Which hardware defines the Asio usage for live VST uses.

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Hello guys,
I'm creating projects in Cubase 6 using a lot of VST plugins over my VST instruments.
For example, I'm putting an Izotop Ozone drums preset over a superior drummer track, and an Izotope Nectar preset over a vocal record track, etcetera etcetera. On the stereo out track I'm putting an Ozone mastering preset. The buffer size i'm using the most is 128 and less so I wouldn't have any Latency issues while recording live.

As you can understand I'm a heavy consumer of Asio, and after having 10~ channels like those I just described, my system starting to choke and I need to bypass some of the VST plugins or lift the buffer size which is a problem if I'm recording with headphones as a monitor.

My question is, what hardware should I improve in order to be able loading more VST plugins and instruments while using a 128 buffer size without cracklings and stuff?

Here's my spec:
Intel I7-3930k
Intel DX79si motherboard
Ripjaws-Z 16 Gigs ram
Fireface 400 using the on-board firewire connection
SSD for the OS and an SSD for some of the Plugins.

Thanks!!

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CPU is the determining factor in ASIO usage - faster process means more plugin processing capabilities.

The audio driver will make some difference, but since you're running and RME card - and RME have the best performing drivers - there is no room for improvement unless you went with a PCIe card instead of FW (but note, the additional processing would be minimal, so probably not worth it).

I think the problem is really related to the type of plugins you are running live. Ozone is really a mastering tool, which would typically be used on a single audio track during the mastering process.

It's not designed for low latency, live playback / performance.

Nectar is also known to be a CPU killer, to be used sparingly or to work around CPU limitations by bouncing / freezing the audio processed by the plugin.

Peace,
Andy.
... space is the place ...

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Time to start bouncing down to audio tracks maybe? Thats how I do it for live stuff on my old laptop.

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What exactly are you doing?


BTW, what are the main differences between FF400 and UAD-2 Quad for example, because they're saying its having 4 cores or something...

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noambason wrote:What exactly are you doing?
I use Ableton Live on a dual core laptop. I bounce any clips that are "fx dependent" to new audio clips with fx included in the bounce. The only fx I run live are a compresser/limiter on the master, and a delay and reverb on 2 fx sends. I don't play any instruments live ... just launch clips or scenes on the fly.

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Okay, but the only problem is that if i want to make some changes to the clips, I need to re-enable them, make the changes and then export them. Its not the way I would like to treat my muse if you know what I'm saying....

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Is it possible to freeze tracks in Cubase to free up CPU?

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ZenPunkHippy wrote:
I think the problem is really related to the type of plugins you are running live. Ozone is really a mastering tool, which would typically be used on a single audio track during the mastering process.

It's not designed for low latency, live playback / performance.
This

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Another question that haven't been answered yet:

"BTW, what are the main differences between FF400 and UAD-2 Quad for example, because they're saying its having 4 cores or something..."

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UAD is a DSP platform, but it's really just a fancy way of saying "hardware copy protection".

There are some great plugins available, and some of the processing is done on the hardware side, but not enough to make a significant difference to how many plugins you can run in a single session. That's why UAD talk about "cores" - more cores on the UAD hardware means more UAD plugins in a session (but still constrained by regular CPU).

Also you would need to buy plugins in UAD format (expensive ...).

Peace,
Andy.
... space is the place ...

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I hate conspiracies....

Can someone recommend which are the best live vocal effects?

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