Does over 2.5 gigs of Ram actually matter in LE

[Harsh]

I have a 002 and i am upgrading to the 48 track version of LE... I currently have 2.5 gig of ram and I run BFD Trilogy and Reason rewire.... Will going to 4.5 gig of ram really make a difference?

[jdjustice]

Originally Posted by Harsh

I have a 002 and i am upgrading to the 48 track version of LE... I currently have 2.5 gig of ram and I run BFD Trilogy and Reason rewire.... Will going to 4.5 gig of ram really make a difference?

Maybe. I assume you are running a PowerMac G4 or G5. But you didn't mention whether you will be using any native plug-ins. If you are using a lot of plug-ins, especially if you are using the Waves IR-1 convolution reverbs or the Q-Clone, you will need a lot of RAM. Generally 2.5GB of RAM is sufficient, but the ceiling for where RAM really stops making so much of a difference in this type of application is about 4GB. So anything over 4GB is probably overkill, but you will probably see performance increase all the way up to 4GB and you should be able to avoid too many of those awful "ERROR" messages that occur when you are using a lot of processors and there is a lot going on track-wise.

I run a G5 with 2GB of memory using Pro Tools LE and I have problems; I need to upgrade to 4GB myself in order to save myself from having sessions "fail" in the middle of a track bounce.

Having said all of this, if you don't have a G5 or you are using second-rate memory you may not see much of a difference. The RAM that comes with newer macs is DDR SDRAM which has been steadily increasing its speed and usefulness with each new revision of Apple's models. If you haven't already bought the RAM, do yourself a favor and splurge for the authentic Apple RAM. I know this is a hotly debated issue and some people believe Apple RAM is a ripoff... but it's better to be safe and get excellent memory chips like the ones MFD by Apple.

Hope this helps a bit.

J.D.

[aussie_techie]

likley you will see little improvment, especialy if you are using windows due to addressing limitations. 4.5 is not even possible if you are using windows or a G4.
but this question all depends on your situation and no one else knows that.
check how much memory you are currently using, if its close to your current amount (also remember the page file) then you may need more, if not you wont need more.

[Dragonfly]

I'm using a dual 2.7 G5 with 2.5 gigs of ram, and I do get the occasionally error message, but really only when the system is being seriously taxed with multiple Altiverbs and other intensive plugins. More Ram couldn't hurt in my opinion, and I think I could use another 2 gigs, but at that point I don't think I'd be seeing enough error messages to warrant spending the money for more.

Dante

[T_R_S]

Originally Posted by Harsh

I have a 002 and i am upgrading to the 48 track version of LE... I currently have 2.5 gig of ram and I run BFD Trilogy and Reason rewire.... Will going to 4.5 gig of ram really make a difference?

I have 6GB RAM make sure you get good premium RAM. Don't cheap out - you'll be sorry.

[aussie_techie]

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

I'm using a dual 2.7 G5 with 2.5 gigs of ram, and I do get the occasionally error message, but really only when the system is being seriously taxed with multiple Altiverbs and other intensive plugins. More Ram couldn't hurt in my opinion, and I think I could use another 2 gigs, but at that point I don't think I'd be seeing enough error messages to warrant spending the money for more.

Dante

how is more ram going to help, multiple verbs are going to tax the cpu not the memory. huge amounts of memory are only needed if you want to run a huge number of soft synths/samplers

[espasonico]

Originally Posted by aussie_techie

how is more ram going to help, multiple verbs are going to tax the cpu not the memory. huge amounts of memory are only needed if you want to run a huge number of soft synths/samplers

That´s what I also think but I´m not really sure about.

[Harsh]

I have the earliest version of the G5 dual 2.0 with 2.5, I get error messages frequently, especially when using plugs like bfd or trilogy..... BFD actually started just crapping out with white noise. This computer really isn't as fast as I would think it should be, any tips, or things to look for, or should I spring for a newer mac? I am still undecided as to if 2 more gigs of ram will really help.

[six_wax]

Protools LE isn't as efficient as it should be, regardless of how much RAM you have.

Logic and DP both smoke it performance-wise (I'm not proselytizing, I use all 3 on the same system).

I've got 8Gb of RAM in my G5, and PTLE is still feeble in it's capabilities compared to LAP. It's just not written to be resource-efficient, imo. Kinda makes me wish I'd spent the bread on an HD rig.

[dkatz42]

Originally Posted by Harsh

I am still undecided as to if 2 more gigs of ram will really help.

There is a simple test to see if more RAM will help you. Reboot your machine. Fire up whatever audio software you use and let it all run for a bit. Launch Activity Monitor from Applications/Utilities. Click on System Memory. Look at the Page In/Out count. If the second number (Page Out) is zero, you will be wasting your money buying more RAM; it won't get used (unless you like to leave a bunch of other apps running.)

[knerd]

Since when can Protools LE run 48 tracks?

I have HD2 now. But I did have Digi001 on a G4 dual 500. I could run 24-32 tracks with a few verbs and compressors... It had 256mb of ram...

Ram doesn't matter much. it's all about the CPU and the hard drive.

Originally Posted by Harsh

I have a 002 and i am upgrading to the 48 track version of LE... I currently have 2.5 gig of ram and I run BFD Trilogy and Reason rewire.... Will going to 4.5 gig of ram really make a difference?

[max cooper]

Originally Posted by T_R_S

I have 6GB RAM make sure you get good premium RAM. Don't cheap out - you'll be sorry.

I also have six gigs of ram with LE 6.9.2/BFD/sometimes an RTAS Moog Modular or two on a second gen. Dual 2 G G5.

I noticed a performance increase with every RAM upgrade. I assume that going to the full eight gigs will be an improvement over six gigs. I just keep letting the RAM get cheaper, and every time it drops in price, I get more.

Lately, I've been kind of amazed at the performace I've been getting out of this (modest) system.

One of the most important things is to keep offloading the files from the record-to drive. I format it before a day of recording. When it's been freshly formatted, the whole system gets a bit zippy-er.

[littledoodler]

Originally Posted by Harsh

I have the earliest version of the G5 dual 2.0 with 2.5, I get error messages frequently, especially when using plugs like bfd or trilogy..... BFD actually started just crapping out with white noise. This computer really isn't as fast as I would think it should be, any tips, or things to look for, or should I spring for a newer mac? I am still undecided as to if 2 more gigs of ram will really help.

well i heard the new imac are smoking. but, i would consider switching to logic instead.

[Harsh]

Originally Posted by knerd

Since when can Protools LE run 48 tracks?

I have HD2 now. But I did have Digi001 on a G4 dual 500. I could run 24-32 tracks with a few verbs and compressors... It had 256mb of ram...

Ram doesn't matter much. it's all about the CPU and the hard drive.

Since the new Digidesign music production tool kit came out.