The Configure Studio Settings dialog (“Studio configuration”
on page 23 in the
DP5 Getting Started
handbook) has several additional options for adjusting and optimizing audio engine performance on your computer. These options are best left at their default settings, but they can be adjusted as described in the following sections.

Prime Seconds

The Prime Seconds setting determines how far in advance
Digital Performer pre-cues disk audio before playback
begins, pre-rendering effects processing, if any, that would
be required to play back the audio. If you experience any
issues with playback immediately after it begins, you can try
increasing this setting in small increments (0.5 seconds).
Doing so may clear up issues of this kind.
Conversely, if you find that hitting the play button is not as
responsive as you would like, especially after cueing to a new
playback location, try lowering the Prime Seconds settings.
Doing so means that Digital Performer has less data to precue,
which will make it more responsive.

Work Quanta

The Work Quanta
setting controls the intervals at which the
MAS engine does its calculations. This setting is best left at
its factory default value (100ms). Raising it can free up some
CPU processing for more real-time effects, but at the expense
of possibly affecting the smoothness of real-time graphics
displays (such as the playback wiper). Conversely, lowering it
can help smooth out even further the playback wiper and
other animated graphic elements.


Max Work Percent

Max Work Percent lets you control the amount of CPU usage
for the MOTU Audio System (MAS) engine when it is prerendering
disk tracks and cueing them for playback. You will
likely achieve the best performance on your system using the
default value of 80%. You can adjust upwards or downwards
from 80% based on your computer’s overall speed, the size
and intensity of your Digital Performer projects, the nature
of the work you are doing (studio recording versus live
performance, etc.) and other factors specific to your
individual situation. Higher values devote more processing to the audio engine and less to graphics display (and other
tasks). Lower values reduce CPU resources for audio and
increase them for graphics redraw and other tasks.

Other settings

For complete information about the other settings in the
Configure Studio Settings dialog, see “The Studio
Configuration dialog” on page 23 in the
DP5 Getting Started
handbook.