VEP Slave Computer Requirements

[wdegillio]

I am considering buying Vienna Ensemble Pro, and have a question. I see the Mac OS requirements on the VEP website list OS 10.8 as a minimum, but it does not state if that applies to the slave computer as well. I have an old Mac Pro (2.1, 3 GHz 8-core running 10.8.6) I am not using (except to run Unisyn!). I was wondering if that could be pressed into service as a slave to my current Mac, a Mini (specs below in my signature)? If not, I may still buy VEP for both the orchestral library as well as its ability to stretch the VI capacity of my Mini. (I don't expect to be making any huge orchestral mock-ups of course; if that were the case, I probably should have bought a Mac Pro!)

[dix]

I don't have VEP, but I'm looking into a similar setup that you describe. My take, from reading the specs, is that you'll fine, though I would expect subsequent VEP versions to drop 10.8 support at some point in the relatively near future.

If not, I may still buy VEP for both the orchestral library as well as its ability to stretch the VI capacity of my Mini.

I'm curious about this. Now that DP is 64bit would there still be a benefit? My experience with Bidule is that it wouldn't help things much. Is VEP different in some way than Bidule in this regard?

[zuul-studios]

dix -

I'm going to chalk it up to user-related issues, but I can not get DP 8 to be stable when using a 55+ instrument orchestral templet within itself.This is the exact same set of instruments that are used with Logic Pro X (a program that I'm more familiar with). Logic does not choke. DP 8 does with this orchestral templet.

Using a similar orchestral templet with similar instrumentation, DP8 shines brightly for me in a "master/slave" computer set-up with VSL's VEPro 5 taking on the burden of managing the virtual instruments. This particular orchestral templet is not huge by other people's standards. It uses instruments from GPO libraries as well as orchestral instruments using Kontakt 5's sampler engine.

Unless you can figure out how to make DP8 handle a somewhat larger orchestral templet by itself, I would recommend investing in VSL's VEPro 5 to handle the CPU processing. It can be used within the same computer or in a "master/slave" configuration. The "master/slave" configuration works best for me with my current 2-computer set-up noted in my signature below. It allows me to use DP 8, especially for my modest film scoring projects, without issue. (For a few different reasons, I've grown to really like DP 8 a lot!)

[frankf]

I'm curious about this. Now that DP is 64bit would there still be a benefit? My experience with Bidule is that it wouldn't help things much. Is VEP different in some way than Bidule in this regard?

When DP went 64 bit, I left VEP pro behind and haven't had the need to go back. I was using it without a second CPU to take advantage of 32 gb in my Mac Pro. My large orchestral template is smoothly sailing with all VIs in v-racks, reverb plugs in V-rack and, in general, all tracks I'm not using disabled until I need them. I return VI audio on aux tracks where I apply additional processing if needed. (I don't need much for mock ups usually)
Don't know if my signature shows up as I'm using Tapatalk, but my music Mac Pro is a 3,1 3.2ghz with 32 gb Ram, SSDs for boot and streaming sample libraries
YMMV,
Frank

[dix]

Pretty much my experience too. I have some legacy projects that relied on Bidule. When I migrate them to 64bit DP the CPU performance is at least as good. especially if I spread out the instruments into multiple instances (something I just found out about recently - very helpful)

Sorry to hijack your thread wdegillio. Can anyone confirm that he can run a VEP master/slave on different OSs?

[wdegillio]

I apologize, but I just noticed some incorrect info in my original post. My old Mac Pro (that I was considering using as a slave) is actually running OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), which is the last OS it can run without "major surgery". I think that makes the situation a "horse (unicorn???) of a different color"!

[dix]

I'm wondering if others are experiencing what I'm experiencing:

Whereas there's no real performance difference when using a VI host on the same computer, DP save-times are dramatically faster if the VIs are in Bidule. I'm working on a biggish project that takes around 5 to 8 seconds to save. Not a huge problem, but gets annoying with auto-save interrupting every few minutes. With Bidule hosting saves are instantaneous, no interruption.

Do projects with a lot of VIs take longer to save for other people?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I'm not seeing excessively long save times with my most intense projects. Usually about 7-10 instances of MachFive, Kontakt, Aria, and Korg Wavestation or M1. Load time varies, or course, depending on what is loaded into them, but save time is fast.

[dix]

Hmm. This particular project Has 2 instances of Play with 13 instruments and 5 Kontakt with 23 CineSample instruments (taking instances offline decreases save-times btw). Does that sound at all similar to what you're using MLC? I'm wondering if I there's a system tweak out there that could help me.

[dix]

Any further thoughts on slow saves before I initiate a new topic on the subject?

Again, it's only on projects that use large VI templates within DP that I get the 5 to 8 second saves. Save times are about the same whether the project is on SSD or HD.

[doodles]

VE Pro versions should be the same on all computers - main and slave. So if the latest version requires 10.8 plus, I would guess the slaves would aswell? Guess it depends if newer versions of VE Pro are backwards compatible.

[supersonic]

The long save times in my experience, both in DP. And with VEP come from Kontakt. Decoupling VEP makes them again very quick. I just make sure to couple the VEP instances before final save and quit.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[dix]

Interesting. I guess I'm not clear on how VEP works. With Bidule as host I always need to save the document separately - a bad method for a number of reasons. So with VEP the host can be part of the DP document and saved with it?

[supersonic]

VEP works by synching your DP project in a way that makes it transparent. When you save your project you also save all the data necessary to load the different instruments on the Server side of VEP - whether it be a local machine or a slave. However, with some VIs such as Kontakt this process can be long. So when all instances are ready and all you do is edit, mix etc, you can decouple all VEP from the saving process. However, you need to remember to couple it back on before final save and quit. If not, you will loose synch and the instruments will not load. Of course if you do that you can always quickly open the project and reconnect but sometimes this goes haywire.

[dix]

Pretty cool. Thanks for the info. Another reason to buy VEP. Too bad they no longer offer a demo. Would love to try before I buy.