SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
miekwave
Posts: 755
Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2012 8:49 pm
Location: Austin, TX
Contact:

Re: SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Post by miekwave » Tue Nov 12, 2013 8:08 pm

braduro wrote:Interesting miekwave. Which ramdisk app are you using? I'm on the app store and macupdate, and I generally like to pick the one that is being actively updated, good customer ratings, etc. iRamdisk appears to get better reviews, but that could just mean that no one knows how to use ramdisk. That would be an issue for me as well, seeing as I wouldn't even recognize all apps within this class of utility.

Also, are you using just for your current production project-a tune, or are you performing full sets from the ramdisk image? You mention rendering-are you in the studio processing DSP plug-ins, bouncing to disk?

Also, are you getting distinct performance advantages in selecting two separate SSD manufacturers? Is one apparently edging out the other now that you've worked on them both?
I do not use Mac. I used AMD RamDisk but the link I provided also works. I have not used Ramsiak for Audio in over 3 months since I configured my SSD, but i intend to use it for video and mega rendering task.

I like RAMDISK for cache/temp files. It keeps your OS/DRIVE clean.

You need a machine with 16GB or more RAm to utilize ramdisk. If you run Ramdisk with less than 16GB ram, you run risk of crashing your computer.

Ramdisc has no effect on DSP. It does tremendously improve Sample Library load times should you clone your library over.

You should have a dedicated SSD for cloning folders to your RAM DISK.

Rendering Audio is faster because it processes directly from ram as opposed to writing and rewriting to disc. The output then can be saved to disc without fragmentation.

Beware that RAMDISK will make your RAM super hot if you intend to load large libraries into it, be sure to have proper cooling. Best consumer level ram for RamDisk (IMO) is Kingston 1333 or LOVO ram, otherwise get ECC server ram which is designed handle stuff liek ram disc more effeciently, it is BAD to run RAMDISK on 1666 or faster "Gaming" RAM (It wears out your RAM lot faster on the GAMING ram chips and it gets SUPER HOT HOT HOT). - Its okay to load games into ramdisk since loadtimes are internvals of 5,10 or 15 minutes... but not for video/audo where it is constantly streaming data

eyeknow
Posts: 5822
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:16 am

Re: SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Post by eyeknow » Sat Nov 16, 2013 7:41 am

Ok, well, I've decided to go 750GB ssd for OS and libraries and a 2TB standard 7200 drive for audio and backup. Unless one of you fine people can convince me otherwise (I'm building a new system )

H20nly
Posts: 16057
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:15 pm
Location: The Wild West

Re: SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Post by H20nly » Sat Nov 16, 2013 6:06 pm

eyeknow wrote:750GB ssd
Jebus Chris 8O

how will you eat?

Pasha
Posts: 3328
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:45 pm
Location: Lost Island
Contact:

Re: SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Post by Pasha » Sat Nov 16, 2013 7:45 pm

H20nly wrote:
eyeknow wrote:750GB ssd
Jebus Chris 8O

how will you eat?
Great H20!
You know, salad, potatoes and tomatoes are not very expensive.. :-)
:D
Mac Studio M1
Live 12 Suite,Zebra ,Valhalla Plugins, MIDI Guitar (2+3),Guitar, Bass, VG99, GP10, JV1010 and some controllers
______________________________________
Music : http://alonetone.com/pasha

Pasha
Posts: 3328
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:45 pm
Location: Lost Island
Contact:

Re: SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Post by Pasha » Sat Nov 16, 2013 7:53 pm

I am currently enjoying a minor setup.
Although I am planning to have a JBOD box in the long term, as suggested by miekwave, for the time being
I have added a 7200RPM 750 GB WD Black with an USB 3 enclosure that writes and reads at 123 MB/sec.
My Library is sourced from there and the Projects are stored on a FW400 (cough cough) or a FW800 disk for the moment being..
Or on the same WD Black drive (I am testing).
The CPU in the new iMac helps me with Max4Live and Virtual Instruments and FX while the loading times are 2x faster than
before. I do not know if I will put library on an SSD because almost all USB 3 enclosure I have seen are SataII and
so they will reduce SSD speed to 384MB/sec max. But. Who cares? I am happy with what I got today and overtime, little by little
I'll make it grow..

Best
Pasha
Mac Studio M1
Live 12 Suite,Zebra ,Valhalla Plugins, MIDI Guitar (2+3),Guitar, Bass, VG99, GP10, JV1010 and some controllers
______________________________________
Music : http://alonetone.com/pasha

eyeknow
Posts: 5822
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:16 am

Re: SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Post by eyeknow » Sat Nov 16, 2013 9:57 pm

H20nly wrote:
eyeknow wrote:750GB ssd
Jebus Chris 8O

how will you eat?
Well, I need to eat less anyways :lol:

Pasha
Posts: 3328
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:45 pm
Location: Lost Island
Contact:

Re: SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Post by Pasha » Sat Nov 16, 2013 10:17 pm

eyeknow wrote:
H20nly wrote:
eyeknow wrote:750GB ssd
Jebus Chris 8O

how will you eat?
Well, I need to eat less anyways :lol:
Ableton Live the new diet... :D
Mac Studio M1
Live 12 Suite,Zebra ,Valhalla Plugins, MIDI Guitar (2+3),Guitar, Bass, VG99, GP10, JV1010 and some controllers
______________________________________
Music : http://alonetone.com/pasha

eyeknow
Posts: 5822
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:16 am

Re: SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Post by eyeknow » Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:50 am

Sounds good to me! Gotta be able to mix in a slice of studio one from time to time though :D

H20nly
Posts: 16057
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:15 pm
Location: The Wild West

Re: SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Post by H20nly » Sun Nov 17, 2013 8:09 am

i've been known to have a slice of Cubase from time to time... i've also been drizzling teaspoons of Logic on top since buying an iMac.

Pasha
Posts: 3328
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:45 pm
Location: Lost Island
Contact:

Re: SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Post by Pasha » Sun Nov 17, 2013 11:39 am

H20nly wrote:i've been known to have a slice of Cubase from time to time... i've also been drizzling teaspoons of Logic on top since buying an iMac.
I complement with Audacity from time to time...
:wink:
Mac Studio M1
Live 12 Suite,Zebra ,Valhalla Plugins, MIDI Guitar (2+3),Guitar, Bass, VG99, GP10, JV1010 and some controllers
______________________________________
Music : http://alonetone.com/pasha

H20nly
Posts: 16057
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:15 pm
Location: The Wild West

Re: SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Post by H20nly » Mon Nov 18, 2013 5:30 am

indeed.

eyeknow
Posts: 5822
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:16 am

Re: SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Post by eyeknow » Mon Dec 09, 2013 1:03 am

I haven't had time to install live in the new computer but boot time with the SSD is about 10 seconds. That's encouraging.

I've got "magician" running and it's optimized.

I know not to defrag.

yur2die4
Posts: 7154
Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 3:02 am
Location: Menasha, Wisconsin
Contact:

Re: SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Post by yur2die4 » Sat Dec 28, 2013 9:17 pm

I just installed an SSD on a new Envy touch with i7 4800mq and oh my god.

I'm in the process still of deciding on a few factors.

But wow. Maschine kits load immediately. Snap of a finger.

I am trying to decide if I want some of the Live library on that hd or a second HDD.

Also deciding on the Temp file location. I went with a measly 240gb SSD.

eyeknow
Posts: 5822
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:16 am

Re: SSD and recording. Good or Bad?

Post by eyeknow » Sat Dec 28, 2013 10:54 pm

What I did was SSD for OS/libraries and a 7200 drive for audio/projects/backups.

I still haven't installed all my software so haven't tried old projects. Studio one loads in a blink compared to the older computer with standard drive for programs, os, libraries.

Post Reply