Carbon DSPpower

[sco]

Has anyone done a test to see how many plugins the Carbon can handle using its own DSP?
Like some tests that I have seen when they have for instance 20 tracks with 6 EQ's on each track...

I used to use a HD192 which had the Core card and 1 accel card 10 years ago.
How to the 4 DSP chips in the Carbon compare to that?

Cheers
Rosco

[BScout]

That's a poor test because some plugins have different demands (like the requirement to run all on one chip.) So you'll get different results depending on how they load in and what the plugins are.

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by sco

Has anyone done a test to see how many plugins the Carbon can handle using its own DSP?
Like some tests that I have seen when they have for instance 20 tracks with 6 EQ's on each track...

I used to use a HD192 which had the Core card and 1 accel card 10 years ago.
How to the 4 DSP chips in the Carbon compare to that?

Cheers
Rosco

First there are 8 HDX-DSP's chips in Carbon not 4.

Yes I ran a test (video link below) now don't know how what I did in this test will correlate to what you are wanting to do or find out -- but you can maybe get some notion of possible potential.
Also I never ran a TDM or HDX system so have not clue How it will compare

Here is the test I did
https://youtu.be/0Qz2lcE9I0Y?feature=shared

[LDS]

Originally Posted by BScout

That's a poor test because some plugins have different demands (like the requirement to run all on one chip.) So you'll get different results depending on how they load in and what the plugins are.

The 'mixer' DSP amount used is also proportional to the size and complexity of the session routing that needs to be maintained for low latency monitoring.

[sco]

Hey thanks Kev,
That is exactly what I was looking for.

I am looking for enough DSP to have my VO trks in DSP mode for latency minimising.

I do mostly advertising post, so its the VO recording that can really do with this.

Thanks so much.

Cheers
rosco

[Matt Hepworth]

Low latency is a relative term. Many AAX DSP plugins (anything by Softube, Plugin-Alliance, and McDSP) adds 0.75ms PER PLUGIN.

MetricHalo, on the other hand, has a great channelstrip that's only 10 samples. It even has a limiter.

I tend to use it the most, as well as the AVID ChannelStrip, Impact for buss compression, and the BF76 for a usable 1176.

We're really lean on good, modern go-to AAX DSP plugins, unfortunately. The few that exist add lots of latency and aren't usable for tracking (Purple MC77 by Plugin-Alliance, for example).

SONNOX, AVID, MetricHalo version 3 (they've now, possibly, dropped AAX DSP support with their new products), Townsend/UA Sphere, and EL's Arouser are pretty much the only options for true low latency AAX DSP. Softube has stopped their AAX DSP updates and abandoned the format, Plugin-Alliance no longer adds the AAX DSP format on new plugins (as far as I can tell), and both use(d) the high latency coding conversion to AAX DSP.

You may be able to actually get better latency with Native systems, if you're looking to stack several plugins that aren't those few I mentioned. It's easy to be 4ms RTL on Carbon even though you're using AAX DSP. It's also possible to stay below 2ms RTL with plugins at 44.1kHz, if you are careful with what you use.

[BScout]

Originally Posted by Matt Hepworth

Plugin-Alliance no longer adds the AAX DSP format on new plugins (as far as I can tell),

bx_glue (released Apr 25, 2024) has AAX DSP support

[digiot]

Originally Posted by BScout

bx_glue (released Apr 25, 2024) has AAX DSP support

Never mind the lack of new DSP plug-ins from PA or even the higher latency on their plug-ins. You still can’t add more then 4 PA plug-ins in DSP mode on the Carbon without the long delay on switching between DSP and Native mode

[sco]

Thankyou all.

Its a bit of a disappointment from me as I didnt realise that there needed to be a DSP version of the AAX format, so all the plugs that I love are only NATIVE.

I think I will stay with the Carbon even though I really wont be able to take advantage of the DSP engine

I wish this issue about the AAX format was a bit more clear in the literature.

Cheers
rosco

[Darryl Ramm]

Are you really sure you want to keep this? If you can't buy/upgrade to HDX/DSP plugins? The DSP live monitoring is really the key differentiator for the Carbon, and if you are not going to use that...

Is software monitoring though the native DAW good enough for what you want? Or are you better off jumping to something with hardware monitoring in the interface? (Like a MTRX Studio with DADman or a RME interface with Totalmix... the two families of interfaces I'm personally most impressed with, UAD Apollo 8p is another option...if you want a decent number of preamps and fancier tracking plugins/Console (and what the Carbon is pretty much a copy of--without the silliness of proprietary Avid AVB networking, lack of Windows support, etc.)).

And if you are still running HD Native, you might even want to use that to connect to the MTRX Studio.

Yes it may largely depends on what other mic preamps you own now or want to look at buying, especially if comparing to a Carbon to a MTRX Studio + Thunderbolt.