Is the latest version of ProTools 64bit?

the_syco

Hey all,
I'm trying to find out if the latest version of ProTools supports 64bit. A LOT of forums point both ways, but the specs do say to use 8GB, so I assume it's 64bit.

Can anyone here verify? The old versions were always 32bit, but need to know if the new one supports 64bit, as I plan to put 8GB-16GB's RAM into it.

SeanHurley

Short answer is no. Pro Tools HD does have a cache feature that allows you to address more than 4GB of RAM.

If you are running it natively, Pro Tools still has all the limitations of a 32bit system.

studiorat

What would be the advantages of running a 64 bit version Sean? Anyone?

DamagedTrax

more memory for fx plugins/VIs. less memory related crashes.

SeanHurley

As Damaged said, allows you to access more than 4GB of RAM (a limitation of 32bit software), allowing more plugins/VIs etc.

I think the advantages will be felt more by those who use a large amount of VIs (tv composers etc).

DamagedTrax

SeanHurley wrote: »

As Damaged said, allows you to access more than 4GB of RAM (a limitation of 32bit software), allowing more plugins/VIs etc.

I think the advantages will be felt more by those who use a large amount of VIs (tv composers etc).

a lot of fx these days are taking up big memory aswell - ST decapitator, acustica nebula, amplitube etc.

also certain plugins are built with graphics that take up a lot of ram. waves' newer plugins can be fairly hefty if you cant offload onto a good graphics processor.

the_syco

studiorat wrote: »

What would be the advantages of running a 64 bit version Sean? Anyone?

32bit; it will see up to a max of 4GB.
64bit; it will see all the memory you have in your machine.

It's in relation to this threadl http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=83656606

If it was 64bit, I'll be putting 16GB's into the new build.

=-=

A friend of my mate runs Windows 64bit and as lots of the plugins are 32bit only, he needs a 64bit to 32bit bridge on every 32bit plugins.

Seems it's all explained on the "DUC" (Digidesign User Conference)?

GTE

I have done the 32bit to 64bit upgrade recently.

What makes the 4GB limit worse is that chances are your OS is only reading 3.5ish (a big ish) as it locks a certain amount for itself.

4GB is decent for a lot of multitracking however small to medium sized sound design projects will start to give you problems as you lob more plugins in there. For me my RAM problems have been plugin/track count reasons as I don't do sample based projects.

I have gotten 8 GB for my 5 year old laptop and it is flying along again, though that is running Cubase 64bit.

woodsdenis

SeanHurley wrote: »

Short answer is no. Pro Tools HD does have a cache feature that allows you to address more than 4GB of RAM.

If you are running it natively, Pro Tools still has all the limitations of a 32bit system.

mmmmm If you are talking about disk cache, this is only for playing back audio tracks. Instead of a HD, audio is streamed from RAM (providing you have enough of it ) Audio tracks were never stored in RAM previously. This makes playback quicker.

It does NOT overcome the 4GB limit in 32 bit for everything else. You are not addressing more than the the 4GB limit as you suggest in HD

SonasRec

Do a search for 'Vienna Ensemble pro'......been using it for a while & it's great.

It's a plug in host that runs alongside pro tools (or any other DAW). With it you can load up your VI's & effects outside PT and use up your extra ram. You can run it on the same computer or if you have a spare pc or mac, connect it up with a cat5 cable. no latency issues. It handles all the plugs as AU's (way more efficient than RTAS).

When you buy it, you also get a VSL epic orchestra library & player. Small selection of sounds but the sounds that are included are quality.

studiorat

I thought that was only a Windows issue. Even a G5 Power Mac could address more than 4 gig of RAM. The regular 32 bit kernel in Leopard will address up to 32 GB. So the application is the bottle neck.

Question is, does plug-in processing use the ProTools Application space, I'm guessing it does. But how much extra RAM does real time processing actually use? Not too much is my guess.

But Sonas is right, Vienna Ensemble and Reason can run in a different application space so hosting virtual instruments in something like that will allow you to address memory outside of the ProTools application. Using Reaper could be a plan also.

woodsdenis

studiorat wrote: »

I thought that was only a Windows issue. Even a G5 Power Mac could address more than 4 gig of RAM. The regular 32 bit kernel in Leopard will address up to 32 GB. So the application is the bottle neck.

Question is, does plug-in processing use the ProTools Application space, I'm guessing it does. But how much extra RAM does real time processing actually use? Not too much is my guess.

But Sonas is right, Vienna Ensemble and Reason can run in a different application space so hosting virtual instruments in something like that will allow you to address memory outside of the ProTools application. Using Reaper could be a plan also.

You can run VEPro in a 64 bit server mode which allows you to host all your VI's separately from from your main 32 bit DAW. This enables you to use all of your computers RAM for them. Great and stable workaround, in some ways better than hosting VI natively.

studiorat

woodsdenis wrote: »

You can run VEPro in a 64 bit server mode which allows you to host all your VI's separately from from your main 32 bit DAW. This enables you to use all of your computers RAM for them. Great and stable workaround, in some ways better than hosting VI natively.

That's worth a look, especially the Ethernet thing. Thanks Dennis.

splitrmx

studiorat wrote: »

I thought that was only a Windows issue.

No true 32 bit operating system can address more than 4gigs of ram.

Apple started adding 64 bit compatibility since Version 10.3 (Tiger, but that initially was limited), so that's why extra memory addressing has worked ( at least in some way) on Macs since then.