Ram Or Ghz????, What is more important to audio? Options

[Botaferro]

I'd like to know what is more important to work with audio samples (and some MIDI). I have a 1.25 G4 iMac with 512Megs of RAM. Right now, i have some problems when working with multiple tracks and fx. Sometimes the computer freezes, and i don't know what to do. Should i buy more RAM (i think 1Gig is the maximum for my machine) or should i save some money to buy a 1.8Ghz PowerMac G5 (or maybe a DP)?

[CanadaRAM]

That's kind of an impossible question to answer -- software is freezing so should I spend $200 on RAM or $2500 on a new machine?

What programs and how many of them? Why are they freezing? How much money do you have to throw at this? What are you requiring to accomplish?

The first step is to have "enough" RAM to do what you want. This depends on how many programs you are opening at once, but will generally be between 512 Mb and 1 Gb. Getting more RAM will improve things if you are currently below the "enough" amount. More RAM beyond "enough" doesn't make a dramatic difference unless you increase the number and size of the programs and files you are opening.

Second: You need to find out WHY your programs are freezing. Usually it is because of corruption in files or preferences, improper or out of date software or drivers, hardware errors (including possibly bad RAM or hard drive), or interference from peripherals. Update your software and drivers, Unplug the graphic tablet, WebCam, etc. and turn off networking, Bluetooth, filesharing, EnergySaver, Web serving, WiFi, Kazaa or Limewire, haxies, anything else that runs in the background when doing audio. Make sure you have ample free space on your hard drive.

The G4 1.25 in your iMac is powerful enough for almost any audio task, but if you load it up with an insane number of tracks and plug ins it will eventually top out. Use your sequencer's CPU usage feature or the Process Viewer to see how much you are loading your CPU. Can you freeze some tracks or render to audio to save CPU cycles? Does is stop crashing if you reduce the number of tracks etc?
Do you really need 5 effects on each channel? Can you accomplish your musical goals with a more conservative software approach?

Bottom line: If you are doing 64 tracks with 30 VST instruments and 100 effects, then yeah, go and get the G5 2.5 GHz DP machine today and don't even ask how much it costs.

Otherwise, figure out WHY the machine is misbehaving, and then either add some RAM, reconfigure the machine for more efficient operation, and/or set your priorities for upgrading depending on what you HAVE to do with the system.

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM