32 bit v 64 bit

Whilst in theory I understand the differences between a 32 & 64 bit O.S. in practice the distiction between the two is somewhat blurred in my head !
 
So a 64 bit chip requires a 64 bit O.S. and software needs to be optimsed to take advantage of the 64bit O.S. So my question is
 
1 'If you have a 64 bit O.S. should you always install the 64 bit version of software, or does it depend on other things such as 32bit plug ins not being available or just harder to get to work (although from a short scan of forum even that is 'fixable') '
 
2 Is the supposed performance difference noticeable (and therefore worth any a trouble it takes to set up)
 
 

You say 64 bit is faster than 32 bit, however I was once told that unless the increase in speed is over 13% then it is generally not noticed
 
Also  my machine only has 4GB of memory so there appears to be no discernable advantage to a 64 Bit OS ?

IfItMovesFunkIt
You say 64 bit is faster than 32 bit, however I was once told that unless the increase in speed is over 13% then it is generally not noticed
 
Also  my machine only has 4GB of memory so there appears to be no discernable advantage to a 64 Bit OS ?

For you no. Sorry.

The only real performance difference you will see is that Kontakt libraries (and other sample-based VSTi's) will run better IF you also have a lot of RAM. If your machine only has 4GB (or less), 64bit OS will hurt rather than help you.
 
On the other hand, 64bits is the future and 32bit releases will eventually fade away, so you'll need to get there someday.
 
Regards,
Dan
 
 
 

Programmer here. A 64 bit chip allows you to run a 64 bit operating system, which is required for 64 bit versions of software.
 
A 64 bit version of any given piece of software is intrinsically going to differ from a 32 bit version in 2 key ways:

1. It can access much more memory, which means it can hold a lot more information at once - providing that enough memory exists (ie. your computer has enough RAM)
2. If all else is equal, it will tend to be slightly slower because the code and data is slightly bigger. (Each memory address is twice the size.) However, all else is not usually equal - as running a 32bit app on a 64 bit OS incurs its own (small) slowdown. Unless you are installing an OS purely for your DAW and need every last percentage point of speed, it doesn't matter.

For almost all purposes, point 1 outweighs point 2. Extra memory tends to speed things up, if you ever find yourself without enough of it.
 
However, Sonar is one of a very small number of apps that needs to host other programs inside it, ie. VSTs. If those VSTs are 32-bit, they can't be used directly with 64-bit Sonar, which is where Bitbridge comes in.
 
For a typical musician, if you have enough memory (over 4GB), and you don't have any 32-bit plugins that are essential to your workflow AND which are known to not work well (or at all) with Bitbridge, you should upgrade.
 
If you have 4GB or less, you'll see very little benefit, and maybe some problems. (But if you have 4GB or less, you won't be able to run memory-intensive samplers, which are probably the main thing that benefit from 64 bit systems.)

Bristol_Jonesey
I noticed immediately after switching to 64 bit throughout when setting up a new orchestral template, using EWQLSO Platinum.
Previously, running 32 bit, the maximum number of instances of the old Kompakt player i could load was 14, giving me a realistic number of audio + midi tracks to about 20
 
Now, my template consists of 135 tracks, including about 35 midi tracks dedcated to key switching.
My system doesn't even blink when editing/playing/mixing.

The system has to play a few games as the OS and applications have to live in the same address space when in 32-bit mode, where in 64-bit mode it's all linear addressing. Gravy.

Most plugins are using floating point operations for the sample processing pipeline so integer processing speed becomes barely relevant.