MacbookPro running Propellerhead's Reason software help.

[zimbeck]

I have a Macbook Pro 17inch. I use Propellerhead's Reason 3.0 software program. For people who don't know what that is, it's a MIDI program to create music and artificial sounds.

I haven't had a problem running Reason 3.0 until recently. The more effects and sounds I add into the program, it begins to slow and it reaches a point where Mac's popup says the computer is too slow to run the program. What do I need to buy in order to prevent this?

I'm guessing I need more memory or hard drive space for it. How will I be able to add that if it's a laptop? Or if that's not the case, what do I need to do to keep it running without it slowing it down or shutting the program all together. Thanks in advance.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Well, how much memory does your computer have? How much free hard drive space?

 

[akm3]

The more effects, polyphony, samples, filters, etc you add the more CPU it takes because it is 100% software rendered (Great software, by the way).

You can try adding more RAM which should help, but ultimately there is a hard limit to how much crap you can have running at once limited by the CPU.

Other things you can do to help are to close as many other programs as possible.

 

[zimbeck]

Blue Revolution - I have 2GB worth of memory. And I have roughly 190GB of free Hard Drive space. I think I should be fine with that much...how much do I really need to make it run smoother?

Akm3 - yeah I make sure no other programs are running while I'm using Reason. How will I be able to add more RAM? I'm sort of new to Macs and this is the first laptop I've bought. I know with a Desktop I can just add more memory. Do I have to go to an Apple store and get them to add more memory or? Thanks by the way.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Sounds like plenty to me, but I don't use Reason.

Apple makes it extremely easy to install/upgrade memory, at least on the pre-unibody MacBook Pros. I haven't heard how you would do that on the new unibodies, but you can find instructions on doing so on their support site.

 

[blodwyn]

The reverb modules suck up a lot of resource, so be thoughtful about how many you use. Memory may help, but I would say you're probably approaching the limit of how many Reason modules you can run simultaneously on your MBP.