Saving sram tips

[Rekhyt]

There's all sorts of alternatives or things to change to save sram in a patch.
I just saved 700 bytes by editing all my mix objects.
I left out all the bus inputs and all the gain controlls.

Using tables (like with jaffa's table2) instead of wave/play is also a real sram saver.

Using midi/in/cc instead of midi/in/keyb note for my buttons saved me some more sram.

Also putting objects in subpatches uses up sram too.

Anybody else got some tricks to save sram?

P.S:
I am making a list of how many sram bytes an object uses.
Everytime i check an object's sram usage i write it down.
Here is what i allready have

Factory:

inlet b : 96
string/indexed : 136
wave/play : 2580
gain/vca :216
mix/mix 2 (red) : 288
sel/sel b 16 8t pulse : 800
sel/sel b 16 old : 92
filter/lp svf : 328
osc/saw : 332
osc/sine : 180
osc/square : 568

Community :

jaffa/table/table2 : 172
table/table play pitch : 300
TSG/fx/reverb : 16104

[SmashedTransistors]

If you put objects in subpatch edit the settings of the subpatch to suppress unwanted features (presets, modulations...)
(in the patcher edit window -> View -> Settings)

---

Try to place the audio rate objects as they are used in your processing chain (left to right, top to bottom), it avoids the axoloti to add unnecessary buffers.

[Rekhyt]

thanks , i'll try them out

[jaffasplaffa]

@Rekhyt

I am glad you enjoy the modules

was wondering, since you are doing some testing, I am having a patch that is overloading and I think one object is using a lot of SRAM, but I dont know how to test it.

Would you be so kind and check the community module called TSG/dist/diodeSat?

It uses a lookup table which I think it stored in the SRAM and uses a lot of it. Anyway, I just want to have my thoughts confirmed, that this one os hungry on SRAM

Thanks!

[Rekhyt]

well apparently my method of testing isn't really useful.
As Smashedtransistors pointed out even the place where you put an object has an effect on the sram usage.
I tested that out and noticed the difference.
The settings of the patch change the usage too.
Too mutch variable's apparently for my method to work.
Pitty.

I just made a patch that overflowed by 68 bytes and then added the object to see how many bytes where added.
Seems like the only help this method would be now is to have a rough estimate as to how hungry an object is on sram compared to other objects.

the diodesat object came out 380

[jaffasplaffa]

Cool thank you very much. Not as much as I thought, cause it uses 2 tables which uses approx. 1000 samples.

Anyway, I think i'll try and make a version which loads into from SD-card instead, I need to free up some precious SRAM

[patatos]

Shortening the name of instances saves some bytes too.

[Blindsmyth]

Execution order is realy important when you want to be savy. Especially red lines that are out of execution order can be very expensive.

All sort of UI elements, like dials, toggles etc use up sram, so I tend to edit the objects and get rid of them. Even when an object is in a subpatch the UI part will eat sram, so delete everything that's not needed.

I just saved 700 bytes by editing all my mix objects.
I left out all the bus inputs and all the gain controlls.

because of that I always use drj/math/sum.

[Rekhyt]

shortening the names saves sram too?
can't be that mutch now can it?
But sram is very limited so every byte counts

I'll keep an eye on execution order from now on.
Editing objects to get rid of dials is something i'll be trying from now on too but my coding knowledge is really basic.

i edited the mix object to just go :
outlet_out= _SSAT(inletin1 + inlet_in2 + inlet_in3 ,28);

just adding up all the inlets , can't get any more basic than this right
i don't know what the 28 does but i left it in to be sure.

[Rekhyt]

ah so the drj/math/sum object does just that but he left out the 28 and it uses bipolar input and outputs for some reason

[Rekhyt]

400 bytes less by just moving some objects down
I can add reverb now

19 sample players , of witch 14 are stereo , with seperate lp filter for drums and synths a metronome and a reverb all crammed into one axoloti
Lets see what else i can squeeze out of it

[jaffasplaffa]

Lets see what else i can squeeze out of it

Yeah some clever patching does goes a long way with Axoloti. For example cable going upwards in a patch are also using loads

Another fine solution for the problem: Get another Axoloti or two

I got two functional ones and a broken one. Its my birthday in a couple of weeks, I think I might have to buy myself another one

[Blindsmyth]

Editing objects to get rid of dials is something i'll be trying from now on too but my coding knowledge is really basic.

That one is fairly simple. Just embed the object, click edit, delete the parameters in the "parameters" section and that delete parameter in the code. very often there will be: inletx+paramx so you delete the +paramx part.

Another fine solution for the problem: Get another Axoloti or two

That is indeed a good Idea but can make the whole setup more complex as well

I got two functional ones and a broken one. Its my birthday in a couple of weeks, I think I might have to buy myself another one

3 axos here, 2 half broken and 1 completely fucked...damn

[jaffasplaffa]

That is indeed a good Idea but can make the whole setup more complex as well

Yeah true. I have been trying to figure out how to work with multiple Axolotis in a proper manner fo a while. Finally I got myself an extra display a few days a go..... Best thibng I did for a while...... I can run up several axoes and have a nice overvoew at the same time

jaffasplaffa:

Oh, my broken Axoloti record is even worse. I have had 2 more which also broke, so out of 5 bought and paid, I only have 2 working Argh.....

[mtyas]

@jaffasplaffa @Blindsmyth I was wondering how you managed to fry your axo's. I've had a dozen up to now (in all kind of shapes and situations), and only fried part of one of them, and managed to mend it with little hassle.
Have you been feeding in strange voltages, or deepsee diving with them ?

Otherwise, nice thread, I've never really found myself wanting more SRAM until having OLED screens and rotary encoders (so building big menu systems in each patch). So these tips are always very welcome.

[SmashedTransistors]

6 axoloties here, all are operational.
I think interfacing it with 5v devices (arduino) can be delicate (use logic level adapters).
I interface it with a 3v3 arduino due to avoid this kind of trouble

[jaffasplaffa]

Hey @mtyas

@jaffasplaffa @Blindsmyth I was wondering how you managed to fry your axo's. I've had a dozen up to now (in all kind of shapes and situations), and only fried part of one of them, and managed to mend it with little hassle.
Have you been feeding in strange voltages, or deepsee diving with them ?

The 2 of them to be honest I am not 100% sure what happened to them. I connected them via usb to computer and then it wouldnt turn on anymore. This happened to TWO boards in the same day, with 1 minute...... I was devastated and could not determine the cause, neither could Johannes. These 2 were replaced by Johannes.

The last one I don't remember.

So no deepsea diving, hehe

Otherwise, nice thread, I've never really found myself wanting more SRAM until having OLED screens and rotary encoders (so building big menu systems in each patch). So these tips are always very welcome.

Yeah I think it depends on how you use it. My main goal have been to make music with only a single Axoloti. you know, have everything playing form one Axo, like kick/bass/hh/drums/pads/Etc. all from same Axoloti. And on top of that some effects., etc....., . And if you also want to use quality modules, this becomes a bit heavy for single Axoloti.

But using it as a single instrument, yeah I think SRAM is not an issue.

After having a few six month break from Axoloti I have been diving into it again and I have given up on using one single Axoloti for everything and gotten myself a display adapter so I can have have an extra display for my Macbook. That display does making working with several Axolotis a lot easier. And 2 seems to do it pretty well, all though I think I am going to get a third soon :=)

So there you go

[Blindsmyth]

@jaffasplaffa @Blindsmyth I was wondering how you managed to fry your axo's. I've had a dozen up to now (in all kind of shapes and situations), and only fried part of one of them, and managed to mend it with little hassle.
Have you been feeding in strange voltages, or deepsee diving with them ?

I fried one board propably with touching a gpio with a 12V power supply cable by accident.

2 other boards are semi fried, line output driver propably broke. That was also power related stuff. I remember having a daisy chain of several devices connectet to a battery with some of them center positive some center negative. I made a mistake with one device, so + - wrong and boom, diode protection fried and axoloti only having blinking red light.

But using it as a single instrument, yeah I think SRAM is not an issue.

For me Sram is really an issue, much more than cpu. I have a 3 track looper, delay, reverb, filters, step sequencer compressor, ducking effect, all on one board wich is nice but I'm completely at the limit. Always when I want to add something new I need to find more ways of saving sram. Wich is not too bad actually, since I learn a lot

One thing that can save you sram too is replacing subpatches or complex combinations of objects that do a specific task by a dedicated object. Unfortunately I'm not a coder, so I always have to beg my programmer friends to do so for me

[jaffasplaffa]

For me Sram is really an issue, much more than cpu. I have a 3 track looper, delay, reverb, filters, step sequencer compressor, ducking effect, all on one board wich is nice but I'm completely at the limit. Always when I want to add something new I need to find more ways of saving sram. Wich is not too bad actually, since I learn a lot

Yeah it is somethign I have been struggling with too. Seems like its a common one for everyone. More boards helps a bit

One thing that can save you sram too is replacing subpatches or complex combinations of objects that do a specific task by a dedicated object. Unfortunately I'm not a coder, so I always have to beg my programmer friends to do so for me

Yeah I really dont use subpatches that much either, I prefer to do it in code too. Cant do everything but getting better at it and yeah that really helps get a lot more out of Axoloti.

All though I still need a third one I think ..... : = )

[Blindsmyth]

All though I still need a third one I think ..... : = )

I think with axolotis it's like with guitars. The perfect amount is the amount you have +1