometimes wrotten incorreclty on some web sites, IF you're truly connected to a clean apple network.)

- as written, Turn OFF virtual memory.

- to increase drive responsiveness (VITAL on older protools systems) DECREASE the CACHE settting, in the memory control panel to something between 312 to 512k... This deserves your finder experience, but it increases some app's dik access time....

- CHECK TWICE ANY CARD/SCSI drives termination and FIRWMARE versions (most serious performance problems links to diks/cards related problems)

- as stated B4, turn off any unwanted extensions. The most trouble-free/safe configuration is to have two partitions: ONE music dedicated, with ONLY the extensions REALLY needed by the music stuff (Digi, Motu, OMS..... extentions ON! And all those network, internet, languages, java, colors, assistants, etc.. turned off in the extensions manager.. beware that some innocent extensions still remain needed for some music apps... only experience willl teach you... starting from the 'Mac OS 9.x Base' set is anyway a good start... ) and one second partition with all the others stuff (internet, games, office, phtoshop and such...). You just have to change your startup disk and reboot to choose between your music config and your 'computer-general-use' config. It takes two minutes longer to switch, but your music  startup disk ALWAYS stays clean and READY to go and NEVER gives you any trouble, while you can experiment the most dirty shareware on your general partition system... saves time....

- sleep sometimes, and try again tomorow ;-)

-if your machine accept it, install a clean English 9.04 system on your music partition (use whatever you want on the other general partition, even OS X). IMHO the 9.04 OS is the most stable/compatible/fast sytem for music applications. OS 8.6 is even faster and really more stable, but some apps,  now require os 9 libs.

- In your Energy Saver control panel, set the sleep time to NEVER, for all (if your in advanced mode)

- turn your display setting to 32000 or even 256 colors (most music program don't use more, except for video quicktimes)

- get your disk defragmented as often as needed (Nortom Speed Disk do the job pretty well)

- Be sure to get the PROPER driver for any additionnal gear you may have (interfaces, cards, printers, etc..) alway try to have the MINIMUM extensions setup in your music partition.

- USB is shit... hubs, bad drivers, slow, inefficient, unstable ... Alway test your setup with the MINIMUM USB gear connected, and when tested, add each new USB device, carefully checking if it not adds more trouble than services.... (cheap USB often hubs produces terribles troubles...)

- Remenber to kiss your girlfriend!

- PCI cards combination / old firmware / incompatible cards produce also serious performance problems.

- increase your application memory allocation (some apps like it a lot ;-) )... beware that some others apps/engine like the Digidesign DAE, need it (proportionnally to the plug-ins size) but really behave strangely if this memory allocation if OVER sized.

- be sure that your mac firmware is up to date.

- rebuild your destop (ALT+COMMAND at startup) when you experience finder/disk/icon related problems.

- Zap your PRAM (ALT+COMMAND+P+R at startup)  if your mac behaves unexceptedly or when adding a serious card upgrade (PCI chassis, new processor....)

- alway make your tests using your mac stand-alone (disconnect all periphericals, THEN, add each one, and watch carefully if this peripherical is 'SAFE' )... Most macintosh computers are strongly build from factory and most issues are third-party issues....

- one personnal: always start in the mind that your machine config IS rock solid and it WILL!!! (think during one second that your mac is unstable and bugs every day, and it will...)


HTH

What an amazing response!!! ) Thanks a million for your time put in to sharing these great suggestions!

I can't wait to start on this... most of it makes perfect sence, I just needed to be sure of knowing the 'whats' and 'how to's' of this all on a Mac system. I'm all over these suggestions and I'll let you know how it's progressing. Thanks again!!!!!

Please, keep these ideas rolling. This topic can get pretty interesting I bet. I'm all ears (well, all eyes that is), and I know that there are a bunch of you fellow propellerheads(computer whiz's) out there with finely tuned music/video making Mac machines who can shed even more light on this topic.



Now, about partitioning, as it stands right now I have a single 80GB Ultra ATA drive partitioned equally into 2, one for OS 9 and the other for OS X. would it be advisable then, to back up my 'keeper' files (onto DVD, I suppose for now?) and wipe clean (format) my entire drive, then repartition into 3 sections? Lets say I divide my 80G's into:

- 10 to 15Gs for OS 9.2(or 9.4) + appllications,
- 10 to 15Gs for OS X + applications,
- then the remaining 50 to 60Gs for storing and acessing my song files, samples, Mp3's, porn ect...

Does this sound reasonable? Would I need to backup and wipe clean my drive to do this?

Suggestions?

[Francois Déchery]

i cant advice you in your particular case about what exactly your patitions sizes should be:

It's up to you, and our needs :---)

Just keep in mind:
- your partition only require the oS size and major apps to be included in the startup partition. you can also use most of your mac apps on a sepatare (or other) partition.

- The partition only need to be sized to accept the sytem (100-250 megs) and major apps that really NEED to be on the startup disk (100-200mg)

- the ideal shemes is up to your needs, but, as an advice, separate stuff like systems, apps, and documents. keeping in memory that the most valuable things (that MUST be backuped) is your documents (the song, text, photos, ... you've created...)! crashing a photoshop apps or cubase aps is just a temporay problem! loosing a 6 month work song, is a different case.....