Hi -

I've got Cubase 6.5 on XP, as per sig. I've never been much for VSTi's live, but lately I've started to use them a bit more, and found that wow, I start getting those crackles very easily now unless my buffer is set to values large enough to cause some noticeable latency while playing. So I'm wondering if maybe it would be helpful to add 2 more GB of RAM (I've only got 2GB now) and then apply that 3 GB switch may help.

Reading this nice article http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug08/articles/pcnotes_0808.htm by (who else! Our very own ...) Martin Walker, I see that the 3GB switch is only likely to help if Cubase 6.5 has its "LAA header flag set" . Apparently Cubase SX did ... but since Cubase 6 is "not supported" on XP, I'm wondering if maybe that's not the case now.

Is there any way I can determine this to help me decide whether to upgrade on the RAM? Has anyone here used the 3 GB switch with Cubase 6.5 and XP? Is it even possible that the crackles with VSTi's might not be a RAM issue? (For what it's worth, I've got nice DPC Latency check numbers of 50-75 microseconds with a buffer size of 256 samples at 44.1 KHz).

Thanks!

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Alexis -Cubase 6.5.0/SX3.1.1.944, XP SP2, 4GB RAM (1GB not accessible, but used just to balance the computer so it doesn't tip over); Delta 66 in Omni i/O Studio; Motif8; UAD-1

Quote alexis:

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Hi -

I've got Cubase 6.5 on XP, as per sig. I've never been much for VSTi's live, but lately I've started to use them a bit more, and found that wow, I start getting those crackles very easily now unless my buffer is set to values large enough to cause some noticeable latency while playing. So I'm wondering if maybe it would be helpful to add 2 more GB of RAM (I've only got 2GB now) and then apply that 3 GB switch may help.

Reading this nice article <a href="/sos/aug08/articles/pcnotes_0808.htm" target="_blank">http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug08/articles/pcnotes_0808.htm</a&g t; by (who else! Our very own ...) Martin Walker, I see that the 3GB switch is only likely to help if Cubase 6.5 has its "LAA header flag set" . Apparently Cubase SX did ... but since Cubase 6 is "not supported" on XP, I'm wondering if maybe that's not the case now.

Is there any way I can determine this to help me decide whether to upgrade on the RAM? Has anyone here used the 3 GB switch with Cubase 6.5 and XP? Is it even possible that the crackles with VSTi's might not be a RAM issue? (For what it's worth, I've got nice DPC Latency check numbers of 50-75 microseconds with a buffer size of 256 samples at 44.1 KHz).

Thanks!

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Is it Cubase that will use the extra RAM, or a VST Instrument running with it?

When running a 32-bit Windows XP machine I found the 3GB switch caused instability. With 32-bit Windows 7 on the same machine it was stable, and allowed me to run medium-sized scores in Sibelius 7 with its rather demanding sound set (which failed in a very inelegant manner when it ran out of RAM.)

But 4 GB of RAM is so cheap these days, it seems silly not to fill your motherboard up, even if you don't get access to all of it.

Which leads to the final point. Deep in your heart, you know you've outgrown a 32-bit operating system :-) It won't cost much to stick in 4GB. But that money could go towards your new W7-64 machine!

I'd seriously consider going to Win7 too, even Win7/32 seems more stable and I believe there is a patch that will take Win7/32 way beyond the 4 gig, downloadable from Microsoft site if I remember rightly, I cannot find the URL right now though

Hi alexis!

I'm afraid I'd recommend moving over to Windows 7 64-bit as well, not only for the reasons already given, but also because fewer and fewer developers are now supporting Windows XP with their products.

This doesn't mean to say that these products won't work under WIndows XP, but if you run into problems you'll be largely on your own

If you need more than about 3GB of RAM then Windows 7 64-bit is the way to go.


Martin

Martin

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YewTreeMagic

Would it be possible to have a sticky with a Q&A regarding migrating to Win7, such as...

Will my old VSTs work on a)Win7/32 b)Win7/64

Will my 32 bit apps run on Win7/64

If I use Cubase4 (32 bit) winll Cubase 6(64 bit) open the old Cubase projects?

Will 32 bit hardware drivers work with Win7/64

Is it true that Win7 Home, premium, Professional each have their own upper limits on RAM available?

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Unless such a post is already tucked away somewhere?

The answer would be 'probably yes' to applications running in windows 7 64bit, very few older VSTs/DAWs/etc have issues installing and working (some older versions of Waves plugins being the big name which had a problem). Hardware you have to check that the drivers are available before moving over (a quick search of the download page of the hardware's website) will tell you.

Win Home has a 16GB limit, Pro limit is above all but the very biggest dual CPU machines (192GB off top of my head)

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Say hello on Facebook www.facebook.com/CarillonAudioSystems

Quote OneWorld:

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Would it be possible to have a sticky with a Q&A regarding migrating to Win7...
Unless such a post is already tucked away somewhere?

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Have a read of this feature OneWorld:

www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov10/articles/64-bit.htm

Hope it answers all your questions!


Martin

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YewTreeMagic

Thank you everybody for your helpful replies!

Though I plan on moving over to Windows 7 in the not too distant future, for now would like to see what more I can squeeze out of my XP machine. As such, any advice re: how to do that is much appreciated!

Quote Exalted Wombat:

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When running a 32-bit Windows XP machine I found the 3GB switch caused instability. With 32-bit Windows 7 on the same machine it was stable, and allowed me to run medium-sized scores in Sibelius 7 with its rather demanding sound set (which failed in a very inelegant manner when it ran out of RAM.)

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I wonder if this is a common enough occurrence with 32bit Windows XP that it's not worth thinking about the 3GB switch? I read that it was more common when 3GB of RAM was installed, less common when 4GB was installed - can anyone speak to that by any chance?
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Quote Exalted Wombat:

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But 4 GB of RAM is so cheap these days, it seems silly not to fill your motherboard up, even if you don't get access to all of it.

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Exalted: pardon the ignorance please, but ... would it help me to put 4GB of RAM in the machine if I didn't have the 3GB switch activated?
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Quote Exalted Wombat:

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...Is it Cubase that will use the extra RAM, or a VST Instrument running with it?

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Ah, I realize I don't know how to answer this! I know that Cubase runs fine until I add, for example, a Halion Sonic SE S90ES piano VSTi, or if I add Jamstix 3. I just assumed it was the VSTi that did this, but thinking about it, I'm not sure!

I'm assuming it's important to know that before adding more RAM ...

Thanks again for your comments and suggestions -

has anyone come across the Win7/32 RAM Patch? which apparently can remove the upper limit for RAM, way beyond that of the 3gig switch?

There is an article on it here....

http://www.unawave.de/windows-7-tipps/32-bit-ram-barrier.html?lang=EN