User Manual

Chapter 4: Configuring Your Pro Tools System 21
Minimize Additional I/O Latency (Mac Only)
When enabled, any additional latency due to
suppressing errors during playback and record is
minimized to 128 samples. Suppressing RTAS er-
rors requires at least 128 samples of additional
buffering on some systems. If this option is dis-
abled, the buffer is half the H/W Buffer Size, or at
least 128 samples (whichever is greater). If you
are on an older, slower computer, you may want
to disable this option to avoid adverse perfor-
mance.
This option is only available on Mac if the Ignore
Errors During Playback/Record option is enabled.
DAE Playback Buffer Size
The DAE Playback Buffer Size setting determines
the amount of memory DAE allocates for disk
buffers. In addition to levels, the DAE Playback
Buffer Size shows values in milliseconds, which
indicate the amount of audio buffered when the
system reads from disk.
The optimum DAE Playback Buffer Size for most
disk operations is 1500 msec; Level 2 (Default).
• DAE Playback Buffer Size settings lower than
1500 msec; Level 2 (Default) may improve
playback and recording initiation speed, as
well as preview in context in DigiBase brows-
ers. However, a lower setting may make it dif-
ficult to play or record tracks reliably with
sessions containing a large number of tracks
or a high density of edits, or with systems that
have slower or heavily-fragmented hard
drives.
• DAE Playback Buffer Size settings higher than
1500 msec; Level 2 (Default) allow higher track
count, higher density of edits in a session, or
the use of slower hard drives. However, a
higher setting may increase the time lag when
starting playback or recording, starting pre-
view in context from DigiBase browsers, or
cause a longer audible time lag while editing
during playback.
To change the DAE Playback Buffer Size:
1 Choose Setup > Playback Engine.
2 From the DAE Playback Buffer pop-up menu, se-
lect a buffer size. Memory requirements for each
setting are shown at the bottom of the Playback
Engine dialog.
3 Click OK.
If Pro Tools needs more system memory for the
DAE Playback Buffer, it will prompt you to re-
start your computer.
Using a larger DAE Playback Buffer Size
leaves less system memory for other tasks.
The default setting of 1500 msec (Level 2) is
recommended unless you are encountering
–9073 (“Disk too slow or fragmented”)
errors.