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  4. Gigabit Ethernet more problematic then Megabit...?!?

  • Gigabit Ethernet more problematic then Megabit...?!?

    F
    F
    I've spent most of my day today trying to get my multi computer rig up and running with Ens Pro. This is an exciting piece of software but so far I've been unable to get it to work when running GIAGBIT ethernet. I know this sounds odd, but when I run my rig through one of two Gigabit routers I own (Apple Time Capsule, or D-Link Gigabit switch) I get a chaos of pops, clicks, stuck notes, etc, on even ONE instrument. The oddest "blip" is a recurring "drop out" of the audio signal. If, on the other hand, I run the rig through an old Netgear router at 100mbs, I get decent performance (can play 7-8 instruments) until I hit the bandwidth limitation.

    I don't understand what's going on. I don't even know if it's a hardware problem or if my rig is not fast enough, whether pro tools is the issue, windows 7, etc....argh. Here's my main rig in a mutshell:

    DAW Pro Tools 8.1 on a MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.8 gHz 4GB Ram DIGI002R

    Slave 1 Windows 7 PC 64-bit AMD Dual Core X2 5200 3.0gHz 8GB RAm MOTU 828 Interface

    Slave 2 Windows 7 PC 64-Bit Core 2 Duo 2.4 gHz 4GB RAM MOTU 828 Interface

    Does anybody know how much harder it is on our CPUs to run audio over ethernet anyhow? Should I not be trying this without octo cores all around?
  • M
    M

    I'm running VE Pro on a MBP 2.16GHz C2D and my slave is 3GHz Pentium(!) running WinXP so it's fair to say it isn't CPU power you're lacking! Try running a direct connection from the host to one slave - they both have gigabit NICs so the connection will run at that speed. Then try running a direct connection from the host to the other slave. If you don't have a problem with either then you know your gigabit switches aren't up to the job.

    M
  • T
    T
    Make sure you have only plugged in gigabit-compatible devices into your gigabit switch. Some switches suffer performance problems when mixing gigabit and 10/100 devices. I had audio glitches until I noticed this, then put my VEPro slaves on a second separate/private network -- all fixed. As Martin suggested, connecting two of your computers directly can help troubleshoot your setup.
  • F
    F
    Cool, thanks for the suggestions. I gave the direct connection a try from Macbook to the AMD. Same exact behavior. All NIC's seem to be running at 1.0 GPS. I guess it's not the router then. Wish it was, that would have been simpler. Could it be some kind of AMD compatibility issue? Also, threetwo, what do you mean by a private network? I had all computers running via one gigabit switch (all are gigabit devies) and did not have that switch plugged into another router (no internet connection). Does that qualify as "private"?

    I have MOL installed on all machines. Is that a possible conflict?

    Is anyone else having a problem like this out there?
  • T
    T
    By "private network" I simply meant no device is on your network that isn't directly contributing to your music. Sounds like something else is going on, though. I have VEP active on both Macs and PCs, with MusicLab's MIDI Over LAN running on the Macs for non-VEP instruments, so MOL is not an issue. Wouldn't hurt to try some of your other ethernet cables in your direct connection tests -- I've had varying degrees of problems with cables over the years. Try increasing all the buffer sizes for your audio cards, sequencer, etc., just in case. While I wouldn't call my current music setup bulletproof or even glitch-free, it is eminently useable and a radical improvement from my first VEP networking attempts.
  • M
    M

    I've been using MoL in my setup too with no problems. Out of curiosity try running a direct connection to your other slave (the C2D). Also as suggested above try raising the buffer to see what difference that makes.
  • F
    F
    Been on deadline and unable to get back to this til now....BUT turns out that when I plug direct from Mac to my Core 2 Duo (Intel) machine, performance is great. Problem only exists using AMD machine. Any further help? ( : Both computers are running Realtek Gigabit PCIe ethernet controllers, so I suspect this might be an issue with AMD processors???
  • K
    K

    Does the CPU meter in VE Pro on the AMD machine reveal a higher CPU usage?