I'm using EWSO gold and Solo Violins.  They are great libraries but I'm having two issues:

1) Saving a project with Play takes a long time.  I normally save projects frequently just in case there is a crash, and it usually takes a split second even though I'm using large libraries like superior drummer and trilian.  But with Play it can take up to 15 seconds depending on how much of the library I have loaded.  The more I have loaded, the longer it takes.  This makes no sense to me,  the volume of the midi data is the same as when I was using GPO and it didn't take a long time to save with GPO?


2) On my larger projects with Play (75 tracks) it seems that sonar glitches a lot when I first load.  I have to exercise different spots in the project to get rid of the glitching - like go to a spot play a little, stop and go back and play, etc,  until the glitching is gone.  And then go to the next spot where other instruments are used and exercise that spot. This makes no sense to me - I've got 8gb of ram, i5 quad core, 7500 rpm 750gb drive and memory not maxed.  Its like it is loading patches when needed to conserve memory - but it takes like 5 or 10 minutes to load all the samples initially so it seems all samples are already loaded.  Once I exercise all the different spots in the project playback is glitch free.

Are these issues normal with Play?  Is this a sonar issue or Play issue?

If you go into your settings in Play there are a number of areas that can have an impact.  Under the Streaming tab the Maximum voices has a major impact.  When you have exceeded the number of samples shown it will dump the oldest from memory in order to load the newest one.  You indicate that you are have about 75 tracks.  If you have it set to the default of 256 you can see where you would use that many samples very quickly as each note and velocity range for each note will use a sample.   You could try increasing the max voice setting to see if that helps but there may be trade offs for the rest of the system.  I believe that would apply to all instances of Play you have active but I am not sure. 

Overload setting can also come into play as well.

Play is one of the most demanding on my system that I use,  I use most of the libraries they have including HW strings.  Pretty much all except the new brass one.  I have found the best way, for me anyways, is to not use the Ambience/reverb until I am ready to freeze the track.  I usually work on 1 track at a time and freeze it when I have it where I want it and then work on the next track so there isn't that great a load on the system at any time.

Another method/trick I use is to rough out the project using the TTS-1 and then convert 1 track at a time to Play and do the detailed editing/keyswitch assignments.  

Play is far more demanding on the system the GPO , Miroslav or any of the Kontakt libraries but the results are usually superior using Play compaed to the others as well.

1. I agree that it takes about 15 seconds to save my current orchestral project. This is 135 tracks split across 5 instances of Play.
2. I don't get this glitching on my system. The project does take a LONG time to load fully (about 8 minutes) but once it's loaded, it plays normally

lorneyb2 - Thanks for the suggestions - I'll take a look.  That's probably causing the streaming issues, as I have never changed anything so it probably is still at the default 256.

Bristol - well the fact that you also get the long save time at least proves it is "normal" for the combination of Sonar / Play.  I still don't "get it" though.  Like I said, I'm using roughly the same amount of midi data as I was with GPO and those projects saved in a split second.  What in the world is it doing?  I mean 15 seconds of writing to disc?  That's a ton more data than the midi data and settings that would be used in a Play project.  I'm going to ask about this on the EW forum.

As for the no-glitching - you have 4x the amount of RAM than me - did you change the Max voices in the Streaming Tab?

Whenever I have a Sonar session with several instances of Play installed with a variety of Hollywood Strings samples, saving does take awhile. And opening such projects takes a LOT of time. I'm sure it has something to do with the number of samples in a given project, because the more samples, the longer loading and saving take.

I must say, however, that any past performance glitches have been totally solved by placing the HS library on an SSD. EastWest is very open about the fact that their test system has SSD's, and they recommend that you go SSD to get maximum performance. After experiencing for myself the difference an SSD can make, I think SSD's should be a system requirement, not a recommendation.

Having one may not solve everyone's problems, but for me at least, investing in an SSD has taken me from being apprehensive to use Hollywood Strings with Sonar...to utilizing it at a level I never thought possible.

guitartrek

As for the no-glitching - you have 4x the amount of RAM than me - did you change the Max voices in the Streaming Tab?

Geno, I'll check what the setting is next time I'm at my DAW. Unfortunately I'm back at work today following a week off

Mel - Thanks.  Yeah I wish I could have an SSD.  I'm using a Laptop with space for only one drive.  I'm hoping prices for large sSD's will come down soon as I would need 750gb.  Or get a laptop that allows more than one drive.  I'm sure that will happen at some point in the future. 
 
I still don't understand why the long save time?  A long load time is understandable - we're loading into memory several GB's of sample file data.  But a Save is just supposed to be saving project data.  If you look at the project file, it is only a few Megs.  That should take less than a second with our fast data transfer rates.  Something seems inefficient.  Could be Sonar or could be Play.
Bristol - Thank you.  My setting was 512 voices.  I doulbed that, but still wound up with the same glitching.  There is another Play engine setting I didn't try.  Mine is set to medium.

Have you got all the different mic positions loaded? That consumes an absolute ton of RAM

I tend to stick with just the close mics for composing

Bristol - I only have SO Gold so only one mic position.  I'm checking my free memory during playback and it seems to hover around 2gb so I've got some headroom.  And the number of voices played never approaches the max that I set.  So it shouldn't be streaming but sure acts like it.

It's weird because if I "work" a particular section (play a little, stop and rewind, play again, etc) the glitching eventually goes away.  Then it's ok.  I have to do that every time I open the project.  It's like it is still streaming until I get everything loaded by playing it over and over.

I have an 8-core PC and 12 GBs of RAM and Hollywood Strings is barely usable (note drop-outs, glitches, etc.).