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  • Hardware Questions

    W
    W

    I'm planning on purchasing new computer hardware to run a VSL piano (probably the Steinway) for live performance. I've done a bunch of Googling but still can't seem to find definitive answers to my questions so I thought I'd try here.

    1) My understanding is that if I use a Mac I don't need low-latency drivers or an external sound card, that the MacOS sound system is more than adequate for live performance. Is this correct?

    2) If I used a Windows-based PC, I'd have to find ASIO drivers for the Synchron software to get the latency down to acceptable levels for live playing. is this correct?

    3) An M3 Pro-based MacBook Pro starts with 18GB of RAM. Is this enough or is 32+ GB a must for live performance? The MacBook Air maxes out at 24GB, would this be enough?

    4) As far as MacBooks goes, I've read that some external NVME enclosures are nearly as fast as the internal NVME drive. My plan would be to buy one of these enclosures and use it to store the VSL piano. Will this work?

    Basically I'm looking for the cleanest way to do live playing via a MIDI keyboard (a VPC-1 or something similar), with the minimum amount of latency and without having to worry about noise or crackle that you can sometimes get with software-based virtual pianos. I know Windows-based hardware gives you more bang for the buck, but I've had problems getting ASIO drivers to work in the past and would like to avoid that if I can, which is why I'm leaning towards a Mac.
  • O
    O

    I can't speak concerning Macs.

    I use a PC WIN 10 Pro 64 bit - Intel 6600K 32GB RAM


    I think you are right, that you would have to look for working ASIO-drivers.
    You will probably already have found homepages like this: https://www.baumannmusic.com/2021/the-official-asio-driver-for-realtek-hd-audio-dell-hp-lenovo-asus/

    As far as Interfaces are concerned I can report as follows (all of them do the job for me):

    Steinberg UR824 - 44.1k, with a buffer size 256 Samples - output latency of 12 ms (a smaller unit for a little more than 100 € should do it)
    RME Fireface UFX III - 48k, with a buffer size of 256 samples - output latency not displayed - but feels a little faster (a smaller like the babyface should do)
    AXE-FX III Mark II - 48k, with a buffer size of 128 samples - it fells fastest - but that's not something to buy as a pure audio interface

    If you plug into FOH in an analog way you probably need a box to generate a symetric signal (= two poles + - and seperate shielding) anyway. If that is the case a little USB-Interface could do the job.
    The drivers of the units listed above all work on my system.

    I use a VPC-1 as a keyboard.

    Best wishes!
  • J
    J

    On the question of external drive for VSL on Mac Mini, you might find this thread informative: https://pianoclack.com/forum/d/1358-speed-of-ssds-in-vsl-synchron-pianos
  • R
    R
    @WingFat said:

    I'm planning on purchasing new computer hardware to run a VSL piano (probably the Steinway) for live performance. I've done a bunch of Googling but still can't seem to find definitive answers to my questions so I thought I'd try here.


    1) My understanding is that if I use a Mac I don't need low-latency drivers or an external sound card, that the MacOS sound system is more than adequate for live performance. Is this correct?


    2) If I used a Windows-based PC, I'd have to find ASIO drivers for the Synchron software to get the latency down to acceptable levels for live playing. is this correct?


    3) An M3 Pro-based MacBook Pro starts with 18GB of RAM. Is this enough or is 32+ GB a must for live performance? The MacBook Air maxes out at 24GB, would this be enough?


    4) As far as MacBooks goes, I've read that some external NVME enclosures are nearly as fast as the internal NVME drive. My plan would be to buy one of these enclosures and use it to store the VSL piano. Will this work?


    Basically I'm looking for the cleanest way to do live playing via a MIDI keyboard (a VPC-1 or something similar), with the minimum amount of latency and without having to worry about noise or crackle that you can sometimes get with software-based virtual pianos. I know Windows-based hardware gives you more bang for the buck, but I've had problems getting ASIO drivers to work in the past and would like to avoid that if I can, which is why I'm leaning towards a Mac.

    It would be great if you share your final purchase, did you finally get a Macbook? How has your experience been so far? Big thanks in advance.