Seeking advice on what gear I need to get started with VEP6 and slave

[gingang]

I'm wanting to get into composing and writing more.

I want to buy Vienna Ensemble Pro and run it on a slave computer.

My current 2 computers are:

1. Macbook Pro- Late 2011, 2.5ghz, i7, 8gb RAM (can upgrade to 16gb RAM) All SSD

2. Mac Mini- Late 2012, 2.6ghz, i7, 16gb RAM- All SSD

I will be running logic and pro tools. I am a pro tools user but recently bought Logic and really want to use that for composition.

I would like to have the capacity to create medium to large size templates running orchestral libraries on the slave with VEPro. 

Questions:

1. Are my current computers capable of doing this or not? If so, which would be best as slave? and which best for DAW? Why? 

2. If my current computers are not capable what do you recommend to buy?

I see alot of people are running PC slaves (cheaper for the performance). 

I have looked into Hackintosh.. just looks like a big pain. I want things to just work.

All of my software and sample libraries are for Mac as I haven't owned a PC for long time.

3. If I was to buy a PC slave I'm assuming I need to find the PC versions of all my mac software and install them on the new PC slave. Is that correct? A simple and obvious question I guess??

4. As I'm keen to run Logic as my main DAW, I must use a mac to host. Can either of my current two computers do this adequately? I'm assuming alot of the grunt needs to be on the slave side as thats where VEPro will reside?

Possible scenarios:

Use one of my current macs to run logic.

Purchase new mac mini 2018 and use this to host VEPro and all software and sample libraries. (thus, still keeping everything in mac land)

OR

Buy a PC Slave that can have tonnes of RAM and computing power (more the the mac mini).. I guess the downside being that I need to find the windows installers for all of my software and sample libraries.

What would a good option be? I'm concerned that even a new mac mini with max RAM (32gb I think) will not be able to adequately serve as a slave.

I can see my only other mac slave options are an Imac or mac pro (probably too much money). 

The imac will be limited in terms of RAM as the Mac mini is.

Any recommendations and advice is greatly apprectiated.

Adam. 

[mohsohsenshi]

Hi Adam,

Q1:

It depends on which libraries you've used and the numbers of instruments you have. If you go for giant libraries such as Eastwest hollywood, VSL (of course!) and creat a projet with hundreds of tracks and mixing plugins, both of your current computers won't be enough to run. Large orchestral projet requires a powerful CPU and lots of memories (at least 32G, sometimes 64G). 

In this case I recommend a PC as slave because it is simply much cheaper for the same performance than a Mac (up to 50% lower price!).

With VEP 6, you don't have to install any DAWs on your slave machine. VEP 6 itself is as a cross-platform for all plug-ins and sample player, no matter which versions ,32 bit or 64 bit, Win or Mac os.

Q2:

I recommend to build a PC yourself.

At 2019, A PC slave for VST based orchestral writing and serious mixing should be:

Any 8th generation i7 or better

a motherboard which suits your CPU

32G at least, 64G or more for heavy projet

1T or more SSD , try Nvme instead of SATA if you can afford.

a 10gbs network card(I'm not sure about this, some argue that it doesn't help much on reducing Lan latency with VEP)

The best plan in Mac is the Mac mini 2018.

8th generation i5/i7 has a much better performance than your current machines

native thunderbolt 3, friendly to any studio devices in music production

reasonable price against the iMac pro/Mac pro, you don't need a server cpu or 5K monitor in music production.

This article may help choosing a CPU

https://support.image-line.com/action/knowledgebase?ans=214

Q3:

If you are using Kontakt, Spitfire, Orchestral Tools, you only need to change the version of your sample player but not the library itself. As Kontakt based libraries share the same sample files on both PC and Mac.

If not, you have to reinstall a win version for your PC slave. So are the mixing plusins like Waves.

Q4:

They are just fine to be a master machine. On your master it only runs a DAW and deals with midi signals , as the slave handles all kinds of "heavy" mission - loading huge sample, high-cpu load plugins. Your audio interface and midi devices should be connected to your Master, use desktop remote such as Teamviewer ( it's free ) to control your slave machine.

 

Bottom line:

Use your current mac as Master and build a PC slave if you are going to create large size templates running orchestral libraries.

Or

Buy a brand new Mac mini 2018 with i5/16G/10gbs network card as Master and save money for a powerful PC slave.

Best,

mohsohsenshi

[stephen limbaugh]

I agree pretty much with everything mohsohsenshi said.

One thing I'd note about a laptop as a master: if it is streaming a LOT of midi data all at once, even at higher latencies, you will get some clicks/pops.

For example, if I load all of the mic positions for the Yamaha CFX, and I'm playing one of my virtuosic piano arrangements (might hit 2,000 voices of polyphony in some bars) it will totally crap out.  My PC slave is totally fine, but the laptop/Logic can't handle it.

At some point I'll need to get a better master machine... so perhaps consider that!

[mohsohsenshi]

@stephen limbaugh said:

I agree pretty much with everything mohsohsenshi said.

One thing I'd note about a laptop as a master: if it is streaming a LOT of midi data all at once, even at higher latencies, you will get some clicks/pops.

For example, if I load all of the mic positions for the Yamaha CFX, and I'm playing one of my virtuosic piano arrangements (might hit 2,000 voices of polyphony in some bars) it will totally crap out.  My PC slave is totally fine, but the laptop/Logic can't handle it.

At some point I'll need to get a better master machine... so perhaps consider that!

I came across the same problem using my macbook pro 2013 as Master. I guess it's probablly run out of cpu power.

In this case, having one monster PC/Mac and run VEP as hosting software on local machine may be a good choice.

For Adam's questions, a Mac mini 2018 can have up to 64g memories. A machine that meets the requirement is around 3300 USD, while a PC is under 2600 USD. The upgrade/customized price of Apple is ridiculously high (64g ram cost $1400 which can be found in DIY market with $600 ). If clicks/pops problems could be resolved with a mid-range mac mini 2018 , I suggest Adam to stay with the old plan.

I don't want to be cheap but I'd rather save my budget on VSL products or studio equitements.