Suggestion to all new MAC users...

Just talk about kJams stuff with each other, describe things you did that worked, talk about your setup, anything that doesn't fit into the other forums!
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way2fst4u
Posts: 164
Joined: Thu May 17, 2012 12:10 pm

Suggestion to all new MAC users...

Post by way2fst4u »

If you are having problems with your KJams being slow, there are a few things you can do to ensure it's running at peak performance. I want to preface that I have a VERY large song database (over 140k songs). This was part of my problem. I have a 2011 13" Macbook Pro, running a 2.4Ghz i5 Processor. It came with 4GB RAM.

First, make sure you have 8GB RAM in your Mac. Once I upgraded, things began to run a lot smoother. Kjams & OSX will use all of 4GB easily. Once you have an extra 4, iTunes or Safari in the background are no longer an issue.

Second, search speed. I was having problems adding new singers during a show on a 1TB WD Passport USB2 external. Searches that returned large amounts of data (Search for Elvis, or Beatles) hung the lyrics for a few seconds before they posted. The person singing was left with music playing and lyrics stuck on screen for a few seconds. I purchased another WD passport, but this time I went with the Firewire800 drive. I used Carbon Copy Cloner which took about 8 Hrs to copy my 1TB drive. Today, I can search for ANYTHING and once the search is complete, it posts immediately with no noticeable delay to the singer that happens to be performing at that time.

All in all, for less than $200, my show system is now as speedy as it can get. I hope this helps someone in the future, and more importantly, helps Dave from me bugging him daily. :)
Thanks!

Scott

DJMatt
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:57 am

Re: Suggestion to all new MAC users...

Post by DJMatt »

My songs database is nothing like that in size, but I find that keeping it on an SD card leads to pretty good performance.
64GB SD is a very sweet price point, although if your library is bigger than this it gets steep for 128GB cards.

Just a thought for those with smaller libraries, it makes a real alternative to spinning disks or chewing up precious space on an SSD if you have one.

If you can live without the optical drive, then an optibay kit would allow you to hook up a 2nd internal HDD (SSD!!??)) at SATA speeds.

Just a thought.

Full agreement on taking FireWire (or thunderbolt) over USB every day of the week though.

Matt

dave
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Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2005 8:02 am
Location: Seattle
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Re: Suggestion to all new MAC users...

Post by dave »

more good stuff! 8)

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