Hi Guys,
 
This is something I meant to ask for a long while now, but kept forgetting to ask:D
 
So as the title says - "Why does Sonar take long time to load file FIRST TIME, then fast after that?"
 
I just tried out loading 3 different files. First time out I get Sonar Not Responding,then eventually they open. So Load one, close it .. same for all three. When I came back to any of the three thereafter, they load way faster from that point, no Not Responding.
 
If I close Sonar at this stage .. then reopen it, all three files still load fast. 
 
It literally is the first time ONLY that gives the not responding and slow file load.
 
SPEC - Dell Inspiron 17 7000 Laptop - Nvidia Card, Core i5, 16GB Ram, 1TB Sata drive - WIN 10 PRO
SPLAT ver - 2017.03
 
And yes I realise I could go buy an SSD drive, but for sake of 1st time only it is not worth it at the moment.
 
Using COMODO AV with all audio folders excluded ..
 
Thoughts? Anyone else notice this? Why does it happen? Any way of changing this so files load 1st time out fast? .. Thanks
 

Yes , I notice this as well,  

I saw something similar to this in the past but haven't exerienced it for quite a few updates now. What version of Sonar are you running?

tenfoot
I saw something similar to this in the past but haven't exerienced it for quite a few updates now. What version of Sonar are you running?

Newest ver .. 2017.03

One word: Cache

The first time data loads from your hard disk, as well as loading this in standard ram, your PC also stores as much of that data as it can in much faster ram.  This area of RAM is called Cache.  Every PC has some.  How much cache your PC has depends on your CPU and the sub system configuration.

If you load that data again, you PC will look to see if the data is already in the cache. If it is, then the loading takes place from the much faster cache than from it's standard location. That is why Sonar takes long time to load file first time and then quickly after that.

I know it's a bit of a simplified explanation, but that's the general idea.

Promidi,
 
Thanks for that .. I understand the CACHE idea in general.
 
BUT :D
 
As I described. Open Sonar .. then open a project file. Takes while to load + not responding error for a few sec's. Now close that file and then reopen. File opens up in a flash, very fast.
 
Here I can understand your Cache concept.
 
But now CLOSE SONAR altogether. Open Sonar again, now load that last file. This time it loads fast.
 
One would imagine the cache thing would be stopped once sonar closed & once open again the initial file load would be slower once more?
 
Hope you understand my explanation ..  
 

Put simply, Windows (like most modern operating systems) keeps stuff loaded into the RAM cache even after the application using it is closed. The cache is only cleared when the space is needed for something else. That way if you open the file soon after closing it the data is still there so you get fast access to it.

Memory management's quite a bit more complex than that, but that's basically what happens.

Yup, Windows is caching stuff in RAM even between "sleeps". It's awesome. The bigger the application, the more you notice it. Even with SSDs.

This might be relevant.  A few here are also users of Band-in-a-Box.  In their latest version for Windows, they released an update that remarkably sped up the loading time.  Typical loading times went from 45 seconds to 6, an amazing improvement.  I don't know what they did, but it was something besides caching because once the program was loaded three times, each time after that it loaded quickly.  This includes loading right after a cold boot, where caching could not be a factor.  The company decided that loading time was a priority, and changed to code to address it. 

This happens with me.
 
I'd put it down to VST Scan not Sonar.