Pro Tools M-Powered 7.0/7.1 for M-Audio Systems on Mac OS X 10.4 ("Tiger") for PowerPC-based Macs

Pro Tools M-Powered 7

New Apple Intel-based Macs

M-Audio Hardware Supported by Pro Tools M-Powered Software

With Pro Tools M-Powered Software Version 7.0/7.1 for Mac OS 10.4 ("Tiger")

Product Information, Specs, Drivers:

  • Audiophile 192
    • High-Definition 4-In/4-Out Audio Card (PCI) with Digital I/O and MIDI
  • Audiophile 2496
    • 4-In/4-Out Audio Card (PCI) with MIDI and Digital I/O
  • Delta 44
    • Professional 4-In/4-Out Audio Card (PCI)
  • Delta 66
    • Professional 6-In/6-Out Audio Card (PCI) with Digital I/O
  • Delta 1010
    • 10-In/10-Out PCI/Rack Digital Recording System with MIDI and Digital I/O
  • Delta 1010LT
    • 10-In/10-Out PCI Virtual Studio
  • FireWire 1814
    • 18-in/14-out FireWire Audio/MIDI Interface w/ADAT Lightpipe
  • FireWire 410
    • 4-In/10-Out FireWire Audio/MIDI Mobile Recording Interface
  • FireWire Audiophile
    • 4-In/6-Out FireWire Audio/MIDI Interface
  • FireWire Solo
    • FireWire Mobile Audio Interface for Songwriter/Guitarists
  • Ozonic
    • 37-Key FireWire Audio/MIDI Interface and Controller

Newly Supported in Pro Tools M-Powered 7.0

  • Fast Track USB
    • Record Guitar and Vocals on Your Computer — Complete with Effects
  • M-Audio Black Box
    • Amps | Effects | Drums | Recording USB Audio interface for Guitarists
    • (updated drivers posted March 17, 2006)
  • MobilePre USB
    • USB Bus-Powered Preamp and Audio Interface
  • M-Audio Ozone
    • USB Audio/MIDI Mobile Workstation
  • ProjectMix I/O
    • Control Surface with Motorized Faders and 18 x 14 Audio Interface
  • Transit
    • High-Resolution Mobile Audio Interface

Newly Supported in Pro Tools M-Powered 7.1

Pro Tools M-Powered Software Compatibility

  • Pro Tools M-Powered 7.0 or 7.1 for Mac OS X 10.4
  • Pro Tools M-Powered 7.0 or 7.1 for Windows XP Home or Professional
  • Pro Tools M-Powered 7 software requires one of the above M-Audio hardware devices
  • Other audio interfaces from M-Audio have not been qualified with M-Powered
  • Audio interfaces by Digidesign or any manufacturer other than M-Audio will not work with Pro Tools M-Powered software
  • Pro Tools M-Powered supports the use of any single supported M-Audio peripheral. Simultaneous use of multiple M-Audio peripherals is not supported.

Authorization

  • A pre-authorized cross-platform (Mac/Win) red iLok USB hardware key is included with all Pro Tools M-Powered software purchases
  • The Pro Tools M-Powered 6.8 authorization will also authorize Pro Tools M-Powered 7.0 and 7.1
  • For more information, and to download your free update to Pro Tools M-Powered 7, see the following web page:

Included and Optional Plug-Ins & Software

Optional Bundle:

Optional Digidesign & M-Audio Hardware

Control Surfaces & MIDI Interfaces

Note: Pro Tools M-Powered software does not support Digidesign Ethernet control surfaces: Control|24, ProControl, ICON D-Control, or ICON D-Command.

Video Options

The following options are not available for Pro Tools M-Powered:

  • Support for DV Toolkit & DV Toolkit 2 software
  • Support for DigiTranslator software
  • Support for Avid video peripherals

Maximum Performance Guidelines

  • Recording to the system startup drive is not recommended or supported
  • One or more separate internal or external dedicated audio hard drive(s) is highly recommended for maximum performance and track count. (see Hard Drive Minimum Requirements)
  • Although limited recording and playback of audio tracks may be possible using the internal drive in iBook, PowerBook, iMac, and Mac mini models, a separate external dedicated audio hard drive is highly recommended for maximum performance and track count. Digidesign recommends the use of FireWire drives for use with these computers.
  • Dual processor users will experience increased performance over single processor CPUs

New Session File Format (".ptf")

Pro Tools 7.0 uses a new session file format and extension (.ptf) to distinguish its sessions from sessions created with previous versions. Pro Tools 7 sessions need to be saved as an earlier format to be used with pre-7.0 Pro Tools systems. For more information, see the following:

Energy Saver Settings

Pro Tools Does Not Support Sleep Mode

In the Macintosh System Preferences, launch Energy Saver, click the Sleep tab, and disable all Sleep features. Set "Put the computer to sleep when it is inactive" to Never. Do not manually put your computer to sleep when running Pro Tools.

Processor Performance & Power Mac G5

For optimal Pro Tools performance, you must set Processor Performance (located in System Preferences > Energy Saver > Options) to "Highest". Updating your Mac OS may reset this to the default setting: "Automatic". After updating your Mac OS, check to make sure this is set to "Highest".

Apple's Mac OS help documentation provides the following info on Energy Saver Processor settings:

  • The PowerPC G5 processor in your Power Mac G5 can run at various speeds. The default setting for this feature is "Automatic", which allows the system to run the processor at full speed when required, and at a lower speed during periods of light processing activity. Certain real-time applications, such as audio creation or gaming, may perform optimally when using the highest processor performance setting. You can change the processor performance setting in the Energy Saver pane of System Preferences.

Low Buffer Size/Multi-Processor Issues with Pro Tools 7 on Mac OS X

There is a known issue with low hardware buffer sizes and the multiprocessor RTAS engine of Pro Tools 7 (HD, LE, and M-Powered). Specifically at buffer sizes lower than 512, multiprocessor setups of Pro Tools can show a marked INCREASE in CPU utilization as you enable more processors. While dual processor models also exhibit this behavior somewhat, it is more noticeable with 3 or 4 processors enabled on the Power Mac Quad G5.

Digidesign is aware of the problem, and is actively working on the issue. We have run a number of tests, and while we continue to investigate a fix, our tests have turned up a few situations where this problem is likely to manifest, and a workaround for those scenarios.

At buffer sizes 512 and higher, we recommend you use the maximum number of processors. More processors will give you more cycles to run additional RTAS plug-ins and more tracks with little additional overhead from Pro Tools' management of additional processors.

We recommend the following setting for existing or new sessions that require lower buffer sizes:

  1. In "Setup/Playback Engine" lower "RTAS Processors" to "2 Processors".
  2. If you still see errors, one or more of the following will reduce the CPU utilization below the error threshold:
    • Make some plug-ins inactive
    • Make some tracks inactive
  3. If errors still occur, follow the same instructions with one processor enabled

Once you are mixing, you may use all processors, and restore any inactive tracks/plug-ins. You can then increase the HW buffer size to 512 or higher to prevent errors.

We are fully engaged in this investigation and we will update our customers as we have more information.

Supported CPU Models & Requirements

  • Power Mac G5 - all models*
  • iMac G5 - all models
  • Mac mini - all PowerPC models (Intel-based Mac mini not compatible)
  • PowerBook G4 - 1 GHz and higher
  • iBook G4 - 933 MHz and higher
  • Power Mac G4 - 933 MHz and higher
  • iMac G4 - 1 GHz and higher

*Power Mac G5 Quad 2.5GHz - twin dual-core model M9592

Not Tested:

  • eMac G4 (although not tested, there are no known differences in performance compared to iMac G4 with similar processor speeds)

Music Production Toolkit Option — Maximum Track Count Information

The purchase of this option expands a Pro Tools M-Powered system from 32 total voiceable tracks to up to 48 mono or 48 stereo tracks at up to 96 kHz (interface permitting). In order to reliably achieve maximum track count, Digidesign recommends the following on Mac OS X:

  • Digidesign-Qualified Power Mac G5 Dual Processor 2GHz or higher, including Power Mac G5 Quad
    • Power Mac G5 Dual 2GHz (first generation model M9032) may not achieve maximum track count
  • 1.5 GB total system RAM or more
  • 2 or more hard drives dedicated for audio record and playback:
    • 2 internal SATA drives
    • 2 external SCSI drives & qualified SCSI HBA
    • 2 or more external FireWire drives

System Software

  • Pro Tools M-Powered 7.0/7.1 is officially supported on Mac OS X 10.4.3, 10.4.4, 10.4.5, and 10.4.6 (Tiger)
  • Pro Tools M-Powered 7 will not run on Mac OS X 10.3.9 and earlier
  • Pro Tools M-Powered 7 includes support for Japanese, Korean, Chinese Simplified, and Chinese Traditional Operating Systems
  • Mac OS X Requirements, Installation, Updating & Authorizing Plug-ins

After updating either Pro Tools or your Mac OS, always run Disk Utility and "Repair Permissions" on the startup drive.

Total System RAM

  • 512 MB minimum required, more recommended**
  • More RAM increases overall system and Pro Tools performance
  • More RAM suggested for sessions with high edit density, extensive use of plug-ins, or simultaneous use with MIDI sequencers

**Additional RAM Requirements — Music Production Toolkit Option

  • The purchase of the Music Production Toolkit option expands a Pro Tools M-Powered system from 32 total voiceable tracks to up to 48 mono or 48 stereo tracks at up to 96 kHz (interface permitting)
  • In order to reliably achieve maximum track count, 1.5 GB RAM is required on Mac OS X

Additional Requirements

Monitor

  • Minimum resolution of 1024 x 768
  • 14" minimum, 17" or larger recommended if using external monitor
  • PowerBook and iBook models with 12" and larger LCD screens supported
  • Dual monitors with standard dual monitor cards as shipped by Apple supported

QuickTime Required

  • Apple QuickTime 7
  • Included with Mac OS 10.4

Storage (Audio Drive) Requirements

Additional Information & Downloads

M-Audio Driver Updates

To download driver updates from the M-Audio website:

  1. Go to the Support-> Drivers section on the M-Audio website
  2. On the right, under Drivers Search, Select Product
  3. Click SUBMIT

Product Information & Specifications

Pro Tools LE & Pro Tools M-Powered Comparison

Pro Tools LE software requires Digidesign hardware. Pro Tools M-Powered software requires M-Audio hardware. More Information on similarities and differences between Pro Tools LE & M-Powered:

Downloads

Pro Tools 7 Information

Pro Tools 7 Plug-In Information

While most Digidesign and Development partner plug-in versions for Pro Tools 6.7-6.9 are also compatible with Pro Tools 7, all RTAS plug-ins will need to be updated to take advantage of the improvements to RTAS plug-in performance introduced in Pro Tools 7.

Please note: Plug-in versions updated for Pro Tools 7 are NOT compatible with Pro Tools 6. For all Digidesign and Digi-distributed plug-ins, both versions will be available, and use the same authorization on both Pro Tools 7 and Pro Tools 6. Check the link above, and with individual third-party developers for compatibility, update, and upgrade information.

Pro Tools 7 Plug-In Q & A

Q: Are all plug-ins for Pro Tools 6.7-6.9 100% compatible with Pro Tools 7 software, or will I have to get updates from plug-in vendors?

A: Most plug-ins will work fine. An updated list of known compatibility issues is posted in the Developers/Plug-In Info section of the Digidesign website.

Q: Do all RTAS plug-ins automatically benefit from Pro Tools 7 software performance improvements?

A: The answer depends on the system configuration. On multi-processor systems (with a dual processor or dual-core processor), most plug-ins will benefit greatly. On single-processor systems, most plug-ins will have to be updated before delivering enhanced performance. Customers should contact third-party vendors for more information about updates.

Final release testing of Pro Tools 7 has shown that there are some performance issues with certain RTAS plug-ins when used with single processor computers. Instance counts on OS X-based Pro Tools LE & M-Powered systems may show a small decrease with certain plug-ins, Windows XP-based Pro Tools LE & M-Powered systems may incur a small performance hit as well with these plug-ins. All plug-ins tested show significant instance count gains on dual-processor computers.

We are actively looking at these issues, and hope to have solutions as soon as possible. Unfortunately, at this time we do not have a release timeframe for improved plug-in versions.