Digital Performer, How can I stop the jitters? Options

[egbdf]

Hello,

I'm new here and would like some advice with Digital Performer. I have a Power Mac G4, 667 with 768 Megs of ram. I am using the latest version of Performer (3.1). I've tried my best to use only the extentions that are necessary to run the program, have given Performer lots of memory to use but I am getting lots of jerkiness, stuttering and dropping out especially when I try to record a midi part while having oher midi and sudio tracks playing. On one particular project I have maybe 4 stero and 6 mono audio tracks going along with about 5 or 6 midi tracks. I have NI's B4 running in the background and linked to Performer so I can enter a part for it on a midi track. Occasionally Performer just stops for an instance and then continues. The wiper sticks and jumps and the playback stutters and jerks. How can I optimize Performer to run smoothly in this situation or is my setup just not up to the task.

Thanks in advance,

Pat

[Levon River]

I do notice a little latency when I "play" into a track with this setting

Don't monitor through DP. There's a switch for that, too. Larger buffers increase the latency of whatever input signal is monitored through the computer. That's the tradeoff. That doesn't mean that what goes down to audio will be out of sync. But then again, there's a file and instructions MOTU provides for setting a record-offset for whatever actual input latency there is on *your particular* system. It should be in in the DP folder in "Extras/Use me to calibrate your audio," and you *should* use it.

But that won't handle the monitoring latency. Just monitor whatever you're playing (or mic'ing) through your hardware mixer if possible and turn off the signal that's making the round trip through DP and back out our your audio outs of/to your mixer/sound card.

(and when the midi tracks play back the timing is not as "tight" as I'd like it to be).  Is the solution here to just advance the midi tracks a bit?

No, the solution is keyboard lessons. Just kidding. Your audio settings shouldn't be affecting MIDI playback; solo the MIDI parts and see if they aren't all in sync. If so, and it's the recorded audio that isn't quite with the MIDI, then you probably need to calibrate your audio, as MOTU recommends. That's the offset that is calibrated for *your particular* setup. (Hey, I got nothing better to do but sit here and rewrite their manual.)

Also, what are your feelings about an external firewire drive (of at least 7200 rpms)

I have an OWC Mercury Elite F/W drive and think it's great, but I have *not* put it to any recording smoke tests yet, mainly because I'm not even booting into 9.x anymore. I'm on a musical sit-down strike. I'm being an audio/OS X Ghandi. I hope to be recording something on it within a few weeks <Cough>. We'll see. I'll let you know if and when I do, but maybe somebody else has actual recording experience on them and can help you with that.

P. S. I'll stick to Perkins Pancake House for my pancakes  :p

Well then how about eggs, sunny side up? Somebody did a real world test and actually proved you could cook them on an Athlon.