User Manual

Chapter 6: System Setup 81
Additional System Usage Meters
in Pro Tools|HD Systems
Pro Tools|HD systems (TDM only) provide three
additional meters below the Activity meter (see
page 80):
TDM Voices Allocated Displays the total number
of TDM voices that can be allocated and the
number of voices currently allocated. This in-
cludes all voices whether they are allocated ex-
plicitly or dynamically, as well as any voices
used for routing RTAS processing.
TDM Time Slots Used Displays the total number
of TDM Time Slots available and the number of
TDM Time Slots currently used.
DSP Usage (HD Core and HD Accel) Displays (in
percent) how much of each DSP chip on each
Pro Tools|HD card is currently being used for
mixer configurations and TDM plug-ins.
Managing System Resources
To monitor the usage of resources during a
Pro Tools session:
 Choose Window > System Usage.
To reduce processing load, do one of the following:
 Reduce the density of automation in places
where it shows the most activity. For details, see
“Thinning Automation” on page 1026.
– or –
 Turn off meters in Sends view, if enabled (by
deselecting Show Meters in Sends View in the Dis-
play Preferences page). For details, see “Individ-
ual Send Views and Meters” on page 941.
DSP Caching
(Pro Tools|HD Systems Only)
Pro Tools HD (TDM only) maintains a Plug-In
and Mixer cache for allocated DSP when closing
and opening sessions. While this has no effect
on the time it takes to open the first session after
you launch Pro Tools, it does result in being able
to open and close all subsequent Pro Tools ses-
sions much more quickly, especially when using
the Revert To Saved command or when opening
similarly configured sessions.
However, when using DSP caching, the System
Usage window may not always accurately show
the DSP resources your session is currently us-
ing. For an accurate display of current DSP us-
age, you can either disable DSP caching or purge
the DSP cache.
System Usage window (Pro Tools HD 2 Accel shown)
System
Activity
TDM Voices
Allocated
TDM Time
Slots Used
DSP
Usage