>> Biab has it's own version of JBridge, it's not the regular one some of you are using now. Peter said that yes IT DOES access all of your memory, you're not limited to the normal 32 bit 4 gigs of ram.

Biab has a newer version of jbridge (1.73b), but that is the same one that is available to anyone from jbridge. The 'special' thing that you are referring to is likely that BiaB has ** direct support ** for jbridge which means that it just works with 64 bit VST's without the user needing to do anything. Some other programs do the "direct" jbridge support like SONAR.

>>> IF that is in fact true then what other reason is there for insisting that the Biab program itself be 64 bit? IOW, what specific functions do any of you 64 bit supporters think you're missing?

BiaB has no need to access more than 2GB memory at a time, and if it did there are ways to do that in 32bit. The most we need is 0.5 GB and that's with maxed out RealTracks.
To be honest, the best reason for us to make a 64 bit version is that people want it. I can't think of other important reasons than that, but then again there doesn't need to be more reasons than that. But it does mean that we don't rush into it, because the downside is that it means the BiaB gets "forked" into 2 versions (32 bit and 64 bit), and we (and our users) need to keep updating both of them. So if someone asks me "why did you make BiaB 64bit, now there are 2 versions (32 and 64)", I need to have a better answer ready than "people wanted it".

>> Some say a 64 bit program SHOULD run faster on a 64 bit system.

The tests I've seen have shown no difference in running time on 32 bit vs. 64 bit. There might be specialized applications that would run faster (or slower) on 64 bit, but for an app like BiaB, I wouldn't see much difference. Audio is 16 bit for example, hard to see how 64 bit benefits things there.

There'd be all kinds of ways to speed up things in BiaB, they'd mainly be related to optimizing screen redraws or loading of files etc. None of those are 64 bit vs. 32 bit issues though. On a fast machine, BiaB is quite fast already. BiaB 2015 still runs fine on my Windows XP HP AMD Laptop (2003), with a Geekbench of 1,100. I currently program BiaB on a 2010 MacBook Pro under bootcamp Windows 7, with a Geekbench of 3,300. New machines can be screamers with Geekbenches of 9,000 or more!

Bottom line, the day will come when we'll make a 64 bit version, it’s getting closer, but the main reason for it is that's what the customers want (and the future is 64 bit) as opposed to some technical reason that will make things faster. The transition from 16 bit to 32 bit was a totally different story - huge advantages.

Have Fun!
Peter Gannon
PG Music Inc.