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  3. Mac book pro with 2,4 GHz dual core Intel Core i5 how suitable is for vsl se?

  • Mac book pro with 2,4 GHz dual core Intel Core i5 how suitable is for vsl se?

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    Mac book pro with 2,4 GHz dual core Intel Core i5 how suitable is for vsl se? at this time at least i use Logic 9.1.5 i understaned Cubase east more cpu. and want use also other synths,and samples eith vsl se. but any info how suitable is or i must buy more powerful mac book pro if i want use vsl se. of course i add memory to 8gigabytes and use external 7200rpm harddisks for samplelibraries etc. i only ask becouse looks like 15 models and faster 13 model is clearly more pricey. and i dont want fullhd laptop reason are my eyes. but i also must think if even need laptop. i can also think mac minis. depends lot of things but laptop have own good points.
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    You likely want an SSD For any big disk streaming sample collection. Internal. If external, it really needs eSata or thunderbolt. FW won't cut it. 

    Vsl, and sample playback in general, is not very CPU intensive. And, clock speed is more important than number of cores. But, you need a dedicated drive (or in a laptop, a single SSD would likely suffice being so much faster) and enough ram to buffer what you need to load. 

    Youd likely see better performance from the i5/7 MacBook Airs in stock configs because of the Ssd. The ideal Mac laptop solution for disk streaming samples is to buy the laptop...then pull the optical drive out and put a second drive into its bay/Sata port. A SSD in there, dedicated to samples should kill. 

    I would really ask why you "have to" have a laptop, though. Just cause? Need it for something else? 
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    To me other option is Mac Mini/Mac Mini Server reasons are for all solutions price,and i dont have room two big displays is reason why i dont even think Imacs. (i have two other computers for special software what i cannot use with Mac (actually not even with PC)) for this SSD thing: saddly for example even 256gigabytes is maybe not much for samples (when i think something VSL SE + Omnisphere + Komplete 7 (for now piano,and ethnic sounds at least,and massive etc)+ Ezdrummer with vintagerock and jazz expansions+ Ik multimedia totalnworkstation 2 (at least these and maybe another VSL stuff what i dont remember which it is when we talk name but i know what product i mean,and i even need last one for old projects and maybe some special uses but becouse its old product i trying avoid it after i get at least vsl se.(becouse someday dont work anymore...) ,but luckily last two dont need fast hd) and bigger than this size is at least now is very pricey. and now means things maybe changed when i have suitable amount for moeny for my whole list.. ps. i dont maybe need laptop i dont yet know. i have few ideas when i need laptop but i still maybe go mac mini route. maybe best solution for me is mac mini + ssd (something beetween 256-512gb) +8gigabytes ram. if i dont need portable computer. and i can use with mac book pro external hd with fw somehow i imagine fw is not going be bottleneck for me. i allready have 1.5gb with usb/fw connection and 7200rpm disk.
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    Do you understand the difference in samples and disk streaming samples? Ex drummer, omnisphere, IK, and most of Komplete doesn't stream from the disk...or at least isn't hard on the disk bandwidth. Vsl chews on your drive as you play constantly. The others just load into ram and play. They can be on whatever kind of disk--and the only diff would be load time. 
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    Also...7200rpm INTERNAL drives are fine to stream...what I use. The Ssd thing a rec for these little computers with no bays--with just a single internal drive. I can tell you putting a bunch of streaming instruments on the magnetic boot drive wont work. Since you just have vsl, it might be fine. I don't have any samples that load into ram. I use hardware for all that kind of size of sound sets. 
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    @popmann said:

    Do you understand the difference in samples and disk streaming samples? Ex drummer, omnisphere, IK, and most of Komplete doesn't stream from the disk...or at least isn't hard on the disk bandwidth. Vsl chews on your drive as you play constantly. The others just load into ram and play. They can be on whatever kind of disk--and the only diff would be load time. 

    Yes i understand. and looks like even 256gb ssd is suitable my vienna needs i dont think need much of them. mainly vsl se and its extension and maybe later something else. and even this depend lots of things. ja internal 7200rpm thing means i can use system disk if its 7200rpm?
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    Yes and no. You CAN use any drive...the system drive will be busy doing other things, you it will not respond as well/quickly as a drive that sits and waits for notes to stream and caching is based solely on sample data. 

    So, yes, the system drive will work...not as well as a dedicated one. Now, if the system drive is and SSD, it should work fine since their access times are like .07ms compared to 11-14ms of magnetic. I didn't look those numbers up-and vary drive to drive, but you get the point--it's literally fractional access time. 
  • civilization 3C
    civilization 3C
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    @Another User said:

    omnisphere and most of Komplete doesn't stream from the disk

    Does Omnisphere use disc-streaming?
    Yes! Omnisphere streams from the disc for quick previewing of the sounds. Disc streaming is configurable as well.

    http://www.spectrasonics.net/products/omnisphere-faq.php

    I don't know from 'most of Komplete', but Kontakt has used disk streaming for around a decade. And it is definitely better performance than from RAM. Disk streaming was developed by Nemesys way back in the day. I knew about it from Gigastudio ten years ago. I think the patent was secured in the 90's. NI followed suit shortly thereafter. If we're talking about samples, we are talking about disk streaming or we're talking about something very retro.
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    This Vienna Ensemble works this way or is this misunderstanding: DAW have Audiounit/VST etc which controls external program which gives sounds back to VST/Audiounit. Bit complex but understandable if there is good reason for it.
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    If you can choice (these are current best Mac Minis) which one is bette Mac Mini Server with Intel Core I7 2ghz (4cores) or Mac Mini with Intel Core i5 2,5ghz (2cores) ps. understanded Clock speed and number of cores is more important with VSL than actual speed. but which one is better more cores or more ghz. i think more cores. oops someone allready sayed this thing... but if oppsote info is possible so dont remove my post...
  • civilization 3C
    civilization 3C

    again, if used as a plugin, a plugin functions in the same process as the host.

    a bridge puts it in another process. Vienna Ensemble *is* another process, a host functioning as a plugin outside the 'DAW' host to connect to.

    NI has advised to turn off multicore support for their plugins, eg. Kontakt, in hosts that have it activated. this demonstrates the concept 'same process'.

    2 x4 = 8

    2.5 x2 = 5

    oversimpllifed, granted. but if a process, Vienna Ensemble Pro, Cubase, etc, for example, uses cores effectively, more = more.
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    Thanks. and this oversimplified sounds good. now looks like my next daw is if all goes well is mac mini server and 8gigabytes of ram. ps. i mean bridge way. and thanks for this NI tip i try look it.
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    and i ask if i store other files to same drive what i use for vsl ? what are not streamed its this problem. if i dont have fragmentation in this drive...