How do I apply more CPU power to an application?

[jango]

Hi,

I have a G4 1.42Ghz Dual processor Desktop Powermac. Running OSX.4.7.

The only really CPU hungry thing I use it for is to make music using Pro tools LE 7.

Recently I have been getting messages telling me that I am running out of CPU power & that I have to assign more CPU power to pro tools.

Can anyone tell me how to do this?

I know my Mac is a couple of years old & by todays standards isn't THAT powerful but I would have thought it being a 1.42 ghz dual processor it would be able to handle a few plug ins & audio/midi tracks.

I plan to get an new intel Mac G5 beastie sometime in the future (funds allowing & when all the inevitible teething problems & compatibility issues get ironed out) but I really had hoped that my current G4 would do me at least another year.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks, jango.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Go

I believe there is a setups menu where you can set the amount of CPU power to use. Also, you can help prevent this by only loading the plug-ins you need/are using on a particular project.

C

 

[Ric]

Are you running other apps at the same time ?

Regards

Ric

 

[jango]

Hi

No I don't run anything else at the same time as Pro Tools. In fact Pro Tools is the only thing I really use my Mac for apart from some word processing in iWork & surfing the net.

A few people have suggested that I try something called "nice" in utillities/terminal.

I don't know if this is an application that is already in terminal or if it's something that I have to purchase or download.

Others have said that "nice" is only really useful if you are running various applications at the same time & as I don't it may even make things worse.

Does anyone have any opinions on these opinions!

I have 1GB of RAM installed & I suppose I could install more but I am not sure that would fix it & if it didn't it would be £140 that could have gone to my G5 Intel Mac Pro fund.

Thanks, Jango.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Go

nice is used when running mutliple applications at once to assign more process time with the CPU. It's a built-in function of UNIX at the OS level. I doubt it would solve your issue, and if you don't know Terminal commands very well, it's best to stay out of it.

nice - (Unix)

C

 

[jango]

That sounds like good advice to me.

I opened terminal & I didn't like what I saw.

Not enough colours & pretty pictures.

It seemed very serious & I didn't have a clue what I was supposed to do there.

Don't worry, I'm not going near it.

Thanks, Jango.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Go

Did you look into the "Setups" settings within Pro Tools itself?