New Mac user need some info..

B

BulletBill

Registered
Hello all,

I am a new Mac user and I just got a used 17" PowerPC G4, 1 GIG Ram, 1GIG CPU, 60 GIG HDD. NVIDIA 64DDR Video Card.

I just had OSX with all the updates loaded on my machine. I intend to use the Mac for djing. There is only Office 2004 installed on the machine and Traktor DJ Studio 2.5.3. I moved all my mp3's (6000) of them 18gigs worth to my drive. Problem is the mac can't seem to run Traktor DJ very well. Lots of farts and pops. I meet the Requirements completely. I was told my NI (makers for traktor) to "tweak" the OS and "Defrag" the drive. When I asked them how to tweak the drive they told me they couldn't offer me any advice.

Is there any tips you could give me on how to speed my Mac up so I can run Traktor better?


Thank You
Bullet
 
:mad:

No offense or anything, but that's the kind of advice you get from a Windows-based company. I ran the Traktor DJ demo for a while on my Mac, and had no such problems with popping or lagging, despite what as probably a very fragmented drive.

One thing that might help is to fix disk permissions. Open up "Disk Utility" in your Utilities folder, which is in your Applications folder. Select your hard drive and click "Repair Permissions." Hopefully this might help.

Besides that, all I can say is to make sure you have the latest updates from Apple and Traktor.

I DO, however, get pops and lagging in Traktor when I'm DJing and playing Halo at the same time. ::ha::
 
Make sure you run Traktor and nothing else to maximize your RAM. Check your program's prefs to make sure you're playing at a bitrate your laptop can handle.

What are you plugging the laptop into for amplification? What's your system? Maybe there's some answers there…let us know. :)
 
I dunno, It seems like ever since I reloaded OSX its was fast but then its been getting slower and slower. My tracktor icon would bounce 3 times then start, now it bounces 10 times then starts. It just seems like its lagged out (the mac)
 
I reloaded it 3 weeks ago... Tried to run the " fix disk permissions" but keep getting an error message "No valid packages" So I am at your mercy.....


Bullet
 
Yup sure as shit, the folder is empty. What do I do, I didn't delete them either... Anyone can sent it to me what ever it is?


Bullet
 
Click on your Apple menu, then on "About This Mac" and tell us what version of the operating system you're running (OS X 10.?.?).

How much free space do you have on your hard drive?

Have you been playing around with Filevault? How about any third-party applications?

Open your Applications folder, then open the Utilities folder (inside Applications). Run Activity Monitor. Click the % CPU tab. Is there anything with a very high CPU percentage? Say, 50% or higher? Are there more than one with very high cpu percentages?

Do you have an HP printer? Do the icons on your desktop show file sizes / number of items in folders?

Those are just a few potential trouble spots to look at.

Doug
 
dktrickey,

10.3.8 OSX

Free Space on HDD = 55.6 GB

Dont know what filevalut is...

third-party applications, MacJanator

Activity Monitor has 103 threads, 39 Processes, nothing using any real CPU time.

No printer of any kind. Icons on desktop do not show file sizes or number of items in folders.


Bullet.
 
i somewhere read that traktor dj studio 2.6.1 was out - although it's not my bag of apps as i'm not into sound, anyway, but you _are_ using the latest version, aren't you. also: you might want to look around whether there's a whole forum dedicated to that special application or maybe Native Instruments offers a user forum or something?

And: Your HD space doesn't add up to me. 60 GB drive, 18 GB of MP3s, 55.x something free HD space? Something's foul. ;)
 
That might also be a factor. Its possible that the USB2.0 drive is simply not fast enough to retrieve the files, especially if the built in USB ports are USB1.x. You can find out by going to Apple Menu --> About This Mac --> More Info and check what USB ports you have. You can also try bringing the music files onto the internal drive to see if that makes a difference.
 
Filevault is an OS X feature that allows you to encrypt the information in your home folder, all of it. It essentially puts the home folder in an encrypted virtual disk. It's relatively new and it was (is?) prone to some problems.

I did a quick Google for Traktor and read about some guy using it on his G4/466. Your PowerBook should be able to handle it.

Doug
 
If I reload OSX again is there any setup options that will, 1, minimize the size of my install, 2, speed up my G4...

And thank you for all your help, this is sooooooo much better than the PC forums I used to goto. You guys ROCk, all of you.



Bullet
 
If you do a custom install, you have the option of NOT installing BSD Subsystem, 100s of megs of printer drivers, 100s of megs of language files (be honest... are you going to type in Polish?), X11 window manager, and a few other things, like iLife apps you might not use.
 
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