Garageband slow -add more GB to 2011 iMac?

Question

Garageband slow -add more GB to 2011 iMac?

Hi,

question for any garageband user of tech head:

i have a mid 2011 10.7.5 osx lion /21.5 inch imac with 4GB of memory installed. I have 438GB still free out of 499GB.

I used Garageband for about 6 months without too many probs and was only using maybe 8 -10 tracks on each song , but yes was using a few of VSts and FX. Now although Ive moved all Garageband projects into an external drive and GB is now empty. It wont play or work without freezing a lot which is useless to me. I know about locking tracks and do but its still very slow.

Question: how much extra GB should I install in the imac to make it run without issues? Money is tight but would another 4GB do the job?

I dont have other apps or programs running whne in GB and simpy am frustrated at how lame it is.

GarageBand (Mac) '11

Posted on Feb 3, 2013 1:14 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 3, 2013 8:59 AM in response to pauldepechemode66

Garageband can be a processor-intensive application at times. If it were me, I'd want to have at least 8GB of RAM...more if I could afford it. (If you go to macsales.com or crucial.com, you'll find that RAM isn't all that expensive).

I would also suggest posting your question in the Garageband forum here...that's where all the Garageband experts hang out. Here's a link:

https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/garageband

I hope this helps.

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Answer 2

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 3, 2013 9:09 AM in response to pauldepechemode66

Open Activity Monitor and check the Page in and Page out numbers, post them here.

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Answer 3

Feb 3, 2013 10:00 AM in response to Csound1

hi,

this is the activity monitor info

277 Activity Monitor paulemery 1.4 5 35.5 MB Intel (64 bit)

213 AirPort Base Station Agent paulemery 0.0 3 1.9 MB Intel (64 bit)

244 AppleSpell.service paulemery 0.0 2 9.6 MB Intel (64 bit)

218 com.apple.dock.extra paulemery 0.0 2 11.4 MB Intel (64 bit)

226 cookied paulemery 0.0 3 2.0 MB Intel (64 bit)

273 CVMCompiler paulemery 0.0 1 21.6 MB Intel (64 bit)

156 distnoted paulemery 0.1 7 2.8 MB Intel (64 bit)

180 Dock paulemery 0.0 5 24.3 MB Intel (64 bit)

221 EEventManager paulemery 0.1 5 3.6 MB Intel

219 EpsonLowInkReminderAgent paulemery 0.0 2 5.6 MB Intel (64 bit)

183 Finder paulemery 0.0 4 48.4 MB Intel (64 bit)

250 Flash Player (Safari Internet plug-in) paulemery 0.7 10 44.6 MB Intel (64 bit)

195 fontd paulemery 0.0 2 5.1 MB Intel (64 bit)

214 Glims Agent paulemery 0.0 2 9.2 MB Intel (64 bit)

208 imagent paulemery 0.0 2 6.7 MB Intel (64 bit)

220 iTunes paulemery 0.0 12 116.2 MB Intel (64 bit)

222 iTunes Helper paulemery 0.0 3 3.6 MB Intel (64 bit)

150 launchd paulemery 0.0 2 1.5 MB Intel (64 bit)

49 loginwindow paulemery 0.0 2 21.4 MB Intel (64 bit)

215 MacKeeper Helper paulemery 0.0 4 23.1 MB Intel (64 bit)

161 mdworker paulemery 0.0 3 14.5 MB Intel (64 bit)

186 pboard paulemery 0.0 1 984 KB Intel (64 bit)

201 PhotoStreamAgent paulemery 0.0 3 14.4 MB Intel (64 bit)

275 Quick Look Helper paulemery 0.0 4 7.8 MB Intel (64 bit)

232 Safari paulemery 0.0 17 111.6 MB Intel (64 bit)

234 Safari Web Content paulemery 1.8 12 337.9 MB Intel (64 bit)

182 SystemUIServer paulemery 0.0 4 20.1 MB Intel (64 bit)

181 talagent paulemery 0.0 2 7.2 MB Intel (64 bit)

176 UserEventAgent paulemery 0.0 3 7.9 MB Intel (64 bit)

203 warmd_agent paulemery 0.0 2 1.8 MB Intel (64 bit)

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Answer 4

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 3, 2013 10:02 AM in response to pauldepechemode66

That is everything except what I asked for

Page in

Page out

Those 2 please.

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Answer 5

Feb 3, 2013 10:04 AM in response to Csound1

YEAH SORRY , TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO CPATURE THE SCREEN SHOT FOR YOU

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Answer 6

Feb 3, 2013 10:09 AM in response to Csound1

file://localhost/Users/paulemery/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202013-02-03%20at%2018.08 .33.png

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Answer 7

Feb 3, 2013 10:10 AM in response to pauldepechemode66

as you can tell im new to mac bare with me..

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Answer 8

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 3, 2013 10:13 AM in response to pauldepechemode66

Just tell me the numbers for each.

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Answer 9

Feb 3, 2013 10:18 AM in response to Csound1

ok thanks,

FREE 1.73GB

WIRED 702.8MB

ACTIVE 1.31GB

INACTIVE 275.4 MB

USED 2.2.6 GB

VM SIZE 191.40 GB

PAGE IN 340.0 MB (0 BYTES/SECS)

PAGE OUT (0 BYTES/SECS)

SWAP USED 0 BYTES/SECS

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Answer 10

Feb 3, 2013 10:19 AM in response to pauldepechemode66

I think Lion's the same (but can't remember). In Mountain Lion, finding Page Out/Page In numbers is accomplished by going to the Finder -->Applications --> Utilities -->Activity Monitor

Then, in Activity Monitor, click on the System Memory tab. It should look something like the screen shot below...I've drawn a red arrow next to the values Csound is looking for:

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Answer 11

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 3, 2013 10:21 AM in response to pauldepechemode66

Since the last time you started your Mac it has never run out of Ram (Page out = 0) so adding more will little (if any) effect.

Is Page Out normally 0?

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Answer 12

Feb 3, 2013 10:22 AM in response to MacMikeInOK

thanks yes i found it but dont know how to save a pic of the screen and post it here ? ...have posted the data instead

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Answer 13

Feb 3, 2013 10:26 AM in response to Csound1

ive never been into activity monitor before so couldnt say to be honest. all i use is safari , itunes, and iphoto really....all my big music photo and movie files are on an external hard drive so couldnt figure out why when i upload an old song into garageband it keeps stuttering the moment it trys to play 3 or 4 basic tracks. Ive recorded a whole album last year and had very few probsdef got worse toward the end.

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Answer 14

Feb 3, 2013 10:27 AM in response to pauldepechemode66

silly question but would this be more helpful if i actually used Garageband and then posted the page ins/out info?? as I have not used Gb for a few weeks.

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Answer 15

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 3, 2013 10:28 AM in response to pauldepechemode66

pauldepechemode66 wrote:

silly question but would this be more helpful if i actually used Garageband and then posted the page ins/out info?? as I have not used Gb for a few weeks.

Not silly at all, I should have asked, and yes it would.

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