Use for 'extra' RAM

[Bruce Wahler]

Hi All,

I just updated my gigging laptop from a *very* old Dell Vostro to a new HP.  On paper, it's pretty much the same laptop, but there is a huge increase in performance!

One disappointment, though:  I can't seem to get Cakewalk to use the ~12GB of RAM that's just sitting around doing nothing.  I'm actually surprised at how little RAM the app uses, even when I have 3-4 VSTi's running.  I've thought of loading things in a RAM drive, but a) songs load very quickly on the new laptop; and b) the worst 'slowpoke' is SampleTank 4, but I don't have anywhere near enough RAM to load its entire 190GB library, so I would have to go through an effort to figure out which sample files are needed for each song and copy those files to a RAM bank.  Too much trouble!

What are others doing with their spare RAM?  Does BitBridge do anything for 64-bit VST2 or VST3?

 

 

[Byron Dickens]

The same way any electrical device can only draw just as much amperage as needed to operate it and no more, your computer can only use just as much RAM as needed for what it is doing and no more.

Edited May 15, 2022 by bdickens

[Bruce Wahler]

Yeah, I get that.  But I wish that one could tell Cakewalk, "Use as much RAM as you can to speed things up.  If you can pre-load the next song in RAM, do it.  If you can't load all of a VSTi in memory, but you can load the samples that were used in this patch, do it.  If you can run multiple instances of an instrument faster by treating each one as a separate item, do it."  Etc., etc., etc.

I've debated installing a RAM drive but I'm not sure what it will buy me.  The old laptop used to take 2-3 sec. to load another song in Set List mode (beyond whatever delay I had programmed).  The new laptop takes less than a second.  So, loading all the .cwp files on a RAM drive no longer makes sense:  a lot of work at each startup, and there's always the risk of corruption if the laptop crashes.  Maybe load the sound clips that I use sometimes, but even that is questionable.

 

[abacab]

When using SSD for storage, loading everything in RAM is not that important, except for loading large samples for active virtual instruments, and any data that is currently being processed by the CPU. Let Windows do it's thing, as it's the OS's job to perform memory management, and you are good to go!

For extra SSD speed, look into M.2 NVMe if your PC supports that. https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/ssd-970-evo-plus-nvme-m-2-2-tb-mz-v7s2t0b-am/

3,500MB/s Seq. Read
3,300MB/s Seq. Write

Edited May 16, 2022 by abacab

[Starship Krupa]

So it sounds like your issue isn't that your laptop isn't fast enough, it sounds plenty fast and it sounds like you're happy enough with its speed. It's rather that you are looking at Task Manager and seeing all this RAM that you paid extra for "going to waste."

The thing about RAM is that you just want to have enough that you don't run out of it under taxing conditions (like sample-heavy projects). You don't say how much RAM you actually have installed, I'll guess 24G. That's great, but I've never come close to hitting the ceiling on my laptop which only has 8G of RAM installed (that's all it's designed to be able to hold). And I do use some sampled instruments. Not a full orchestra's worth, but some.

It's reserve capacity. Unlike me, you don't have to be concerned at all about the size of whatever sampled instrument you're using in a project. You can load anything you want with confidence that the system isn't going to have to start using your drive as virtual memory. That's what your extra RAM is "doing."

[Bruce Wahler]

Thanks for the replies.

@abacab:  The laptop already has an NVMe SSD, which really helps.  I bought it 'semi-custom,' where an authorized dealer had taken a plain laptop, and upgraded the disk drive and memory.  It probably makes more improvement than any other difference between the new and old laptops!

@Starship Krupa:  Actually, I 'only' have 16GB, which is probably half of what the laptop can address.  I'm not looking for 15.9GB use or anything; it was just surprising that CW + the OS never used more than about 5GB, even with SampleTank running a 6-piece brass section, plus two more VSTIs.  I do a lot of 2- and 3-song medleys, and I'd rather use individual song files, rather than dedicated CW files with all the songs loaded in a set order, but the lag time between songs on the old laptop was borderline embarrassing on certain songs, even using the 'preload next file' setting in the Set List.

FWIW, I played around and found some use for the extra RAM:  I now have a 7GB RAM drive, which stores ~5GB of audio files that I use during performance, plus all the VSTs/VSTIs now run out of that drive.  It speeds things up another ~10%, making loading a song almost instantaneous.

[John Vere]

Solution to lag time- Ditch all VST intruments and the effects they are using and convert the tracks to audio.  This is very easy to do and there are a few options. What I do is export the entire project as stems ( Tracks through entire mix ) and use that to create pure audio versions for all my songs. , then,  not only will it load faster,  but it will be generally 100% dependable forever. No twigging out on you because something changed about a VST licence or an update. 

I've been using backing tracks since 1984. First live Midi through hardware and then I switched to stereo backing tracks using Mini Disk ( digital format) in the mid 90's. Now I just export my backing tracks as a stereo mix from Cakewalk using a system where all 150 + songs are mastered and  mixed identically.  I playback on a little Netbook using WIn Amp and a foot controller. I can start the next song as the last one was fading out,, and with my foot. Hand never leaves guitar. 

I have started on a project to set up some shows where I do use Cakewalk instead because I need live midi for lighting and effects control. As well as I might have more musicians playing with me so will use the 4 outputs to manage that. It's also nice to run the bass track direct to a bass amp. 

[bitflipper]

Now, does anybody have any ideas about what to do with all my excess disk drive capacity? 

[abacab]

1 hour ago, bitflipper said:

Now, does anybody have any ideas about what to do with all my excess disk drive capacity? 

Ship them here! Happy to help out! ?