Hi Ed. I'll just comment on your last question because I see this reasoning cited often: "it works fine in my other audio applications so why doesn't it work in BIAB etc.". Of course it's a logical question, but I think there is an explanation.

Based on my experience and buoyed by some comments Peter Gannon has made, I can guess that the answer is that BIAB works quite differently from those other programs. In SONAR, for example, the disk speed and usage is critical; RAM and CPU, not as much. You will hear horrible sounds if you manage to peg the CPU in SONAR by using too much in processing plugins, but that's why they tell you to write a processed track to a straight audio file and continue only with that, turning off the plugin.

It is different in BIAB, where the CPU usage is always critical. There is a great deal going on with artificial intelligence. This is why the single-core Geekbench score is the best indicator of likely success in BIAB. Also, everything from disk is loaded into RAM when the program regenerates a song. While I have never heard of anyone running out of RAM in BIAB, even those using 32-bit OS where they have only 3.2 GB max RAM to use, it is possible that bad RAM might show up and affect only BIAB because BIAB is the only program maxing out the use of that RAM.

Just a guess.

BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.