Specifications

Chapter 6: System Setup 85
System Usage
Meters in the System Usage window indicate how
much of your system’s processing power is being
used when processing audio, and when writing and
playing back automation.
Activity Meters
All versions of Pro Tools provide three
common system Activity meters. Avid HDX,
Pro Tools|HD, and HD Native systems also
provide a meter for monitoring PCI activity.
PCI (Avid HDX, Pro Tools|HD, and HD Native
Systems Only)
Displays the amount of PCI bus
activity.
CPU (Native) Displays the amount of CPU pro-
cessing activity for host-based plug-in processing.
CPU (Clip) Displays the amount of processing ac-
tivity for Real-Time Elastic Audio processing and
clip gain.
Disk Displays the amount of hard disk processing
activity.
As these meters approach their limits, host pro-
cessing and recording or playback of automation
data can be affected. If CPU or PCI Activity are
high, a system error may occur. If Disk Activity is
high, Pro Tools may miss playback of some auto-
mation data during particularly dense periods of
activity, such as while using the Bounce to Disk
command.
Cache Meters
(Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools with Complete
Production Toolkit Only)
Pro Tools HD provides two meters in the System
Usage window for monitoring the Disk Cache:
Disk Cache and Timeline Cached. These meters
are only present if a fixed
Cache Size is selected in
the Playback Engine dialog.
Disk Cache Displays the percentage of how much
of the allocated disk cache is filled. For example, if
the
Cache Size in the Playback Engine is set to 1
GB and a session uses 250 MB of audio files, the
Disk Cache meter reads 25%. If all of the audio in
the session is cached (including files in the Clip
List that are not on the timeline), the Disk Cache
meter appears green.
Timeline Cached Displays the amount of audio in
the session Timeline cached in RAM.
If the selected
Cache Size in the Playback Engine
is the same or greater than the amount of audio on
the Timeline, the
Timeline Cached meter reads
100% and it appears green (indicating that all of
the audio on the Timeline is cached in RAM). This
is useful for letting you know how much audio can
still be added to the Timeline and be cached in
RAM.
If the total amount of audio in the Timeline is more
than the selected
Cache Size in the Playback En-
gine, the
Timeline Cached meter shows the per-
centage of audio on the Timeline that is cached in
System Usage window (Pro Tools|HD system shown)
System Usage window showing Disk Cache and
Timeline Cached meters