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Low RAM orchestral instruments?

The problem I had was I have a template with separate articulations on my studio computer that I've been playing with. I have a bunch of lighter cpu/RAM orchestras, but they are full sections and ensembles. I was hoping to be able to transfer the template as is, rather than have to rework it. It was more an exercise in trying to write in parts if that makes sense.
 
Kirk Hunter's Virtuoso Ensembles. Sounds great, low CPU demands, full orchestra, and separate sections if you want.
I have Kirk Hunter. I was having problems with Kontakt for some reason. Once I loaded about 10 instances, I started having issues. Not sure why.
 
I have Kirk Hunter. I was having problems with Kontakt for some reason. Once I loaded about 10 instances, I started having issues. Not sure why.
What DAW are you using? You might look for a DAW with very low CPU usage. Alternatively, if you load KH Virtuoso Ensembles in ensemble mode, you'll only need a few instances of Kontakt and can use key switches.
 
With some libraries, especially older ones, raw samples may be shared between articulations. Accordingly, it's important to group like instruments so the RAM doesn't get soaked up more than once.

To implement that, load all the "sustained" violin sounds (legato, sus, vibrato etc.) into a single instance of Kontakt. Do the same for violin II, viola, etc. Assign each patch its own midi channel.

If patches don't share samples, it might not help, but it would have one additional benefit -- every instance of Kontakt is going to draw at least some resources.

Also, at the risk of stating the obvious, if you're using the library as a mobile sketch pad anyway, you can skip "extras" like violin II and Bartok pizz.

Finally, if you have an SSD, you can try reducing the preload buffer in Kontakt, but you may already have done that.

Good luck!

John
 
What DAW are you using? You might look for a DAW with very low CPU usage. Alternatively, if you load KH Virtuoso Ensembles in ensemble mode, you'll only need a few instances of Kontakt and can use key switches.
I've been trying to use Cubase. I learnt on Pro Tools and find Cubase frustrating at times. LOL, but I think they all are frustrating. If it can be crashed, I will do it.

I think I will have to switch to keyswitch mode for my laptop. Although, VSL SE actually has been working with the main articulations loaded. It just crashed when I tried to load a Kontakt 2nd violin.
 
I travel a lot for work - the job that allows me to do my hobby - but my laptop setup only has 16GBs RAM. It is enough for most pop/rock songs, but I have been experimenting with orchestration and it crashes just with a partial orchestra loaded.

On a 2011 MacBook Pro with 16 GB RAM, I was able to do Logic projects of up to 40 or 50 tracks without crashing using a combination of Logic's included/legacy orchestral instruments and Sonivox Orchestral Companion. (I don't think all 50 tracks ever played at once -- more like 6-10 at a time.)
 
With some libraries, especially older ones, raw samples may be shared between articulations. Accordingly, it's important to group like instruments so the RAM doesn't get soaked up more than once.

To implement that, load all the "sustained" violin sounds (legato, sus, vibrato etc.) into a single instance of Kontakt. Do the same for violin II, viola, etc. Assign each patch its own midi channel.

If patches don't share samples, it might not help, but it would have one additional benefit -- every instance of Kontakt is going to draw at least some resources.

Also, at the risk of stating the obvious, if you're using the library as a mobile sketch pad anyway, you can skip "extras" like violin II and Bartok pizz.

Finally, if you have an SSD, you can try reducing the preload buffer in Kontakt, but you may already have done that.

Good luck!

John
Can an external SSD replace RAM for loading instruments? I have one but I wasn't sure what to load on it since my instruments exceed the size of the SSD.
 
I've been trying to use Cubase. I learnt on Pro Tools and find Cubase frustrating at times. LOL, but I think they all are frustrating. If it can be crashed, I will do it.

I think I will have to switch to keyswitch mode for my laptop. Although, VSL SE actually has been working with the main articulations loaded. It just crashed when I tried to load a Kontakt 2nd violin.
I use Reaper, which has a very low CPU tax.
Can an external SSD replace RAM for loading instruments? I have one but I wasn't sure what to load on it since my instruments exceed the size of the SSD.
This will make your instruments load faster and make the direct from disk mode in Kontakt a bit smoother, but I don't think it would save any more RAM than a standard disk.
 
Can an external SSD replace RAM for loading instruments? I have one but I wasn't sure what to load on it since my instruments exceed the size of the SSD.

If it's connected via USB 3.0 or 3.1 or, even better, Thunderbolt 3, it would be fine, maybe even better than running off the internal drive.

If it's USB 2.x probably it would not do what I was thinking -- allow you to lower the preload buffer in Kontakt.

An SSD that's connected properly (internal or fast external connection like Thunderbolt) can allow you to reduce the preload buffer appreciably more than a standard hard drive.
 
Can an external SSD replace RAM for loading instruments? I have one but I wasn't sure what to load on it since my instruments exceed the size of the SSD.

In modern operating systems most swap drives are transparent to the user. Basically speaking, once you have run out of RAM, your system will normally use disk storage for paging out memory. This can be fine if you have a memory-consuming app that's just sitting in the background, but in the case of wanting more than your maximum system memory in use in a single app at the same time, it'll just churn memory back and forth to disk and be very slow.
 
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Kirk Hunter's Virtuoso Ensembles. Sounds great, low CPU demands, full orchestra, and separate sections if you want.
Virtuoso Ensembles spikes CPU unusually high to the point where it causes my PC to crackle. I have other libraries by Kirk Hunter, and they all seem to be fine. I read similar complaints by others. I hope that they will fix the issue.
 
Virtuoso Ensembles spikes CPU unusually high to the point where it causes my PC to crackle. I have other libraries by Kirk Hunter, and they all seem to be fine. I read similar complaints by others. I hope that they will fix the issue.
I can only speak for me, and I'm on a Mac. The only complaints I've seen are about the included multis.
 
Virtuoso Ensembles spikes CPU unusually high to the point where it causes my PC to crackle. I have other libraries by Kirk Hunter, and they all seem to be fine. I read similar complaints by others. I hope that they will fix the issue.

I have an i7 with 64 gig ram and I had something similar with one of the NI symphony series patches and thought "that can't be right". I was able to solve it, by going into the Kontakt settings and enabling multi-processor support. I think there was a warning that this is supposed to only be activated in either of Kontakt and DAW, but I probably have it active in both now, and the issue with cpu spikes and crackling seems to be gone. Your mileage may vary...
 
Yes, the issue is with the factory multis.

MartinH, 64 gig ram is a lot of ram! I'd say that you should not have any issue regardless of the mutl-processor setting. Anyway, thanks for the tip. I tried it, but it didn't make any difference. All the Symphobia multis play just fine. The VE multis could be very useful for me only if I could play them without CPU spikes...
 
The orchestral stuff in the Kontakt Factory Library is by far the most RAM efficient I have found. Lots of content and decent sound. Slap some WIPS on the woodwinds and even the brass and strings and you can get a lot out of it.

If you were lucky enough to buy Albion 1 before it disappeared, it's full ensemble patches are ridiculously light.

Berlin Orchestra Inspire is among the lightest orchestras I have used.

Palette Primary Colors is a bit heavier than the above, but still on the lighter side, and it's free.

Haven't used it myself, but Cinesymphony Light is pretty much designed for laptop use.
 
Helpful! Thanks. It does make sense about the Kontakt Factory Library being RAM efficient. I better utilize them. I didn't know a thing about WIPS. Thanks for telling me about it.

Is the current Albion 1 as light as the original one?
 
The orchestral samples in KFL come from earlier versions of the Vienna Symphonic Libraries. I'd say they are pristine and consistent, like all of VSL's stuff. Some people like the sound and some don't. You're not going to get the realism you get with the more expensive, wetter libraries, but with some panning, eq and reverb treatment they can sound quite good. Clear is a word I'd use to describe them.
 
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