[SOLVED] Another post about pops, stutters and clicks, Finale + VE Pro

[shnootre]

Greetings

I've researched threads here on this issue. All of a sudden I'm getting extreme stuttering playback, after this setup has been working pretty well for me. I've read a bunch of Andi's replies, but I'm not sure I'm clear on everything. 

I run Finale 25 and VE Pro on a single MacBook Pro. I generally run the machine pretty close to capacity, usually managing to leave maybe 3-5GB free (according to activity monitor). 

I'm currently working on an opera score. I think I read Andi saying that you should only run one or maybe two instances of VE Pro per machine? Gulp. I am running six. I can probably consolodate a bit - maybe down to four. But I like to have my VSL and my Kontakt library in different instances, so I can treat them w/ different reverb in Finale. Am I likely to see considerable improvement if I crunch everything into 3 instances? I don't think I can do fewer, since I have a lot of Kontakt percussion instruments on different channels. In the past, running this many instances wasn't a problem for me. 

I have experimented w/ Finale's buffer size, but I don't see where to adjust the # of buffers on VE Pro, unless that is synonomous with the number of threads? I've experimented with going from 2 to 3 multithreads, and it didn't help. 

My machine's a 2014 Macbook pro, 4 cores, 16gb ram. I am not sure exactly what's changed to deliver these problems to me. I was away from this project for a while, and coming back, have changed the template quite a bit as far as the libraries I'm using, but the Finale--->Ve Pro setup is still the same. Running latest versions of both too. 

The stuttering playback is there both when I play live in Finale, or bounce to audio. Thanks for any clarification/guidance! 

Dan 

[Bill]

I've seen people reporting that they were using over 100 instance of VEP, so I don't think there's an issue with 6.

Why not put the reverbs in VEP instead of Finale?

[shnootre]

Bill - that is a very good question. Why NOT put the verbs in Ve Pro. I never thought of it...but I will. I imagine it will work a lot better than Finale. 

Though even killing all those verbs (and since Finale doesn't let you use sends, you have to load a different instance for each bank if you want different settings) didn't fix my popping and stuttering problem. 

I know what you mean about numerous instances. In Logic I've run separate instances for each instrument without issue. But the advice does seem to be the fewer instances the better, and I was feeling sort of hopeful that that might help. (I'll be able to try tomorrow evening and report...) 

[andi]

Hello Daniel!

You can open as many VE Pro instances as you want and as your computer is capable of handling. Anyway, with Finale I would recommend using one VE Pro instance and as many VE Pro Event Inputs as you need. This way you will save a bit of RAM and CPU performance and you will have all instruments under one hood. As Bill has already mentioned, you can add reverb in VE Pro. You can make different reverb settings in busses or for every single instrument.

The stuttering problem might be a performance problem, but such a problem should not be audible in exported audio files. Do you have the latest Finale update installed? Did you try adding more buffers in the VE Pro plugin interface? You could also experiment with the buffer size of your audio hardware driver and the number of threads in the VE Pro preferences.

Best regards,
Andi

[shnootre]

Andi!

I did it, and the problem is ENTIRELY solved. I simply can't believe what a huge difference it made. Until now, I really didn't understand the Event plug-in. I set it up exactly as described, and ALL of my playback woes are gone. PLUS, I now can see the huge benefit of working w VE Pro, since I can utilize effects sends etc. (This makes me seriously want to give MIR a spin now). 

I have one question. Several of my banks are Kontakt multis. To really be able to utilize the VE Pro mixer (w/ buses, color coding etc.), would it make sense for me to separate out those multis into invidividual channels containing a single instrument? For instance, if I have five wind insts on a single Kontakt multi, am I better off making five channels, with five instances of Kontakt, one instrument per instance? 

I tried to see if I could create buses for the channels in the multi, but I got confused. Looked like I could do this for audio but not midi? (I saw channels 2-32, but what to do about the instrument I have on channel 1? ...I'm definitely still missing something here). 

In any case - that question aside, this is a major breakthrough. Playback is perfect now...just needs to be properly mixed. My Activity Monitor still shows my RAM usage pretty darn hot, but the performance is radically different and better. 

[andi]

Hi Daniel!

It's good to read that it helped.
You can use up to 16 MIDI channels for one Kontakt instance inside of VE Pro and all available audio outputs. Simply set the MIDI channel of Kontakt in VE Pro to -Omni- (All) and the channels in Kontakt to the concrete channel numbers. The several audio outputs of Kontakt can be accessed in VE Pro by clicking the "+" symbol at the lower right of the channel strip in the mixer.

To help you with your decision about MIR Pro, you can give it a try with a free demo license.
https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Vienna_Software_Package/Vienna_MIR_PRO

Best,
Andi

[shnootre]

Andi

Thanks again - this is great and clear. I just downloaded the MIR trial. The idea looks great, it'll be a question of whether it pushes my modest system over the brink! 

One further/(hopefully) final question. I was under the impression that MIR PRO 24 came with one roompack (The Vienna Konzerthaus). But it seemed I had to start trial periods for both. Does this mean that both the software and at least one roompack has to be purchased in order to use MIR? 

[andi]

Hi Daniel!

In order to use MIR Pro or MIR Pro 24, you have to purchase at least one roompack as well. No Roompack is included, because different users want different roompacks.

Best,
Andi

[shnootre]

Okay got it, and thanks for the quick response. 

I lied, though. I still have one more question. I continue to struggle in dealing with my Kontakt multis. 

I understand that I can push the plus button in the mixer to create additional aux channels, but I'm not understanding how to route the individual instruments to those aux channels. I see that I can select specific channels from the multi in the mixer's input selection, but that doesn't seem to do it. And when I try to route the individual instruments in the multi to different outputs, the only options I seem to have are 1-2, 3-4, or 5.1 surround (channels 6-10). I switched to a VST 16-output version of Kontakt to see if this would solve the problem, but same issue. 

I'm sure there's something simple I'm missing in the process? Continued appreciation for your guidance, Andi! 

 

Dan 

[andi]

Hi Dan!

The routing of the Kontakt instruments to different outputs has to be done in the Kontakt Outputs section. The batch function "Clear output section and create individual channel for each loaded instrument" may be helpful.

Best,
Andi