Synchron libraries and computer hardware

[Oceanview]

Hello VSL,

I would be interested to read your latest advice on the most important parts of computer hardware to ensure the Synchron libraries work at their smoothest. In years past big VSL libraries required much greater amounts of RAM than was standard, and this remains true. But it seems this is now not the only factor for the Synchron libraries. Do you have any recommendations regarding drives, chips, speeds, etc?

Thanks.

[fahl5]

Regarding the RAM-Amount in use I was positivly surprised by the low RAM used by a complete orchestral Stringset with all Microphones. It seems as if they achieved some remarkable optimisation.

[Oceanview]

I should clarify that in asking for recommendations I did not mean the products of any specific companies, only the broad types or parameters.

[crusoe]

@Oceanview said:

Hello VSL,

But it seems this is now not the only factor for the Synchron libraries. Do you have any recommendations regarding drives, chips, speeds, etc?

Hi Oceanview, I think VSL stated this a few times, you do need a decent solid-state drive for the sample storage, too. I can confirm this first-hand. If you search the keywords, you'll find a few discussions about this subject. I don't yet own Synchron Strings Pro, so I can't claim anything about them. But SYS, Pianos, pretty much everything using Synchron Player does apply.

Cheers,

Crusoe.

[Oceanview]

Thanks Crusoe. I knew that SSDs mattered. My question would be what difference does it make if the SSD is external rather than internal. I currently have some Synchron samples on an external SSD linked via USB3 port. If one were building a new computer the presumption would be to use SSD drives internally?

[crusoe]

Hey Oceanview,

VSL samples are stored in large files, which is really nice for SSDs that have a fast connection bus.

One could buy two NVMe 2Tb each (maybe even three, if the motherboard supports it), so that's 4-6 Tb of fast internal storage. If you can afford that, and that's enough in terms of size, go for it and don't look back. But don't ditch that external drive, by all means :)

I share samples on my PC between a few NVMe m2 drives and an external SSD via SATA III connection. Heres's some stats:

/dev/nvme0n1 (this is the NVMe one):
 Timing cached reads:   26930 MB in  2.00 seconds = 13482.85 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads: 8884 MB in  3.00 seconds = 2960.68 MB/sec

/dev/sda (this is SSD Samsung 860 Evo 1TB via SATA III)
 Timing cached reads:   26346 MB in  2.00 seconds = 13189.70 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads: 1622 MB in  3.00 seconds = 540.34 MB/sec

As you can see, in my particular case NVMe is very far ahead. Can't tell how close this is to the real-world usage, though.

Cheers,

Crusoe.

[MMKA]

I think there is another point of attention: the clock speed of the processor and the number of cores.
Perhaps somebody of VSL could chime in here. 
With the Synchron Player you need much processor power, when you use a lot of microphones in one instrument or instrument group. Especially with VelXF and time stretching the processor has to do a lot of work and the programm reach quickly the limit of the possible.
I see that many Xeon processors have a lot of cores but sometimes have a rather low clock speed.

My questions should be:

• what should be a decent clock speed and a decent number of cores.
• Benefit one instance of Synchron Player from a high clock speed or many cores (or both of course)?
• What is a minimum clock speed and number of cores to use VelXF and timestretching with some ease.
• What is good number of cores with use of an x number instruments?