Is 16GB RAM really enough for Komplete 13?

[MusicBug]

Hi folks. So there's a huge sale on NI Komplete 13 right now. I've never had any version of this software but it seems that these days, if you want to be in the game, you've got to have it. My computer already has all the RAM it can hold @ 16GB. I have an HP envy Desktop with an Intel i7-7700 3.60GHz quad-core CPU. Is that really enough to run Komplete along with Presonus Studio One 5? If I go for it, I will also have to add a 1TB SSD my system to hold it all. I'm only going to get the smallest intro bundle of Komplete, but that's still a big chunk of storage (and change). I'd love to have your feedback and suggestions before I splurge. Thank you!

[Ted]

I have Komplete 12 Ultimate-- right before I got it I had my iMac's RAM upped to the max 16GB and got my spinning drive replaced with an internal 2 TB SSD. I also got a Samsung external SSD for my libraries.

I have SOME issues using Komplete... sometimes instruments take a long time to load and I'll get voices dropping out on things like my pianos-- I am almost certain at this point that this problem is because my libraries, while being on a super fast Samsung SSD-- they're bottlenecked by the USB3.0 conection. So I think that's the cause of issues I have. (So if you have the option of a faster connection than USB 3.0 on your computer, that would be great.)

Because of this I've downloaded other libraries I have directly onto my internal drive and have ZERO issues. I downloaded all of the IK Multimedia's Total Studio 2 Max stuff-- libraries and all onto the internal SSD and it's fast as can be. That tells me that the 16 GB of RAM is fine for most things.

The only thing is, I do have to be conscious of when I'm working on a project and have a lot of channels running instances of Kontakt or Komplete Kontrol-- I will get stutters. So I will have to render tracks to audio or mute out the Kontakt temporarily on the other channel strips.

[gitanosoy]

Yes I saw that .....most companies will tell you it's enough but it's not... sure if had nothing else in your computer, shut off everything else, freeze your tacks and e.t.c.. then it works smoothly sometimes but it is a lot of work and frustration...I have lots of NI plugins and others but gonna wait until one day until I upgrade to a MAC and buy one with 64 GB.

Great deals on ILLIO instruments to, I emailed them asking this question and the replied with the same as I just wrote...yes they say 8GB is enough but recommend 16GB but all depends which sound libraries you purchase...so I kind of got the hint from them " Go big or go home"

[RPaul]

Hi folks. So there's a huge sale on NI Komplete 13 right now. I've never had any version of this software but it seems that these days, if you want to be in the game, you've got to have it. My computer already has all the RAM it can hold @ 16GB. I have an HP envy Desktop with an Intel i7-7700 3.60GHz quad-core CPU. Is that really enough to run Komplete along with Presonus Studio One 5? If I go for it, I will also have to add a 1TB SSD my system to hold it all. I'm only going to get the smallest intro bundle of Komplete, but that's still a big chunk of storage (and change). I'd love to have your feedback and suggestions before I splurge. Thank you!

I've got Komplete 13 and have 16 GB with an Intel i7 5280 CPU under Windows 10 Pro, mostly using Cubase Pro (11 now, but had been 10.5 recently) and Cakewalk by BandLab as my DAWs. There are lots of different instruments in KOMPLETE, so the impact on your system and RAM will depend heavily on which instruments you're using, how many, and how you're using them. I have not run into memory limitations to this point, and generally have had fewer issues with NI instruments than, for example Arturia (especially Pigments), UJAM, and a few others. But I think the issues there are not memory, but rather heavy user interface stuff that is contributing to DPC latency issues that are a general issue on my system (I've been trying to track this down for a long time now, and my main suspicion is the Nvidia graphics card, which is what shows up as the biggest hog in LatencyMon). I do sometimes seem some issues with some of the Play modules, which seem to be a bit more complex in the way they blend sounds. Again, though, I don't think it has been memory limitations.

I should note that my productions tend to be "basic tracks" (e.g. drums, bass, guitars, piano, synths, etc.), all from virtual instruments, plus a number of tracks of vocals. It would be rare for me to have more than 24 tracks. I mainly use NI stuff for pianos, sometimes guitars, some synths, and occasional wind/strings/ethnic instruments. (I'm usually using Toontrack Superior Drummer for drums and Spectrasonics Trilian for bass, and guitars come from a number of other virtual instruments in addition to the NI stuff, as do synths). If you're doing big orchestral mockups, things might be different (but KOMPLETE probably wouldn't be a first choice for that anyway).

Bottom line from my perspective is I wouldn't let a 16 GB RAM limitation hold you back on considering KOMPLETE. I have never seen memory become a bottleneck on my productions.

Rick

[MusicBug]

Thank you. That is very helpful information and I do appreciate it. For now, at least, most of my stuff is going to be fairly minimal, probably no more than a dozen tracks per piece. I'm having enough of a challenge just managing that many while I'm learning So maybe I'll take the plunge!

If you have a moment, here's a link to my newest piece for the New Age listing. Any feedback will be appreciated, should you care to give it a listen.

https://www.taxi.com/my/artist/songs/_U ... -to-center

Thank you again.

[MusicBug]

Hey, thanks to all of you have posted a reply. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to respond to each individual post, so please accept my thanks across the board. And if anybody has a hint as to how I can reply to one post at a time, I'd love to know!

[RPaul]

Hey, thanks to all of you have posted a reply. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to respond to each individual post, so please accept my thanks across the board. And if anybody has a hint as to how I can reply to one post at a time, I'd love to know!

If you want to reply to an individual post, instead of using the Post Reply button near the bottom of the thread, click the double quote (") button near the top left of the specific message. It will put the text of that reply inside some tags, then you can reply below it, edit the original post down to just get the context you want, copy and paste the tags if you want to break up the quote to reply to different pieces, etc.

FYI, the link you provided for your music didn't work for me. (I'm probably not all that qualified to give feedback on new age music anyway.)

Rick

[MusicBug]

Hey, thanks to all of you have posted a reply. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to respond to each individual post, so please accept my thanks across the board. And if anybody has a hint as to how I can reply to one post at a time, I'd love to know!

If you want to reply to an individual post, instead of using the Post Reply button near the bottom of the thread, click the double quote (") button near the top left of the specific message. It will put the text of that reply inside some tags, then you can reply below it, edit the original post down to just get the context you want, copy and paste the tags if you want to break up the quote to reply to different pieces, etc.

FYI, the link you provided for your music didn't work for me. (I'm probably not all that qualified to give feedback on new age music anyway.)

Rick

Hi Rick. Thanks for the help. Sorry the link didn't work -- something else for me to figure out how to do. The list is getting very long...

[Telefunkin]

You could run Windows Task Manager to check the amount of RAM being used when you're running intensive DAW projects. I occasionally get up to 8Gb if I have a dozen or so virtual instruments (Kontakt plus others) open in Cubase, but I can't imagine getting near 16Gb. Maybe I need to try harder. Anyway, I wouldn't let your RAM quota prevent your splurge.

[cosmicdolphin]

Maybe I need to try harder.

Haha..yes Graham...I just checked one of my recent tension cues that has 10 Kontakt instances and I'm at almost 14GB used ...I would say this is a middling kind of load project as there are only 15 tracks and the LIbraries are not particularly heavy. I think I've seen it up over 20gb but that's probably running 15-20 VI's. But16gb is workable