For starters, it’s helpful to know the difference between “downloading” and “installing” to properly understand this article. For more information on the difference between downloading and installing, please click here.

Installing with a USB

When installing with a USB drive, your computer (or external drive if you choose to install the large library files onto an external drive) is only required to have at least the same amount of space as the instrument you are installing. 

Please click here for the current space requirements for all Spectrasonics instruments.

Installing from a Download

When installing from a full Installation folder that you downloaded, either from a new download purchase or from the Reinstall tab of your user account, double the amount of storage space required for your instrument must be available on the drive you are installing the instrument to. 

This is because you first need to download all of the data for your instrument onto your computer or external drive (the data will be downloaded to a Spectrasonics Downloads folder, which can be used to reinstall your instruments in the future). Then, that data needs to be installed, into a new or existing STEAM or SAGE folder, which will be used to operate your instruments. 

Installing from a Download When Upgrading

If you are installing from a downloaded installation folder, and you currently have a version of the instrument installed, you will still need double the amount of free space of the instrument available on your computer. 

For example, if you have Omnisphere 2 (61 GB) installed on your computer, you will still need at least 122 GB of free space (temporarily) available on your computer or external drive to download, and then install Omnisphere 3 (61 GB). 

This is because the installer needs to see enough free space available in order to install the files to your STEAM folder, even when overwriting those files into the STEAM folder. Once the install is complete and the proper files are overwritten, your Omnisphere 3 folder would only take up 61 GB of space, meaning you would have 61 GB of free space available. Also, you can move the 61 GB installation folder that you downloaded to save space on your computer if needed, freeing up the other 61 GB of space.

Note: Generally, it is recommended to have at least 15% - 25% of your system/internal drive space free in order for your computer to work properly. For example, if your system drive is 1 Terabyte, it is recommended to have 150 GB - 250 GB of free space at all times. 

Optimizing Storage

Spectrasonics makes supreme quality sample-based Virtual Instruments. In order to do so, it does require our instruments to take up a significant amount of storage space, depending on your system.

This is a great reason to purchase a USB drive, aka the boxed version, from an authorized reseller when purchasing your brand-new Spectrasonics Instrument! The USB version requires the least amount of space to install your instrument, and is always there for you if you ever need to reinstall in the future.

Consequently, if you purchase a download version (or get a new download from the Reinstall tab in your User Account), you can always store your installation folder on a separate drive to free up space as well.