System usage – M-AUDIO Pro Tools Recording Studio User Manual

Page 74

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Pro Tools Reference Guide

56

System Usage

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 four
common system activity meters:

PCI

Displays the amount of PCI bus activity.

CPU (RTAS)

Displays the amount of CPU pro-

cessing activity for RTAS processing.

CPU (Elastic)

Displays the amount of processing

activity for Real-Time Elastic Audio processing.

Disk

Displays the amount of hard disk process-

ing activity.

As these meters approach their limits, native
processing and recording or playback of auto-
mation data can be affected. If CPU or PCI Activ-
ity are high, a system error may occur. If Disk
Activity is high, Pro Tools may miss playback of
some automation data during particularly dense
periods of activity, such as while using the
Bounce to Disk command.

With Pro Tools HD, there are additional meters:

TDM Voices Allocated

Displays the total number

of TDM voices that can be allocated and the
number of voices currently allocated. This in-
cludes all voices whether they are allocated ex-
plicitly or dynamically, as well as any voices
used for routing RTAS processing.

TDM Time Slots Used

Displays the total number

of TDM Time Slots available and the number of
TDM Time Slots currently used.

DSP Usage (Accel Core, HD Core, HD Accel, and
HD Process)

Displays (in percent) how much of

each DSP chip on each Pro Tools|HD card is cur-
rently being used for mixer configurations and
TDM plug-ins.

System Usage window (Pro Tools LE shown)

System Usage window (Pro Tools HD 2 Accel shown)

System
Activity

TDM Voices
Allocated

TDM Time
Slots Used

DSP
Usage

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