Vienna Symphonic Library Forum
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  • VI Just Too Much For My PB G4 1.33?

    After having run many instances (15-20) of Opus Bundle stuff via EXS24 on this PB for several years, flawlessly, it seems my 4 year old antique 17 incher has finally met it's match in the new VI engine. Popping and clicking abound at the mere mention of any polyphony on Chamber or Appasionata - even the solo string act up some times when trying to play monophonically. And I've got all the recent drivers for the 410, engine optimized (buffer at 512), PC firewire controller in use for extra port - the works.

    Would I benefit from putting in a 7200 RPM internal drive (which was not available for this model when I purchased it in Oct. '03), or is it really time to break down and buy a used G5 tower (I hate buying "new" computers).

    byron

  • Obviously I understand that money isn't unlimited, but if you're going to run the V.I. Player my suggestion at this stage is to bypass the G5 and go for a machine with a Core 2 Duo processor (whether it's Windows or Mac). You can continue to run your sequencer on the PowerBook of you want.

    Saying that you hate to buy new computers is valid, and some things about computers have stayed the same as always (example: a computer year is still about 20 years as far as I can see), but you also have to look at the requirements of the software you want to run. And the software you want to run wants all the power you can throw at it.

    You're someone who keeps machines a long time, and a year from now you'll forget about the extra money you spent and be glad you have a more up-to-date computer. Remember, the G5 is basically the same as what they were selling in 2003; meanwhile the software and hardware is two generations newer.

    Now, my main machine is still a 2 x 2.5GHz G5, and it's still very useful and capable of running a heck of a lot; I probably won't replace it for a couple or few more months, and even then I expect to keep it going as a slave. But at this point the G5 is on the way out, and no way would I buy another one.

    As a matter of fact I just sold my slave G5, figuring it was time to do that while it was still worth a little.

  • I'm not quite in the same shape although I'm looking to move up from my Core 2 Duo Intel iMac 17" to a Mac Pro because of its expandability. I still will keep my Core Duo Macbook which seems to run Logic Express and VIenna SE pretty well off of a Porsche LAcie bus-powered Firewire drive (5400 RPM) but I have two firewire external 7200 RPM drives for my iMac that will hook up nicely to the Mac Pro.

    I do agree with Nick that it's better to bypass the Mac G5 in favor of the Mac Pro. I could have bought a used G5 for $999 but the guy at the store said that my iMac Core 2 Duo was faster and not to bother unless I was going Mac Pro.

  • Should i expect any problem running Appassionanat strings on a Pc Dual Xeon 1.8 hgz with 2 GB ram? Along with my sequencer that is? Will i be limited?

    I need to know this cause there's no way i can afford an other Pc now.

  • I doubt you'll have problems with that machine, Joe, but I want to make sure I'm not scaring anyone into thinking they need car-priced computers to use VSL or anything else!

    The way it works is that most modern computers will run some of a huge library (VSL being the hugest right now), no single computer will run all of it at once, therefore every computer has a limit to the amount it can run. Byron is running into the limit of a G4 laptop, a machine that's close to very minimum specified machine for VSL; he's talking about buying a $1500 used Mac, and I'm just suggesting that he spend the money differently.

  • Thanks Nick. I just had to make sure.

  • Looks like I'm in for 3 grand plus. I do like the idea of those four tasty drive bays in the new Pro towers. the base 2Ghz model should do it, don't you think? I've heard Logic won't access more than 4GB of RAM even though the new machines can take 16. Can someone confirm this?

    Thx for the advice.

    the bm