[FIXED in 4.5] RAM Problem on Kindle tablet

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tyttuutface
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Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 4:17 pm

[FIXED in 4.5] RAM Problem on Kindle tablet

Postby tyttuutface » Mon Aug 31, 2015 4:23 pm

I run GStomper on a 3rd gen Kindle Fire HDX 8.9. It worked fine for a while but now upon startup and with various settings changed, just about all of the memory allocated is used up before I can do anything. It works fine on higher settings on my Kyocera Brigadier. I've tried changing sample rate, # of voices, tracks, etc., different themes, and just about everything I could tweak. The Fire has 2 gigs of RAM, of which GStomper can only use 256 megs.
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planet-h
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Re: RAM Problem on Kindle tablet

Postby planet-h » Tue Sep 01, 2015 6:55 am

Welcome to the forum, tyttuutface.

tyttuutface wrote:I run GStomper on a 3rd gen Kindle Fire HDX 8.9. It worked fine for a while but now upon startup and with various settings changed, just about all of the memory allocated is used up before I can do anything. It works fine on higher settings on my Kyocera Brigadier. I've tried changing sample rate, # of voices, tracks, etc., different themes, and just about everything I could tweak. The Fire has 2 gigs of RAM, of which GStomper can only use 256 megs.


The problem here is not G-Stomper, unfortunately it's the misconfiguration of the Kindle tablets.
In general, Android itself limits the amount of RAM, which each app can allocate at max.
This amount varies from 64mb up to 512mb (and in rare cases 1024mb) per app.
This amount cannot be changed by the app itself, it's part of the Android operating system.

In the case of Kindle tablets, this amount is defined by Amazon, who derive their own Android OS.
As you see in the following table, Amazon Android has a max Heap size (max ram per app) of 256mb, even for the latest kindle tablets.
https://developer.amazon.com/appsandservices/solutions/devices/kindle-fire/specifications/01-device-and-feature-specifications
256mb is surprising low for a 2560x1600px screen resolution (the screen is btw the most RAM consuming part).
Every other 2560x1600px screen device on the planet provides 512mb per app, even the mobile phones.

The Kyocera Brigadier on the other hand comes with a 1280x720px screen, thats more than 4 times less px, and it's pretty sure that also the Kyocera Brigadier provides 256mb per app (you can check this in the G-Stomper Setup / INFO tab, the value of the "memory class" field.

A samsung Galaxy S5 for example comes with 512mb per app (and a 1080p screen).
A 2012 Galaxy Nexus comes with 256mb per app (and a 720p screen).
Both are phones... a modern tablet should come at least with 512mb, especially if it provides a 2560x1600 screen.

Changing the sample rate, voices, tracks, makes not really a difference.
Since you cannot change the max RAM per app without rooting the device, the only way to make it better is to make the device/app use as less memory as possible.

What you can do is the following:

1. As far as I know you can run your Kindle tablet on a reduced screen resolution of 1080p. If you do that, GSS will use less memory, since not the highest resolution graphics are required for 1080p

2. Override the automatic graphics selection, us a lower graphics class for iconic buttons.
Click setup on the main screen, then select the INFO tab and double tap the upper right corner of the surrounding box (see attached screen shot).
When you did so, the graphics class value turns into a drop down menu, where you can select a lower graphics class.
If it doesn’t work on first try, just double tap it a few times and it’ll show up.
graphics_class_override.jpg
graphics_class_override.jpg (55.9 KiB) Viewed 16703 times


Bottom line:
There are actually plans to work around that limitation, but that will take at least until GSS v5.0, since it's a major change in the sampler backend.
And it's just a plan yet, there's no proof if it'll actually work. Working around the android memory limitation is a nifty task.

However, following the 2 steps above will definitely make it better.
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planet-h
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Re: RAM Problem on Kindle tablet

Postby planet-h » Tue Sep 01, 2015 7:06 am

I hope you forgive me the change of the topic title. "Excessive RAM usage" was misleading. Using around 240mb for a DAW on a 2560x1600px device is quite normal, not excessive.
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planet-h
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Re: RAM Problem on Kindle tablet

Postby planet-h » Tue Sep 01, 2015 8:11 am

Update:
I've just checked the possibilities to reduce the memory consumption of the graphics. I'll build in a new setting in the next release which makes possible to reduce the memory usage of the UI graphics. Of course this will also reduce the quality of the graphics a bit, but in the Kindle case (256mb limit) it's best the way to go for now. The update V.4.4 will go live in approximately 2-3 weeks.
tyttuutface
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 4:17 pm

Re: RAM Problem on Kindle tablet

Postby tyttuutface » Wed Sep 02, 2015 12:16 am

planeth wrote:Welcome to the forum, tyttuutface.

tyttuutface wrote:I run GStomper on a 3rd gen Kindle Fire HDX 8.9. It worked fine for a while but now upon startup and with various settings changed, just about all of the memory allocated is used up before I can do anything. It works fine on higher settings on my Kyocera Brigadier. I've tried changing sample rate, # of voices, tracks, etc., different themes, and just about everything I could tweak. The Fire has 2 gigs of RAM, of which GStomper can only use 256 megs.


The problem here is not G-Stomper, unfortunately it's the misconfiguration of the Kindle tablets.
In general, Android itself limits the amount of RAM, which each app can allocate at max.
This amount varies from 64mb up to 512mb (and in rare cases 1024mb) per app.
This amount cannot be changed by the app itself, it's part of the Android operating system.

In the case of Kindle tablets, this amount is defined by Amazon, who derive their own Android OS.
As you see in the following table, Amazon Android has a max Heap size (max ram per app) of 256mb, even for the latest kindle tablets.
https://developer.amazon.com/appsandservices/solutions/devices/kindle-fire/specifications/01-device-and-feature-specifications
256mb is surprising low for a 2560x1600px screen resolution (the screen is btw the most RAM consuming part).
Every other 2560x1600px screen device on the planet provides 512mb per app, even the mobile phones.

The Kyocera Brigadier on the other hand comes with a 1280x720px screen, thats more than 4 times less px, and it's pretty sure that also the Kyocera Brigadier provides 256mb per app (you can check this in the G-Stomper Setup / INFO tab, the value of the "memory class" field.

A samsung Galaxy S5 for example comes with 512mb per app (and a 1080p screen).
A 2012 Galaxy Nexus comes with 256mb per app (and a 720p screen).
Both are phones... a modern tablet should come at least with 512mb, especially if it provides a 2560x1600 screen.

Changing the sample rate, voices, tracks, makes not really a difference.
Since you cannot change the max RAM per app without rooting the device, the only way to make it better is to make the device/app use as less memory as possible.

What you can do is the following:

1. As far as I know you can run your Kindle tablet on a reduced screen resolution of 1080p. If you do that, GSS will use less memory, since not the highest resolution graphics are required for 1080p

2. Override the automatic graphics selection, us a lower graphics class for iconic buttons.
Click setup on the main screen, then select the INFO tab and double tap the upper right corner of the surrounding box (see attached screen shot).
When you did so, the graphics class value turns into a drop down menu, where you can select a lower graphics class.
If it doesn’t work on first try, just double tap it a few times and it’ll show up.
graphics_class_override.jpg


Bottom line:
There are actually plans to work around that limitation, but that will take at least until GSS v5.0, since it's a major change in the sampler backend.
And it's just a plan yet, there's no proof if it'll actually work. Working around the android memory limitation is a nifty task.

However, following the 2 steps above will definitely make it better.


The app works fine after doing this. I've never seen an app with such amazing "customer support", if you will.
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planet-h
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Re: RAM Problem on Kindle tablet

Postby planet-h » Wed Sep 02, 2015 7:09 am

tyttuutface wrote:The app works fine after doing this. I've never seen an app with such amazing "customer support", if you will.


Excellent, thanks for reporting back.
And thanks a lot for the kind words :), much appreciated
mojo
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Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:49 pm

Re: RAM Problem on Kindle tablet

Postby mojo » Wed Sep 02, 2015 8:44 pm

Andreas rules !!! Long live andreas and his baby !!!

: ))
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planet-h
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Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:46 pm

Re: RAM Problem on Kindle tablet

Postby planet-h » Thu Sep 03, 2015 7:41 am

Hehe, thanks a lot mojo :mrgreen:

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