There have been some rather painful threads regarding Mac vs. PC.

In those threads it is worth noting that VSL employees repeatedly state that their products work better on PC.  Certainly if one is absolutely a Mac devotee, you will do fine.  Nevertheless, if VSL employees suggest PC's, that is worth strong consideration when purchasing VSL software.

One key question: what are you intending to create?  If you are working primarily with small chamber type ensembles in a stereo mix, less computer power is needed than if you require say 80 tracks in 5.1 surround.  My older MIR SE runs decently enough on an older i7 930, but using all 32 tracks pushes its limits.  I would not even begin to attempt to run MIR Pro on that sort of system.  For what I am doing, a future upgrade to a 3930 would be fine (not happening for some time though).

Depending on your needs, you may very well only need one slave, and therefore only one MIR Pro license.

Finally, note that strict devotion to one particular computer platform is generally not helpful or the most wise way to go.  Each platform has its uses, and wisdom is often to use the strengths of each platform (for many: Mac for sequencing, PC for slave).  Disclaimer: although I have used Macs in the past, I currently use only PC's.

@noldar12 said:

My older MIR SE runs decently enough on an older i7 930, but using all 32 tracks pushes its limits.  I would not even begin to attempt to run MIR Pro on that sort of system.  For what I am doing, a future upgrade to a 3930 would be fine (not happening for some time though).

Thanks Noldar12, this is very interesting ; on my 12 core Macpro I have 97 VI and 3 input and I am using 60 % of it's power

I'm running a large orchestra on a PC (win 7) with i7 960 (3.2GHz) . 24Gb triple memory RAM, WD Caviar Black drives - VE Pro with MIR Pro, no glitches no issues, just works every day.

Seems an 8 core PC is somewhat adequate.............   Steinberg, East West and VSL all recommed using a PC.  Windows manages core allocation better than OSX, which is probably the main reason.

@andyjh said:

 Windows manages core allocation better than OSX, which is probably the main reason.

When I use VSL SERVER and MIR PRO my 12 cores MAC, the core are equaly load ballanced. The 2nd Thread of each core is loaded at 50 % of it's core

@andyjh said:

I'm running a large orchestra on a PC (win 7) with i7 960 (3.2GHz) . 24Gb triple memory RAM, WD Caviar Black drives - VE Pro with MIR Pro, no glitches no issues, just works every day.

How large  is your VE ? is it in stereo, in 5.1 or in 7.1 ?

Thanx for all the answers.

Cyril, I can wait a week or two. Even more. I'm not gonna get it inmediately.

As far as the painful threads about Mac vs PC I'm really tired of that. Macs are great. PCs too. Period. As noldar12 says, it's amatter of taste. I've been using Mac for 20 years and Logic since vers. 3 or 4 (don't remember) and am too old to learn a new DAW. Probably I'll stick with Mac for sequencing and getting a PC as slave since Macs prices are way high. Also the fact of many companies say their products run better in PCs is an added bonus.

Regarding my needs they are different in each project. I don't use Vienna Instruments. Just Kontakt libreries, PLAY and some Omnisphere, as well as EXS Instruments. I can use a very small template of 5 to 10 instruments or go for a bigger one with 40 to 50. It really depends. Not using 5.1 or 7.1 but mixing in stereo. At some point I'd love to use MIR Pro or MIR Pro SE when it comes available.

Thanks again :)

Cyril, 12 cores should to a lot better than one of the older, almost the slowest, i7 4 cores.  For much of what I do, in terms of smaller chamber ensembles, it does quite fine.  It does manage the 32 tracks, but to really go any further and get above the 32 track limit using MIR Pro, something better would be required.  As I do not anticipate ever doing surround, a newer 6 core, with 24 gigs of RAM, would be fine, but that upgrade is likely will likely not happen for another year or so.

I just receive this table :

You pay for what you have inside the box

A PC/MAC that is containing an I7 proc a 1096$ cannot be sold at 500 $

Unfortunately, that table does not include what many builders regard as the best chip currently available for DAW use, the i7 3930k.  Granted, that table only includes 4 core chips, while the i7 3930k is a 6 core chip.

@noldar12 said:

Unfortunately, that table does not include what many builders regard as the best chip currently available for DAW use, the i7 3930k.  Granted, that table only includes 4 core chips, while the i7 3930k is a 6 core chip.

It is quite normal as it is the table for the new Ivy bridge starting April 25th [:)]

Cyril... oops, that's what I get for not paying close attention.

There have been some very (and very is the correct word) preliminary tests with the 3770k for DAW use, and the early results show little improvement over the previous generation 2600k (results subject to change with further testing, of course).  Also of interest, the Sandy E3820 tested very close to the 3960K and 3930K at stock speeds (testing done by Scott at ADK).