My - insert Sampler Based plug-in here (Superior Drummer, Groove Agent, etc) - is causing my DAW to

• crash
  
• take 20 minutes to load
  
• Freeze the system
  
• makes the system sluggish or all of the above when opening the session….
  

Or as I’ll put it: “What exactly is happening with RAM in these larger sessions?”

First, before getting hot under that collar, try a little experiment.  Start a NEW session in your DAW, one that doesn’t have any tracks and isn’t coming from any templates.  Now create an instrument track and instance the ‘problem’ plug-in.  Chances are it loads just fine and now works.  So what is going on?  In a nutshell, you’re session is requiring either more RAM than your system has to offer, or is requiring more RAM than the application can allocate…. huh?

It’s like this…

Currently the most RAM an application ON A MAC can allocate is about 4.5 GB of RAM.   If your system has 4 GB or less of RAM to begin with, then you’ll be hitting that ceiling sooner which is obvious.  What isn’t obvious is that for folks who have 6 or more GB of RAM installed your DAW still can only access a maximum of about 4.5 GB of RAM. So every sampler instrument, Drum kit, orchestral library etc you insert in a session is going to take a small piece of the RAM pie until there is no more and then you’ll get the (read opening sentence)

Well that Sux.

Yes it does, but it’s not a new problem. It’s been with us all along and trust me when I say that today, these limitations seem almost minimal compared to where the technology has come from.  What is new however is the A) every computer can now accept a lot more than 4 BG of RAM, and B) the amount of brand new users who have never used a DAW, never used a Sampler, have never been exposed to the inherent limitations of these systems and have been sold a wonderful “yes you can it’s so easy” dream. Which means when reality hits it’s a shocker for most who really have no idea what’s happening ‘under the hood’

Yes Fine, but what can I do?

Someday in the not very far off future applications will become 64bit. What that basically means, in context of this Blog, is that the limitations of memory access are lifted. Native Instruments for example just released a 64 bit version of Kontakt 3.5 which is 64 bit.  Load as much into it as you have RAM for.  But in the meantime, you’ll need to keep an eye on your overhead.  Don’t load 6 instances of EZDrummer, Don’t load the Acoustic Grand Piano into your templates if you don’t play it. In the case of VSL, they created an application that loads the Vienna library into a second application in the background. This means you get 4.5 GB of RAM just for the orchestra library, and still get to keep 4.5 GB of Ram for whatever DAW you are running.  As long as you’ve got 10 or more GB of RAM to begin with it’s a great solution.

As a final caveat, keep in mind that the 4.5 GB limit I mention here does vary from DAW to DAW, It simply a maximum potential and does not necessarily mean 4.5 GB worth of samples. The DAW itself is taking up RAM and that will vary and some applications may max out at a maximum allocation of 4 or less.

It can be so complicated can’t it?

Native Instruments has just introduced REAKTOR SPARK, a KORE SOUNDPACK based on the new “Spark” performance synthesizer designed by NI founder and REAKTOR mastermind Stephan Schmitt. With a strong focus on distinctive tone and genuine musical expressiveness, REAKTOR SPARK is both an outstanding library addition for REAKTOR users as well as a powerful instrument and sound library for KORE 2 and the free KORE PLAYER.

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