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  3. Main reason for using two computers?

  • Main reason for using two computers?

    P
    P
    Who here does it, how many... and why?
  • C
    C
    Simple......more power. Bigger templates mean more sounds are at your finger tips. Having a large pallete quickly avaiable allows you to write instead of load.
  • P
    P
    well.. not that simple... [:)]

    Whats the bottleneck of one computer, more precicely? Ram?... And cant a really fast computer kill some load time?
  • N
    N
    The bottlenecks are RAM for loading programs, RAM for loading programs, RAM for loading programs, and polyphony.

    Faster disks/disk subsystems allow sounds to be loaded faster, but what matters is the extra polyphony you can get (if you're using EXS - Giga is fixed at 160 voices for now). Nobody cares whether it takes 15 or 18 seconds to load a program.

    The confusion may be that you're used to RAM-based sample libraries. I was always able to load more than I needed in 1GB of RAM on my Mac - there was never any reason to spend the extra $50 to max it out at 1.5GB. But now the VSL and other large streaming libraries have changed that.
  • P
    P
    So the processor is less important?
  • T
    T
    Processor Speed will become less important if you have a multiple computer set-up.

    I guess it depends on what you need to work on and the time you have to complete the job and the budget.

    In the Broadcast Business you often have less than a working week to compose - arrange - program and mix. (OK I will admit the pieces tend to be shorter than film or video work)

    To answer your original question in the Studio I have 3 Macs and 2 PC linked together as a General Composing Station with 1 Mac (the most powerful, in control of the overall process) A Mac will control a PC better than the other way around. The linking is a combination of Midi and LAN - For video we use light pipes.

    Several Studios I visit around the world have much the same set up. In Broadcast Studios - in the recent past Audio Work Stations tended to be the least powerful machines - however this is changing rapidly.

    I have aslo been monitoring the interesting developments in the so called Cluster Environments. Recently in Tokyo I witnesses a cluster of 8 Macs (Mid-Range) Rendering 3D in almost real time. Probably a year or two before we see a AV version of the interlinking software.

    Second hand PC/Macs have never been so cheap - you can often pick 2 or 3 three six month old models for the same price as a brand new on which is likely to have only a 10-15% increase in performance anyhow.

    OK there can be a hit on the software liecenses - but there are some real deals to be had. Some Vendors - Yellowtools and NI for example will grant you a two machine liecense just by asking for it - Others like Steinberg and Emagic you can negotiate with.

    If you use Soft Instruments (Logic/VST/AU) then you only need have these reside on one machine.

    Sample Libraries are getting larger all the time and even with new developments like the G5 and the AMD processors - a single machine may not give you the bandwidth (throughput) required.

    My recommendation for Studio and some home set ups to plan to go down the dual or multiple machine route.

    tattie