Getting Optimal Performance from PARIS Using the Mac OS

By Eric Montgomery - Technical Support Representative

It is important to set up your Mac for the best performance when using any pro audio application. What follows are some tips designed to help you get your Mac and PARIS running smoothly.

Pages 3-12 in the PARIS Reference contain additional information about system setup and related issues.

Hardware

Put the PARIS EDS-1000 card into slot #1, the one closest to the inside of the computer. This probably means moving the SCSI controller card over by one slot, if there is one already installed.

Run a disk utility program such as Norton Utilities frequently. Corrupt files or bad disk sectors can degrade your computer's performance, eventually causing an unrecoverable error.

If there is a problem with the hard disk itself, there is not an easy way to check the disk if it has been formatted with the HFS+ file format, Apple's new standard. Some disk utilities is not able to check drives in this format. The option is to reformat the drive (in the original HFS format) and reinstall the Mac OS; this can be done from the Apple OS software CD if necessary. Use this as a last resort if you believe there is a hard disk problem. Be sure that all important data is backed up before doing this operation!

Set your video monitor to a resolution of 1024 x 768 or larger. Set the color depth to "Thousands." (Both of these settings are found in the Monitors and Sound Control Panel.)

RAM

RAM is cheap; make sure to give your Mac enough to work efficiently. Many new computers are shipping with 128MB installed. This is plenty for running the Mac OS, PARIS, and some plug-ins. If your computer has only 64MB RAM installed, consider adding an additional 32 or 64MB.

The use of RAM in PARIS is interactive. When you add more RAM in the PARIS Configuration dialog box, you also need to add more RAM in the Mac Finder. PARIS uses RAM to cache audio files for playback, create fades, and to draw waveform overviews.

For example, if you change the PARIS configuration to these settings: Disk Cache to 14MB and Overview cache size to 4096, you should add an additional 6MB RAM minimum to the application in the Finder Get Info dialog. (You added 4MB to the disk cache and 2MB to the overview cache.)

VST plug-ins also require RAM to process audio. The amount of RAM that each VST plug-in requires is dependent upon the plug-in itself; some plug-ins are more complex than others. Add additional RAM to the PARIS application from the Mac Finder when you load additional plug-ins. A good rule of thumb is to add an additional 1MB for each plug-in installed. Consult your plug-in's documentation for more information on memory requirements.

To change the application RAM assignment for PARIS:

• Quit PARIS.

• Locate the PARIS application in the PARIS folder.

• Click once on the PARIS application icon to select it.

• Use the Finder's Get Info command; either use the shortcut Command-I, or select "Get Info" from the File menu.

• This opens the Info window for the PARIS application.

• In the Memory Requirements section, set the Minimum Size and Preferred Size to the same amount.

• Close the Info window.

• Launch PARIS to use your new settings.

Software

Troubleshooting Plug-Ins

If you are having a performance-related problem running PARIS, it may be connected to plug-ins and/or the memory they use. If there are a lot of VST plug-ins in the VST folder, temporarily drag them into a different folder so that they are removed from the equation. Launch PARIS again to see if performance improves.

If there is a problem with plug-ins, and you're not sure which one is causing the problem, try this. Drag all plug-ins out of the VST folder. Then, add them in one at a time. Launch PARIS and try the plug-in. If it works, quit PARIS. Add one more plug-in. Launch PARIS again and try the second plug-in. Repeat this procedure until you find out which plug-in is causing the problem.

Troubleshooting Performance Issues

Troubleshooting can be simplified if you check these basic settings first:

Mac "Memory" control panel:

• Disk Cache Size = 256k or less (128k is the suggested default setting)

• Virtual Memory = OFF

• RAM Disk = OFF

Use the Finder's Get Info command to look at the amount of RAM assigned to the PARIS application. Set it to 40MB or more (depends on the amount of real RAM installed in your Mac). To do this:

• Quit PARIS if it is running.

• Find the PARIS application.

• Click on it once so that it is highlighted.

• From the Mac's File menu, select "Get Info" to open the dialog box.

• Set the Minimum Size and Preferred Size parameters to the same amount.

• Close the Info dialog box.

Setting up PARIS for optimal performance

Launch PARIS; open the Configuration dialog box (in the Settings menu).

• Set the Disk I/O to 96k (the default setting is 64k)

• Set the Disk Cache to 14MB (the default setting is 10MB)

• Set the Overview cache size to 4096 (the default setting is 2048)

• Quit and re-launch PARIS to use your new settings.

When to Increase Configuration Settings

PARIS needs RAM to cache audio. As you add more and more tracks to a PARIS Project, you may see a change in performance (PARIS graphics slow down, or you start to get disk error messages). When this happens, increasing the Disk Cache setting in the Configuration dialog box will usually help. But remember, if you increase the RAM amounts here, you must also increase the RAM assigned to the PARIS application itself by at least the same amount in the Mac Finder.

If you record a large number of small files or create a large number of edits in a Project, you may need to increase the Overview cache size. The Overview cache size parameter determines the amount of RAM set aside for drawing the waveform Overviews. The default setting should be sufficient for average Projects. Remember that if you increase the RAM amount here, you must also increase the RAM assigned to the PARIS application itself by at least the same amount in the Mac Finder.

Change the Disk I/O setting if you start to encounter disk error messages while trying to play large numbers of tracks. This parameter sets the size of the data chunks that are being read from disk. You do not have to change the RAM assignments if you change this parameter.

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