Can I use my external harddrive to stop latency from VST's

I might have asked the wrong question, but I have a large cover project I was working on in SONAR PLATINUM. It is not alot of VST plugins being used, but if you combine it with compression, noise removal on most tracks, and subtractive or additive eq..it starts to produce alot of latency within the mix. I have tried freezing some tracks but I just can't work that way. Once I turn off the fx effects, it runs smooth as silk on my HP laptop. Can I use my external seagate external harddrive with 931GB in some kind of way to use virtual ram from it or maybe make the latency go away?
 
I have read up that can use external hard drives, and I figured 931 GB can be used to help SONAR go faster in case some VST's start to make the program produce latency. I just need to know if I can do it and how do I go about it. Thank you in advance

you would need the latest Universal Audio Apollo interface, a Thunderbolt 3 computer, and then with an additional Universel Audio accelerator box, the manufacterer claims it reduces the latency of their plugins substantial.
The core processors or something in that accelerator box, somehow are then dedicated to those plugins and can produce a lower latency.
Imo would be  a say $ 5000 investment and then hope indeed the latency is reduced.
 
I'd say in a few years manufacterers like RME will have simular gear (Thunderbolt 3 for Windows) at a much lower price but at a proffesional level/quality.

Latency has but two sources:

• Audio Interface
• Latent plugins

There is no other source of latency.
Thus, the solution to the latency issue is not going to be a different drive (conventional or SSD).
 
If your audio interface doesn't offer low round-trip latency (because it uses a large/hidden safety-buffer), there's not much you can do about it.  You can double the sample-rate... and that'll lower round-trip latency (albeit at the expense of higher CPU use).
 
The OP actually mentioned the source of the latency issue (latent plugins).
Noise-reduction and many other "mastering" or "linear-phase" or "convolution" type plugins are latent.
Most DAW software (including Sonar) has automatic plugin-delay-compensation (auto PDC)... to maintain sample-accurate sync.  If a latent plugin is inserted *anywhere* in the project (doesn't have to be on the track you're recording/monitoring), literally all other audio is delayed by that amount.  
If you use several latent plugins in series, the latency can really start to add up.
The solution is to either avoid using latent plugins while tracking... or...
Temporarily disable auto PDC while tracking... making sure to re-enable it when finished.
 
Your computer hardware (speed and efficiency) will determine how much of a load you can run at a given audio latency (glitch-free)... but the computer hardware itself (CPU, RAM, drives, etc) doesn't determine the amount of audio latency.
 
 

Jim Roseberry
 
Temporarily disable auto PDC while tracking... making sure to re-enable it when finished.
 

hey Jim, agee with what you wrote, good to read and learn from it.
Just I was thinking the PDC only affects the monitoring (playback), and does not alter recording / tracks/clips on the timeline/grid....not sure though.
And doubling the sample rate indeed reduces the roundtrip latency, and latency of some plugins too but some other plugins appear to increase latency at higher sample rates.
 
Cheers.