Orchestral libraries load many individual sound files: multiple velocity layers and round robins, legato transitions, note-offs, and much more. This also applies to my sample libraries. For Linux users, this can mean making a small adjustment in the operating system, as there is a limit on open files per session. On MX Linux, for example, the default is 4096. This corresponds to about 5 to 10 of my Decent Sampler orchestral instruments. However, a larger orchestral piece can easily contain 100+ instruments, which causes you to hit the operating system’s limits.
The good news is that this can be fixed!
Here is a short guide for Linux users on how to increase the maximum number of open files (file descriptors) to fix crashing or freezing issues in audio applications like REAPER and memory-intensive plugins.
If your DAW or virtual instruments (like samplers loading many audio files) crash with errors like `Too many open files` or segmentation faults, you need to raise the system’s file descriptor limits.
Step 1: Check your current limits
Open a terminal and check your current soft and hard limits:
ulimit -n (to check the soft limit)
ulimit -Hn (to check the hard limit)
Step 2: Permanently update the system limits
To allow higher limits for your user account:
1. Open the limits configuration file with root privileges:
sudo nano /etc/security/limits.conf
2. Scroll to the bottom of the file and add the following lines (replace `your_username` with your actual login name):
your_username soft nofile 524288
your_username hard nofile 524288
3. Save the file and exit (in Nano: `Ctrl+O`, `Enter`, then `Ctrl+X`).
4. Log out and log back in (or reboot) for the changes to take effect.
In my case (MX Linux) it was done and worked at this point. The following is maybe necessary in other distros:
Step 3: Ensure desktop shortcuts inherit the new limits
Graphical application launchers and desktop environments often ignore PAM limits during startup. To ensure your application always launches with the correct limits, you can wrap it in a custom start script:
1. Create a script (e.g., `start_app.sh`) in your application directory:
#!/bin/bash
ulimit -n 524288
exec /path/to/your/application/binary
2. Make the script executable:
chmod +x /path/to/your/application/start_app.sh
3. Point your desktop shortcut (`.desktop` file) to execute this script instead of the raw binary:
Exec=/path/to/your/application/start_app.sh