Is my computer good enough for Vienna Instruments?

[julialunquist]

Hello [:D] I am interested in purchasing some of the Vienna Instruments to be used as a plugin VST inside Sonar. My computer is a Pentium 4, with 2 gb of RAM, it's about 2 years old. I believe it is 2.4ghz. It was fast enough for EWQLSO, but I realize the Vienna Instruments is a whole different animal. Will I be able to use this in my computer? Thanks everyone.

julia

[Sergino Futurino]

I have a 2.2 processor and I can use Vienna Instruments till it gets to 1,5 giga of ram and in the same time Gigastudio3 with my old VSL samples
the only difference is that I have 3 giga of RAM.

[julialunquist]

But I thought you couldn't use more than 2 gb of RAM with VST hosts?

[cm]

welcome julialunquist,
some different things to consider:
- the physical memory in your computer is RAM (i'm leaving aside here virtual memory from a pagefile)
- this is divided into 2 regions, kernel-memory + user-memory (usually each gets half of the available amount)
where eg. gigastudio is using the first type, most (all?) hosts are using the latter
- a usual system can hold a maximum of 4 GB RAM, which gives us 2 GB memory for both types
- you can configure a system with more than 2 GB RAM to use only 1 GB for kernel-memory so leaving the rest to the user-memory (where the host *lives*)

independantly but related:
- usual 32bit applications can address a maximum of 2 GB memory (note: i'm not writing RAM here!)
- so if 2 GB user-memory is available, the host can use it up to this limit.
- some hosts (or patched programs) can even break this barrier and use up to almost 3 GB (they are called LAA, large address aware)

so sergino's system looks pretty untweaked and he should have those 1,5 GB user-memory available to a host as he's mentioning
christian

btw: the vienna instruments software doesn't need too much CPU, but other system components (like harddisk, bus-speed, ect) also have significant impact on the performance

[julialunquist]

Thank you very much, cm. [:D]

[Sergino Futurino]

Entschuldigung liebes Christian
what do you mean with "untweaked " ?
My poor little English doesn't help (Mein Deutscher ist sogar schlechter ....)

Ciao
Sergino

[cm]

sergino, this should mean you don't have (or at least i'm under the impression you don't have) a /3GB switch in your boot.ini and no special registry-settings related to gigastudio (*tweaked* used in the sense of *adjusted* or *optimized* here)
in other words: an average system just having 3 GB RAM with a standard XP installation
christian

[Sergino Futurino]

Thank Christian
we both work today? (I instead should be eating many Easter eggs and Doves)

My PC is anything but average....
Buona Pasqua
Sergino

[cm]

immediately after my post i've been thinking by myself: shouldn't i put the word *average* into quotes? of course we all don't have our PCs from the next discount-grocer, i've more been referring to the operating system.
christian

[julialunquist]

What can I realistically expect to produce with just one p4 2.4ghz, 2gb system? I don't have much money to upgrade. I really want to purchase Vienna Instruments. [:'(]

[hermitage59]

@julialunquist said:

I've been reading the board and I am starting to get depressed. What can I realistically expect to do with my current computer? I see one poster having difficult times with 5 computer systems! [[:|]] Others who have top of the line Mac Pros are craving for more. What can I realistically expect to produce with just one p4 2.4ghz, 2gb system? I don't have much money to upgrade. I really want to purchase Vienna Instruments. [:'(]

Julia,

It's worth remembering that many users are chasing the 'holy grail' of sample performance, that is, being able to load an entire orchestra's worth without having to freeze or bounce or do anything but write. A worthy goal, but as CM wrote so eloquently and knowledgably, there are several factors involved, with a large percentage usually related to hardware.

Can i respectfully suggest you consider your working methods? If you want to playback everything at once, without bouncing or freezing, then a more powerful system will be a requirement. But if you're willing to shuffle things around a little, then it's more than possible to turn out a decent finished product with a more modest system.

Personally, i've found building the midi with a smaller sample base (i use a self built soundbank) swapping the sounds for better samples, tweaking them, then bouncing to audio, a fairly efficient method of work. It's quite speedy when you become familiar with it.
Your system is modest, yes, but not unusable, it will just take some creative thinking on your part to get it working well.
And for all the stories you read of insufficent resource, there a large percentage of users who have working systems, with little or no problems. (I guess we only hear about the problems, because people need advice or assistance, yes?)
It's also worth remembering that if you purchase VSL, then at a time in the future you can add another box, and enjoy less workarounds, and more 'immediate' high quality sample usage. Something to look forward to!

Good Luck, and don't be depressed by the stories of woe. With a slice of adaptability, and creative use of resource, you'll have a good chance of producing worthwhile end results without too much pain.


Regards,

Alex.

[Sergino Futurino]

As I posted before, you can do a lot with a 2.4 PC. You don't need a big processor. The only problem is RAM but if you optimize your sample use, you can really work with satisfaction and as somebody posted, as soon as you learn it more you can add another PC with the same power (very inexpensive) and use a double number of sample.
Ciao
Sergino