System Usage - DigiDesign Pro Tools Reference Manual

System Usage

About Processing Bandwidth
Meters in the System Usage window indicate
how much of your system's processing power is
being used in processing audio, and when writ-
ing and playing back automation.
Pro Tools HD, LE, and M-Powered have three
common meters, showing PCI bus activity, CPU
processing activity, and Disk processing activity.
System Usage window (Pro Tools LE shown)
With Pro Tools HD, there are addition meters,
showing TDM Time Slot usage and DSP usage of
each Pro Tools|HD system card.
System Usage window (Pro Tools HD shown)
As these meters approach their limits, recording
or playback of automation data may be affected.
System activity meters
System activity meters
TDM Time Slot usage
DSP usage
If CPU or PCI Activity are high, a system error
may occur. If Disk Activity is high, Pro Tools
may miss playback of some of your automation
data during particularly dense periods of activ-
ity, such as while using the Bounce to Disk com-
mand.
To monitor the usage of resources during a
Pro Tools session:
Choose Window > System Usage.
■
For more information, see "Bounce to Disk"
on page 638.
To reduce processing load, try one of the
following:
Reduce the density of automation in places
■
where it shows the most activity. For details, see
"Thinning Automation" on page 604.
Turn off meters in Sends View, if enabled (by
■
disabling Show Meters in Sends View in the Dis-
play Preferences page). For details, see "Individ-
ual Send Views and Meters" on page 540.
System Usage Views
(Pro Tools HD Only)
With Pro Tools HD, there are five different Sys-
tem Usage Views: Small, Large, Detailed, Gas
Gauge, and Activity Only. The Detailed and Gas
Gauge formats show the percentage of each DSP
chip in use.
To change the System Usage View:
Choose View > System Usage, and one of the
■
System Usage View formats (such as Small).
For information on using different views to
monitor DSP usage, see the Pro Tools|HD
Getting Started Guide.
Chapter 6: Sessions 59