Should+Musicians+Move+To+A+64-bit+OS PDF
Should+Musicians+Move+To+A+64-bit+OS PDF
Should+Musicians+Move+To+A+64-bit+OS PDF
64-bit OS?
64-bit Computing
Computer / Software
Mixing / Production
By Robin Vincent
Published November 2010
Computer technology
seems to be in
continuous transition.
Just when we think
we've got it all sorted,
something else comes
along and tempts us
forward into a new promised land of awe and wonder.
Some new technology, such as multi-core
processing, delivers on the promises and exceeds our
expectations. Some, such as Windows Vista, are more
like the Emperor's new clothes. The current carrot being
dangled is the 64-bit operating system (OS). With both
Apple and Microsoft offering stable and compatible
64-bit platforms, the time has come to dig around and
consider the promises. In this article we'll be looking at
the advantages of the 64-bit environment and running
some tests to show what this could mean for audio
production software. We'll also look at how to manage
the transition, mixing 32-bit and 64-bit applications,
and ask manufacturers about the challenges involved.
As a 64-bit OS can
access more than
4GB of RAM, it makes
no sense for Windows
to artificially limit the
amount of RAM an
application can use.
This means, in theory,
that a 32-bit
application running on
a 64-bit OS should be
able to access a full The first 64-bit microprocessor was created
by MIPS Technologies back in 1991.
4GB of RAM
(assuming that further RAM is available for the system to
run). This certainly seems to be the case. Cubase, Sonar
and Live could all load four instruments, totalling around
3.7GB. On loading instrument number five, they all
crashed out with the dreaded Microsoft C++ RunTime
Error. So some caution is required, as is frequent saving,
but the test shows that even running a 32-bit application
in an emulated mode on a 64-bit OS gives much better
performance than running it on a 32-bit OS.
As expected, we finally get to break the 4GB barrier on
a fully 64-bit system. We loaded up a full Trilian with
eight instruments — nearly 7GB of samples loaded into
RAM — and each played perfectly. Things started to get
dicey on loading a second instance of Trilian, with
playback beginning to crackle as the total physical RAM
limit was being approached. It should be noted that when
polyphony was raised and more notes were played the
CPU would jump with the intensity of having to deal with
so much data. This suggests that the CPU is still likely to
be a factor when it comes to performance and sample
playback.
So, for the next stage in our testing we ditched the 64-bit
version of Trilian and loaded up the 32-bit version in
64-bit Sonar and Cubase. Sonar's BitBridge and
Cubase's VSTBridge load up as their own process
alongside the host. VSTBridge managed a disappointing
single instrument of about 1GB loaded. When Trilian was
set to unlimited memory, loading a second instrument
would cause a runtime error and crash. In Sonar, the
BitBridge happily managed four instruments, using 3.5GB
RAM, and got stuck on the fifth. Swapping VSTBridge for
jBridge in Cubase left it able to match Sonar's
performance in loading up four instruments. It's almost as
if VSTBridge is artificially restricted to the 2GB of a 32-bit
OS.
Starter: 8GB.
Home Basic: 8GB.
Home Premium: 16GB.
Professional: 192GB.
Enterprise: 192GB.
Ultimate: 192GB.