So like many of the group's contributors I enjoy home recording onto a
mac with DP. I use an Echo sound card, lots of midi etc. One question
continues to arise, especially since (not infrequently) DP will quit
with an error of type 2 or 3, that question is: why?

Some have told me that it because I am using the same computer to go
online (G4 'AGP graphics), others have told me that it is because my
sound card is ASIO and they are sketchy with my set up. Others say it
is because I don't have enough RAM. So what is enough RAM? I have 4
times what DP 2.7 recommends (512M), I don't use tons of effects,
keep my projects small, usually no more than 10 mono tracks. I start
up DP in a small extention set with a lot of system stuff turned off.
The memory meter in DP always shows a lot of extra, and I have the
buffers set up to favor efficient not fast operation.

Any advice and/or information about RAM and computer recording is
appreciated. I am upgrading soon to a G5/DP4.0/Motu828 so this becomes
an important variable.

Thanks,

Gary

gary wrote:

So like many of the group's contributors I enjoy home recording onto a
mac with DP. I use an Echo sound card, lots of midi etc. One question
continues to arise, especially since (not infrequently) DP will quit
with an error of type 2 or 3, that question is: why?

Some have told me that it because I am using the same computer to go
online (G4 'AGP graphics), others have told me that it is because my
sound card is ASIO and they are sketchy with my set up. Others say it
is because I don't have enough RAM. So what is enough RAM? I have 4
times what DP 2.7 recommends (512M), I don't use tons of effects,
keep my projects small, usually no more than 10 mono tracks. I start
up DP in a small extention set with a lot of system stuff turned off.
The memory meter in DP always shows a lot of extra, and I have the
buffers set up to favor efficient not fast operation.

I assume you're using OS 9, rather than OS X, then.

According to what I could dig up, type 2 and type 3 errors are
what would, in other circles, be called a "segmentation violation"
or an "illegal instruction" (respectively). That makes perfect
sense to me as a computer programmer, but if that has no meaning
to you, let me just say that it is by no means as clear cut as
just not having enough RAM installed in the system. A segmentation
violation means that the application tried to access some RAM that
does exist but which belongs to some other program or belongs to
nobody. An illegal instruction means that the application somehow
went off into La-La Land and told the processor to do something
so weird that the processor doesn't even know how to do it. You
can see that neither of these things is as simple as the application
saying "I wanted more RAM but when I asked for it, it wasn't
available". Either one of these *could* be a consequence of not
having enough RAM, but if so, it is a very indirect consequence.

So, unfortunately, what this all means is that just adding RAM is
unlikely to solve your problem. Most likely, the problem is a
software one. You may have some system extension that is out of
date, or you may have some system extension installed that is
not the right version (too new *or* too old) to be compatible
with some software you're using, perhaps because some piece of
software installed its own version in place of another version
that was already there, or something like that. At any rate,
unless your computer has serious hardware problems like faulty
memory or a bad processor (this can happen, but it's rare),
most likely you've got software with a bug or software that
is not installed correctly in some way. I know that's not a
lot to go on, but that's about all I can offer given the
information you've posted (well, and my level of knowledge,
of course).

- Logan

gary wrote:

So like many of the group's contributors I enjoy home recording onto a
mac with DP. I use an Echo sound card, lots of midi etc. One question
continues to arise, especially since (not infrequently) DP will quit
with an error of type 2 or 3, that question is: why?

Some have told me that it because I am using the same computer to go
online (G4 'AGP graphics), others have told me that it is because my
sound card is ASIO and they are sketchy with my set up. Others say it
is because I don't have enough RAM. So what is enough RAM? I have 4
times what DP 2.7 recommends (512M), I don't use tons of effects,
keep my projects small, usually no more than 10 mono tracks. I start
up DP in a small extention set with a lot of system stuff turned off.
The memory meter in DP always shows a lot of extra, and I have the
buffers set up to favor efficient not fast operation.

I assume you're using OS 9, rather than OS X, then.

According to what I could dig up, type 2 and type 3 errors are
what would, in other circles, be called a "segmentation violation"
or an "illegal instruction" (respectively). That makes perfect
sense to me as a computer programmer, but if that has no meaning
to you, let me just say that it is by no means as clear cut as
just not having enough RAM installed in the system. A segmentation
violation means that the application tried to access some RAM that
does exist but which belongs to some other program or belongs to
nobody. An illegal instruction means that the application somehow
went off into La-La Land and told the processor to do something
so weird that the processor doesn't even know how to do it. You
can see that neither of these things is as simple as the application
saying "I wanted more RAM but when I asked for it, it wasn't
available". Either one of these *could* be a consequence of not
having enough RAM, but if so, it is a very indirect consequence.

So, unfortunately, what this all means is that just adding RAM is
unlikely to solve your problem. Most likely, the problem is a
software one. You may have some system extension that is out of
date, or you may have some system extension installed that is
not the right version (too new *or* too old) to be compatible
with some software you're using, perhaps because some piece of
software installed its own version in place of another version
that was already there, or something like that. At any rate,
unless your computer has serious hardware problems like faulty
memory or a bad processor (this can happen, but it's rare),
most likely you've got software with a bug or software that
is not installed correctly in some way. I know that's not a
lot to go on, but that's about all I can offer given the
information you've posted (well, and my level of knowledge,
of course).

- Logan

In article writes:

So like many of the group's contributors I enjoy home recording onto a
mac with DP. I use an Echo sound card, lots of midi etc. One question
continues to arise, especially since (not infrequently) DP will quit
with an error of type 2 or 3, that question is: why?

This is a software problem. Not having enough RAM (unless it's very
shy) makes things work irregularly, but not just crash. You're likely
to have some incompatible things installed (and running) or there may
be a real OS bug that shows up with your particular combination of
drivers and programs.

Some have told me that it because I am using the same computer to go
online (G4 'AGP graphics), others have told me that it is because my
sound card is ASIO and they are sketchy with my set up.

It could be either of those. One of the reasons why conventional
wisdom is to keep your music/audio computer away from the Internet is
that when you're on line, it's so easy (even sometimes without your
knowledge or consent) to install something that you don't think will
affect your other programs, but it does. Since a lot of sites
require certain audio and video capabilities to even see a web page,
unless you're very disciplined and "just say no" to those sites,
you're going to get some stuff on your computer eventually that will
conflict with or change something in your audio setup, and that sort
of thing is just the perfect setup for the kind of crashes you're
getting.

Computers are cheap these days. Get another one to go on line, and if
you need to download a new driver or a new audio program, do it with
that computer and then move it over to your audio computer on a CD or
through a network.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

In article writes:

So like many of the group's contributors I enjoy home recording onto a
mac with DP. I use an Echo sound card, lots of midi etc. One question
continues to arise, especially since (not infrequently) DP will quit
with an error of type 2 or 3, that question is: why?

This is a software problem. Not having enough RAM (unless it's very
shy) makes things work irregularly, but not just crash. You're likely
to have some incompatible things installed (and running) or there may
be a real OS bug that shows up with your particular combination of
drivers and programs.

Some have told me that it because I am using the same computer to go
online (G4 'AGP graphics), others have told me that it is because my
sound card is ASIO and they are sketchy with my set up.

It could be either of those. One of the reasons why conventional
wisdom is to keep your music/audio computer away from the Internet is
that when you're on line, it's so easy (even sometimes without your
knowledge or consent) to install something that you don't think will
affect your other programs, but it does. Since a lot of sites
require certain audio and video capabilities to even see a web page,
unless you're very disciplined and "just say no" to those sites,
you're going to get some stuff on your computer eventually that will
conflict with or change something in your audio setup, and that sort
of thing is just the perfect setup for the kind of crashes you're
getting.

Computers are cheap these days. Get another one to go on line, and if
you need to download a new driver or a new audio program, do it with
that computer and then move it over to your audio computer on a CD or
through a network.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo