Only use Octamed/Audiomaster - Fast RAM benefits?
 

Bonjour.


As per the title - I only use my Amiga for Octamed and Audiomaster IV bizznezz. I've had a 500+ recently before I realised sharpish that I defo need a hard drive, and so have a 600 coming to me this week. Obvs it's gonna have 2mb Chip RAM but...will adding Fast RAM be of much benefit to me for my purposes? I've looked into it on the many posts on here and elsewhere but still don't feel clear on the subject, being an Amiga n00b, and haven't seen owt on it with specific regard to music production.


So, in terms I'll understand, lol, will I get much benefit from dropping £50 on a Fast RAM card? Will it free up some chip RAM, since the CPU can use the Fast RAM (so less of the Chip?)? How much extra Chip RAM if so, roughly, d'ya reckon? (On the 500+, without any samples loaded, I have about 1.6mb of chip left with Octamed open and idle). Will it also make loading and saving times noticeably faster?


I'll probs occasionally want to use the PCMCIA card slot, so, to save mucking about with jumpers to swap between the 4/8mb Fast RAM available every time I do, like most boards seem to have, I was gonna get one of the ones that's a flat 5.5mb - more than 4 but the PCMCIA can still be used without fuss, so it's Hovis Best Of Both.


Just want to weigh up if it'll be worth dropping the extra cash, in these necessarily frugal times.


Big ups in advance.


Geoffo

A600 comes with 1meg chip ram standard not 2 unless someone has added it.

The main benefit of slow/fast ram on an A600 for the stuff you are doing is more available chip ram for storing samples which is the memory they must be played in unless you have coded routines to copy from fast ram on demand to a small chip ram buffer.

Audiomaster and Octamed program code should automatically reside in fast mem, as will AmigaDOS system libraries, so more available chip ram for samples.

Yes, since Octamed v6 samples can be stored in fast ram, so you can break the 1mb chip limit. (Use OctaMED Soundstudio for the better).

Thanks for your replies.

Yes, the 600 will be having 1mb Chip exp int'trapdoor.

OK, since processing speeds don't sound like they'll be improved much, I'll probs wait and see how I get on initially then. 1.6mb is approx 12.5 full-length 128k samples, which'll probs do me, but if I find myself needing more I may get the Fast. Of course, one of the genius things that trackers can do is offsetting - a feature I wish hardware samplers had! Saves so much memory not having to have individual samples for your chops!

I've gravitated to Oct IV, just coz I prefer the UI (all post-IV Octameds look like dentist appointment spreadsheets to me!) and it's kinda 'the classic' in my mind. I also work better with limitations, which ARE the mother of invention! If I manage to find an Aura sampler, however, I may upgrade to SS, assuming the 600 can do the 12 bit/16 bit bizznezz (maybe only the 1200?). Protracker seems to be considered the best tracker but I need MIDI sync so I can track the 4 channels (and more!) out to my recorder individually and, besides, I've already learned the Octamed commands, lol.

Thanks again!

I agree that by default OctaMED IV is the most photogenic OctaMED. But it's missing many useful features found in later OctaMEDs. And while the multiple windows of later versions of OctaMED may seem cluttered at first, it's actually quite versatile and highly customisable which can greatly ease the songwriting process.

Take a look at the attached screenshot, does that look like a spreadsheet to you?

no, it look like a moldy aquarium :cheese

How’d you go with your 600?

I used to use enormous samples in SoundStudio thanks to the FastMemPlay option, and of course, in Mix Mode it was pretty much mandatory.

Is there any benefit for sampling into Audiomaster IV over directly into Octamed? Can you sample at higher rates or anything?

If you want to use the samples in Octamed then there is "no" benefit. If you just want to sample audio then go for AudioMasterIV.