MX4 2.2 now on MOTU site...

[James Steele]

Just saw it posted in MOTU's download area tonight.

[carrythebanner]

The update notes say that it should now be able to Bounce to Disk in DP6 without freezing first.

[1nput0utput]

The update notes say that it should now be able to Bounce to Disk in DP6 without freezing first.

Ugh, finally.... Now I can put my fish sticks back in the freezer and get the darn MX4 box out of there.

[James Steele]

The update notes say that it should now be able to Bounce to Disk in DP6 without freezing first.

Very cool... I'll be glad when MachFive 2 can do this!

[azusa749a]

Thank you. I thought MOTU forgot about MX4.

[mikebeckmotu]

Anybody tried it yet? I downloaded it but haven't had time to devote to installing and testing.

[1nput0utput]

Anybody tried it yet? I downloaded it but haven't had time to devote to installing and testing.

It's been working well for me. Actually, installing the update reminded me how much I like MX4, so I've created many new patches recently.

[kenrinc]

Thought this was an interesting comment on the site:

Power and efficiency

On a Dual 2.66 GHz Dual Core Mac Pro tower in our test lab, sixteen real-time instances of MX4 produce a reading of around 50% on the processor usage meter. If we switch them all to pre-render mode, the meter drops to near 0% and we can then instantiate 37 pre-rendered instances.

That's not something I'd typically expect from MOTU (sorry to say) even it is just marketing hype.. Problem is we need ALL the VIs to have performance like this !!! Even if it's just MOTUs!

Ken-

[Dwetmaster]

I would assume that synthesis based VI's like MX4 will benefit more from Pre-Rendering than Sample based one. The fact that it doesn't need to reload all its samples when record engaged is an example.

[James Steele]

Thought this was an interesting comment on the site:

Power and efficiency

On a Dual 2.66 GHz Dual Core Mac Pro tower in our test lab, sixteen real-time instances of MX4 produce a reading of around 50% on the processor usage meter. If we switch them all to pre-render mode, the meter drops to near 0% and we can then instantiate 37 pre-rendered instances.

Sounds great, and I'm sure there are some performance gains but there's more to this than meets the eye if you read the fine print. Sure... you can instantiate 37 pre-rendered instances, but what happens if you have 37 average density MIDI tracks routed to each of those instances and you press "Play?" My guess is your level meter won't stay "near 0%" then. In fact just loading instances in real-time doesn't prove much with VI's. It might have with mere FX, like when people use to report how many instances of MOTU's "Plate" plug to compare processing power. However, VIs are more dynamic in their CPU load I suspect. If 16 instances made the meter read about 50% just by loading them... we know that the processor load will increase significantly when we actually are playing something and the VIs are under load. You also may get some spiking... who knows?

I'm not trying to be a naysayer, but obviously how many instances you can merely instantiate is relatively meaningless. How many instances can actually play back is the real-life statistic that matters. It would be interesting to know that. I imagine you'd get more instances for sure, but nothing on the magnitude that might be incorrectly assumed based on how many instances can be loaded when DP is not playing anything back.

[kenrinc]

Wow, I have to say I downloaded the demo for this guy and I'm quite amazed why I did not have this synth! When I do take the plunge to DP 6.01 I might take advantage of the offer.

Ken-

[RCory]

Is there some setting I'm missing? I get no difference in CPU performance with DP6.01/MX4 2.2 than I get with other versions..

I can find no reference to a "switching to Pre-Render Mode" in the manual...

[RCory]

okay - duh - follow up - you have to close the instance of the plug's window and remove rec-enable

btw, nice! Makes my aging Dual 1.25 G4 like new again! *cough*

There is some remnant of rendered audio in the beginning of the song - ie I usually have an empty measure or two at the beginning of a sequence and I hear bits of MX4 audio in this... not sure what to do about that...

[MeisterEckhardt]

Is the update worth it? What does it do better? I want to avoid messing with iLok like the plague. In fact, I'd rather have the plague than mess with iLok. If its worth it I'll do it but otherwise I'll stay away.

Meister

[MeisterEckhardt]

The update notes say that it should now be able to Bounce to Disk in DP6 without freezing first.

Ugh, finally.... Now I can put my fish sticks back in the freezer and get the darn MX4 box out of there.

LOL!!!!!! that was hilarious!