# of Voices vs # DSP

[airwavejoel]

Under the PlayBack Engine Menu, I have an option to select:
32 voices using either 1 or 2 DSP's
48 voices using either 1 or 3 DSP's
96 voices using either 2 or 3 DSP's.

Why would someone choose to use more DSP's just to acquire the same amount of voices? Is there any advantage to using more "precious" DSP's??

[airwavejoel]

Okay, So I'll rephrase the question.

If my session uses between 42-48 voices (no more and no less), which # of DSP's would be wise to use: 1 DSP or 3 DSPs?

Again, if 1 DSP works without any problems, then why is there an option to select an additional 2 DSP's??

[JimLeb]

When I went from PT 5.3 to 6.0.1 I had some sessions that were giving me PCI bus errors. When I increased the number of chips (for the same number of voices), the problem went away. I believe that using more chips means that PT doesn't have to work the computer as hard.

Jim

[doug_hti]

yes, I agree with the last post. I think, it will simply alleviate computer load and pci bus loading issues. I use a magma expansion chasis and I have been advised to raise the number of DSPs to increase reliability, etc.