As for how many tracks, that's a bit awkward to say. Generally, around six for woodwinds, eight for brass, nine for percussion, six for strings, plus one day Vienna Imperial and Vienna Choir. So that's 34 VI tracks (given the SATB choir split), plus a couple of Absynth/Prologue/Massive/Kontakt synths, and Kontakt drum, bass and guitar sample libraries I've created myself. Sometimes more, if the occasion calls for it. I can't say without trying it first how many of the non-orchestral bits would be running through MIR.
I would rather play it safe with the specs and go for something with more power than less. I noticed some had 64GB - I was about to ask about RAM limits in server OS, but then noticed I'd misread the Thinkmate comparison chart. I thought it said the limit was 4GB. Turns out it's 4TB. Nice. Is there any advantage either way to getting several smaller RAM cards or fewer larger ones? I would have thought best to get fewer, larger ones, so more can be added if necessary without having to replace existing parts.
I am thinking of using my current computer for Sibelius, sending the data to the VSTs running on the slave machine, which would then go through MIR (also on the slave), and then back to the first computer into Cubase for recording and final production touches.
If AMD chips are not up to scratch, fair enough. But if the AMD Ghz spec is higher, is it not better? Or does it fail to deliver all it promises to?
Thanks for your help.
Pyre