processor spiking=please help!

[mono]

I'm running M5 with 4.12 on a dual 1 gig (quicksilver). After just a few instruments/tracks from M5 I'm maxing out my processors. I've tried all sorts of buffer sizes, tried a reinstall on a dedicated partition. Shouldn't I be able to run at 256 at least and get a decent number of tracks going?

[RCory]

You can lower the polyphony in presets. Also, you can turn on "32 bit" to increase performance...

[mono]

RCory - thanks for your reply, but, I don't think the issue lies with polyphony and 32 bit settings. I've tried these things, but the Mac should be able to handle the few instruments that I've got running regardless of my RAM and polyphony settings. I've got 1.5 gig of RAM. I've also tried streaming.

I'm using a pci-324 card, which I've heard doesn't share the across the board compatability with osx that the pci-424 has - would this have any effect on processor performance?

[musicarteca]

Originally posted by mono:
Shouldn't I be able to run at 256 at least and get a decent number of tracks going?

Why would you work at 256? I have a G5 doulbe 1.8, and most of the time I set it to 1024, so I can do intensive work with M5 and other VIs.

[Motublaster]

Check the obvious ?

I developed problems - snap, crackle & pop, untill I realised that I had 96 (nine-six) inputs/outputs (@96k) enabled on my two 24I/Os.

Disabling them apart from the voices I needed and... bliss - wonderfull clean sound.

Silly me or what?

[Flare]

Musicarteca,

Are you serious??? 1024 is brutal in regards to performance delay.

M5 on the G4 isn't the powerhouse people were hoping it would be. Streaming improves performance a bit, but it's not revolutionary. It's largely a function of what kind of engine your working on. From my experience on a dual 800 G4 (1.5 Gig RAM), once you load in 300 Megs or so, and start hiking the polyphony, the CPU will begin to feel it.

It boils down to basic math... If you're using alot of plugins, your system will feel it.... If you're using heavy polyphony in M5, with legato decays, it's hard on your system, and it will be felt.

I recently moved to the dual 2.5 G5, from a Dual 800 G4. Still not the power i'd like to see in it, honestly, but a big improvement.

Having made the leap, I'm advocating Gigastudio rigs for composers looking for more extensive sampling power, to be frank. Particularly, if you're doing orchestral work. Sonica Systems totally rock! M5 is great, but processor/RAM dependent in regards to performance...and as I'm making clear, has a number of bugs.