Vienna Ensemble Pro with a Macbook Pro as master?

[Michael Canavan]

I've been contemplating this a lot lately, I've got enough sample libraries to make DP blush a bit when I get crazy. The Mac Pro is the main machine, but the macbook pro I picked up a few years ago still holds up, (four core 2.7 i7, 16GB RAM, 512SSD), it's logical though to use it as a master in the case of VEP. I think VEP could more efficiently use the 12 core 3.34 Xeons, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSd main and three internal HDs than it could the laptop.

Although I have two external SSDs with most of my sample libraries and songs on them, another reason to do this is to not have to buy another audio card for live performance. My laptop has been running NI Rig Control, but that's going to be hosed in a software update at some point because NI are not supporting it any longer.

Are there any caveats to this? other than the obvious expenses of a Thunderbolt hub with ethernet and firewire, plus a copy of VEP and a Vienna or Syncrosoft key. Plus of course rearranging my studio for the nth time!

[FMiguelez]

The only caveat I see is that you will ask yourself why you didn't do this before

It sounds like a totally capable machine, especially with the i7 processor. RAM fully loaded... I say you're ready to rock with VE Pro.

[Michael Canavan]

The only caveat I see is that you will ask yourself why you didn't do this before

It sounds like a totally capable machine, especially with the i7 processor. RAM fully loaded... I say you're ready to rock with VE Pro.

Cool, now it's just coming up with the roughly $500 for the OWC hub, dongle, and copy of VEP!
What are your thoughts on using CPU hungry plug ins like Diva on the slave? I haven't seen any VEP videos explaining how you deal with the GUIs of plug ins on your slave, I'm assuming you can't call up the GUI on the Master? I have the Slate Raven here, and using resizable plug ins like Diva on it is a real blast, it would be nice to be able to edit sounds on the slave on the Raven, but not having the Raven for DP makes no sense at all. I suppose coming up with presets on the Master and transferring them to the slave to automate with MIDI etc. works right?

[FMiguelez]

What are your thoughts on using CPU hungry plug ins like Diva on the slave?

I always use VEP, for the slaves and for the main computer. What determines which VI goes to a slave or the master is the level of interaction of the plug. If it's something like Stylus RMX, MachFive or Atmosphere, where you can drag and drop stuff between VI and DAW, or you can feed it audio, or make it read files from the DAW, I always use them in the master computer, mostly for the convenience of dealing with this file sharing easily. Even then, it's mostly saving just a couple of steps.

If it's a set-and-forget thing (in terms of file interaction as mentioned above), like with the VSL library, then those go to the slaves.
2 of my slave computer screens are on customized supporters right above the main screens, and the other slave is the iMac which is very near by, so I can do all the complicated VSL library programming from DP while having the slave screens at a glance.
But even then, sometimes it's nice to just use screen sharing and voila...

I haven't seen any VEP videos explaining how you deal with the GUIs of plug ins on your slave, I'm assuming you can't call up the GUI on the Master?

No, you can't. You always deal with the slaves separately, but you can use Share Screen (from the Finder) and it feels as if the VIs were on the same computer. You just switch back and forth with command-Tab.

Other than the convenience for certain cases as mentioned above, I see no big difference hosting the VIs in slaves or master computer, especially because I print to audio all my VIs when they sound the way I want them as I go. With my template, it's a piece of cake to go back and forth between printed tracks and their respective MIDI tracks in case I need changes further down the line.

But I suppose that if your VI is a TOTAL "diva" and a pig-hog for CPU, and your DP session is already too loaded, it could make things slow or clumsy on the master computer, which porting it to a slave would make sense. I have yet this to happen to me, though. Never a problem here (I don't have Diva).

I have the Slate Raven here, and using resizable plug ins like Diva on it is a real blast, it would be nice to be able to edit sounds on the slave on the Raven, but not having the Raven for DP makes no sense at all. I suppose coming up with presets on the Master and transferring them to the slave to automate with MIDI etc. works right?

I have no idea how the Raven works.

I use a Novation controller with lots of knobs, pots and faders to automate MIDI CCs. I did a template for each VI, and it works across ALL slave computers perfectly. I suppose the Raven does something like this but more elegantly?
That thing must cost a fortune! It seems really awesome. So what else does it do?

[Michael Canavan]

I have no idea how the Raven works.

I use a Novation controller with lots of knobs, pots and faders to automate MIDI CCs. I did a template for each VI, and it works across ALL slave computers perfectly. I suppose the Raven does something like this but more elegantly?
That thing must cost a fortune! It seems really awesome. So what else does it do?

It's not too expensive, it's regularly $999, they've had sales before at $800 though.
Mostly it 100% replaces Mackie Control surfaces; the recent gestures update completely opened it up in terms of the rest of the GUI in DP that's too small for your fingers, a simple pinch out zooms the entire screen so anything is touchable mostly. Key commands I use all the time I mostly still use, but any ones I use often, but not often enough to remember I use batch commands for, or ones with four keys etc. So zoom to selection, octave up/down etc. I honestly don't use it to it's full potential, but in simple terms it's just better for mixing than anything besides Apple introducing touch screens and DP being redesigned for it.
Owning one Syncrosoft or Vienna key allow for use on Master and Slave machines? I know two slaves require two dongles.