Mac OS X Performance Questions: RAM and 64-bit

Cubase
1

Hello forum,

I tried looking for answers to the following questions and couldn’t find them (of course, I apologize if I just didn’t look hard enough). I have an first generation i5 (I think it’s 2.66 GHz) 27" iMac with 16 GB RAM running Mac OS X 10.7 and I am encountering issues with performance in Cubase 6.0.6. I am working with a lot of VST instruments and plug-ins (>26 instances) and performance is definitely increased when I freeze a lot of the tracks. However, I feel like having a computer that can almost edit full HD video, it shouldn’t be crashing and freezing as much.

Currently, Cubase is running in 32-bit mode (I have to see why but it isn’t at 64-bit mode), would it make a difference to be running at 64-bit mode when using all these plug-ins given the i5 processor I have? I have also been monitoring my RAM usage and it seems I have even at the worst case scenario, I still have 9 GB RAM unused. Is there a way to increase the RAM usage? I’ve read that there is some cap to Cubase’ RAM usage (something around 3-4GB).

Again, sorry if these are already answered elsewhere and if possible, please give me some background about your system because I think my processor might perform dramatically different than let’s say a new generation i7.

2

Aloha d and yes.

1–Try running your Mac and Cubase in 64 bit mode (32 bit limits the amount of ram Cubase can access)
2- When it comes to DAW usage, an i7 'puter would be a better choice.
3-Try changing you buffer settings dynamically, e.g. Track at lo buffer settings and
playback at higher settings.

HTH (hope this helps)
{‘-’}

3

Thanks a lot curteye! I was able to restart Cubase in 64-bit and I will post again if it is any better but nothing bad to say so far. The only bug now is that Frontier Alphatrack support does not cover 64-bit Mac OS X Cubase. So while my performance may be better, I am now controller-less… bummer