# CPU Vs. RAM



## H.R. (Jan 7, 2016)

Hi

I'm wondering which one is more important in processing musical instruments. (CPU or RAM?) Is it right that most plugins use CPU but most sample libraries are being processed in RAM ?

Thanks!


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## TintoL (Jan 8, 2016)

Hi H.R.,

This question doesn't really have a clear answer, because it depends on many factors. This has also been discussed extensivelly in the forum with a lot of hardcore debate.
Long story short. It depends first in the type of instrument you are using. Vsts that function like siths with a lot of processing like zebra, Omnisphere etc.... use more cpu and not much ram. If you are referring to sampled libraries, they mostly use both but eat ram faster. And this depends a lot on the library. EW hollywood diamond line eats both ram and cpu for example.
Another concept is whether you are usind slaves or not. If you are using slaves with no reverb added or stuff, just streaming, the ram is more important. If you are doing all in one computer, you need all in a very good balance.

But, at the end the most important thing is the real time performance.

Richard Ames is a composer with a lot of technical knowledge. You can find his youtube channel. His videos will clarify a lot of doubts.
Also, search for his posts here in the forum. He is generally in the most important discussions about this.

By the way, just re-read your question. Just to be sure, because your question asks specifically about what is processing what.

Ram computes nothing. It just stores all .wav samples of the librarary so the cpu has that info ready. All stuff is done by the CPU and the audio card outputs the results. So if that is a confussion, I hope this clears the doubt.

I hope this helps.


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## Zhao Shen (Jan 8, 2016)

Oversimplified version:

RAM affects how many samples you can have loaded into your DAW - this is why some libraries hog more RAM than others, because they simply need more system memory to exist due to their scripting and samples.

On the other hand, CPU is usually associated with realtime playback, and how many individual instances/tracks you can run/render at a time. I find this to be the bottleneck almost all the time.

One way to think about it is that RAM is a resource that exists and doesn't really do anything - it's just there and the only situation in which you should worry about it is if you run out. CPU is what's actually doing the heavy lifting when you play or render your music.

So to answer your question...


H.R. said:


> Is it right that most plugins use CPU but most sample libraries are being processed in RAM ?


...Libraries and plugins (I assume you mean effects plugins) need both - though plugins typically use far less. A library needs RAM to load its samples and CPU to be played back. And as for which one is more important? Whichever one you find yourself running out of.

On conserving these system resources, you can usually conserve a lot of RAM depending on the sampler, but you can conserve CPU more consistently. What I mean is that if you're using Kontakt and use the "purge samples" option, you can cut RAM usage down a TON. However, not every sampler has this option. You can cut down on CPU load by freezing tracks so that the DAW knows to keep the track constant and not process the individual samples again each time you play it back.

Hope this helped - and keep in mind that this is all pretty heavily simplified. I'm sure there are other people who can dive deep into the technicalities of it all, but what I've said here should give you a basic understanding.


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## Vin (Jan 8, 2016)

To (extremely) simplify it even more: both are equally important. Get the best of both that you can.


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## H.R. (Jan 8, 2016)

Love you all guys. Thank you!


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