Is More RAM the answer?

Cubase
#1

I semi frequently have projects that get so big with so many tracks and so many waves plugins loaded that the project will not load. This is on my studio Desktop PC with these specs:

Desktop: Cubase 7.5.2 Wavelab 8.5.15, Halion 5.0.1, Presonus StudioLive 24.4.2, CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83gHz, Motherboard Asus P5Q Pro, RAM Corsair 8gb (2x4gb), Video Card MSI R5450 (no fan), PSU Zalman ZM600 HP, Zalman Reserator 1 liquid cooled system, Windows 7 x64 Home Premium, Pro Tools 9.0.6, Waves Mercury Native 9.2.6

In these situations, Cubase crashes, so I have to copy the project to my laptop and try to get it to load and disable or remove a bunch of plug ins to get it to work on my PC again.

My question is, will more RAM improve performance in this situation? I am asking because DDR2 (rather old by computer standards) is quite expensive (about $400 for 16gb) i’d like to know before I spend that kind of money. It may be time to buy a new processor, mb and RAM but I’d like to keep using what I have if I can

Thanks!

#2

Aloha t,

IMHO yes!
{’-’}

#3

Plugins do not take up very much ram…unless you are using large sample libraries/instruments then I doubt you are utilising anywhere near 8Gb of ram.

Of course task manager tells you exactly how much ram you are using so you could just take a look when you next have this problem.

#4

isn’t there a way he can check how much ram he’s using when he’s in a project?

#5

You’re using a circa 2007-2008 machine, which should be able to handle your run-of-the-mill pop song, but not if you overload it with tracks and plugins. More RAM isn’t going to change that. Time to upgrade… :slight_smile:

#6

Highly unlikely it is not enough RAM, 8 is a lot. BTW I`m running roughly the same machine as you only overclocked to 3.6ghz and XP pro 64.
I am running 32bit cubase 7 with jbridge for memory intensive plugins like Kontakt.
If you keep Task mamager open while loading such a project you can see exactly what is happening.

#7

Do you use many sampled instruments - for instance running with Kontakt?
I have a similar age computer i7 3.2 x6 an I have found myself running out of memory with 12 gig. I use BFD3 and have had to adjust the pre-load + Session Horns and various other instruments on Kontakt + A number of instances of Alchemy - not to mention Diva which is a CPU hog unless you run in draft. Needless to say on this project I have had to freeze.

That would be my first suggestion to you, bounce down to audio a number of the sample based plugins, unload the samples and see if that improves the situation. If it does you know you have a memory problem. Keep an eye on the task manager to make sure that the samples are being unloaded, as I have found that sometimes Kontakt holds on to the sample and has to be re-loaded. If they are not unloaded, save the project under another name, close it down and then reload the project.

#8

Thanks Everyone, for the responses! for some reason, only the first response sent me an email notification that someone had responded. So I purchased 16gb of RAM (DDR2 is expensive! $450!) I wish I had seen these posts before I acted in haste. (it is so easy to click “buy”!) I installed the new RAM and, as most of you predicted, one of the problem projects still crashed. (by the time I pay shipping and the restocking fee, this cost me about $100 to find this out)

Interesting to note that when I load this same project on my MacBook Pro (core i7) it will load without crashing Cubase. Perhaps it IS time to upgrade my system?

where this occurred most was prior to the new “track versions” feature in Cubase. then, it was easiest for me just to say “duplicate track” to record another take. now, I can just create a new version on the same track, yaaaay!

Thanks for the help, folks!

#9

About 2 years ago, I had similar Probs with exactly the same processor, a Q9550 on an ASUS P5Q board. Some projects (with lots of tracks and Plugins) wouldnt load or the ASIO Meter would be all the way up. Or sometimes the “duplicate track” function would cause Cubase to Crash. Anyway I tried a RAM Upgrade from 4 to 8GB and I also tried overclocking. Both measures helped a litte but I just knew I would’nt get far and that it was time to move on. So I built an i7 gen. 3 3770K on a Asus P8Z77-V-LX board (further Config Data is in my footnote), re-installed everything and since then its been working like a dream.

Squeeze as much as you can out of your present system, mainly because of the RAM investment and then move on to a new one.