It seems to be that anytime my computer goes to sleep and Finale/VDL:2 is running it won't wake up. Anyone else have this issue? I'm posting on the Finale forum as well. It would be nice to be able to keep these things running. May sound crazy, but it's annoying to have to reload instruments and a score. Peace...

I haven't seen this, and I'm sure it is annoying!

You might want to start by repairing permissions, which is generally a good thing to get in the habit of doing every couple of weeks anyway. You can do this using Apple's ";Disk Utility"; which is located at: Macintosh HD>Applications>Utilities.

It may also be worth changing your energy saver settings so that your computer and/or hard drive doesn't go to sleep. These energy saver settings are typically more important for mobile users with laptops, though it's probably still not a bad idea to have your display go to sleep after long periods.

Also, there are some good tips in the OSX ";tuning"; tutorial by Native Instruments at:
http://www.nativeinstruments.de/index.php?id=niosxtut_us&nitr=1&l_src=support_us&tsr_id=36252

Let us know if you find the culprit.

Well I guess never putting it to sleep would solve the issue... lol. I always thought that it was hard on the computer to always keep it running. I'll let you know if I run into anything. Oh, and thank you for all of the tips, I never realized how intense these programs could be. I definitely think it was a flaw with Finale, everybody on this forum tends to be more helpful though. Peace...

Well there's a good way to find out if it's Finale. Do some work as normal, then try closing Finale and letting your computer go to sleep. If it wakes back up, perhaps you've found the culprit.

So I did a couple of sleep tests and I wasn't right. Sadly and at no fault of VDL:2 I think my computer is scraping by.

Finale on its own: Sleep and Wake no problem. (Checked while it was open and after typical use.)
VDL:2 with nothing loaded then closed: Sleep and Wake no problem.
VDL:2 with Snare, Tenor, and Bass (all Full) While open and after typical use: Freezes before it can fall asleep or screen remains black when you try to wake it up (wakes up then immediately freezes).

Verdict: Don't put my computer to sleep...

I also checked out and did everything that was suggested in your post and on the link. Big change in how things run now. My ram and CPU use dropped considerably, but I'm hoping the stick of RAM gets here quicker.

P.S. I love the program and it has completely changed the way I write... Thank you Tapspace.

Sounds like you've had a chance to do some good troubleshooting. Don't worry...you get used to it. :)

For what it's worth, you'll probably find much better performance using the ";lite"; instruments (especially tenors, basses, and snares) rather than the ";full"; ones. They are mapped identically and sound just fine for everyday heavy-lifting. That's what I use daily. It's possible that loading all those large instruments was simply eating up too much of your RAM for your energy saver functions to operate properly. You can observe your RAM allocation using ";Activity Monitor"; (which is also found in your ";utilities"; folder).

Speaking of which, are you using DFD? That will certainly conserve how much RAM is allocated to loading instruments, however your CPU is on the slow side, so you may encounter other problems if relying too heavily on DFD. Just some extra food for thought.

Thanks for the kudos. Hang in there!

I checked out the ";Activity Monitor";�� when checking out the NI link. I was low on Free memory (14), but my inactive was still sky high and doing fine. Then I went back through the User Guide and realized that I had lock memory on. I was using DFD, but I don't know what settings. I'm mostly doing line arrangements (cadences, sprees, onfield, book, warmups), though later I would like to move into the front ensemble. Are there any DFD settings you would suggest? And again... thank you for all of the help! Peace...

Edit: I just thought of something... How can you have lock memory on and be using DFD? Does one over rule?

";Lock Memory"; and DFD are actually different things (though I can see where it may be a little confusing). When ";lock memory"; is activated, it prevents your system from re-alocating instruments (or instrument buffers) from RAM to disk. This is similar to the concept of ";virtual memory"; which you may have heard of, which essentially substitutes disk space for RAM when RAM gets low. In this type of audio environment, virtual memory is very bad. Macintosh used to allow you to turn it off with OS9, but there is no control over this with OSX now, so the best solution is to always have plenty of extra overhead for your memory requirements.

14mb free memory is really low. Don't be fooled by a high ";inactive"; reading as that memory is just not being called upon at the time you're observing it. As you've already eluded to, when you get the extra memory, it'll help a lot.

DFD settings really depend on anyone's particular system, so they often require some fidlling. But here's a good starting point. Do this before you load up any instruments (once you've done it, you won't have to keep repeating this step):

-Set it to ";small instruments";
-Then increase the ";reserved voices"; to 256 (this is the maximum). Do this by either typing it in, or clicking on the field and dragging up with your mouse.
-Then click the ";apply"; button before closing the window.

This setting should remain consistent everytime you open the VDL2 player now.

With all of the changes:
-suggestions from NI
-changing DFD
-turning off ";Lock Memory";
-using the lite instruments
-repairing permissions
-no other running programs

I'm now at about 56mb Free memory and still no problem with the Inactive memory. No resolution with the sleep issue other than to keep it running, but everything else is working like a charm now. Things work a lot quicker. Oh, and my CPU usage never goes above 30% on the VDL:2 monitor, is this doing ok? Thanks again for all of the help. Peace...

If I may chime in here with some general Mac troubleshooting. . .

I do Mac desktop support for a University. I've found that if you have HW type troubles (sleep/wake issues, backlight or battery issues etc.), you need to (on non-Intel Macs):

Reboot and hold down apple+option+O+F. This brings you to a gray screen. Type reset-nvram and hit enter. Then type reset-all and hit enter. This immediately reboots you, immediatley hold down apple+option+P+R. Hold these keys until you hear the Apple ";bong"; startup chime 4 times.

If you are having SW related issues (freezes, apps not responding, etc) I would first:

as Jim said, repair the permissions in Disk Utility. Also you should reboot and hold apple+S. (Side note, if your computer won't fully boot, you can hold apple+V and is tells you what is loading line by line.) The apple+S brings you to a command line, type /sbin/fsck -yf. It runs a utility. When it's done it will say the HD is OK or it was repaired. If it says it was repaired, hit the up arrow (to retype the command again) and hit enter. You should re-run the command until it says the HD is OK. After the 3-20th time something bigger is wrong. If it gets that severe, pop in the OSX CD. Reboot and hold C. From one of the menus (dependent upon OS) choose Disk Utility and choose Verify Disk and then Repair Disk. If still no dice, then reinstall the OS choosing the Archive and install option. This pulls out your home folder and reinstalls the OS. (Be mindful that some of your apps may need to be re-registered etc.) All of your home folder prefs should stay intact. In the OS install be sure to uncheck everything you don't need like Asian fonts and Simplified Chinese language for the OS.

Hope this helps someone, and if it doesn't (or breaks something) Sorry, blame Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates, he's a good one.

-Deano

Great post Deano. Thanks for all the extra troubleshooting tips. I forgot to mention zapping the P-ram. I haven't had to do that nearly as much as I used to with OS9.

I would also take a look at any external devices you have connected (firewire, usb)... try doing your same steps without anything extra plugged into your machine. Sometimes device drivers for those items have problems sleeping (or waking from sleep)

And you may be able to find interesting things if you look at the console logs - from the Console app in your Utilities folder. It can be difficult to find anything useful since so much stuff gets put in there, but if you remember the exact time when you put the computer to sleep, you might be able to find some text with those timestamps to lead you to the cause.

Good luck - it's never fun to track this stuff down