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  • Realistic # of Machines

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    Hi. I'm hoping for some advice. I've been searching through this forum and many of the threads touch on the topic but I can't seem to find a definitive answer. My question is: What is a realistic number of macs to run the full VI library? I want to be able to load up all of the instruments with fairly robust presets such as the ones that Beat Kaufmann was so generous to post. I'm open to any models with any configuration of ram. I'm about to start a TV series that will be a 7 month constant state of change and revision so it is not realistic for me to use memory management. Any suggestions? Anybody working under the gun that could share some advice?

    -Adam.
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    Well....

    I'd recommend (as I like the MacMini) 4 MacMini slaves (one per section, i.e. Strings, Brass, Woods, Percussion) plus another machine for your master DAW. Therefore 5 in total, all with 2GB Ram, except your master DAW which should be a G5 or equiv with 4-6GB RAM.

    Don't forget that at most you can have one device per VI (without buying additional licences of course) which would be a physical maximum of 10 plus say your DAW.

    It really depends upon you. You could of course buy 2 G5s with 16GB RAM or 4 or 5....

    I'm sure others will have plenty of opinions too. How much money do you have? In this game I have learnt that there is no such thing as too much hardware - the more the merrier, but of course that gives you an overhead too - how much do you want to spend configuring hardware and software vs composing....

    Cheers

    Tim
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    Another way to look at it is that Beat's programs are something like 800MB each. If you really want to load all those huge Presets without abandon, you can get three of them on a single Windows machine with 3GB or two on a machine with 2GB.

    A G5 with 5GB should be able to run three in the 3GB it has available, but if you put 8GB in it you can load an additional couple of GB to run other libraries inside Logic (and possible DP and Cubase, but I haven't tested them). That additional 2GB could be earlier or less deluxe VSL libraries running inside EXS24 or Kontakt, or they could be anything else; the point is that the VSL program runs outside Logic and gets 3GB no matter how you slice it.

    So if you're going to run a whole orchestra of Beat's programs, you'd need 7,532,604,002 computers. But you can easily put together some very functional Presets that are crammed full of all kinds of stuff but take half the RAM - not that his aren't very well thought out and useful.

    If you want to do some rough maths, each Preset (articulation) is an average of maybe 25 or 30MB, although some are 15 and some are 50.
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    Uh, I was told there would be no math.

    Thanks guys. In hindsight, I probably should have worded this differently.

    Is anyone doing full orchestrations with presets as expansive as (or close to) Beat Kaufmann's without memory management or bouncing? I honestly don't think that Beat's presets are overkill. They're a completely reasonable palette to draw from and potentially a brilliant solution for workflow if they can actually be loaded over a sane number of computers. Is anyone actually pulling it off? Are we there yet? Am I nuts to consider setting up an orchestral template over a number of systems so that I don't have to touch a thing when I drastically switch styles? I'm stuck with having to come up with 22 minutes of music a week. - Not ridiculous but undoable if I had to spend the time customizing the presets for each piece of music especially when there are several per show. Yes I realize that I could use old VSL in kontakt to ease the pain and share the ram but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to have to subsidize the VIs especially when I'm buying them for the new articulations. I realize that the common response to all of this will likely be "yes but it will cost you lots." How much? Can it be done? Is anyone doing it? Is the ultimate VI machine a thing of the future? A veritable "orchestra at your fingertips"? Will I still have hair when the technolgy catches up? If not, will there be pills to grow it back? Somebody please chime in and say "yes, I can orchestrate Debussy, Bach and Shnitke without touching my template". Or, yes you will have hair. Either one will do.

    -Adam.
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    PC guy here. 5 PC's with VSL on them. I have every instrument in the Cube loaded up and ready to go, and room to spare. My instruments are not as extenssive as Beats, but between 300-450mb each (not percussion of course). This is enough to load everything I use on a regular basis, and even patches I only use once in a while.
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    I don't think Beat's presets are overkill either, in fact I have them on my machines. They're very useful.

    My point is just that loading a whole orchestra of them at a rate of three instruments per machine is going to turn your studio into this:

    <a href=http://www.nsc.liu.se/systems/monolith/monolit2-small.jpg">
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    last edited
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    @Nick Batzdorf said:

    I don't think Beat's presets are overkill either, in fact I have them on my machines. They're very useful.

    My point is just that loading a whole orchestra of them at a rate of three instruments per machine is going to turn your studio into this:

    http://www.nsc.liu.se/systems/monolith/monolit2-small.jpg">


    LOL Nick - your set up is impressive - are you running the 3 gb switch on these machines [:D]

    Rob
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    Yes, Rob, I am!

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