A “Studio Sense” editorial, as published in Pro Audio Review magazine …
64-bit audio computing on the Mac by Rob Tavaglione
I wise person once said “Measure twice, cut once” and even though that old sage meant wood, I surmise they might’ve meant computer upgrades too. So I was sure to tread carefully getting my audio rig into 64-bit computing, with its basically unlimited RAM allocation and ability to make RAM intensive programs very quick and responsive with faster computations (and without hitting the OS’s share of RAM either).
I’ve been running MOTU’s Digital Performer (which is very soon to be PC-compatible) on a 2006 Mac Pro for some time and was still enjoying great performance. Even though that first generation Pro has 64-bit data buses it doesn’t employ the 64-bit kernels required to properly communicate with apps and third-party hardware (like the Universal Audio PCIe card that I use), it can run no higher than OS X Lion 10.7 and can dedicate no more than four GB of RAM to any one program. Second gen Pro’s (late 2008 or later) that can run the current OS 10.8 Mountain Lion have that 64-bit kernel architecture, have that unlimited virtual RAM allocation and can run 32-bit programs as well (even though they will only boot up into 64-bit).
I acquired a used 8-core Mac Pro on eBay for a very reasonable price, updated to OS X 10.8 and moved my new SSD drives (solid state) to the new machine (so simple too, I simply traded out the drive sleds, no tools required). No such luck with migrating RAM however, as each generation Mac Pro uses a different model/speed of memory (DIMM’s or SDRAM’s etc). Thankfully, RAM is still cheap and installs effortlessly too.
Once the tower was completely 64-bit and up to date, the rest was largely routine. Waves and UA have both 32 and 64-bit versions available for download; although both are large programs, they installed without much fuss, both requiring challenge/response authorization these days. The tech’s at Waves were rather patient, as I did have trouble with their new Waves License Center, although it’s actually very easy to use and rather flexible too (you can now use a standard thumbdrive to move your auth’s between the cloud and your machines!). DP 8.0 ships with both 32 and 64-bit abilities and one can easily switch between modes. DP in 64-bit won’t even see your 32-bit plug-ins, but once you update them to 64-bit, Audio Units will inspect them upon first opening.
Nearly at functional speed, but one issue still remained … getting a disc authoring app. Many options abound for PC, but for Mac there was large gulf between rather capable consumer apps like Toast 11 and costly pro apps like Sonic Studio’s soundBlade and Sonaris’ DDP Creator Pro. Ultimately I did find a new app whose developers have fully taken advantage of the coding benefits in 10.8 Mountain Lion, it’s Triumph from Audiofile Engineering. I’ve only been on it for a week, but it appears I’m back to burning disc masters, editing ISRC’s and CD-Text and creating DDP’s for disc duplication … not bad for a $79 app. (This app has since failed – RT)
Just how essential this 64-bit upgrade is right now is hard to say, as I cannot provide any cold hard facts about my perceived better performance. Let’s just say that between 8-cores, these SSD drives (six or seven times faster read/write speeds) and all that updated software that my workflow is moving faster than ever, especially when bouncing to disc (seems like about 4x faster than pre-upgrades). The GUI is responsive and simply blazing! Eventually, I hope to max out RAM (32 GB) like my film scoring friends do and fully maximize my 64-bit benefit.
For those of you on 32-bit platforms, such as ProTools, it will likely only be the next version (or so I hear) before the program and its AAX plugs can join the 64-bit party. For those of you on PC’s my particular details may not apply, but the concepts sure do, so proceed with the same caution and deliberation. It’s only a matter of time before we all make this jump or be left in the land of the “unsupported” … it’s a functional place, but it’s not great for client retention.. It appears those kernels have drawn a virtual line in the sand; either get full 64-bit comparability or freeze right there where you’re at.
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