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  4. [Resolved| VEP 'working' with slave PC but unusable clicks and latency

  • [Resolved| VEP 'working' with slave PC but unusable clicks and latency

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    I have been struggling with this for some time and, having finally got everything working, I now need to know if I can tweak things to a point where this is usable, or whether there is some other issue going on. Any help or advice would be gratefully received.

    My setup is a MacPro 8 Core, 14GB, 10.6, Cubase 5, 003 Rack and a custom-built PC, i7, 12GB, Win 7 64 Pro.

    It all works, but there are terrible clicks and pops in the audio. I've tried changing all the settings I can find, but even at 1024 and 2 buffers latency it's still doing it. Plus I can't play with that much latency. If I run it at 512 with latency set to 'none' it's fine to play, but the sound is almost unrecognisable. Also, it's completely out of time when I change the latency back, obviously.

    It seems people are managing to get this to work, so what am I doing wrong?
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    Hi, does Ve Pro run well on your Mac? What libraires are you running?,(as PLay is still a problem in VE Pro for me.) Are you running VE Pro 64 bit and /or 32bit? Have you set the number of threads for each VE Pro instance? On my Mac 8core for one Ve Pro instance I use 8 threads,2 instances I use 4 threads and so on,THe remaining cores/threads are for OS and Host. also load PLay before Kontakt and set PLay engine to low and 512 voices try loading PLay in 32 bit server and all other libraries in 64bit server
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    Hi darkmatter,

    I should have put more info about that...

    I've tried various configurations and right now I'm running 4 instances of VEP 64 bit on the same Mac as Cubase and 3 instances on the PC. This seems to spread the RAM better than trying to run it all on the one PC. I have also tried not running any VEPs on the Mac, with the same results.

    Each instance is running about 8 - 12 Vienna Instruments or Kontakt 4s. There's about 7GB of sounds on each computer. Most of my library is Spitfire Audio, which is not commercially available, but I wouldn't imagine that's the issue here. I think it's more about memory management and threads. I've tried changing the threads from 1, 2, 4, 8 etc - it doesn't seem to help.
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     I have a completly different setup than you, 2 PCs, only one running VEPro, but what helped me was getting good Intel gigabit network cards for both compters (and using the network only for VEPro) AND running them through a gigabit router. Now I have no clicks. Also, I noticed graphics cards can affect performance...
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    Dear dru_9310,

    a Gigabit ethernet connection is crucial when you´re working with VE PRO a slave PC! Please check if you can play back from your slave computer( directly (locally) without problems. If yes, please check your network -> do all used computers have a gigabit networkcard? Are used switches or routers gigabit ethernet devices?

    Best regards,

    Maya
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    Thanks Pete and Maya.

    Both computers have gigabit ethernet, but I am plugging them together without a router - do you think that could be the problem? 
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     If you only have two computers in your system, a switch is unnecessary.

    Have you disabled any wireless networks on either computer?

    DG
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    no, they're both on. I'll try switching them off...
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    ok, well that's a bit embarrassing... it seems the Mac and PC were only talking to each other via wifi. That would explain the performance issues...

    Can anyone help me get them talking to each other via ethernet? I've currently got the Mac set up using auto DHCP (currently no IP set), 1000baseT, full-duplex flow-control and standart (1500) MTU, but the PC doesn't see the Mac on its network...

    Getting these two to talk to each other has actually been the biggest pain in setting all this up - it would be great if there was a tutorial on this somewhere...
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    actually, I'm not using a cross-ove ethernet cable, so without a router I'm guessing that may be the problem.

    I'm posting this stuff in the hope that it may be of help to someone else, rather than to demonstrate what a complete numpty I am!
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    Nope, the cable shouldn't be the problem. I'm not networking expert so can't help you with that, but you must set both machines to static IP. So many users have had problems when not doing that.

    DG
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    Thanks DG,

    that assumes I've managed to set up a LAN, which currently I haven't! I've checked the drivers, tried different cables: nothing. It says there's nothing connected to the port...
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    ok, I finally got it working. Well, not quite...

    Hint: if either the PC or Mac tell you the ethernet cable isn't plugged in (and helpfully describe what such a cable should look like), that's not the problem (probably). Incidentally, I'm NOT using a crossover cable.

    Basically I had to keep playing with the Mac's ethernet settings until it picked up a DHCP address and then change it to 'manual address' (keeping the one it had picked up). However, it won't connect at 1000baseT, only 100base, which obviously doesn't work with VEP. I have confirmed that both computers have gigabit ethernet, so I'm going to try a router and then another card in the PC...
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    Sorry if I'm talking crap and in this case please ignore my hint here because I'm very tired but I lost 2 days or so because of not having used a crossover but a normal ethernet cable which simply didn't work. It worked imidiateley with a crossover ethernet cable and with a fixed IP of course which is necesarry as well. (Its more reliable than dhcp) After I saw the crossover cable worked I was motivated to buy a router in case I'd buy another PC which I didn't. So the crossovercable would have been enough. I've got a problem as well: What I DIDN't figuer out until now and which enoyes me a little is that although the mac has 2 ethernet ports i simply cannot configure a setup where I can have Internet Access (via one of the Ethernet ports) and VE Pro (via the other ethernet port) because Internet requires Dynamic IP Method and I have to sacrifice Internet therefore in order to get VE Pro working. My work Arround is another Ethernet Setup which I switch when I wnat to use VE Pro and switch back when I need Internet Access. Therefore I'd love to have a brief solution how a Mac Pro User can have VE Pro at the same time!
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    I'm slowly making progress.

    Firstly, Cat5e cables aren't necessarily gigabit compatible! I now have Cat6 cables and am getting a gigabit connection. I've also bought a Netgear GS108 gigabit switch, which I saw recommended in this thread: http://community.vsl.co.at/forums/p/24040/161549.aspx, although I don't think I needed it to connect only two machines (but hopefully I'll get this working someday and then I can buy some more slaves...).

    I found this for setting a static IP in Windows 7: http://blog.mclaughlinsoftware.com/2009/11/26/windows-7-static-ip/ - I set mine to 169.254.1.3 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 (nothing for the other fields).

    (scorefrog, this may help you) I got help from a tech guru and let the Airport assign it's own DHCP IP address (192.168 etc), then set the Mac's ethernet port 1 to manual IP (169.254.1.2). This means I can have wifi for the internet and a separate connection via ethernet. 

    Unfortunately, now I'm only getting 100Mbps... My tech guru is coming over on Thur, so I'll update this then.
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    Many thanks for the help! You are one step further than me! If you get any news about that it would be cool. Unfortunateley I don't have an airport card yet. If the guru has one solution for people without wlan (to use the 2 ethernets) I'd be very greatfull for a hint. Otherwise the Airport solution is already a good discovery which makes me think buying one.
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    I believe the principle is the same whether you're using wifi or ethernet. The key is to let the internet port find it's DHCP - probably a 192.168... number and then fix an IPv4 for the LAN on the other port using a different set of numbers - in my case 169.254... That way the two connections don't get confused.

    That seems to work for me, other than the fact I'm still only getting 100Mbps. I have found this thread relating to similar problems (I have an Asus P6T motherboard), so I think it may be more than just a setup issue for me:

    http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?board_id=4&model=PCI-AS2940UW&id=20090826090739625&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

    I will keep trying and once I get it working I will post a clear description of what to do, in case it's of any help to anyone else.
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    Done it!

    I remembered that the gigabit connection was working as soon as I plugged the new cable between the Mac and the PC, so I took the Netgear switch out and it went back to 1Gbps. I have no idea why. I then plugged the Netgear back in and it stayed at 1Gbps.

    Still nothing showing up in the VEP Server window in Cubase on the Mac, though, so I had another look at the firewall in Windows, and sure enough not all the VEP options were being allowed through. I checked all of those and now it works.

    I'm using an asio buffer of 128 in Cubase and 2 buffers of latency in VEP with perfectly acceptable playability. I'll build up a big arrangement and see if there are any further issues, but currently it looks like it's going to work. Awesome! 
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    THOUSAND THOUSAND THANKS!!! I'm so glad that you not only managed to help me with my problem but solved yours at the same time. You're a real WINNER! That one had puzzled me for days and I had already given up. To give real DIFFERING adress spaces for the 2 ethernet ports so that they doesn't interfere (the one being dhcp for internet and the other one manualy given for VE Pro was the solution)! Because of your help I've know was able to make the missing step to my dream setup finally!
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    This Threat deserves now the (resolved) at the begining I guess (; Thanks again!!