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  4. Mac Mini Slave...
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    @Beckett Music said:

    So far so good but I haven't fully loaded them up yet and really see how they can handle a big cue.

    This is really interesting. What libraries/fx are you using? And, once you've got them all setup, could you post some examples of your successes and what happens when you push your minis past the breaking point.
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    I'm looking at adding external drives on the Minis. I thought Thunderbolt drives would be great but not a lot of choices right now, especially ones with 7200rpm drives (plus the ones that do seems to be 4TB plus which would be overkill). Now I'm wondering if the faster speed of the Thunderbolt is in fact a noticeable benefit, after all the bottle neck is still the disk speed, isn't it? Or are the samples all loaded in RAM? I'm also considering USB3.0 drives. I'm wondering if those OWC mini stack would be able to handle it. Can anyone advise me on this?
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    1024 ssd can be placed in to a mac mini server. it isn't advertised but that's doable, that's how I use it. So the full VSL library can fit in..:)
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    I already have a second drive in both of them, a 750GB fusion drive...but now I'm wondering I might need a third Mac Mini to handle HS and HB.
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    For HS and HB, you would be better off with a PC running them from an SSD.

    My column in Film Music Magaizne: 

    http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=8725
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    Thanks for the info. Part of the requirements for this rig it has to be mobile, hence the 2 MAC Mini slaves that can be used in the home studio or taken on the road with the laptop and pretty much have access to the same sounds.
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    Im on the same trajectory as you... I have a 12core mac with 48gig ram - and an 8 core intel slave, which i am going to be moving over to run protools... so buyig 2 x 2.9 mac mini servers ( so i can get 1024 ssd in them) to act as slaves.... and for me, the pc route i am not touching with a barge pole, as I'm not au fait with op system - nor do i have 0.1%  inclination to learn it !!!  ...I'm sticking with what i know so if theres a problem I can sort it out quickly and keep moving...  

    !
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    You don't have to, I lknow nothing about Windows. I boot up the PC, load the template, connect to it and that is that.
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    Ok Ashermusic - I hear you -  thats great - I sincerely wish you all the best..!

    as I said for me...I have had a pc slave in the past - and it let me down at a crucial time...twice over a two year period.... and it was a complete nightmare - so for me, I'm happy with my nice silver boxes and VERY happy to pay extra for them - at least I know how to resusictate them should they go nutzoid.... which they never seem to do...
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    Wow Paul, must be a massive template you've got running. 48GB RAM on your main plus 2 Mini at 16GB RAM! Are you racking it up and like to have just about everything loaded and at your fingertip or you just like a bit of headroom?
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    hey - yes - everything that gets used on every project (mainly the orchestral / percussion templates) is ready to go.. - its the best way for me I find...no deciding which string patch to load - its all just there.... then I just load in the custom stuff for each cue / project as I go...  also bit of head room too is good - especially on the main system runnig logice... to give the computer a bit of space to breathe... 
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    Sounds like my approach but on a larger scale! Do you use HS and HB? If so locally or on the slaves? Also for your samples on your main computer do you use SSD drives as well?
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    exactly... my 12 core main system has 4 x 512 SSD's in it   once I get the minis on board - I'll probably strap 2 (or maybe just 1) in each of them... and also yes - HB on one HS on another - plus maybe a few other bits and bobs - and I run various version of kontakt 5 / omnisphere / RMX etc etc in VE PRO on my main system... I run very littel directly in logic apart form EQs / verbs - as I change from cue to cue I need the tempalte to stay in ram and just re connect ot each new cue... its te fastest way I have found of making a big template work... 
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    oh...also thinking of moving one of my ssds out the 12 core into the 8 core...and maybe use that for some other duties as well as Protools - Which I have yet to buy... the idea is to have 2 separate rigs... one multiple computer one for midi programming and handling Library duties - and the other wil just be in recording playback duties for PT....

    SOmething like that.... I have my first full feature film looming so want to scale up in readyness for stems delivery  / 5.1 etc etc
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    Sounds like a dream rig! I bet you could probably buy a car for all the money you've invested in it but must be very efficient and inspiring to simply compose and not worry about fishing for patches. The static template is ideal for a busy TV and Film composers.
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    yes it does help when moving fast.....  and just use the specifiic loads to give the cues their project specific character...I dunno...sometimes I wonder if they arent all digital bankruptcy boxes ;))) balancing how much to invest on new tech against fee's / royalties in... but hey - what else is their to spend money on.... right....? cars... hookers... blow  ;) heh!

    Where are you based?
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    Paul & Beckett, I'm following your all's comments with HUGE interest!! I've got a pretty beefy MacPro (8-core, 24GB RAM), but this'll be my first encounter with a Satellite Mac (probably a Mini server).

    But, as your both writing on this forum, (one of) my quesitons would be, if you're running your system Mac's @ 64-bit (with 64-bit DAW's), what's the advantage (if any) in using VEPro5 at all? It was a huge help to me when I was 32-bit/32-bit. But now that I'm running 64-bit (Mac boot, OS 10.8.2)/64-bit(Digital Performer 8), I'm wondering whether I need to use VEPro5?
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    for me its housing all the instruments in the vepro server and architecture - separate from Logic - that way I can close one cue and load the next one with my template and all the samples in ram are already loaded and the instruments housed in VEPRO just hook up to the logic session - ready to go in 40 seconds - rather than reload everything again and again...
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    I haven't tried this, so someone else is probably more qualified to post their actual findings. I was wondering the same thing, however, and stumbled across some recent posts saying that there was a problem with the transfer speeds of the Thunderbolt when used to connect another drive to your main Computer. Supposedly it is a software issue, something in the OS, but people have reported that they are getting speeds on par with, if not slower than, FW800 read/write speeds. Not sure if this is valid, or some random thing, but there is a lot of info out there about this issue. Doesn't seem to be ironed out yet. If you do a google search for "Thunderbolt ^ slow transfer rates" or something like that you will be able to find some posts on this issue.
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    That's a good question Willie, I too am a DP user and you probably know that DP has that great feature of V-RACKS where your VI are loaded in parallel and using sequences you can write new cues without having to reload a DP project and your whole template. That's basically what we called a static template.You can also have a static template that is loaded on slave computers.

    I'm actually doing this tech work for a busy composer. He doesn't like the idea of running everything from his main computer. However I do believe depending on the needs and size of template that it is doable on one computer.(I am a composer / DP user myself and currently running everything out of one computer although smaller template but I do salivate at the idea of having everything at my finger tip)

    For his rig, the main requirement was that it had to be portable. He wanted to be able to grab his laptop and 2 MAC Mini and have access to pretty much the same template on the go. Hence the 2 MAC Mini route. I heard on Motunation forum people claiming it is more efficient to run your VI thru VEPRO on the same machine rather than just loading them in DP. I am not convinced at all and will need to do further testing but in a case of slave computers VEPRO is a must.

    Furthermore I'm no expert but despite the fact we can pack and use a lot of RAM these days, there is also disk access and CPU concerns. Not sure if you max out a 96GB RAM computer you might run into streaming problems or other CPU hiccups. Again depends on how much stuff you are triggering what other processing you are doing but in case of big orchestral type sequences that could be an issue perhaps. That's why many composers prefer to split the workload. They tend to go to the most traveled road and prefer to play it safe and avoid any tech problems.