Looking for advice on a new system for large virtual instrument sessions

[tbonesteak4dinner]

Originally Posted by Marsdy

I guess you're seeing the dreaded pyramid of CPU usage where the middle cores get hammered most. That evens out noticeably when you are not record armed but that is obviously no help with your workflow.

Yes you would need to use the additional buffers in VE Pro. At least I always have done and have them set to x2. That is the price you pay for using VE Pro. However, I find it is definitely less demanding overall than running the same VIs in ProTools at a higher buffer because there is MUCH less CPU spiking. On my slave PC, the CPU usage is right up there so there is definitely a LOT of processing being offloaded. Ultimately, I find it way more solid and stable than running the VIs in Pro Tools and get very few -9171/3 errors. I also get significantly better performance running VE Pro locally on the same Mac as ProTools. It's all about juggling compromises!

At least the piano roll editor in PT is a very good one and second only to Cubase IMO!

Hmm, alright that's fair enough. I think I'll try using my mastering plugins on the slave machine and working inside of Pro Tools exclusively to start. That should take care of a ton of overhead right off the bat. I'm still worried about getting that buffer low enough but we'll see how well Pro Tools compensates during actual playback. I'll report back with results.

Originally Posted by musicman691

What version of DP did you try? DP9 has come a long way from the olden days.

What didn't you like about DP?

It's been a long time, but I remember it feeling a bit clunky but nothing more than that, maybe 7 or 8? I've been reading some reviews and checking out a couple demo videos today, looks pretty slick actually. With a full 30 day demo I think it's definitely worth checking out the notation features to see if they're a little less awkward that Pro Tools or Cubase. At this point I've got something like 4-5 DAWs. Gotta catch 'em all, right?

[Marsdy]

Originally Posted by tbonesteak4dinner

Hmm, alright that's fair enough. I think I'll try using my mastering plugins on the slave machine and working inside of Pro Tools exclusively to start. That should take care of a ton of overhead right off the bat. I'm still worried about getting that buffer low enough but we'll see how well Pro Tools compensates during actual playback. I'll report back with results.

Good luck! Maybe I've been lucky but I've always found ProTools delay compensation to be quite reliable. It's only failed twice in the last year that I've noticed and one of those times it was a confirmed bug. I do check it from time to time to make sure VE Pro is in sync and it's always been sample accurate. Same goes for the analog outboard I was using until recently.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by tbonesteak4dinner

It's been a long time, but I remember it feeling a bit clunky but nothing more than that, maybe 7 or 8? I've been reading some reviews and checking out a couple demo videos today, looks pretty slick actually. With a full 30 day demo I think it's definitely worth checking out the notation features to see if they're a little less awkward that Pro Tools or Cubase. At this point I've got something like 4-5 DAWs. Gotta catch 'em all, right?

At least it wasn't DP6 - pretty much everyone acknowledges that was a real dog. One more thing - DP no longer comes with a paper manual; they ditched it when they went to DP9 because the printing costs would have been prohibitive. It's a pdf now.

[tbonesteak4dinner]

Thank you both for all of your involvement. You've both been extremely helpful and I actually have everything resolved now. I moved my mastering chain to a slave machine using VEP and the overhead on my main computer removed by that is absolutely insane. Secondly, most people get mad when they look like an idiot on the internet. I'm not when it means my problem is solved. I was doing a process incorrectly, which was requiring me to set my buffer entirely too low. I was trying to use outboard effects on a track and send them back in on an AUX channel. This is a no no. Pro Tools does not compensate for any of the HW buffer latency when doing so. BUT by using a hardware insert, Pro Tools automatically compensates for both the output and input latency imposed by the HW buffer, delaying everything and lining it all back up, both in regular playback and when record enabled. I can now use Finale, just as I was. Since I'm sequencing, the audio could play back 10 seconds later and I wouldn't really care as long as it's all in sync.

Marsdy, thank you for your valuable input. It was incredibly helpful to hear from someone with a rig that outclasses mine. I know a lot of what to expect when I finally do decide to upgrade.

musicman691, thank you for your help in troubleshooting and for recommending Digital Performer. I've been having a great time with the demo. If the day comes that my finale, virtual midi, pro tools setup isn't viable anymore, it'll be a hard choice between that and Cubase.

[Marsdy]

Originally Posted by tbonesteak4dinner

Thank you both for all of your involvement. You've both been extremely helpful and I actually have everything resolved now. I moved my mastering chain to a slave machine using VEP and the overhead on my main computer removed by that is absolutely insane. Secondly, most people get mad when they look like an idiot on the internet. I'm not when it means my problem is solved. I was doing a process incorrectly, which was requiring me to set my buffer entirely too low. I was trying to use outboard effects on a track and send them back in on an AUX channel. This is a no no. Pro Tools does not compensate for any of the HW buffer latency when doing so. BUT by using a hardware insert, Pro Tools automatically compensates for both the output and input latency imposed by the HW buffer, delaying everything and lining it all back up, both in regular playback and when record enabled. I can now use Finale, just as I was. Since I'm sequencing, the audio could play back 10 seconds later and I wouldn't really care as long as it's all in sync.

Marsdy, thank you for your valuable input. It was incredibly helpful to hear from someone with a rig that outclasses mine. I know a lot of what to expect when I finally do decide to upgrade.

musicman691, thank you for your help in troubleshooting and for recommending Digital Performer. I've been having a great time with the demo. If the day comes that my finale, virtual midi, pro tools setup isn't viable anymore, it'll be a hard choice between that and Cubase.

Cool!!! I wondered why you were having issues with external hardware delay compensation. Returning a hardware reverb on an aux channel seems a perfectly reasonable thing to do to me.