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  • Drawbacks to multiple VE standalone instances?

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    I am planning purchase of a new 8 core MacPro dekstop machine. Assuming that there will be a considerable length of time before  of OSX compatible 64-bit versions of VE 2 and VE 3 become available, I am wondering what significant drawbacks there might be to running multiple instances of these standalones under OS X - - each with about 2.5-3GB of samples loaded.  I don't mean that it is obviously less convenient to run things in this fashion than if OSX 64-bit versions were available, but rather, I'm interested in learning if there might be some significant technical issues that could arise. I understand that I could run Vista 64 on this machine and use it as a slave with a 64-bit version of VE 3 when it becomes available and I am considering that possibility, but I do want to know if running multiple instances of VE 2 (or VE 3) under OSX represents a viable alternative. I would be most appreciative of insights regarding this matter. 

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    hi steve! first off - i have the exact system you are thinking about getting. the memory situation at the moment is as follows: vienna ensemble uses a "service applet" which can handle several (as many as you want) instances of vienna ensemble. however, the service applet distributes the ram - so you are still limited to approximately 2,45 gig of ram. you can then use another 2 gig of ram using vienna instruments instances in your host program (unless you use any other ram hungry plug-ins). this gives you a total of about 4,5 gig of ram you can use currently. if you try to load more samples into ve it'll crash - at least that's what it does on my system (using cubase 4.12) - no warnings whatsoever. so unless 4,5 gig or ram are enough for you, you'll have to either wait for a 64bit ve or your host program to go 64bit. however, i find the ram sufficient for most projects - the bottle neck in my case is rather my hard drive.. so if you are thinking about running huge orchestra arrangements you should think about a raid option. cheers gernot
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     Gernot:

    Thanks for your response. However, my understanding is that one can launch multiple instances of the Vienna Ensemble application - - just by copying the Vienna Ensemble application multiple times and renaming thes copies (e.g VE 2, VE 3, VE 4, etc.) and then launching these several copies - - the idea being that each launched copy will create its own memory partition. Thus, if one had VE instantiated within a DAW that instance of VE would have its own memory partion (separate from the memory partition inhabited by the DAW) and each of the standalones would have its own memory partition. Theoretically then, each of these partitions could hold 2.5GB of samples. I could be wrong about this.There was a thread on this subject that I started more than a year ago. It can be found at http://community.vsl.co.at/forums/p/9271/69316.aspx#69316

    This discussion led to an article by Nick Batzdorf in Virtual Instruments magazine in which he showed how to load 7GB of samples on G5 PowerMac with four standalones of the Vienna Instruments sample player (this was before the release Veinna Ensemble). You can find this article in the December 2006 issue of Virtual Instruments magazine.

    It would be most helpful if someone from VSL would like to comment on this.

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    ok - got you. read the thread but i couldn't make anything of it (probably due to my limited understanding of the architecture). copying and renaming folders also doesn't do much for me - but probably i'm doing something wrong. obviously i can open more instances of ve (and access more ram) but then i cannot access them from within cubase. cubase itself always only lists one instance of ve - no matter what i do. nevertheless - that said - if there is a way to host more than one instance of ve and access more ram - i'd be more than interested! - anyone? thanks for the reply! gernot
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    Germot:

    You don't have to duplicate folders - - just the Vienna Ensemble application which is inside the Vienna Ensemble folder: select the Vienna Ensemble application and choose the "Duplicate" command (command-D) from the file menu. This will result in "Vienna Ensemble copy" which you can rename as you wish. Then you can do the same thing again, as many times as you wish. 

    Then you can launch the original standalone and as many duplicates as you wish.

     Assign each one of these to a different IAC bus (assuming that you've activated and created the appropriate number of IAC buses in AudioMIDI setup).

    I am not familiar with Cubase, so I don't know how you set it up to transmit MIDI on the IAC busses. (In Logic you create a multichannel MIDI object on the MIDI page of the environment and set its imput to an IAC bus, then wire a monitor object to the appropriate IAC bus visible on the Physical Input Object in the Clicks and Ports page of the Environment.) This results in IAC bus 1, channels 1-16 becoming available as choices on the Arrange page. 

    The problem then is to loop the audio output of the Vienna Ensembe standalone(s) back into the DAW. If you have an RME interface or an Apogee Symphony card based interface, this is accomlished in software - - where any output can be mapped to any input. What I do, using a MOTU 2408 which lacks this capability but has 3 ADAT inputs and outputs - - each of which has 8 audio channels (identified as Bank A, Bank B and Bank C) is to run a short ADAT cable from the  ADAT output of Bank C to the ADAT  input of Bank C. I then assign the output of Vienna Ensemble to output on channels 17-18 (the first two channels of Bank C. This output is looped back via the ADAT cable to Bank B where it will automatically be assigned to channels 9-10.

    In Logic I create an AUX channel whose input is channels 9-10 and whose outputs is channels 1-2. Using this arrangement I could have four VE standalones each with its own stereo outputs (or I could have more instances that shared outputs.) This is in addition to the VE running as a plugin within the DAW. This method does result in increased latency. However, in Logic there is a "Helper" plugin called I/O. If this plugin is instantiated in the AUX channel and set correctly to mirror the inpu/output settings of the AUX channel, latency is significantly reduced.

    You can find Virtual Instruments magazine at: http://www.virtualinstrumentsmag.com/

    The December 2006 issue is still available online but is, unfortunately, accessible only to subscribers (Subscriptions are $16.95 per year).

    The main limitation in this setup on my current G5 rig is lack of sufficient processing power - - a problem I hope to remedy with a new MacPro.

    My original question - - one which I hope someone at VSL will answer is, assuming that computer has sufficient processing power, if there is a some other problem with have 4-8 standalones running on an OSX machine.

    I hope this helpful.