best daw for much/large vst plugins?

[Calippo Tecks]

I had alot of problems with loading vst plugins for my midi tracks when using cubase sx3 with windows xp. I thought it might've been xp, so now I'm running windows 7 ultimate but it seems after loading a few vst plugins it's up to the limit already and things start to crash and act weird... so quite the same problems as I had with windows xp. Anyway, I was wondering if cubase sx3 has limitations? If so, then which daw's can actually use everything of what is left of my ram memory? I think cubase sx3 didn't use even more then 1-1.5 gb ram at max, while I have 4 gb ram inside.
Thanks.

 

[TheDriller]

First up, what are your full system specs?
specifically, what Processor do you have?

On windows, i found Reaper to be pretty efficient in most cases, but no matter what DAW you use, your Processor will be the main factor in how many VSTs you can use.

 

[Calippo Tecks]

amd athlon 64 X2 5200+
my cpu doesn't go crazy when loading a few vst's, so I don't really get it.
Reaper, might give it a try then.

 

[Jind]

It has less to do with the DAW of choice as it does your system and it's optimization. While you have 4gb or RAM, you are probably running a 32 bit OS with the limitations that imposes you are not utilizing the maximum amount of RAM. I run an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000 w/8GB DDR2 Ram and Win 7 x64 and very rarely run into many limitations on my VST use. I'm unaware of any limitations of Cubase, but your performance seems a bit low for what you have.

In Sonar with BitBridge (bridging app to run 32 bit plugins in X64 version of Sonar which allows you to run up to 32 BitBridge servers, each capable of using up to 4GB of RAM dedicated to a 32 bit plugin - limited by the amount of physical RAM you have) I have not had resource issues - at least not anything like what you are experiencing. I do use judicious use of track freezing and such to keep my softsynths running smooth, but that's just my workflow and it has kept me running well.

What plugins specifically are you using? Some sample libraries can eat up memory quickly.

 

[Calippo Tecks]

I know there's a difference between XP 32 bit and 64 bit, but I thought in windows 7 the 32 bit version didn't have any limitations on ram too?
I mainly use east west vst's and refx nexus.
For example in windows 7 I loaded two instances of nexus and some brass stuff from one of my east west vst's. Cubase was acting bitchy already... I didn't freeze any of the instruments I think, but having to freeze really everything is kinda frustrating too, although I'll try if it still acts weird and see how much I can really load. Anyway, thanks for helping me out so far.

*edit*
Oh and I also have a simple onboard soundcard, but I know nothing about soundcards, so I'm not sure if that could have anything to do with it and most of the time I use my Fast Track Pro if that could make any sense...
*/edit*

 

[Jind]

I know there's a difference between XP 32 bit and 64 bit, but I thought in windows 7 the 32 bit version didn't have any limitations on ram too?

This is probably one of the most informative articles I've ever read on 64-bit vs. 32-bit and how they allocate memory.

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/5709

Very informative read for anyone with questions.

 

[Jind]

I found some more information that might be useful to folks thinking about converting over to an x64 capable OS.

Noel Borthwick from Roland/Cakewalk is probably one of the most knowledgeable guys out there when it comes to audio and Windows based operating systems. He has a blog that he talks quite a bit about the details and advantages of various configurations.

Check out the following articles:

A case for 64-bit Windows - in it Noel talks about the increased registers of 64-bit processors and the ability of 64-bit OS platforms to access them which will lead to faster execution of computationally intensive processes such as those found in audio applications.

The white paper he references in the previous article: http://www.cakewalk.com/x64/whitepaper.asp

Windows 7 for Music Production - links to articles he has contributed to on audio with Windows 7.

Thought these might be helpful for some. Hope they are.

 

[Calippo Tecks]

Hey thanks alot, that's some nice information.
I'll probably get windows 7 x64 soon.
I used to have windows xp x64 but M-audio didn't have drivers for my fast track pro for xp x64 so that was bummer. Right now they have drivers for windows 7 x64 bit so that won't be a problem anymore.
But still I wonder, an x64 daw version is not a 'must' on these systems?

 

[Harry Hughes]

Cool articles Jind, thanks for the links

 

[visceral]

I'm a sonar user, but I gave reaper a shot and noticed significantly lower cpu usage. I've stuck to sonar only because I like the gui better and I feel like my workflow is smoother.