Pro Tools LE question - workspace

ZV Yoda

Hi folks,
I posted this over on the DUC too, but maybe somebody on here can help...

I’ve only recently started using workspace in Pro Tools. I was using it on a session a couple of day ago to drop in some of the Big Fish loops that came with PT LE 8 (... as it happens, the session I'm working on is that dance tune I'm "attempting" to write)

Anyway, I was trying to do the same thing last night, but when I went into workspace, I couldn’t see all of my files/volumes. I can find the files via OSX no probs, I just can’t replicate the same path in workspace to find what I’m looking for. I can only see a couple of directories in workspace, but then there’s about 20-30 volumes/directories named “etc”... this doesn't seem right.

Any help greatly appreciated - thanks!

I'm running PTLE 8.0CS2 on a 20" iMac 2Ghz Intel C2D 4Gb RMA with OSX 10.5.5 (haven't upgraded to 10.5.7 yet)

woodsdenis

http://www.jcdeshaies.com/

Use this first and see what happens. It will clear all your preferences etc so you will have to reset them when you open PT again.


I assume you have your samples on an external drive.

When using workspace does

1. Does it not show that drive or
2. It shows the drive but the contents are inaccessible or corrupted.

Protools creates a folder called Digdesign Databases on any drive it sees
hooked up to your system. Quit Protools. Drag this folder to the trash and empty it. This file can get corrupted.

Try all of this and get back

ZV Yoda

Cheers Denis - that link looks like a great reference for debugging PT.

In terms of how I have my drives set up…
• Pro Tools, VIs & samples are all stored on my system drive. I thought that's what was recommended?
• I use an external (FW400) audio drive - this is where my sessions & associated audio files are saved.
• I also have a 2nd external (USB2) drive which I use as a total system back up (time machine).

In terms of which drives/directories I can see in workspace – I’ll have to check that when I get home this evening, can’t say for certain at the minute. I’ll also trash the digi databases this evening & follow the other advice on the link you sent. I’ll post later to let you know how I get on.

Thanks a million

woodsdenis

That little app is a must have for fixing PT issues.

It is not ideal to use your system drive for samples.

1. If you are loading samples into RAM then its OK.

but

2. If you are streaming samples with your Sampler VI its not good


3. I have never used Workspace to look at my System Drive for samples
I will check it out. I think as a general rule of thumb keep all samples/audio on a separate drives if you can. It makes life much easier.

Dont forget!!!!!

If you were using the Big fish loops and dragging them into PT via the workspace, make sure you have the Automatically Copy Files on import ticked in Setup/Preferences /Processing, otherwise you will be accessing/playing those files from the system drive. Not good.

Ticking this pref makes sure any audio imported/dragged into PT will be copied into your Audio folder on your Session/Audio drive.

I just looked at Workspace looking at my system drive and I see whats there
plus a few etc folders.

I would advise you to move all your samples to your Audio Drive for the time being. Workspace is really for cataloging and searching drives that you
record and transfer on and your system drive shouldn't be one of them.

ZV Yoda

Hi Denis... trashing those databases seems to have solved the issue - I can now see the system again & copy loops across. I’ve also changed the setting on my prefs as you suggested – that’s a good tip!

I'm a bit nervous about lobbing my samples across to my firewire drive - that's because I have never been able to disable the sleep mode on the drive... so it spins down after a few mins. I've tried all the usual things, but nothing seems to work. It appears to be a compatibility issue between my Maxtor One Touch 4 external drive & OSX... neither Maxtor nor the Apple forum have any solutions & other have tried. I will invest in a Digi approved drive soon... at that stage, I'll copy my libraries across.

Thanks again for you help & that handy link - that's the 2nd time you've gotten me out of a hole with PT – much obliged!

woodsdenis

ZV Yoda wrote: »

Hi Denis... trashing those databases seems to have solved the issue - I can now see the system again & copy loops across. I’ve also changed the setting on my prefs as you suggested – that’s a good tip!

I'm a bit nervous about lobbing my samples across to my firewire drive - that's because I have never been able to disable the sleep mode on the drive... so it spins down after a few mins. I've tried all the usual things, but nothing seems to work. It appears to be a compatibility issue between my Maxtor One Touch 4 external drive & OSX... neither Maxtor nor the Apple forum have any solutions & other have tried. I will invest in a Digi approved drive soon... at that stage, I'll copy my libraries across.

Thanks again for you help & that handy link - that's the 2nd time you've gotten me out of a hole with PT – much obliged!

What a bummer with the drive. If you can afford it, use G drives for sample/audio storage. I do and they are great, if a bit more expensive than most.

Read up in the manual about Catalogues in the Workspace too. A really easy way to organize your sample library.

When is the dance track going to be finished

studiorat

Thanks for the link Dennis, I knew something like that had to exist. Removing the Digidesign Databases from all the drives helps in times of strife too.

I use a different drive again just for my samples, they are used for different DAW's too, but I can see the advantage in copying them to the session folder for back-up, not that you mention it.

But I was wondering, would one of ZV's USB drives be a suitable sample drive or even a partition on the internal sys drive be a useful option.

Partitioning an up and running system isn't as difficult as it would seem either!

Quantegy and Glyph drives are pretty groovy too. Had a Quantegy now for years and it's still in good shape despite being bounced around the floor a good few times.

jtsuited

studiorat wrote: »

Quantegy and Glyph drives are pretty groovy too. Had a Quantegy now for years and it's still in good shape despite being bounced around the floor a good few times.

Had a glyph drive die on me (in very awkward circumstances) 1 week after getting it under the official recommendation of digi.

Apparently it's very very rare though.

woodsdenis

studiorat wrote: »

Thanks for the link Dennis, I knew something like that had to exist. Removing the Digidesign Databases from all the drives helps in times of strife too.

I use a different drive again just for my samples, they are used for different DAW's too, but I can see the advantage in copying them to the session folder for back-up, not that you mention it.

But I was wondering, would one of ZV's USB drives be a suitable sample drive or even a partition on the internal sys drive be a useful option.

Partitioning an up and running system isn't as difficult as it would seem either!

Quantegy and Glyph drives are pretty groovy too. Had a Quantegy now for years and it's still in good shape despite being bounced around the floor a good few times.

I have my system drive partitioned like this

1. Tiger/PT7.4
2. Leopard/PT8
3. Data.

On My Data partition I have all the samples that are used by both systems
StylusRMX/Omnisphere/Atmosphere/Trilogy etc. There is no problem doing this with these plugs because they load into RAM and dont stream from disk.

However with my Sampler VI's Mach5/Structure, the samples are all on a separate FW 800 G Drive.

If you put samples that are streaming on your main system even if its partitioned, the disk will be disk head will be jumping all over the place trying to use the system and stream aswell.

That little PT pref and database helper is a must have for anyone who uses
Pro Tools, spread the word on that one.:D

woodsdenis

jtsuited wrote: »

Had a glyph drive die on me (in very awkward circumstances) 1 week after getting it under the official recommendation of digi.

Apparently it's very very rare though.

Actually a separate thread for recommended drives for audio might not be a bad thing. There are so many out there its mind boggling. It would be just as
pertinent, if not more so, to our new cousins in the Dance Music Forum.

Mods?

Glyph drives are very good but they are really expensive. I would love to know what they have in them that the others dont ?
Always a good barometer of how good/reliable/performance a drive is, is to look at what video editors use. They really put drives to the test.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/

These guys are used a lot in the States. Unfortunately importing to here isn't
really worth it.

ZV Yoda

studiorat wrote: »

But I was wondering, would one of ZV's USB drives be a suitable sample drive or even a partition on the internal sys drive be a useful option.

Partitioning an up and running system isn't as difficult as it would seem either!

I bought the USB drive before I got the FW one, but the folks Digi forum said PT doesn't support USB external drives. I did try it, but it was very slow to read/write.

That's what I ended up getting for the Maxtor FW drive - I needed to get a powered FW hub too (since I didn't have enough FW ports on my iMac). Unfortunately for me, I ended up getting a FW drive that has sleeping sickness.

It seems like I have 2 options?... either partition my system drive & use that for samples/applications... or get a more suitable FW drive. Even since I introduced the external drives, I have been seeing more crashes, so I think I’ll need to do something.

Any other thoughts appreciated… not keen on partioning my system drive though – doesn’t that means I’ll have to do a complete re-install?... I was going to update from OSX10.5.5 to 10.5.7 this w/e

woodsdenis

ZV Yoda wrote: »

I bought the USB drive before I got the FW one, but the folks Digi forum said PT doesn't support USB external drives. I did try it, but it was very slow to read/write.

That's what I ended up getting for the Maxtor FW drive - I needed to get a powered FW hub too (since I didn't have enough FW ports on my iMac). Unfortunately for me, I ended up getting a FW drive that has sleeping sickness.

It seems like I have 2 options?... either partition my system drive & use that for samples/applications... or get a more suitable FW drive. Even since I introduced the external drives, I have been seeing more crashes, so I think I’ll need to do something.

Any other thoughts appreciated… not keen on partioning my system drive though – doesn’t that means I’ll have to do a complete re-install?... I was going to update from OSX10.5.5 to 10.5.7 this w/e

AFAIK on a Mac you have to erase/reinstall to partition. It is the only way I know how to do it.

Definitely get a more suitable drive than the one you are using. If it keeps going to sleep thats a no no.

You should not get any crashes by having an external drive hooked up.
How was the Maxtor formatted ?

You are right, USB is a no no for Protools recording.

Get Disk Warrior and/or Techtool Pro and run these on system and external
drives regularly. Both fix directory problems, while Techtool pro does
disk defrag/optimization too. Boring I know, but trust me they are indispensable.

Check out thread on updating your OS

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055579143

henessjon

i was lurking on this thread very helpful