User`s guide

Pro Tools Reference Guide388
DSP Usage with TDM
Plug-Ins
Some basic guidelines for DSP usage on
Pro Tools systems follow:
◆ TDM-equipped systems running
Pro Tools 4.3 or higher software use Digide-
sign’s MultiShell technology, which allows
any MultiShell compatible Plug-In to share
DSP chips on both MIX cards and DSP
Farm cards. Up to five types of MultiShell
compatible Plug-Ins can share a single DSP
chip.
☞ Refer to the DigiRack Plug-Ins Guide for de-
tails on MultiShell Plug-In counts.
◆ Stereo DSP Plug-Ins generally use up
twice as much DSP as mono Plug-Ins.
◆ Master Faders don’t require additional
DSP. Use them freely to control submix lev-
els, send/bus output levels, and the master
output level of your session.
The session templates provided with your
system include several useful preconfig-
ured session setups that make efficient use
of DSP resources.
If your computer has unused slots, you can
always increase your available DSP re-
sources by adding additional MIX Farm or
DSP Farm cards to your system.
DSP Usage and I/O
Allocation
On TDM-equipped Pro Tools systems with
a single Audio Interface, at least one DSP
chip on your MIX card (Pro Tools 24 MIX
or MIXplus systems) or DSP Farm
(Pro Tools 24 or Pro Tools III systems) is
automatically allocated to mixing and in-
put/output tasks.
Even though this is only a small portion of
the DSP power available on the chip, it ef-
fectively dedicates the entire chip to mix-
ing tasks, making it unavailable for Plug-
Ins.
If you have an additional Audio Interface
assigned to a DSP Farm or MIX Farm card,
Pro Tools will use a DSP chip on that card
for mixing and I/O tasks as well.
If you are not currently using your addi-
tional interface, you can free up DSP and
use it for additional Plug-Ins.
To reallocate I/O capacity on a DSP Farm or
MIX Farm card:
3 Choose Setups > Playback Engine.
4 From the Card pop-up menu, select the
MIX Farm or DSP Farm whose DSP you
want to reallocate.
5 From the Interface pop-up, select No In-
terface.
6 Click OK to close this dialog. When the
session reopens, the DSP that was allocated
to I/O is available for mixing or Plug-Ins.
Reallocating I/O in the Playback Engine dialog