Logic Pro 9 32 Bit? 64 ? Options

[zam]

Hello ,
I ve just installed the upgrade from logic pro 8 to logic pro 9 , and in the same time i ve upgraded my OSX to snow leopard .
I thought that now logic will be in 32 bit , but when i load sample in 32 bit , nothing ??
When i go in the preference / audio and try to set the resolution ( i ve live ableton and the 32 bit work fine) , only 24 bit can be activated .
My question is , it is normal to have this system set like this , on my screen when i start the soft , it display logic pro 9.0.1 ( 32 bit) , so the soft start in 32 bit , how can be sure that the soft is in 32 bit , and if i want to increase to 64 bit , what is the operation to do.
Thanks a lot , in advance for your answer
by by

[kayj_prod]

This issue is coming up in a lot of forums right now as if suddenly the opportunity to use 64 bit has woken everybody up to higher res recording.

Most people don't have recording equipment chains clean enough to warrant use of 24bit let alone the kind of accuracy that 32bit or 64bit would give... Or the terrabytes of hard disk space needed for even a basic multi-track recording.

I still record in 16bit at home as I know my equipment chain would be wasting the extra 8bits recording at 24. In the studio, or for classical work, it's 24 all the way.

[cz101]

This issue is coming up in a lot of forums right now as if suddenly the opportunity to use 64 bit has woken everybody up to higher res recording.

Most people don't have recording equipment chains clean enough to warrant use of 24bit let alone the kind of accuracy that 32bit or 64bit would give... Or the terrabytes of hard disk space needed for even a basic multi-track recording.

I still record in 16bit at home as I know my equipment chain would be wasting the extra 8bits recording at 24. In the studio, or for classical work, it's 24 all the way.

While I understand what you're getting at - "64-bit" DAW environments are not really aimed at increasing the bit word-length of audio files as we record them or play them back (unless we're talking about 32-bit float, which I can see eventually becoming a more widely used/distributed format).

Also, one need not have "clean" equipment to benefit from 24-bit. I know what you're speaking about - the increased signal to noise ratio of 24 bit - but I could make a very noisy piece, mixed in such a way that takes advantage of the full 120dB that is more or less the maximum dynamic range that the best analogue circuitry of the best A/D D/A converters today can manage. 16-bit dynamic range is still capped - mathematically - at about 96dB! There are many other reasons to record in 24-bit regardless of the S/N ratio, but that's not what I wanted to address here.

There are three main practical benefits of 64-bit over 32-bit DAW environments (provided that your 64-bit system works and does what you want it to)..

The first benefit, which is the most obvious, is that an application's 4 gig addressable ram limit is lifted. Of course, a system needs the added physical ram to benefit, so everyone with 4 gigs and under of ram (myself included) is excluded from this advantage.

The second, is that many plugins/VI's/virtual FX these days upsample to 64-bit even while operating in 32-bit environments. Take Logic's own "Linear Phase EQ". While running Logic Pro 9.1 in 32-bit mode, for every 32-bit float sample (i.e. one 32-bit byte), Linear Phase EQ transforms this 32-bit "word" or chunk into a 64-bit "word" for added precision in processing before returning the sample to 32-bit form. This upsampling process takes at least 2 processor cycles in a 32-bit DAW. In a full 64-bit (from the ground up) DAW environment, this process will be executed in half the time - 1 cycle, therefore making for greater efficiency in 64-bit float DSP. Some examples of plugins that will benefit from full 64-bit DAW hosts: iZotope, PSP, IK, URS, ArtsAcoustic, etc. Basically, when the kinks in the 64 bit system are ironed out, you will be able to have twice the plugin count of 64-bit plugs as in a 32-bit system.

The third benefit is that today's Intel processors used in Macs are optimized for 64-bit and actually run a wee-bit (no pun intended) faster at 64-bit processes than in 32-bit mode. The speed difference is usually under 5%, but anyone who uses DAWs knows that 5% CPU can mean the difference between having and not having enough horsepower..

Hope this helps..

Paul