RAM usage with Cubase 7.5.20

Hi all,
I’ve not found an entry here in this forum, so I start a new thread.

My studio computer is a i7-3770K with Win 7 64Bit, 16GB RAM and 2 hard drives (500MB for system area including VSTs and 1TB for data like sample libs and projects).

I now have a project imported with 48 audio channels in WAV format (24Bit, 44100 Hz) and when I make an audio export, this is much slower than an export with 35 vst instruments. That means for me, that during the audio export (and also when I work with the project) all audio files are read from disk.

And I would like to ask why? All audio files together have a size of about 600MB (in WAV format) and my RAM has 16GB, so this should be nothing for the machine. Why are not all audio files in memory? I had extra chosen a lot of memory for the machine and I have really no project in Cubase, which uses more than 5 GB (System+Cubase+VSTs+Audio Files). Usage of disks (and their cache) means a slow down of the performance.

Is there any option in Cubase to make settings, how much RAM can be used for audio files?

thanks a lot in advance

alpha-w

PS: In my business job I am working with inmemory database technology, where everything is kept in memory - due to optimization of performance - that’s the reason I am wondering, and why I am asking.

As far as i know cubase is allways working with samples in RAM since it is not diskreading while playing back a song or recording audio. (this is different from what other ROM Players (VSTI’s with disk reading) or like harddisk-recorders do)

Best thing to refer to is the manual where on page 114 the limitations of recording audio are explained. There is clearly stated that recording is linked to the amound of available RAM. So my guess is that they stay there in RAM untill you save them somewhere.

I think the process of recording audio in cubase is in fact a form of ‘hardware sampler’ behaviour (RAM) and not harddisk recorder based.

Another thing to add is that with the audio parts in cubase you can do things in real time that you absolutely can’t do with any harddisk recorder like realtime editing, realtime stretching, effects processing and so on. You would need a vast buffer setting that is not present in cubase IMO. So i would say audio handling is done entirely in RAM in cubase.

But let’s see if someone jumps on to this with another view.

kind regards,
R.

Also: the proces of audio editing and recording is non destructive, which means that when you load a song it reads the source samples one time and then stores them in a temporary memory location in RAM. (the pool)

You’re really sure about this? In the settings of the audio device you can define the preload amount - and the maximum setting is 6 seconds, not more.

not true; however you are referring to ‘samples’, which may suggest you might be thinking a sampler vsti playback scenario.

when it comes to audio events, you’re working your HDDs…

I have and use 32GB of RAM. No problem with Cubase 7.5.20 x64 or any other programs.
Many of my Cubase-projects that I’m working on consist and use more then 8 GB RAM.

So no problem.

Best Regards
Freddie

I have 16GB and find very few programs. like Cubase, actually use it which is a shame. What you can do though is make 8GB of it into a ramdrive, you can set it up so it creates an 8GB virtual hard drive and then it automatically copies your Cubase project and files into it. Now when you do anything in Cubase it is using RAM not HD

:slight_smile: FWIW
audio is being processed based on the pool not on the harddrive.
The pool is a RAM copy of harddrive locations.

kind regards,
R.

FWIW
audio is being processed based on the pool not on the harddrive.
The pool is a RAM copy of harddrive locations.

No it isn’t.

no.

(this would mean, for instance, that until recently, before applications went x64, any larger project, say a post for a movie, would not be feasible as you would be constantly running against the 3GB-per-app limit…)

Can’t be true. An audio export of a song with 48 stereo audio channels is much slower than an export with 32 vst instruments. Only explanation is: read operations from disk. Or can you explain, why just “dumping” 48 channels from RAM is so much slower than the calculation intensive operations of 32 vst instruments?

Thanks, that’s indeed a very good suggestion!!!

But nevertheless: this should be done “by default” by Cubase itself.

ok. I guess my assumptions were wrong then :wink:
I thought that an audio clip was a copy of the original file on the harddrive and that these clips were in ram.
thx for the correction

kind regards,
R.

SB, please add the ability to play audio channels straight from RAM.

I just bought a new Pc running win10 64 bit and cubase 8.5. I am having performance issues, so I was thinking, that what you suggest still works? I habe 16 GB ram, so I can assign 8 of them as you suggest, or I can add 16 GB to my Machine. How do I do as you explain exactly? Will it make a difference to the cat performance, if I buy another 16 GB RAM?