how much memory of RAM should i have on my PC before i start using expensive VSTs???

[deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup]

^^^Maybe that's the key. As said before, I don't even have the net connected to my music PC. No Antivirus, MSN Messenger or Net explorer even installed. When I have to get on line to update I have to install them all 1st. Never get viruses because I don't put foreign programs(programs that didn't come out of a box in a store)on my music computer.

[neverenoughfunk]

I work almost the exact same way(just start with no preloaded sounds)I have a 1 gig machine that does not hickup, lol. Maybe because all the strain is being picked up by my ASIO Interface and Graphics card. Maybe it's the program, I use SONAR. The only thing I get close to a hickup is when rewiring Reason, and I'm sure that's more of a glitch that Ram fix being that reason isn't Ram or CPU hungry.

As stated before, the same can't be stated for my new computer, but I haven't optimized it yet, and it's 2x as powerful as my 1gb. I'm not saying that more ram is a bad thing, I'm just saying 4gb is a little extreme. If you're getting problems out of a 2.0gHz and 2gb of Ram and up, you've got more that needs fixing than adding ram.

What type interface and graphics card are you running? Do you use asio of MME/WDM?

the graphics card is 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 7350LE, soundcard is mackie onyx satellite . i do not sample or record audio. my processor is Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad processor Q6600 (2.4GHz) and the memory is 4GB DDR2-667MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024).

i buy a new top of the line machine every two years and my previous machine was a p4 3.4 2 gig lappy, that i now use for internet use. my current machine i had for about 2 months and two years down the line it will be time for a new one.

these are hp machines.

[djba$$ay2k5]

Not arguing, just making a point.

Alot of misinformation is given out in threads like this. There's no software on the market for music that will show a significant improvement in performance from adding more than 2gb of ram if you're running an up to date computer with a good processor, graphics card and zero latency asio compatable soundcard/interface.

Vista is not yet compatable with majority of the music programs on the market and is known to have severe glitches, so even though Vista can take advantage of more ram, using vista for music production currently puts you at a disadvantage.

Alot of you guys go into overkill when it comes to music, a year or two from now when all the bugs are out of vista you can always add more ram when needed, but for now, it's honestly a waste for MUSIC PRODUCTION. If you were talking movie production or video games, ect. different story, but the most powerful music programs aren't surpassing 512mb to 1gig of minimum requirement.

Latency is usually coming from something else than ram especially when you have at least a gig(cpu, background services running on your computer, and mainly soundcard/interface).

I had a 2.6ghz(single core)1gb ram running numerous plug ins flawlessly using an asio interface(m-box). Had a few issues I'm trying to work out with a dual core I just bought, it's giving me alot of issues, it may become another home computer for gaming.

this is right to point, but when using software like kontakt and Giga, thats a different story(i think you know this) software like that is built with large ram potions meant in mind. those types of software of fill up the ram with just samples and causes bottlenecks in the system bandwidth. and what was then, ram space for the Recording app. is almost completely taken over by the plugin. and algorythms for the record are placed on the paging file on the HDD which is much slow than ram

but **** if you runnig like 8 tracks and maybe one or two plugins all the time then you dont need to max out ram

Wait, i'm don't know much about computers, but does it really make a big difference having a good graphics card? I only have one moniter and I only use my computer for music. What kind of graphics card do you use?

yea in Vista it make a huge diff