Around the time I switched to Cubase 8.5, I got Hollywood Strings Diamond, and LASS. I’m working on a project right with both those libraries loaded, plus Cinematic. But the only tracks I’m playing are Hollywood Strings - 5 tracks, and Ivory II piano, 2 tracks. When I hit play it’s a nightmare, until about the 4th or 5th complete cycle of playing back. It’s like the sounds aren’t loaded into the memory until it’s done it a few times. T
I checked around and saw a Youtube video that advised turning off ASIO guard, so I did that and noticed no change.
I’m using a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4.
Here is some computer info: Processor: Intel core i5-4460 CPU 3.20 Ghz. Ram 12 Gb. 64 bit.
I know there are lots of things that can affect this. My partner is convinced that solid state drives are the answer, but I don’t know anything about them. I’d just like some ideas of possible directions to take, to find out what needs to made bigger for this to not be a problem. Whether to investigate Cubase, the sound card, or my PC or everything.
Edited to add: I am using the 5 strings in ONE instance of Play.
Your performance should be best at higher buffer. Experiment between 44khz and 48khz sessions… 48khz works best for me for some reason… You then trade-off performance for latency as you reduce the buffers.
Cubase generally has a bit less performance than previous versions so you probably have to pump up your system if you can like just get a better setup when possible… Probably by looking at your system, those large VI’s are prone IMO to requiring faster systems requirements in general. You may be able to improve situation by OC’ing (if that’s possible + serious issues.) If someone knows how to do it what I do is bump up the FSB a bit and make sure you don’t overheat) to compensate.
Are you sure Kontakt is already finished loading all samples when you hit play? You can see it in the Kontakt interface. The purge area is orange or red blinking when Kontakt is still loading and white solid when finished. With large libraries it can take a while!
Thanks for the help! Vinark, yes, Kontakt is loaded. HS takes about 15 mins, im used to that.
BB, I think you’re right - I probably need more RAM. tonight when I opened the project, HS complained about my system not having enough memory and it suggested I abort. I checked Task Manager and just Cubase and Chrome (and all the other little crap things) were causing my system to use 87% of memory. So I’ll try expanding that first, hopefully to 24 Gig.
A temporary solution could be to purge the samples from Kontakt. Upon playback the samples will be reloaded but only the ones used. After a few playbacks (due to round robbing) all samples will be loaded and you can then save the project and it will load with a much smaller ram footprint and load much faster too. Another option is to reduce the streaming buffer in Kontakt. Depending on your HD speed this might be a very good solution and can be done globally.
Thanks, Vinark. Good idea - I was contemplating the same thing… I just have to make sure I know how the purge works and what it takes away, with both Kontakt and Play incase I’m risking too much at this early stage. I’m going to end up layering the strings anyway so I realize I do have to be efficient about my workflow.
