Here you have your numbers:
I downloaded Bitwig Studio, created 100 tracks with audio on them and one instance of fabfilter Pro Q3 and one instance of Slick EQ on each (=200 plugins) and then recorded a guitar on one channel (it did not make a difference if I recorded multiple tracks at once or just one).
SR was on 48kHz, sample buffer was set on 256 and the reported latency was 5,33 ms:
I tested all plugin hosting modes: WITHIN BITWIG, TOGETHER, BY MANUFACTURER, BY PLUGIN and INDIVIDUALLY.
The observations:
- There was literally no change in latency when changing between the sandboxing modes, in every mode it is possible to record/playback without any introduced latency, like it is in Cubase
- With the same buffer setting the latency is at all times EVEN 1 MS LOWER than in Cubase (where it was 6,3), despite having sandboxing activated. This confirms the latency display in both DAWs and I could also not feel any difference in latency when recording, which makes sense at 1 ms difference
- There is only a real difference in resource usage when using the INDIVIDUAL mode
Now for the resources here is more detailed data:
- For the same project Cubase is using around 44% CPU usage and 3GB RAM
- Bitwig in WITHIN BITWIG mode uses around 38% CPU and 2,5GB RAM so even if there is sandboxing activated, it uses less resources
- TOGETHER and BY MANUFACTURER modes use about the same % CPU as Cubase, but still 500 MB less RAM
- BY PLUGIN mode uses a bit more CPU, but still 500 MB less RAM
- Even the hardcore mode INDIVIDUALLY only uses 62% CPU and 3,7 GB RAM, with over 200 additional instances of bitwig. This is not a mode you would likely use in general, but still everything works perfectly, without any issues whatsoever.
PS: BY MANUFACTURER and BY PLUGIN modes could potentially show different values when using more different plugins, but all the other modes would not be affected by this. My system info is visible in my signature/account info
Here are screenshots of the resource usage, while recording in both DAWs:
