Hi all,

I'm having the clicking and popping (sounds like a new dance, doesn't it?) thing too. I'm running Pro Tools 7.1 as my main sequencer on an elderly G4 Mac and then I've got a newer but still PPC iMac G5 as my slave. With Kontakt everything was fine and worked very well but I can't get the VIs to work usably in any configuration. I've tried the standalone and a few hosts, notably a copy of Logic Pro but I always get random clicks and pops at some point. This means that the VIs are simply unusable at this point in time.

One slightly lateral idea did occur to me and I was wondering whether anyone else has tried this yet. My idea is that, rather than recording my MIDI directly into PT and then sending it via MIDI to the iMac, what if I were to sync Logic on the iMac to PT on the G4 via MMC (for instance) with the sync info sent over Ethernet and then simply recorded my MIDI data directly into Logic on the iMac? It's a little bit Heath Robinson as ideas go but if the problem is somehow with MIDI data coming in from a slave (although as someone else has said, I don't really see how the VI can know the source of the MIDI data) then... of course, maybe the sync data would mess this up in a similar way.

For the moment I've had to go back to using Kontakt as at least that's usable. However a taste of honey and all that and it is very frustrating not to be able to use the VIs (and, incidentally, I did pay for them you know, so I kind of feel I ought to be able to use them... Oops, sorry, almost forgot I'm British and thus don't know how to complain about things except under my breath [:D]).

Anyway, I'd be grateful if someone at VSL could let us know what's happening for those of us who don't have Intel Macs. If I have to buy a new slave Mac that's going to put back my plans to buy more of the VIs by a good few months.

Nick[/i]

I don't know when this problem appeared, but lately I'm getting a crackling/popping from Logic Pro 7.2.3, on OS X 10.4.8. The noise is not constant, but rather appears at intervals of 1 to 2 minutes. It lasts for 15 to 30 seconds, then stops (for another minute or two!). This is very frustrating. I finally got the template setup for my next piece, and now I've got this new problem! Aack.

Note that this is NOT on a slave, but in a Logic host machine, with the VIs running as AU plugins.

Any thoughts, anybody?

J.

Okay, I solved the periodic thing by setting my IO buffer back down to 512 -- I don't know when I set it to 1024, but I did. The RME card I have has a default buffer of 512, so I suppose some funky timing error was being produced by Logic. Don't know, doesn't make a lot of sense, but either does Logic (ironically).


J.

Now if I could only get Sibelius to play nice with Logic... it's not going to happen though... boo. (Somedays I really hate computers.)

Where does this issue stand at the moment?

I'm debating using G5 towers as VSL farms or moving to mac minis.
Seems like the G5 makes sense (one audio interface and lots of cheap ram) but this issue is a potential problem.

So just for clarifications sake -
Does a G5 running osx have a problem hosting VI's when used as a slave ?
Is there a particular version of OSX that gets better/worse results?

Thanks !

There is NO getting around this:

The G5 does NOT work as a slave host .........(it clicks and pops)
The G5 worx perfectly as main DAW.

END OF STORY


Mac-Minis make perfect slaves.


SvK

Thanks for that reply.
Are the mini's ok now in OSX or is it bootcamp only?

thanks again!

Mac Minis will run fine with latest OS-X and latest VI stuff....

I use plogue Bidule.......no problems.......


Now you will be tempted to fill up the memory on the MAC-Minis.....try to leave a healthy amount of free RAM


I have a 2gig RAM Mac-mini......I fill it up with circa 1.3 Gig of VI stuff and it runs like a top. (and i use it's internal drive.......worx fine)

SvK

JBM:

What happens when you try to get Sibelius to play with Logic? In my setup, on one G5, Finale plays Logic's Audio Instruments (e.g VI instances as well as EXS24 and Kontakt Player instances) while simultaneously playing Gigastudio running on a Windows machine (but routed back into Logic) with few glitches. I have a colleague who does something similar with Sibelius.

Essentially, MIDI from Finale is routed to the IAC drivers and the IAC ports on Logic's Physical Input Object are routed to Channel Splitters whose channelized outputs are routed to Audio Instruments. Selecting a No Output track in Logic's Arrange window eliminates MIDI feedback problems. "Auto enable external sync" is turned off in Logic (dialog box accessed by File menu/Song Settings/Synchronzation or via keyboard shortcut Option-X).

@svonkampen said:

Now you will be tempted to fill up the memory on the MAC-Minis.....try to leave a healthy amount of free RAM


I have a 2gig RAM Mac-mini......I fill it up with circa 1.3 Gig of VI stuff and it runs like a top. (and i use it's internal drive.......worx fine)

Hey--- did you try loading more than 1.3 Gig ? If so, what kind of problems did you experience? If not, why did you stop at 1.3Gig?

Jerome

Jerome.....


Clicking popping seems to start creeping in......Of course I can't be certain whether it is related to the disk speed, processor or both.....


I must restate my figures though ...I fill it up to 1,5 gig

sorry for errer...

Jerome.....

I would very muck like to talk with you.....check your pm's

see ya,

SvK

@stevesong said:

JBM:

What happens when you try to get Sibelius to play with Logic? In my setup, on one G5, Finale plays Logic's Audio Instruments (e.g VI instances as well as EXS24 and Kontakt Player instances) while simultaneously playing Gigastudio running on a Windows machine (but routed back into Logic) with few glitches. I have a colleague who does something similar with Sibelius.

Essentially, MIDI from Finale is routed to the IAC drivers and the IAC ports on Logic's Physical Input Object are routed to Channel Splitters whose channelized outputs are routed to Audio Instruments. Selecting a No Output track in Logic's Arrange window eliminates MIDI feedback problems. "Auto enable external sync" is turned off in Logic (dialog box accessed by File menu/Song Settings/Synchronzation or via keyboard shortcut Option-X).

Yeah, I use a similar setup, except there's no need to worry about sync, since Sibelius can't send any(!). I just get dropouts of the VIs, mainly my *large* violin solo preset, when the score gets even moderately busy. What machine does your colleague have? I'm on an old dual 1.8 G5 (the 8 RAM slot version). Samples on a 250 GB internal SATA. Matters have got much better since upgrading my audio card, and switching from ADAT sync to word clock, but I still get glitches. It doesn't prevent me from working anymore, though. Mind you, there's another score, with more solo string action, that I haven't even attempted to run yet... too damn frustrating to even bother with until I'm feeling particularly optimistic. I'm trying to split up my solo strings over different machines for that piece, using one of those linked licenses... but... well...

The next potential issue I'm going to tackle (whenever Mr. Courier-man arrives!) is to condition the power in my studio. I'm very concerned that *many* of the problems I've been having are power-related. Probably they were always there, but I just didn't notice until I bought the VIs. They are flirting with the bleeding-edge, after all. Fingers crossed.

J.

jbm:

My colleague has a dual 1.25GHz G4 and a 1.67Ghz Powerbook. I don't believe he's running a lot of instruments.

However, one thing that might help is the freeware program MIDI Patchbay available at http://pete.yandell.com/software/

With this software you create and save a configuration aiming the IAC ports at Logic (or whatever output object you want) - - which is very easy to do. I've found that MIDI Patchbay appears to buffer Finale's output with the end result being a very significant (99%) reduction in the number of dropped or stuck notes. It might work similarly with Sibelius.

Interesting... I have MIDI Patchbay, but I haven't used it for this purpose (at least not recently). I've always just used the IAC Bus which, being Apple's own, I figured would be pretty decent. I certainly will give it a go sometime.

thanks,

J.