welcome dmarocco,
several terabytes beeing displayed is a known and confirmed bug in OS X - meanwhile i'm starting to think it might be actually a bug in the memory management ...

i believe to have read it has been fixed with the 10.4.9 update, but i'm not 100% sure ... at least i'd recommend to run apple's pro application update and don't forget: always reboot before and after you run any updates in OS X to avoid having disturbing processes still loaded in memory.
christian

Actually, cm, I did the Combo Update of 10.4.10 and it's still there: 16.777.xxx....

If they fixed it in 1.4.9 something funny happened on the way to 10.4.10.

Rather confusing.

Thing is, Apple is so distracted right now with iToys that it makes one wonder whether or not 10.4.11 is going to be worth the trouble for them or worth the risk for Mac users. As summer turns to autumn, all the rage will be about Leopard.

Really, we're about 12 weeks away and to be honest, I'm a bit nervous about the ways in which 10.5 might create more problems for DAW users than it solves upon first release.

I am happy to know that they are calling it OS 10.5 and not OS 11, but that could be little more than placebo where a whole new OS, regaradless of name, could create considerable *discomfort*.

Another thing I've seen are the installers which state that the computer needs several hundred TRILLION hours to complete the process. This, of course, has had no impact in reality so I'm hoping this 16,777,xxx glitch is at least as harmless.

Agreed on the frustration with the itoys focus at Apple. A friend brought his brand new iPhone over last night to show off while I was stressing over the $17,000 machine I just bought that can't run more than three solo string sounds!!!

Has anyone been having this problem in 10.4.9? I may just reinstall the OS and apps on a new drive and only go to 10.4.9. Would love not to have to go through that, but so far that's the best I can come up with.

And thanks for the suggestions, everybody, keep them coming.

@JWL said:

Actually, cm, I did the Combo Update of 10.4.10 and it's still there: 16.777.xxx....
If they fixed it in 1.4.9 something funny happened on the way to 10.4.10.

Another thing I've seen are the installers which state that the computer needs several hundred TRILLION hours to complete the process. This, of course, has had no impact in reality so I'm hoping this 16,777,xxx glitch is at least as harmless.

How many instances of the VSL Instruments loaded with solo string L2 matrices or any other LARGE Matrix are you able to run before the system is maxed? And when it freezes do you get error messages or endless spinning beach balls?

I can get the violin, viola, and then in DP it hangs on the cello. In logic I was able to get the cello in and it hung on the bass.

I ask because this error seems to just be another symptom of an issue in RAM management that is preventing me from loading up my samplers. Everything works fine even with the 16,777,XXX TB until a point and at that point it hangs, forever.

Frustrating

dmarocco, i'd assume you mean presets rather than matrices ... interesting if you say with logic you can load more than with DP, the vslserver should be able to use up to about 3.5 GB memory with both apps.
christian

Just so everyone knows - apparently Apple has recognized that there are problems with the OS 10.4.10 update and plans to issue fixes in the near future. Check out the Macintouch.com website which posts user comments regarding technical issues. The following is one such report:

@Macintouch.com said:

Rob Terrell sent this note about a possible problem with Mac OS X 10.4.10:

I've just gotten off the phone with Apple support and they've confirmed that the 10.4.10 update is buggy, and another update is in the works.
The tech I spoke with recommended that I archive-install 10.4.6 and update only to 10.4.9 using the manually downloaded updaters on Apple's web site.
After the update was installed, I got random kernel panics on two previously solid MacBook Pros. The /Library/Logs/panic.log file on both shows a kernel crash in "com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family". For both laptops, the kernel panic has only happened when on wireless using the battery. (So far.) My wife's Mac has been useless since the update -- six kernel panics (and associated lost data) in a day and a half. I've had a little better luck, but I've had two kernel panics since I installed it yesterday.
If you haven't updated, I would recommend holding off for a while longer.

My own experience with OS 10.4.10 has, so far, been incident free, but also very limited. It does seem a bit snappier than OS 10.4.9.Reading the comments on the MacIntouch website, most of the problems noted seem to affect Intel Macs, so it may be that PPC Macs are relatively unscathed...

Rough day, I can't even get the quotes to work.....
cm you said, "dmarocco, i'd assume you mean presets rather than matrices"

Maybe so, this is day one with the VSL Instruments, but still is it reasonable that an 8 core MacPro with 9GB of RAM can only load 3 presets?

I guess I'm misunderstanding the way it works, but each preset only has 5 or 6 matrices in it. that still seems very low, no?

Maybe I just expect to much....

But even so, when it maxes out shouldn't it give a warning or something and not jsut hang?

Stevesong thanks for the info,

it sounds like an archive & install back to 10.4.9 might be the next step for me.

doesn't matter if 6 or 9 or 16 GB RAM - at 4GB for a single 32bit app you hit the wall.
btw: 9 GB looks like 4 x 2GB + 2 x 512 MB RAM sticks, which i would not recommend related to memory organization of the chipset and regarding loading times. strictly follow the instructions (if any are present) in the manual - best performance is recieved with RAM sticks in quadruples.

the quotes: possibly you have deactivated BBcode in your profile and if, you can always uncheck *disable BBcode* when posting.

the warning: AFAIK there is no reliable method to presume the amount of available memory (i'd assume this is related to memory fragmentation), so such an answer might be *false positive* and prevent further loading.
each patch shows the needed amount of required memory in the info-window (above the *porthole*). the VI just requests memory from the operating system, which is managing it ...
christian

@dmarocco said:

Maybe so, this is day one with the VSL Instruments, but still is it reasonable that an 8 core MacPro with 9GB of RAM can only load 3 presets?

I use a rusty old G5 quad with 4.5 GB RAM, and I can load about ten VI instances with a whole level 1 preset each.

@dmarocco said:

Maybe so, this is day one with the VSL Instruments, but still is it reasonable that an 8 core MacPro with 9GB of RAM can only load 3 presets?

It certainly does not sound reasonable to me that would be able to run only 3 presets on your 8 processor, 9GB machine. Try installing 10.4.9 and see if things work better.

I've been messing with it, and I was loading performances, not matrices. It seems like I can get about 2.5GB of actual files loaded before the VSL Server crashes. I wish there was a better way, but that's what I've got so far.

The memory usage still shows exactly the same, I am just learning how to ignore it.

Also, I have it on good authority, and have been able to prove it myself, that Logic is a significantly more efficient host than DP.

Another work around I'm working on is using multiple instance of the StandAlone player with IAC Bus for MIDI and Soundflower for audio routing. That does make it possible to use all 9GB of RAM, and even all 16GB if I load up the machine. We'll see...

I still might try 10.4.9...

thanks for keeping us updated, however - a machine like yours should not crash at 2,5 GB but reach 3,2 at least, going to 3.5 and above most machines become *spiky*.
running stand-alone(s) additionally is a good choice, but needs noticeable CPU (for communication to the GUI) which should be tolerable having 8 cores.
christian

@Another User said:

he G5 only seemed to be able to handle about 8 instances with one matrix loaded-- either an articulation combi or perf legato. CPU meter often in the red, but averaging about 80-90% at a stand still.

The Mac Pro actually loaded 20 empty instances (before I started loading sounds)-- with the CPU meter holding steady around 35-40%. With one patch loaded per instance as mentioned above, the CPU meter did not change.

The good news:

Activity Viewer reads:
Wired: 487.18 MB
Active: 197.76 MB
Inactive: 2.87 GB
Used: 3.55 GB
Free: 5.46 GB
VM Size: 7.37 GB
Pages I/O: 41263/0


The bad news:

On the Intel, I only got 17 instances loaded successfully. The 18th instance crapped out and the spinning beach ball of death is doing its thing as I type.

While my instance vs matrix tests on both the PPC and Intel are much less than the official 2.5 Dual PPC reports indicated (being 20-24 instances), I do find the notion of usiing 17 instances on the Intel encouraging while networked to the G5. ...

Other users have chimed in with additional info as well.
http://community.vsl.co.at/viewtopic.php?p=83936

Keep in mind that this test was done using 10.4.8, so the 16,777,xxx issue had yet to rear its ugly head. Also, I have removed 2 sticks of RAM (512 each), so my MacPro now only has 8GB instead of 9GB, fwiw.

I'll try that template again (if I still have it) to see how it fares under 10.4.10, but templates created and used since then have been more modest.

In case anyone is interested.... I reinstalled form scratch with 10.4.9, and got the same thing, so I guess that's just what I get. I guess I'll just deal with it, and wait for MacOSX, DP, and VSL updates...

I was able to get 32 empty instances, and am still in the same boat of between 2.5 and 3.0 GB loaded into RAM before it crashes. Tough to say for sure because of the 16EB error.

Thanks for all the info

Hi,

I'm encountering a similar problem.
Still running OSX 10.4.9 and when I use about 4 GB of Ram, one of the programs crashes. (the one I was opening or was loading samples in) (Vienna Instrument or Kontakt2)
I tried several different work arounds to find out wether it is one program in particulair.
But no matter VSL VI is running or not,wether Logic or DP is running, by exceding an amount of Ram somewhere around 4 GB the trouble starts.