garageband slow, jerky, whatsup with that?

i was using gb on my ibook g4, and after 4 tracks it was displaying slow, and it would ultimately tell me that my optimization was not good, adn that i should getter a better processor or cut back on tracks etc.

so i buy a new computer, g5 with fast processor, and i'm getting the same message. is there a problem with the software? i can't seem to figure out what the problem is. if i'm using garageband to make music, it shouldn't freak out if i have 5 tracks (all software instruments) with some effects.

please any advice would be helpful! thanks
maidi :headphone

it makes sense to do that on the g4, but on the powermac? Do you have a lot of other applications open?

my computer is brand spanking new. no other apps open. processor is 1.9Ghz, memory: 1.5 GB DDR2 SDRAM.

there is no reason at all that this should be happening...computer wise.

thanks for your advice.
maidi :headphone

macAttack said:

it makes sense to do that on the g4, but on the powermac? Do you have a lot of other applications open?

Click to expand...

also, wanted to explain:
here is an example of what i'm doing in gb so you can understand:

dance kit
conga
shaker
clave
jazz kit
dance kit

the effects are from Garageband - on the software instrument you can select compression or delay or reverb, etc.

what's happening (on both ibook G4 with 10.3 and G5 Tiger) is that if i use more than 2 tracks, it starts to stutter, and then eventually tells me it's too much. those above listed tracks are all software instruments, LOOPS.

i have followed all the "turn off file vault, make processor run at highest" from gb help file. still have the problem...
many thanks for your advice.
maidi :headphone

Ok, a few more tricks to try out:
-If you have a track the way you want it - press the little padlock icon to write it to the harddrive: This means the clips (incl. applied effects) are written to the hdd, which will free up CPU time. (You can still unlock it and edit it again later).

-Go to GB's preferences (apple + ,) and select the audio/midi tab. Try selecting the 'optimize for maximum number of simultaneous tracks' button.

THANK YOU. That did the trick - you da man or woman, I'm not sure I didn't check your id.

Also, i will convert more of the software instruments into real as that takes up much less space.

maidi:headphone

Aptmunich said:

Ok, a few more tricks to try out:
-If you have a track the way you want it - press the little padlock icon to write it to the harddrive: This means the clips (incl. applied effects) are written to the hdd, which will free up CPU time. (You can still unlock it and edit it again later).

-Go to GB's preferences (apple + ,) and select the audio/midi tab. Try selecting the 'optimize for maximum number of simultaneous tracks' button.

Click to expand...

oh, sorry and 1 more question - do you have any idea about changing the tempo of one track but not another? is it possible? so far i haven't found that it is. (like say you want one track to be doubletime, the other half)

maidi

Hey glad to help out (I'm a dude).

I don't think garageband can play tracks at different speeds...

hey dude

me again...i'm a chick btw.

you know, it's still doing it to some extent. i am trying to convert more tracks to real instruments. but that requires going into my old songs, converting all the loops (cuz i don't think it does it automatically when i select that option to make all loops into real instruments) and it's still a little like limping along. i guess what perplexes me is that garageband, although it's a "simple" for "beginner" musicians, it is not a bad program, and should be for folks that want to actually make music. i think i'm gonna have to break down and learn reason...

are you a musician as well?

www.thisisjunglecat.com

chus
maidi :headphone

It still shouldn't really be doing that...
I'd recommend trying the logic express demo - maybe that won't be as challenging as reason since I believe it's what Garageband is based on...

http://www.apple.com/logicexpress/trial/

Yeah I am also a musician, but I've only used garageband for recording rough songdemos to work out with the rest of the band.

You can check out our songs here:
www.ampliphonic.de/media/sound/

EDIT
I just checked out your live demo song - really cool stuff you're doing there!
Be sure to post back when you've got some recordings up on your site...

thanks for your help man. and the listen to your band! keep on rockin, and i'll put more up as possible. hopefully we can record our next show and put it up live.
also you can check www.jessicameider.com - not the same kinda musidc but still.