Difference in RAM usage between plugin and task manager, preload size setting unclear
Hi guys, first of all I wish everyone a happy new year!
I recently used BBCSO Core for the first time and therefore upgraded to 32 GB RAM. I noticed that the amount of RAM needed is very different between the plugin and the task manager.
After loading my empty Cubase template, the total memory requirement is around 5.8 GB (18%). After I have loaded all BBCSO Core instruments including all articulations (with default preload size setting), the usage is around 30.3 GB (95%), although the plugin indicates a requirement or memory pool of 9.0 GB.
If I then set the preload size to 4000, the indicated usage according to the plugin drops to around 4.1 GB, according to Taskmanager it is then around 12.1 GB (38%).
So far I don't see a problem, but the new preload size doesn't really seem to work if I load the instruments right at the beginning with a preload size of 4000. The plugin then also shows me a consumption of about 4.1 GB, but according to the task manager it is 25.4 GB (80%)!
Does this mean that I have to start each time with default settings and then reduce the preload size? An initial memory consumption of almost 25 GB seems disproportionately high for the total size of the Core Edition, especially when I initially load the instruments with already reduced preload size to a third and the memory usage according to the task manager is still kind of high after that.
Are there any recommendations for certain settings or am I doing something wrong here?
Thanks in advance, attached are a few screenshots.
Haekki
Best Answer
Answers
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Hi @Angus
Thank you very much for your help! When I set the audio setting to the default values, the plugin (with all instruments and every articulation loaded) is showing 9.0 GB RAM used and the task manager shows 28.5 GB RAM used.
Today my PC took 3.5 GB RAM with the empty Cubase project open. BBCSO Core filled up the other 25.0 GB RAM after loading. I even waited 15 minutes in both cases to see if this changes anything.
Besides that, I wonder why I get different results in RAM usage between changing preload buffer after loading with default settings and loading with already changed preload buffer.
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Hi @Angus
again, thanks for your help. I just added a post to my ticket since I made some strange discoveries. This is what I wrote in case someone wants to follow this:
"Hello everyone,
thank you very much for taking a closer look at my problems I have with RAM usage from BBSCO Core. I'd like to give you further information since I tested out some things today and had very strange results.
My system:
Windows 10 (Build 19044)
Intel i5-7500 with 32 GB RAM
NVMe M.2 SSD for Windows and sample libraries
Cubase Pro 11.0.40 (Build 446)
The screenshots I added are numbered in the order I tested the difference in RAM usage. The first numbers for memory consumption are from the plugin itself, the second ones are from the task manager. I already deducted the amount of RAM the rest of my PC used, so the numbers from the task manager only show how much RAM BBCSO Core took after loading into memory. In every case I loaded up every instrument including all articulations and waited a few minutes in between:
Pic 01: initial RAM usage without any plugins/instruments loaded
Pic 02: loading BBCSO Core with default settings - 9.0 GB / 24.3 GB
Pic 03: changing Preload Size to half (6144) without re-loading - 5.4 GB / 8.2 GB
Pic 04: unloading everything
Pic 05: loading BBCSO Core with already reduced Preload Size (6144) - 5.4 GB / 21.4 GB
Pic 06: changing Preload Size back to default (12288) without re-loading - 9.0 GB / 12.8 GB
Pic 07: changing Preload Size to half (6144) again without re-loading - 5.4 GB / 8.4 GB
As you can see, these are very strange results! The RAM usage with default settings can range from 12.8 GB to 24.3 GB according to the task manager. With reduced Preload Size to half (6144) BBCSO takes from 8.2 GB to 21.4 GB of memory.
In both cases it depends on whether I initially load up with default settings or not. The biggest mystery for me is still pic 05 to pic 06. According to the plugin RAM usage almost doubles but the task manager shows a reduction to almost half of the amount before! How can this be?
I hope this info is of any help. If there's anything I can do, just let me know.
Kind regards,
Haekki"
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I own the same library and same amount of ram as the op does, and have noticed the same thing.
Furthermore, once i did an extreme test of cranking the preload size up to max and virtualizing 96 gigs of harddrive into ram so i had 128 gigs of ram including the virtual part. Then i loaded the Core template downloaded from thepage.com.
The result is that 128GB ram was maxed out and my machine was frozen. Since the Core library itself is only ~20GB, i reckon that large amount of void data was loaded into ram following the actual samples.
Would be much appreciated if Spitfire team could optimize the preload issue in future updates!
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I've got exactly the same issue and found this thread googling it.
Even with less than half instruments added to the template i've got smth like 4 GB usage in Spitfire Plugin and 20 GB usage in Windows Task Manager.
So if I continue it's gonna reach out the max RAM usage even before i finish string section template.
I've got BBC Pro orchestra and this RAM issue makes it almost unusable.
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Hey Shatamel, it's a shame that Spitfire Audio hasn't patched this out yet. Since Angus doesn't work in the support team anymore someone else got in touch with me after a while. They asked me to load something else into the RAM after BBC filled it to around 98%, the think it's just a cosmetic issue. It's true (at least for me) that BBC doesn't use all of the RAM unlike task manager or resource monitors are showing, since I was able to load another 15 GB of data into my memory without any crashes.
But there're still problems, like BBC loading and reading from my drive until all the memory is eaten up. And the strange results from my testing still persist. So in the end im quite frustrated with BBC. I upgraded from 16 to 32 GB of RAM just because of it, and it was all for nothing. It doesn't crash Cubase with its 98% memory usage, but this bug annoys me so much.
Does your hard drive also show reading activities until your RAM is full? And can you load something else afterwards or is your session crashing?
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