[Solved] Certain Projects Using Excessive RAM

Audiosnap? Melodyne?
 
If you have either of these enabled, you will see a RAM hit.

This is insane. Okay so I don't have Audiosnap enabled, I searched the Cakewalk site briefly for "Melodyne" (because I have no idea what it is, which I didn't know what Audiosnap is, had to search for that too), the only results I saw for Melodyne were for X3, so I don't think I have it or at least don't have it enabled. My basic template is 7 mono tracks each with EQ, Compressor, and Limiter. Then I have the Master bus, and before that a bus B and C (B starts with a Reverb which all the tracks go to and that goes to the master), the C bus is in case I want certain tracks to have some other FX before/instead of the Reverb.
 
I have this basic setup for nearly all projects and like I said, most don't exceed 200MB RAM. I have now gone and deleted all events, most tracks and all FX and the file still uses (now over) 400MB RAM (see pic). There must be some history data that is saved or just some memory leak that gets saved into the file. Does anyone have any ideas?
 
Okay I can't display the image because apparently I can't upload, and Dropbox share links don't show up here. But at least my description sums it up.
 
Even if it doesn't display here, this is the link for the screenshot:
[]
 

For whatever reason you see an increase of 200Mb, if that's causing dropouts your system must be severly underpowered.
 
Stick around a bit, I'm sure you'll get the help you need.  If you give us your system's specs it might help in judging where the problem is coming from.
 

ZeroContrast
Okay, I guess even pasting the text for the Dropbox link won't work. **** this I've had too many issues in the year that I've had Sonar. I finally actually BUY some software, and it gives me issue after issue, and the only place to go is here rather than someone from the actual company. You users are, however, very helpful, but I'm about fed up with this product. I might Just go back to Acid, try Cubase, or check out the recording potential of FL Studio again.

Right. Calm down and step back a bit.
 
You can't post links or images because you haven't made 25 posts yet - but you're nearly there, a couple more and you'll be golden.
 
Now, back to your problem..
 
There are couple of simple things to try before we start digging deeper into the murky undergrowth.
 
1 - select all your tracks (hit ctrl + a). Now, with all clips selected, right click any of them and select 'Bounce to Clip'
      Save the project. Does this make any difference?
2 - if 1) doesn't work, do a 'Save As' of your project to a completely different location on your hard drive (the Desktop is perfectly suitable).
     IMPORTANT - before you hit the Save button, make sure you've got 'Copy all Audio With Project' checked. At this stage you can safely delete the      original project from Windows Explorer. Now you can move your copied project from the Desktop into the original location.
 
Please try both of these and report back.

Also, Bristol, I did go load the original project, try the 'bounce to track' option and saved it as another copy, reopened, still the same, using around 435MB RAM.

ZeroContrast
Maybe I'll just have to scrap it and start a new project.

If it's not too much trouble, it's certainly something to try.
 

Did you go to Preferences ? Drivers | ASIO panel and look at the ASIO buffer?  If that slider is below 6, you will likely get drop-outs.  I usually set it higher for mixing so that the number is at 1024.  Then when I go back to recording, I set it lower so I don't have latency.

konradh
Did you go to Preferences ? Drivers | ASIO panel and look at the ASIO buffer?  If that slider is below 6, you will likely get drop-outs.  I usually set it higher for mixing so that the number is at 1024.  Then when I go back to recording, I set it lower so I don't have latency.

I think that is a good call. We do not know anything about the OP's audio interface or drivers. The memory issue could be a red herring. Because I use a lot of soft synths my memory usage is often up in the gigabytes and causes no problems.
 
XP's memory managment is poor compaired to modern operating systems and X2 is only supported on Windows 7 and 8 so some of the memory weirdness may be because of that.

Okay, so I finally discovered what the problem was. It was due mainly to my lack of knowledge about the complexities of Sonar. I opened the new and old projects in Notepad to see what was the difference that might be making the old one use so much RAM. I saw details about Superior Drummer in the old one, and I remember adding it to do the extra percussion, having issues, and so deleting it to just use it in FL studio. I had deleted the instrument track, but had no idea that the Synth Rack existed let alone what it was for. So while I didn't see Superior Drummer at all, on tracks or console view, it was loading up in the Synth Rack. Deleted it and immediately dropped RAM usage to normal.
 
I'm sure most of you probably know about the Synth Rack, what is the point of it? If I have an instrument there can I then have multiple tracks using it without having multiple instances of the instrument?

ZeroContrast
Deleted it and immediately dropped RAM usage to normal.
 

Good news.  If you could add [Solved] to the beginning of this thread's title (just edit the title in your first post) we'll all know that it isn't a general problem with Sonar.
 
I'll let those more knowledgeable answer your synth rack question.
 

ZeroContrast
@Bristol, thanks for the info on why they won't allow me to post a pic. I don't see the point of such a rule, but at least I know there is one now.

It's to prevent spammers from posting pictures. A lot of spammers are into "hit and run" where they do one or two posts before changing user names so they can do one or two more. Few spammers will sit around and do 25 posts just so they can post a picture.

The synth rack is the electronic equivalent to a physical rack of rack-mounted synths, and is Sonar's method of loading and working with soft synths.
 
Different soft-synths have different capabilities, and some soft-synths are what is called 'multi-timbral'.  That means that they have the ability to handle reacting to multiple midi channels (1-16), as well as have multiple different sounds loaded and responding separately to midi data by having each sound react to a separate midi channel.
 
The advantage to the above is that it only 'costs' 1 loaded instance of the synth engine to be able to process these multiple independent sounds, and that can be a significant memory savings, depending on the synth.  
 
It is up to the user to manage the amount of memory used in a given project by instruments and loaded sounds, for synths in the synth rack, and if available computer memory is on the low side this can take some thoughtful planning.  CERTAINLY, deleting unused soft synths is always a good thing, for example.  On the other end, choosing a particular string section sound might require a massive amount of memory, and one may have to choose wisely when loading up the sounds to be used for a given project.
 
Many soft synths include the memory requirements for their presets, so you can get an idea of how costly using a particular preset will be.
 
IF you are running in a 32-bit Windows environment, you will have a grand total of around 3.5 GB of memory, as there is about .5 GB used in OS overhead, out of your 4 GB.
 
IF your computer can support additional memory, you may consider maxing out the memory, HOWEVER you would then need to reload your entire computer to switch to a 64-bit Windows environment, and great care needs to be taken when doing this, so that you KNOW that whatever drivers you need for your audio interface and such are supported in 64-bit Windows, and you must also back up all of your data files and make a list of all programs that you would want to carry forward, since you would need to reinstall them all over again.
 
But IF you can go to 64-bit Windows, and get and use 8 GB of memory or more, this would make a GIGANTIC improvement in your system being able to handle more complex projects, and well worth doing.
 
A 4 GB memory strip runs around $20 these days, so if there is an open slot on your motherboard, and it supports 8 GB of memory, that is a VERY inexpensive and great bang for the buck improvement (if drivers are available and you don't mind the hassle of reloading everything in a 64-bit Windows).
 
If your current memory configuration is 2 2 GB memory strips, to get you to the current 4 GB, then you would want to pick up 2 4 GB memory strips, for around $40, or, if your motherboard supports single strips of 8 GB you could pick up a single 8 GB strip.  (if your motherboard supported more than 8 GB you could then plug in the single 8 GB strip and leave in whatever other strips there are slots for, giving you a total of more than 8 GB, depending on the size of the additional strips).
 
Again, if we knew what your computer specs were, we could help you figure out what choices you had.  Knowing them helps us to help you.  :)
 
And, there are deals at places like Micro Center, where you can frequently pick up an AMD CPU and they literally will GIVE you a motherboard to go with it, as well as offer several others to choose from for nominal fees (like this board for an extra $10, or that one for an additional $20, etc.)  You could pick up an AMD CPU and motherboard for between $100-$150 that would give you the capability to load up as much as 32 GB of memory and also have enough horsepower to run Sonar in a 64-bit environment, for example.
 
So, hope the above is of some use to you, and we stand ready to try to help you.
 
Bob Bone
 
 

Bouncing and freezing wouldn't have helped in the OP's case, because the memory was being consumed by an unused sampler. Unlike, say, Kontakt or SampleTank, Superior Drummer loads samples as soon as the instrument is added to the synth rack. Consequently, merely having SD in your project template will result in large amounts of RAM being used, even if SD isn't actually used in the project.

Duplicate - ignore
 
Bob Bone