i have a computer with 2.1 ghz and 4 gbs of ram and i was thinking of upgrading to 8 gbs. sometimes when im running fl studio (trance producer so lots of notes being hit in one second) it glitches up the sound for a second or two. if i get more ram, will this fix itself, or is it a problem with my other computer components?

more ram ONLY help when running x64. I don't think it will help much in this case because FL is 32 bit. But I guess if you are running out of ram you could put the higher ram plugs in the x64 wrapper.

Did you try increasing the soundcard's buffer?
Mainly a faster cpu would help.
More RAM is good for running sampled instruments,
like Kontakt,
but doesn't increase polyphony AFAIK.
Cheers
Definitely get a good soundcard, or replace CPU,
before getting more RAM to fix buffer underrruns.
You need a soundcard with ASIO drivers,
what have u got ATM?

Probably a new CPU could be really more helpful (I am assuming it is a 2.1 single/dual core), but try increase the buffer as said, or use some less demanding VST/settings until render.

I dont know if in FL you can render/freeze the VSTi track, if you can it would be quite helpful too.

i do have asio but its too bad i cant upgrade my cpu because i have a laptop and srry if this is a no duh question but does an audio interface work as an external soundcard

Yes it does work as that.

Try ASIO4ALL it may help without buying a interface and safe money for a CPU/PC

How many CPUs does ur laptop have?
I have a crappy i3 quad,
but decent USB soundcard/interface.
It lets me do a decent amount of stuff.
If you have more than 1 core,
I would go the quality soundcard route.
Hope it's running smooth real soon

edit:PS, check task manager to see if it is the CPU causing glitches.
If it goes high it can cause glitches.
Then you know if it is actually the CPU.
A good soundcard with quality drivers will help with that though

You'll see a lot of improvement with more RAM if you're trashing. If not, then you'll see minor, no improvement.

I don't think you will notice any difference in upgrading the memory from 4GB to 8GB!
You might want to try the following (I will suppose that you have a dual processor with windows 7):
1. In Control Panel / Power Options choose High Performance
2. Try to increase the buffer of Asio4All to 512

If you can afford it, then buy an audio interface.
I have just bought Focusrite Saffire 6 USB and I like the quality of its build and sound. It made a difference in both the asio performance and sound quality

RAM means random access memory. What you want is CPU. So, you actually want more of both.

There seem to be a lot of misconception, misunderstanding and bad advice about of the role of RAM here.

Adding more RAM is the easiest and cheapest way to make your computer run "faster". For this to understand, you have to define what faster mean and how RAM works.

What happens when you are low on RAM, your system starts to write data into "Swap Space" and this is bad. So instead of accessing (read/write) data to and from the (fast) RAM, it has to shuffle data between the slow hard drive and the CPU (SSDs might improve that bit). As a result, everything gets S-L-O-W-E-R.
This might be not that big when your browser slows down a little bit, but for DAWs this is critical. If you are loading Samples in your software instrument, the beginning of the samples get stored into RAM, so you can play right away when you hit the note , after that it streams (buffers) from the drive. However, If that piece of data get placed into the SWAP space, then you will hear glitches and all sorts of natty side effects. What seems that you system is not fast enough is just insufficient RAM space.

If you are on a Mac, you should have always an eye on that page-ins and page-outs and if you have a increased Swap space. Use the "Activity Monitor" utility or even better Menu Meter (screenshot), a free utility that lets you monitor all kinds of vital signs on your Main Menu strip



Hope that helps

id go for a republic of gamers kind of laptop for mobility, thats an acer
or for a pc you can actually have it custom fitted with processors and ram

Thats true for when you exceed 4 Gigs.
A 32 bit system CAN take advantage of upto 4, depending on the system.

Faster Hard drive, faster Cpu also can make a considerable difference and not be overly expensive.

Well that is kind the same difference when we're talking about the OP's question. I switched to x64 almost 3 years ago. It's bliss. All of that monkeying around trying to squeeze more ram is pointless. All I have is 8 GB btw and it's wonderful. Ram run out crashes BE GONE!