Hi
The answer of how best to distribute all the instruments we need across multiple instances is still eluding me. Here is the dilemma as I understand it:
On the one hand, I am hearing that TOO MANY instances of VE PRo (on slaves and plug-in interfaces) can slow things down.
On the other hand, I am hearing that too many MIDI ports (VST 3) can also slow things down, especially loading with Cubendo.
Ok. What is the best approach?
My current setup (which I realize may be a little weak on the slave side of things) is as follows:
Mac ONE 10.6.8 on Brand New hexacore (Main DAW running Nuendo 5 via RME PCIe MADI)
Mac TWO 10.6.8 on 2008 Dual Quad Core 2.8 GHz (24 GB Ram) Slave
Mac THREE 10.6.8 on 2008 Dual Quad Core 3.0 GHz (12 GB Ram) Slave
Networking via independent Ethernet network separate from internet/screen-sharing.
I am definitely realizing that I should have pushed my money onto a 12 core slave, rather than the hexacore (which I recently slotted in as my main DAW) but the main point is, to get the best from THIS SETUP, should I:
A: have approximately 8-16 instances of VE PRo with a minimal number of MIDI ports (say 1 or 2) per instance
or
B: have just two instances of VE PRo (one for each slave) with about 4-6 ports available in each instance.
The maths is:
1 port/instance multiplied by say 10 instances = 10x16=160 MIDI channels.
OR
5 ports/instance multiplies by 2 = 2x5x16=160 MIDI channels.
The mileage will obviously vary (I do not tend to create massive templates, rather they build up as a project evolves, leaving me creatively free of baggage) but my general experience is that I need around 10 sets of 16 channels to be covered.
Creatively, and workflow wise, I prefer lots of modular, smaller instances. But I am hesitating to do this because of "what I heard" about having too many instances.
Added to this mix of tips and balances, is the number of audio channels to "permit" on the system. This really relates to the number of MIDI channels, kind of, from a milage point of view again. But, is this also a key player in performance? At present I allow 32 stereo pairs per instance, but rarely go beyond about 24 pairs in actual use.
Going for the "granular" approach (ie more instances with less ports/instance) I could pull that down to probably 16 stereo pairs or even 8 pairs per instance. mean, how much mixing do we really want to be burdened with?
Knowledgeable readers please advise. From experience if possible!
Thanks for reading
Ben