How do YOU have PT setup??

waxboy · Post by **waxboy** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 4:37 pm

Now I know Pro Tools customization is all relative to the person who is customizing it. However my PT crashes more than it should (a quick reformat of the master drive usually fixes this up quickly though - due to the fact of my running on a PC and the hate for spyware). Tonight Im going to partition my drives solely for audio - and the other for apps. My main question here is - to prevent freezing, and optimize the ability to work with PT without it crashing, or stalling - what main prefs do you guys/girls notice have made your system run a whole lot better? How do YOU have PT setup? any system tweaks I can make on my end without causing any regsitry errors?
As well - I DO run the internet on this machine, which would help if i DIDNT, however right now thats not an option.
my setup is just a simple 2.2 Ghz, 1 GIG RAM, 400 FSB, 7200 rpm drive. It does the job for the most part - But any tips and tricks are always welcome.

Professor · Post by **Professor** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 4:43 pm

Separate drives for the OS/software, and for audio files/sessions is always a really good idea. Canning the internet connection on that machine probably couldn't hurt. Other than that, I don't have anything specific to your setup.

-J

Disasteradio · Post by **Disasteradio** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:25 am

heh, I run my 001 with nuendo. never had a crash.

Jeremy Garber · Post by **Jeremy Garber** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 5:19 am

You could install two versions of your OS on your machine, either on two seperate harddrives or on two seperate partitions. Keep one for just audio work, and the other for everything else.

If you have to constantly reformat your harddrive to get things to work, there is a very serious problem going on. If you are constantly being infected by viruses, spyware, and whatnot, I would seriously recommend you get a program that hunts and destroys those types of things. If you can keep a version of your OS just for audio with no net connection, I imagine that would help out a lot. Just be aware of the sites you visit and the things you download (pron and warez are bad for your PC's health, in case ya didn't know lol). Also, what OS are you using? If it's Win ME, then you need to get rid of it right now and get XP.

I use my PC for everything; net, music, art, gaming, etc. I don't even run scanners in the background because it takes resources away from my other appz. If I suspect a problem, I run them. I say that so you know it's possible to keep a stable PC running all your appz.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:33 am

I think the real fix would be to run PT on a mac...

I dont know much about PC's and protools. Maybe Bradb can chime in... He swears by the PC/002 setup. He gets good results, and has the interweb hooked up to that computer as well....

Ask him.

stinkpot · Post by **stinkpot** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:07 pm

I'm not running Protools, however, I've spoken with lots of people who dedicate thier PC to audio. Strip out all unecessary software, kill most of the crap that runs on start up, kill the internet connection, you should be golden.

Oh, and if you're running XP, right click on the My Computer icon, click properties, click advanced, click settings under performance and uncheck lots of those boxes. XP will no longer look as pretty, more like regular old windows, but things will run much more smoothly, quickly, and tax your CPU usage less.

scott anthony · Post by **scott anthony** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:55 pm

setting up dual boot as suggested already is a great suggestion. one boot for audio and one for other apps.

running a virtual machine as a web browsing utility would keep your drives clean. you can restore the vm from backup in ten minutes when full of internet pollution.

www.vmware.com

syrupcore · Post by **syrupcore** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 7:56 pm

have you searched the DUC? there's so much on there.

I had a wonderful day the day I realized that PrintSpooler was causing me so much grief. You can turn it off via Services.

learn how to disable your antivirus software, again via services.

be sure you're using firefox, not IE. use your girlfriends computer for porn.

norton ghost. amen.

search through the old board here for background tasks. get rid of them.

I run all manner of shit on my pc for work. apache web server, mysql, coldfusion... all manner of resource hoggin shit. I just open services and turn them all off when I want to run PT. This can also be done via batch file but I've never set one up.

since LE is a prissy bizzy, make sure you're 'compatible' via the impossible to find hardware compatability docs.

long>short: search the duc, kill the background stuff.

good luck,
Will

wedge · Post by **wedge** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:04 pm

I do believe that the offical digidesign recommendation for PTs is to have an external firewire drive for your PT sessions. I don't think that partitioning a single internal drive is recommended, tho, if that's what you're considering. I have an external firewire drive, and I've had nary a problem. I'm on a PC, too, and a not very technologically advanced one, either...

Spark · Post by **Spark** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:53 pm

Im in the midst of the planning stages of building a 2nd machine for Protools. The plan is to keep the original computer for the internet and make the 2nd computer dual boot with windows and Linux for when i have to connect that computer to download stuff or whatever.

Ubuntu is looking interesting...

syrupcore · Post by **syrupcore** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:55 pm

sparc, be sure to check out the 'best desktop' threads at the DUC. those people are freaks.

scott anthony · Post by **scott anthony** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 3:53 am

The Spark wrote: Ubuntu is looking interesting...

There is a free Ubuntu web browsing appliance with Firefox that runs on the free VMware player available...

raw-tracks · Post by **raw-tracks** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 6:04 am

joel hamilton wrote:I think the real fix would be to run PT on a mac...

Absolute Bull Shit !

I dont know much about PC's and protools.

Yup, I think you just proved that.

Seriously though. I have been running ProTools LE 6.9 on an Athlon/Windows XP machine for about 9 months and it's been rock solid. You just have to pay attention to what components will work, and which one's are not compatible. You have to pay attention with Macs too. Every once in a while Apple will release a machine that isn't compatible and DIGI has to scramble to modify there code to accomodate. How many people are running ProTools on those new Intel based Macs right now? Oh, they're not compatible.

raw-tracks · Post by **raw-tracks** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 6:14 am

wedge wrote:I do believe that the offical digidesign recommendation for PTs is to have an external firewire drive for your PT sessions.

Not true. From Digi's Compatibility page:

Performance Guidelines

* Recording to the system startup drive is not recommended or supported
* For desktop models, a separate internal or external dedicated audio hard drive is required for maximum performance and track count (see Hard Drive Minimum Requirements)

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:19 am

raw-tracks wrote:
joel hamilton wrote:I think the real fix would be to run PT on a mac...
Absolute Bull Shit !

I dont know much about PC's and protools.
Yup, I think you just proved that.

Seriously though. I have been running ProTools LE 6.9 on an Athlon/Windows XP machine for about 9 months and it's been rock solid. You just have to pay attention to what components will work, and which one's are not compatible. You have to pay attention with Macs too. Every once in a while Apple will release a machine that isn't compatible and DIGI has to scramble to modify there code to accomodate. How many people are running ProTools on those new Intel based Macs right now? Oh, they're not compatible.

Dear Mr. Gates:
Relax.
I was kidding. I simply dont have enough information about PT on PC. That is why I hoped my pal Bradb (who posts here a bunch) would chime in. He works on PC with PT exclusively and gets great results and stability.

Message Board

How do YOU have PT setup??

How do YOU have PT setup??

Who is online