Is too much RAM an issue for 32bit plugins/hosts

Discussion in 'Software' started by moneycat, Mar 9, 2014.

  1. moneycat

    moneycat Newbie

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    i have a question. i recently upgraded my computer, and was transferring and testing all my stuff. i use ableton as my main DAW and when i started using ample sound AGG the computer load meter started saying it was using 130%+ and the audio on the plugin kept crashing. this was strange to me as it worked perfectly fine on my old computer.

    i am using the 32bit ableton and 32bit AGG

    i've tried everything to fix, re-installing the plugin, i thought it might be the audio driver, so i re-installed that, nothing seemed to be working

    then i re-tried it on my old computer again and it works perfectly fine (only says about 50% use), i was extremely confused as the specs on my old computer were dramatically worse than my new one. i thought maybe something was wrong with ableton and tried it on other DAWS still the same crashing. Somewhere along the line i decided to try the 64bit version on a 64bit daw and it works fine. so im guessing it has to do with Ram despite the fact i have more ram on my new computer.

    my question is does more ram negatively affect 32bit plugins? or is there a solution?

    old computer specs
    OS; windws 7 (originally vista), system; 64bit, ram; 4gb, processor; intel core 2 duo, audio; idt audio, HDD; 150gb, graphics; Intel GMA X3100

    new computer
    OS; windows 8.1 (originally 7), system; 64bit, ram; 12gb, processor; Intel i7-2630QM, audio; realtek HD audio, HDD; 1tb(2 500gb),graphics;NVIDIA GTX560M

    what should i do? maybe its my ram settings, (it always says 3-4gbs of ram in use despite no programs running, and only 200mb total if you look at the individual processes running) is there a way to reset that? (edit: after researching, windows itself is whats using the extra ram, that isn't it) if that isn't the problem what would you suggest

    and before anyone asks why i use the 32bits ableton/plugins its because most of my main plugins are 32bit plugins only and ableton doesn't have an internal bridge and i honestly i don't see the point of technically making my plugins less stable with a jbridge when i honestly don't need too as i don't need the extra ram (on paper). The main reason being i have a ton of unfinished projects made with 32bits ableton/plugins that i intend to finish but didn't open properly when i tried it on the 64bit ableton. ill switch if ableton ever makes a internal bridge where you can seemlessly switch between work made in 32bit and ones made in 64.

    but again any help would be much appreciated
     
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  3. tek909

    tek909 Member

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    While you run a 32bit program only a certain amount of your RAM is needed so that really should have no affect. As far as the ram thing, I don't think so.

    You should look in to investing in a new audio card if possible.
    Also, you should get one that supports ASIO drivers.
    Which then bring us, to next ask you if your old computer had ASIO audio drivers on it?
    Asio4All is something that may help your problem out now and temporary. And it can also be downloaded- just google it. *yes*
    At least until you can purchase a new sound card.

    You may also want to try an adjust your buffer settings?
    You will notice a difference with any latency and it may also be playing a role in your cpu sikes.
     
  4. MehdiMuzikk

    MehdiMuzikk Member

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    check if you have the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Package (x86) on your computer I remind you to install them all 2005 , 2008 2010 ... sam plugins GUI need it for not losing more RAM and working without Bug .
     
  5. charleskeyz

    charleskeyz Newbie

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    Too much RAM is never an issue...

    Ableton does this to me all the time i think it might be because of cracked software issues.... possibly third party plug-ins clashing with the host program (ALive).... I'm not sure why but it was worse on my windows comp using cracked ableton... i would get to my 6 or 7th sound and bammmm 110% CPU usage.... i found that freezing audio will help bring it back down...... it still does it on my core2 mac but not half as bad.... having never owned a legit version of ALive im not sure if this happens in real version... my research has told me that Ableton 9 has been extremly glitchy ever since it was released...
     
  6. xHitoKiri

    xHitoKiri Member

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    There's to many variables

    First: get an audio interface. This will release some of the process of digital to analog conversions. It will drain less CPU.

    Second: did you just grab a cd of windows 8 and install over old win7. Or did you actually clean/reformat everything. If you install over win 7, it could cause trouble.

    Third: did you make sure the plugins that your trying are win 8 compatible. This might be a though one but you can probably find out on the release/their website/etcc

    Fourth: did you turn it on/off (I had too)

    Fifth: 32 just means it would only use 4gb of ram. It won't have a significant change on audio quality.


    Also check when was the release of the plugin. Some are really old and no much can be done other than jbridge and pray. I hate jbridge
     
  7. JackO

    JackO Member

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    Just to make it clear, 32 bit operating systems will be limited to around 3GB of RAM, depending on system mapping resources. 32b Apps running on a 64b OS will not be able to access large amounts of RAM(at the 4GB address limit, including the app's usage), but usually its not a problem. The amount of RAM should not cause any CPU spikes. Check for updates for Ableton and the plugin. Sounds like a software issue.
     
    Last edited: May 9, 2016
  8. SineWave

    SineWave Audiosexual

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    Historically, some 32-bit plugins did have problems with more than 2GB of RAM installed, believe it or not. But they got updated years ago, so I don't believe that is the case here. As others have said, it might be a multitude of things. :/ Put the differences between your old computer and the new on paper and try checking/eliminating them one by one. Try with a different VST host, too, like Reaper.

    RAM problems with 32-bit plugins example. I remember it like it was 8 years ago. :wink: Voxengo updated his plugins on 31. Jan. 2008 changelog:
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Voxengo has updated Elephant to v2.7, HarmoniEQ to v1.5 and Redunoise to v1.6.
    Changes:
    • Elephant v2.7: Minor fixes.
    • HarmoniEQ v1.5 and Redunoise v1.6: Access violation error on systems with >2GB memory solved.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Eventually all of his plugins got updated so they can be used with systems with more than 2GB of RAM. :wink:
     
    Last edited: May 9, 2016
  9. Willum

    Willum Rock Star

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    What are these 32bit plugins that are so impotant to your production? I'll bet that between all the clever people here they could find 64bit plugins that could replace yours and would probably be better for you as well in the long term.

    Ableton have repeatedly stated that they will never put any 32<>64 bit bridge in Live, so your only choice is to stick with a dead technology or move on to 64bit.
     
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