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I'm not the IT-specialist here, but as far as I can say, a good graphics card makes _a lot_ of difference, as MIR is pretty GUI-intensive.
Regarding the audio-device I'd say that _in principle_ any ASIO with proper 64-bit compatible drivers should do. Please make sure that the M-Box meets these basic specs.
Hi Dietz,
I know you are probably very busy at the moment [;)] and I appreciate your help. But I do have some final MIR questions that I hope you could help me with.
1) Running on the above spec'd machine, which I think is very like your own test machine - Intel i7 965 3.2GHZ with 12GB Ram. How many vienna instruments can MIR run? For example, how many can it load at once into MIR? And how many can all play at the same time?
2) I understand that MIR is also a final mixing point as well as a reverb unit, so it needs an audio interface to output the audio. But how do you get the Midi into MIR? Does it, like Vienna Ensemble 3, appear as a multi channel virtual instrument that you just insert into a channel on your DAW? Or can you use a midiOverLAN product to route midi over ethernet? Or do you need 2 midi interfaces?
If it is a midiOverLAN product, what product do you use to connect a Mac Pro DAW machine to the PC MIR Server? (I am a little confused about how you can send midi from a Mac DAW to a PC slave)
I really appreciate your help!!! If you can answer these last few questions it would really clear up any last few queries that I have. Then all I need to do is buy it [:D]
Interesting DG. I sold my better interfaces to help pay for my Apogee Symphony system which is attached to the Mac. Apart from that the only interfaces I have left is an Apogee Duet (which doesn't have windows driver) and my M-Box.
Do you think I need to purchase an audio interface for the PC? What would you recommend?
Do check the M-Box situation, but my gut instinct is that you are not going to have any luck with it.
I have always used RME and never had a problem. Some of the older audio cards don't have 64bit drivers, but the newer ones do. Make sure that you go for a PCI or PCIe interface. Don't go mucking about with that Firewire cr*p.
DG
yes it will, though we cannot say currently up to how many instruments on stage with which plugins inserted ...
IMO it is not the best idea to buy the slowest processor of the i7 series just for MIR .... if you think the 965/975 is too expensive consider at least the 940, 950
of yourse you can choose a smart for driving in indanapolis or monza, but more efficient would be a porsche ;-)
christian
Simsy - you have to be aware that whatever hardware you buy now: There will _always_ be faster and cheaper stuff, just a few weeks later. 8-/
Of course, if the CPU is a bit stronger, you will be able to use a few instruments more, or have lower latency with the same amount of instruments. But make sure that you components are _all_ in the same league. It doesn't make sense to have a slightly faster CPU when the graphics card is the actual bottleneck, for example.
HTH,
Thanks Dietz,
This is finally what I have settled on
Intel i7-975 3.33 Ghz
Asus Rampage II Extreme Intel X58
Corsair Dominator 12 GB (6x2GB) DDR3 1600Mhz Tri-Channel RAM
Also, a Profire Lightbridge to get the audio back to my DAW machine. Just until MIR Premier is released [;)]
So, before I finally hit the order button. Can I get the OK from you guys?
Simsy, looking into your registered products i'm under the impression you might run short with 12 GB (what would be sufficient for the special edition) - i'd consider to instantly start with 24 GB ...
system: ~ 1GB, IR: ~ 4GB -> ~6 GB left for loading patches .... if that is according to your usual method of arranging its OK though.
sidenote: you also may find needing to spread the sample content across 2 disks
christian
Re: RAM
In a stress test I ran today, I had 50 indivdual VIs playing glitch-free at the same time in stereo, latency set to 1024 samples, CPU @ 80%, with a system comparable to the one you outlined above (12 GB RAM). I used 11.2 GB RAM for this setup, with Nuendo 4 for MIDI output on the same machine.
Taking into account MIR's abilitiy for dynamic processing (only those VI's that really play will use MIR's convolution core and thus tax the CPU), you will most likely run out of RAM before the CPU overloads. :-)
HTH,
Hi CM,
Yeah, on my current VE 3 slave I have a lot more RAM than that. But the i7 motherboards only have 6 DIMM slots and it is very hard to find more than 2GB DIMMS without them being really expensive!!! I might load 12GB in for now and have to reduce my template until 4GB DIMMS come down in price.
Do you know of any relevantly cheap 4GB DIMMS?
Also, Dietz, very interesting with the 50 instruments!!! That is very impressive, is there a dramatic fall in number of VI's when you reduce the latency to 512? Really looking forward to this product by the way!
Can't believe you guys are online on a Saturday night [:D]
Kingston ValueRAM DIMM Kit 12GB PC3-8500U CL7 (DDR3-1066) (KVR1066D3N7K3/12G) 3 x 4 GB is sold heree for about EUR 1.000.-
(note: having 2 modules per channel will drop memory bus frequency down to 1066 anyway)
interestingly the server modules (for XEON 5520 series, ECC) are sold for EUR 200.- per 4 GB module .... strange, isn't it?
christian
@Dietz said:
In a stress test I ran today, I had 50 indivdual VIs playing glitch-free at the same time in stereo, latency set to 1024 samples, CPU @ 80%, with a system comparable to the one you outlined above (12 GB RAM). I used 11.2 GB RAM for this setup, with Nuendo 4 for MIDI output on the same machine.
This is really useful information Dietz. Certainly I use more Instruments (about 120), but rarely more than 70 playing at the same time. Obviously 1024 latency is useless for programming the MIDI, so how does that work, bearing in mind I'm used to working on my current system at 128? Is there a super-efficient mode for low latency use?
DG
DG, please keep in mind this is on an i7 system and reduction of latency increases CPU load, not necessarily in a linear manner though.
more powerful systems (eg. using 2 x XEON W5580 = 16 virtual cores) will help, but i', not sure if 128 would be even possible ... maybe wait for the 6 core XEONS announced for early 2010
christian
EDIT: i just noticed that obviously it _is_ possible to get down to 128 on a 2 x XEON 5580W machine - this is more than i dared to hope for ...
@cm said:
DG, please keep in mind this is on an i7 system and reduction of latency increases CPU load, not necessarily in a linear manner though.
more powerful systems (eg. using 2 x XEON W5580 = 16 virtual cores) will help, but i', not sure if 128 would be even possible ... maybe wait for the 6 core XEONS announced for early 2010
christian
EDIT: i just noticed that obviously it _is_ possible to get down to 128 on a 2 x XEON 5580W machine - this is more than i dared to hope for ...
I fully understand that MIR can't possible work properly at low latency with current computers, but there needs to be a mode where one can at least play the notes in (with various real time controllers) at low latency. I play everything live, and in the case of Woods and Brass, I do all the expression with a BC, which has to work live at low latency. If MIR can't be by-passed when in input mode, then it becomes much less useful.
DG
