Track Freeze does not free up memory.

[clausiii]

I don´t know if Track Freeze is designed for ithis but i always assumed that when i freeze an instrument track (in my case UVI with Virharmonic Strings) it does not only free up CPU but also RAM. In my case there is not a bit of difference of used memory if the VI is disabled or not, it stays the same!
Has anyone else noticed this also?

[amagras]

There is a chance that is not UVI what's hogging your resources.

[clausiii]

There is a chance that is not UVI what's hogging your resources.

UVI is a part of, but takes up to 10% of RAM in the particular session.
The thing is, let´s say i have 80% of used RAM and i freeze UVI, i have still 80% used RAM. If i save, close and reopen the session (with UVI as a freeze track) "only" 70% RAM were used.
My conclusion is that freezing does not free up RAM dynamically but after reopening the session. I find this kinda strange.

[clausiii]

I tried this: i took a session with 80% RAM usage and did a track freeze on all instrument tracks. RAM usage went down to 70%.
After save, close, reopen -> RAM usage went down to 65%
After quitting Pro Tools and reopen the session -> RAM is on 46%

hmmm...

[latweek]

^^this. I've noticed it too. How does it impact CPU utilization?

[clausiii]

^^this. I've noticed it too. How does it impact CPU utilization?

CPU goes down when plugins are disabled and/or tracks frozen. Seems to work as it should.

[amagras]

Maybe it takes some time for the meters to reflect the changes.

[clausiii]

unfortunately no. and i compared it with the macOS Activity Monitor which reflects this behaviour.

[latweek]

Then it might make sense, because the instrument plugins may initialize on PT startup, but not completely free up the RAM to the OS when frozen. The quit and re-open might address that, and reboot would be interesting as well.

[amagras]

I remember a session with Kontakt having CPU spikes that would go away as soon as the track was frozen.
Maybe the meters won't reflect the change but the CPU is relieved immediately

[climber]

Then it might make sense, because the instrument plugins may initialize on PT startup, but not completely free up the RAM to the OS when frozen. The quit and re-open might address that, and reboot would be interesting as well.

yes, this is almost assuredly the case. it would be very difficult to affect this programmatically.

[musicman691]

This is more a Mac OSX thing than it is due to any one synth/vi. I've seen this happen with other programs - OSX doesn't do a very good job of garbage collection and freeing up formerly used ram. Be interesting to see if this happens with Windows users as well.

[clausiii]

Then it might make sense, because the instrument plugins may initialize on PT startup, but not completely free up the RAM to the OS when frozen. The quit and re-open might address that, and reboot would be interesting as well.

no, when i start PT, only 18% RAM is used by Pro Tools. Then it depends on the session i open how much RAM is needed. But closing any of the session doesn´t bring it back down to 18%.

[clausiii]

Another interesting thing is that when i start PT (with 18% RAM usage) and open a session "A" it goes up to 43%. The i close it, RAM usage goes down to 36%.
Then i open session "B" with more VIs and samples -> it goes up to 77%. When i close session "B" it goes down to 57%.
Now i open session "A" again -> RAM usage goes UP to 66% instead of 43% before.

[musicman691]

Another interesting thing is that when i start PT (with 18% RAM usage) and open a session "A" it goes up to 43%. The i close it, RAM usage goes down to 36%.
Then i open session "B" with more VIs and samples -> it goes up to 77%. When i close session "B" it goes down to 57%.
Now i open session "A" again -> RAM usage goes UP to 66% instead of 43% before.
Again this is classic OSX operation. See this link on how to get your ram back: http://osxdaily.com/2012/04/24/free-up-inactive-memory-in-mac-os-x-with-purge-command/
And here's a link to a discussion from back in 2012 on this subject: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-fix-the-ram-handling.1447721/

[latweek]

no, when i start PT, only 18% RAM is used by Pro Tools. Then it depends on the session i open how much RAM is needed. But closing any of the session doesn´t bring it back down to 18%.

That would be ideal wouldnt it! As others have said, it is a general operating system issue that RAM is not freed up once it has been allocated to a process. That's why I mentioned the restart.

However, both statements can be true. Yes, you are correct, once opened, when PT closes it doesn't return the RAM, and also yes, once the plug in VIs are initialized they also don't return the RAM.

That's why **if I am working on a song that is using a huge amount of resources**, unfortunately I take the step to freeze tracks, save and close PT, restart the mac and then re-open the song with the tracks already frozen.

I wouldn't always need to do all this (like freezing a quick single track), but if I know for instance Im ready to track live or do a final mix down , yes - I would do the above. Using this method, I can do just about anything on a little MacBookAir when/if needed.

[amagras]

This is more a Mac OSX thing than it is due to any one synth/vi. I've seen this happen with other programs - OSX doesn't do a very good job of garbage collection and freeing up formerly used ram. Be interesting to see if this happens with Windows users as well.
PT clears the memory and CPU as soon as the track is frozen in Windows

[musicman691]

PT clears the memory and CPU as soon as the track is frozen in Windows
That's good to hear. That confirms it's a Mac issue and not a PT issue (along with the other stuff I posted here about this).