DP and Omnisphere Memory Leak

[flashman]

There appears to be a memory leak with Omnisphere and DP 7.12.

Using activity monitor fire up DP

DP real memory 236mbs and 31 threads

Load one instance on Omnisphere 642mbs and 46 threads

Now delete that instance 547mbs and 46 threads

Anyone else had this?

[waterstrum]

Is this causing problems with your system?
Should I be worried?

I'm using Omnisphere on many sessions and have had no problems, but I haven't been looking for a memory leak.

Please send more info.

[GlennO]

Anyone else had this?

That does not indicate a memory leak. You have to measure if memory is reused. Also, Real memory can't be leaked, only virtual memory. You _want_ your Real memory to be in use. We very carefully test for memory leaks whenever releasing a version of Omnisphere and have not measured any leaks. Make sure you're using the latest version, but feel free to contact tech support if you need assistance.

Glenn Olander
Spectrasonics

[HCMarkus]

Thank you Glenn.

[flashman]

You are probably right.

What happens though every day is that I load up DP and it uses 1.6gbs of real memory in activity monitor. That amount climbs as I enable and disable Omnisphere plugs during the morning until it reaches around 2.5Gbs by lunchtime. Eventually it gets to the point that DP crashes or Omnisphere says in sufficient sample memory to load. I then save the project, restart the computer and reload it and the project that was using 2.5Gbs+ is now back down to 1.6Gbs. We get this same effect on different rigs. It may well not be specifically an omnisphere problem but it is without a shadow of doubt a problem.

[flashman]

You are probably right.

What happens though every day is that I load up DP and it uses 1.6gbs of real memory in activity monitor. That amount climbs as I enable and disable Omnisphere plugs during the morning until it reaches around 2.5Gbs by lunchtime. Eventually it gets to the point that DP crashes or Omnisphere says insufficient sample memory to load. I then save the project, restart the computer and reload it and the project that was using 2.5Gbs+ is now back down to 1.6Gbs. We get this same effect on different rigs. It may well not be specifically an omnisphere problem but it is without a shadow of doubt a problem.

[flashman]

You are probably right.

What happens though every day is that I load up DP and it uses 1.6gbs of real memory in activity monitor. That amount climbs as I enable and disable Omnisphere plugs during the morning until it reaches around 2.5Gbs by lunchtime. Eventually it gets to the point that DP crashes or Omnisphere says insufficient sample memory to load. I then save the project, restart the computer and reload it and the project that was using 2.5Gbs+ is now back down to 1.6Gbs. We get this same effect on different rigs. It may well not be specifically an omnisphere problem but it is without a shadow of doubt a problem.

[flashman]

You are probably right.

What happens though every day is that I load up DP and it uses 1.6gbs of real memory in activity monitor. That amount climbs as I enable and disable Omnisphere plugs during the morning until it reaches around 2.5Gbs by lunchtime. Eventually it gets to the point that DP crashes or Omnisphere says insufficient sample memory to load. I then save the project, restart the computer and reload it and the project that was using 2.5Gbs+ is now back down to 1.6Gbs. We get this same effect on different rigs. It may well not be specifically an omnisphere problem but it is without a shadow of doubt a problem.

[cowtothesky]

I have been having an issue with Omnisphere as well. I tried to call over the weekend, but the tech support is only open during the week. I may call them this week. I am constantly getting memory leak problems.

The last problem I encountered, I was only using 2 sounds on Omnisphere. I checked the memory bar and it was only about half full. After recording some other tracks through kontakt and tweaking some tracks (non-omnisphere), I get the dreaded memory full error. I checked Omnisphere and the memory bar was full. I haven't done anything - didn't add any more tracks or change the tracks that were already there.

I did some reading up and found that it was recommended to run in real time when using Omnisphere. The only thing I could find was on the Omnisphere window - there is an option to 'run this instance in real time'. So, I clicked it. Everything seemed ok for a while and then I got the memory error again.

I have tried changing buffer settings to no avail. I have Omnisphere streaming. Anyone else having the same problems and have you found any way to fix this? - I guess I may have to call them to find out what is going on.

[Martin OBrien]

Havent Omnisphere but does it show in Activity monitor a large amount of Inactive memory being used? It should be free for the system to use but I have had problems with it. IFreemem program frees this memory so may be worth trying.Wired memory is used by osx.If it shows a large amount of Active memory being used then there is probably a problem with plug in .Havent I read this topic before on other forums?

[ritzybiz]

I have had to stop using Omnisphere and Trilian, as I get constant "not enough memory" messages, even with one patch in each plugin. I agree, it works okay for a while, and then suddenly pops up the message. Using Lite versions does not solve the problem.

Charlie

[cowtothesky]

^^^ Yes, I tried switching to the lite versions and that didn't fix the problem for me either. It works ok for a while, but then you get memory errors. I wish this could get resolved - I love the sounds in Omnisphere and would love to use it more, but I'm skittish about using it, especially on large projects.

[instacue]

I was also having memory issues on large DP projects, so I looked up the Spectrasonics FAQs for DP:

----------------------
http://support.spectrasonics.net/viewtopic.php?t=244" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Digital Performer Issues?

Pre-rendering

Omnisphere is not compatible with the pre-rendering feature in DP. The "Always Run in Real Time" setting in DP must be turned on for Omnisphere.

If you would like to reduce the cpu usage of a virtual instrument track, freezing or bouncing the track to audio will yield greater savings than pre-rendering.

Computer keyboard input ignored by DP

There was a bug in earlier versions of Digital Performer in which the use of any cocoa-based plugin would cause DP to ignore computer keyboard input when the window for that plugin is frontmost. This has been fixed in version 7.11 of Digital Performer, so upgrading to that version will solve the problem.

Double click required to enter text

We have received reports that it is necessary to click twice in the browser search field before you can enter text when using Digital Performer. "
----------------------

Switching off pre-rendering didn't seem to help in my case, but after I tweaked the Omnisphere & Trilian System page parameters to these settings below, it seemed to solve the problem & everything's been working great for over a month now:
Memory: No limit on Sample memory
Streaming mode: Server
Lock Memory: on
Stream read-ahead: on
Stream brake: 0-0-0(0)

Hope that helps for you.

[GlennO]

The last problem I encountered, I was only using 2 sounds on Omnisphere. I checked the memory bar and it was only about half full. After recording some other tracks through kontakt and tweaking some tracks (non-omnisphere), I get the dreaded memory full error. I checked Omnisphere and the memory bar was full. I haven't done anything - didn't add any more tracks or change the tracks that were already there.

The memory meter in Omnisphere is telling you how much memory you have available. But, Omnisphere is only one consumer of that memory. DP and all your other plugins are using that same pool of memory and will affect the amount of memory you have available, and will affect the memory meter in Omnisphere. So, if you use other plugins which consume your memory, that meter will reflect that usage by those other plugins and the usage indicator in the meter will grow as you use memory in those other plugins. If you use enough memory in those other plugins, you'll eventually run out of memory.

Check the documentation for your plugins to learn how to economize on memory usage. Regarding Omnisphere, use the "Check For Updates" button to make sure you're using the latest version and watch the "Memory Management" tutorial video at support.spectrasonics.net for important information about how to avoid running out of memory. In particular, I would not recommend using the "streaming" streaming mode option with DP. Instead, use "server".

And, of course, this is all a moot point in 64 bit hosts .

Glenn Olander
Spectrasonics

[cowtothesky]

^^^ Thanks Glenn,

I called Spectrasonics tech support today about it. It was recommended to try changing from streaming to server. I will try this to get around the memory issue until the 64 bit version of DP is out.