Hi all. I've just watched Steve H's tutorial on Logic in 64 bit mode. Very good. Just one question. I'm working with a client who has 4 gb RAM on her machine. Is there any advantage in Logic in 64 bit mode compared with 32bit mode in this situation? Also, if she runs any 64 bit plugins (like spectrasonics for instance) compared with running spectrasonics 32 bit versions, if she has only 4 gig of RAM, is there any advantage? Cheers guys. David T

No real advantage until you can use more than that 4 gig!

Thanks Steve. So if you run logic in 64 bit mode, but use a 32 bit plug in, then am i right in thinking that one instantiation of a plug in itself can't see more than 4 gig, or is there some other difference in how many instantiations of that plug in you can use? Cheers David T

Yes, same restrictions (upto 4GB) apply for 32-bit plugins when run by the 32-bit Audio Unit Bridge and Logic 9.1 is running in 64bit mode. :) Rounik

While access to extra RAM is the much vaunted and probably best reason for going 64 bit, it is by no means the only reason, With 64 bit processors on a 64 bit bus talking to correctly selected memory, the enhanced speed of processing plus the exponentially wider data path are also compelling reasons. The above notwithstanding, we ourselves will wait some time before moving the MacPros on OS X to 64 bit. We have 32bit systems which work perfectly well and compelling arguments why my staff should become unpaid beta testers for Apple et al have yet to be presented to me. When all the plugins, hardware drivers and (in particular) OS X are stable on the 64bit platform, we will make the move. We do however have 2 project studios with MacPros (BootCamp) running Windows 7 x64 and Cubase 5 64 bit, and the incumbants of these rooms are both delighted with the extra 'breathing space' afforded them by the 64 bit platform. Regards to all. PS At about £2.5k fully loaded, we reckon that at the price, the MacPro is one of the best PCs money can buy! :)_

That's interesting re data path widths etc - I never really studied the way data is "moved" around the machine. I learned on a "need to know" basis, and it never croped up... However - It's also of interest to me that you've mentioned a mac pro price at c£2.5k. I'm just finishing (1st April) a £3k job - My new musical "Houdini" gets some additional funding on that date and I'm going to invest it in a new system. I'm a composer / arranger / orchestrator that works in largely theatre and crossover to TV / Media - running Vienna Symphonic sounds, symphonic choirs (East West) as well as the spectrasonics family (currently in 32bit). I want to spend my 3k wisely as I don't often have the opportunity for capital investment. I'm a mac guy through and through, but I have two options at this stage: 1. A macpro with the highest spec i can afford. 2. A DARC studio + PC - Which is now available with 4gb DDR DIMS - so it can be fully loaded with 24gig of RAM for £2k. I can then use Vienna Ensemble Pro with MIDI/Audio over LAN into Logic and just house all the processing in a PC - and keep my 3.6ghz imac (4Gig RAM) for general system processing etc. So - My question is - (This is going to sound like going to the optician..) which is better - 1 or 2? Also, if I decide on the MacPro, for the 3k inc price, what system would be recommended, given my musical inclinations? I'd be interested to hear people's opinion. Thanks again. David Tobin

Any benefits other than RAM usage will be minimal because Logic has been fine tuned internally and has actually made use of 64 bit operation for quite awhile albeit with a 32 bit kernal. For now it's all about addressing more RAM.

According to Apple: [i]"...since Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard is highly optimized for 64-bit operation, there may be some performance gains in areas where Logic interacts with it."[/i] This would involve reading/writing to and from disk (amongst several other key subsystems). We have already produced benchmarks which corroboarate the hope that this would be the case. We have found (for example) that opening and saving large projects is some 28% faster on a 64bit system with 4 GB than it is on the same system running the 32 bit kernel and 32 bit Logic. This is the actual read and write speed to and from the disk and can still be reproduced when only 2GB of RAM are present which would suggest that it is better at handling virtual memory. According to the chaps with the pointed heads here, this is the result of a [i]"64bit data path end to end"[/i] Anyone fancy a beer?

Sorry but I thought I would add that despite the above, there is no way we are going 64 on OS X bit until [i]all[/i] our plugins, drivers etc are soak-tested on 64 bit. The above results were on a test machine with just Logic 9.1 and a few plugins which have already dipped the digital toe in the waters of the 64 bit stream. (sorry I need to get a lyric finished and I think I inadvertantly just began!) :))_

You're absolutely right about the interaction stuff. Logic, though, as a entity is already highly optimized. However that doesn't preclude some amazing (RAM intensive) new features that pre 64 bit were not possible!