Is MIR PRO usable on a small configuration ?

[Plougot]

Hi everyone.

I would be interested in purchasing MIR PRO, but right now, i only have 1 computer, W7, with a i7 2600k.

So, quite a small spec...

I know that i won't be able to do any real orchestral stuff real time, so my question is : is it possible with mir pro not to work in real time ? For example, to deactivate it completely, apart from the pan, in order to have a "light on cpu" configuration, and then, activate fully before bouncing. I know that i would have to export previews in order to configure MIR PRO, since i would'nt be able to hear it in real time, except for one or two instruments at the same time.

So i would like to know if you think this setup would be viable, or if it's going to drive me crazy, wasting to much of my time, and i need to wait to have a better computer / a computer farm first.

Thx !

David

[Paul]

Hi Plougot, 

MIR PRO only works in real-time, and you can spare your CPU by using high buffer settings, but there is no offline-mode. 

A fast computer definitely makes sense. 

Best, 

Paul

[Plougot]

Thx for the answer !

That's too bad, though. I really think this would be a great way to allow it to work on smaller specs, even if i can understand that it must be complicated for no new features for current users.

Well, i still have to wait for a couple years, i suppose ^^.

[Dietz]

Hi David,

a _possible_ (although most certainly not the preferable) way to work with MIR Pro on less powerful machines is to use the plug-in version rather than the VE Pro-based full version, and to use the "Freeze" function of your DAW after you're happy with one track. You could also manually bounce  a group of tracks, and and deactivate the individual plug-ins afterwards.

Technically, the result will be the same, but it might be a bit more demanding than having everything playing in real-time.

BTW - "real-time" is an elastic term ;-) ... higher latency- and buffer-settings will give you accepatble results on less powerful machines. You might not want to play "through" MIR with 50+ ms delay, but for mixing it doesn't make that much difference.

So - as long as you don't run out of RAM (12 GB is what I would consider the smallest meaningful configuration), you could give it a try - there's a fully functional demo license available for 30 day! :-)

Kind regards,

[Plougot]

I got 16 Go of ram for now. I might go for 24 or even 32 later, but since i use a combination of vienna dimension strings, vienna special edition and sample modeling instruments (not demanding a lot of ram, but heavier on the cpu), it's not something i really need right now.

For now, in order to "create the space", i use 5 hybrid reverbs set up slightly differently (one for each depth, from soloists to percussions) + at least 12 TILT filters to darken all the instruments (especially the sample modeling ones). 

What i don't know is if i must consider that in mir pro, since each instrument has its own reverb, one instrument is gonna take as much cpu as one of my depth reverb right now. If it's the case, i know that it's pointless to hope for some "real-time".

And yes, i know "real-time" is quite elastic ^^. What i meant was being able to tweak mir pro settings and hear the changes right away (obviously with a very high latency). As long as i can find a way to easily switch from the "input mode" to the "mixing mode" and vice & versa...

I also know that i can try the demo, but since i got a really, really bad internet connection, i want to be sure there will be something to try out before downloading big files (for example : it took me more than a week to download the dimension cellos). that + me going on holiday, i don't think using my demo license right now is a good idea ^^. I might eat my 30 days without even trying it a single time !

[Casiquire]

I second the idea of trying the demo.  MIR Pro is so good I wouldn't want you to pass it up if it might work just fine for you.  And people always seem to overestimate the resources needed.  I have a highly mobile setup with only eight gigs of RAM and i can load up my whole orchestra, including MIR, even including a couple of hungry Play libraries, without needin tog bounce anything.  So definitely give it a try, you might be surprised!  Your demo doesn't start until you activate it, so you can let it all download first and get everything ready to go before starting the trial.

I've never specifically looked into this but it doesn't feel like MIR doubles its resource load with every new instance of MIR.  They're doing something under-the-hood to load up impulses in the most efficient manner.

[Dietz]

@Another User said:

And yes, i know "real-time" is quite elastic ^^. What i meant was being able to tweak mir pro settings and hear the changes right away (obviously with a very high latency). As long as i can find a way to easily switch from the "input mode" to the "mixing mode" and vice & versa...[...]

In case of MIR Pro plug-in, it's as easy as de-activating the plug-in form the instrument's channel as long as you want to play via MIDI.

[Plougot]

Great ! I'm definitely going to give it a try, then ! 

Thx everyone for taking the time to answer me !

[Symfoniq]

I don't consider an i7 2600K to be underpowered by any means. Compared to the Xeons of just three or four years ago, the i7 2600K is extremely powerful. It's also comparable to the i7 3770K that's been giving me excellent performance in MIR Pro with 16 GB of RAM.

So, definitely try the demo.

[Pyre]

Hiya

I've recently got into MIR Pro myself on a comparatively limited PC, and I've managed to get around it mostly by using a different instance for each section of the orchestra. My PC can handle about 8 VI icons in real time without the CPU glitching, which handily is about the number per section in my orchestral templates. So my workflow is to add the entire orchestra into one VE Pro/MIR instance to position the instruments in relation to each other, but not actually play anything. I then save that template and load it three more times, and delete all but one of the sections from each. I can then go through each VE Pro section and sort out keyswitches, levels and velocity crossfades, and freeze the VST for that section when done. This means I can listen to the winds, brass and percussion when inputting the velocities for the strings, for example.

It's a pain, and I wish my computer could handle it all in real time (obviously), but it's not the end of the world, and is certainly worth it for the awesomeness of Vienna MIR.

Pyre