diff --git a/libs/ardour/luaproc.cc b/libs/ardour/luaproc.cc
index 6617e8582f..9122fb32fb 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/luaproc.cc
+++ b/libs/ardour/luaproc.cc
@@ -744,7 +744,7 @@ LuaProc::connect_and_run (BufferSet& bufs,
 	int64_t t1 = g_get_monotonic_time ();
 #endif
 
-	lua.collect_garbage_step ();
+	lua.collect_garbage_step (100 /*kB*/);
 #ifdef WITH_LUAPROC_STATS
 	++_stats_cnt;
 	int64_t t2 = g_get_monotonic_time ();
diff --git a/libs/ardour/session.cc b/libs/ardour/session.cc
index dabd4bc187..039288952b 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/session.cc
+++ b/libs/ardour/session.cc
@@ -5486,7 +5486,7 @@ Session::try_run_lua (pframes_t nframes)
 	Glib::Threads::Mutex::Lock tm (lua_lock, Glib::Threads::TRY_LOCK);
 	if (tm.locked ()) {
 		try { (*_lua_run)(nframes); } catch (...) { }
-		lua.collect_garbage_step ();
+		lua.collect_garbage_step (100 /*kB*/);
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/libs/lua/lua/luastate.h b/libs/lua/lua/luastate.h
index cdc7f2b2bf..1b55a1e706 100644
--- a/libs/lua/lua/luastate.h
+++ b/libs/lua/lua/luastate.h
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ public:
 	int do_command (std::string);
 	int do_file (std::string);
 	void collect_garbage ();
-	void collect_garbage_step ();
+	void collect_garbage_step (int debt = 0);
 	void tweak_rt_gc ();
 	void sandbox (bool rt_safe = false);
 
diff --git a/libs/lua/luastate.cc b/libs/lua/luastate.cc
index 80ce41944c..f9dbbbaf29 100644
--- a/libs/lua/luastate.cc
+++ b/libs/lua/luastate.cc
@@ -77,8 +77,8 @@ LuaState::collect_garbage () {
 }
 
 void
-LuaState::collect_garbage_step () {
-	lua_gc (L, LUA_GCSTEP, 0);
+LuaState::collect_garbage_step (int debt) {
+	lua_gc (L, LUA_GCSTEP, debt);
 }
 
 void