I have a friend who uses GigPerformer quite differently than I do. He loads up the Global Rackspace with Piano and Organ plus every single effect that he uses for all Rackspaces. Delays, reverbs, wah, rotary effect. He basically sends Rackspace audio to the Gloabal Rackspace and puts the effects between “From Rackspace” and the Global mixer. His Global Rackspace is fully loaded.
I do the same: Piano and organ in the Global Rackspace, but I put effects (delays’ reverbs, etc) on each of the individual Rackspaces. This means i have many duplicate effects and EQs whereas my friend uses each effect one time, but they are “always on.”
Is one more memory efficient than the other?
My guess is GigPerofrmer only loads what’s required for each Rackspace, so that may be less CPU intensive; but not needing to load all of those effects with every song seems pretty efficient too.
More duplicates significantly increases the initial load time, but then it doesn’t need to load a giant Global Rackspace and have all effects ready to go.
Thoughts?
As long as there is no issue with RAM usage I would use Gig Performer as it is meant to be.
Build your rackspaces with the plugins you need.
When you face memory issue try to use predictive load.
But keep in mind that instant switching rackspaces may be not possible when you switch rackspaces outside the range of predictive load.
Sure you can place memory intensive plugins in the global rackspace and use them when needed.
But this way your routing will be more complex as you have to take care what plugin should be active in what local rackspaces.
Plugins loaded in the local rackspace do not consume CPU when the rackspace is not activated.
When you place all plugins in the global rackspaces they might consume cpu even when not needed.
To me it makes sense to usually put effects in the local rackspaces the way you are.
That way there is very little chance of it increasing CPU when it is not in the rackspace. (You can accomplish the same thing by bypassing it in every local rackspace where it not used, but that seems like a lot of work, especially if you have to go back and reconfigure a bunch of rackspaces).
To me, sample based plugins are different. If you are using the same plugin “preset” (or “sound”) in different rackspaces (especially if you are improvising and can’t effectively use Kontakt’s “purge” tool), it makes sense to put that in the Global Rackspace. Otherwise it uses more ram every time you add it to a to a new rackspace.