KVR Audio

Ashe37 · Post by **Ashe37** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 9:27 am

DragonSagoth wrote:CPU inside the V-Machine is not the standard consumer-grade AMD or Intel CPU, so I don't think you can replace it on your own. Motherboard is also custom.

Umm, yes it is. In order to run VST binaries it has to be Intel-compatible. My bet is its a 1 Ghz Intel Atom single-core... but it may be something even weaker like a VIA C4. The 'custom motherboard" looks alot like a Mini ITX motherboard. So the CPU/motherboard portion of it is $80 at any vendor.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 10:07 am

It's not an Intel or AMD CPU, VFXAU said so himself somewhere in this topic.

Ashe37 · Post by **Ashe37** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 10:56 am

Then its a VIA C4... no wonder its so underpowered. Its something compatible at a binary level with VSTs that have been compiled for x86 processor architectures and... well... those are the three options.

VFXAU · Post by **VFXAU** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 11:28 am

Ashe37 wrote:Then its a VIA C4... no wonder its so underpowered. Its something compatible at a binary level with VSTs that have been compiled for x86 processor architectures and... well... those are the three options.

I rally wish you would not say if you are not sure.. it has been said in several forums that the CPU is a C7 not a C4.. if you don't know then say you don't know... also it has 2 CPU's in it not one, it is not an ITX board, (AN ITX WOULD NOT FIT IN A V-MACHINE BOX). one CPU takes care of all IO and screen and the other is specifically engineered in software to take care of VST's. The NEW CPU has a different chipset as well, it is around 2.3-3 times the power (depends on which plugins you are running) and can handle 2gig or memory.

Mike Frost · Post by **Mike Frost** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 11:33 am

VFXAU wrote: I rally wish you would not say if you are not sure.. it has been said in several forums that the CPU is a C7 not a C4.. if you don't know then say you don't know... also it has 2 CPU's in it not one, it is not an ITX board, (AN ITX WOULD NOT FIT IN A V-MACHINE BOX). one CPU takes care of all IO and screen and the other is specifically engineered in software to take care of VST's. The NEW CPU has a different chipset as well, it is around 2.3-3 times the power (depends on which plugins you are running) and can handle 2gig or memory.

So show us already. You talk a lot but up to now it's just that... all talk.

Ashe37 · Post by **Ashe37** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 12:35 pm

Ok, so its a Via C-7... on the equivalent of a mini itx motherboard.... so the CPU and motherboard are about $50. That makes it worth $1000... NOT. For $30 more on their side, it could be running a much more capable processor.

Tony Ostinato · Post by **Tony Ostinato** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 3:22 pm

i'm no marketing expert or guru, but i think maybe what makes it worth $1000 or whatever, imho, is theres not a competitor at any price.

as soon as there is that changes the value.

in the meantime it looked like a very cool box. even if you were to just run one lightweight vsti at a time the value of that w/o bootup times and with such a very small size, thats a very cool thing. when i picked it up at namm was amazed how light it was. like a medium sized DI box.

mäxchen · Post by **mäxchen** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 3:38 pm

its really easy: if you think it is too expensive - dont buy it. it is not only the hardware. you can buy a motherboard with a via c7 for 50 bucks as you wrote. good luck to play vsti with this hardware ...

max

Mike Frost · Post by **Mike Frost** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:15 pm

Don't get me wrong, it's a useful product to me. I bought it new for €199,- which is pretty cheap, and I would have been perfectly happy to use it as-is with all the current limitations.
What pisses me off is that SMPA have been promising updates & upgrades for quite some time now and continue to do so, which raises my expectations of the possibilities & potential of the box, but they don't deliver.

Ashe37 · Post by **Ashe37** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:17 pm

mäxchen wrote:its really easy: if you think it is too expensive - dont buy it. it is not only the hardware. you can buy a motherboard with a via c7 for 50 bucks as you wrote. good luck to play vsti with this hardware ...

max

That's my point. A 1 GHz VIA C7 is about 25% of the processor power of the Pentium Dual Core that is (for the time being) in my dedicated music system, especially in floating point processes. (Hint: Many DSP processes are floating point processes.) And I have several softsynths that i can easily run up to 25% on that machine (I usually mix down softsynths on my quad core) which means that particular instance of those synths would not play on the V-Machine. The V-machine also doesn't have enough storage to be used for most of the sample-based softsynths. I'd go into more detail about how that $1000 could be better spent but that would be a thread in and of itself.

mäxchen · Post by **mäxchen** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:34 pm

oh think it is interesting. i paid about 600$ new, so what 1000$ are you talking.
i dont think the vmachine is perfect but there is no other vstplayer with this size und connections for this price or better said i dont know a better. all vsti i need work for me with a polyphony that is enough for me. the cpu power of the vmachine is poor, no question, the loading time between preset changes is not funny but show me a better system, so small so cheap to play MY vsti...

delafuerte · Post by **delafuerte** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:42 pm

mäxchen wrote:oh think it is interesting. i paid about 600$ new, so what 1000$ are you talking.
i dont think the vmachine is perfect but there is no other vstplayer with this size und connections for this price or better said i dont know a better. all vsti i need work for me with a polyphony that is enough for me. the cpu power of the vmachine is poor, no question, the loading time between preset changes is not funny but show me a better system, so small so cheap to play MY vsti...

Like this one for example?!

http://www.museresearch.com/news.php?id=123

mäxchen · Post by **mäxchen** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:46 pm

i saw this some days ago but it is more expensive, bigger and the knobs are on the front. when it is on my midi keyboard i cant use it. vmachine has it controls on top - perfect. BUT it looks very nice from a technical piont of view

max

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:49 pm

delafuerte, Musebox is probably also gonna be limited, no more than 2 VSTi at any time.

Also Muse Research has a problem with getting the newest VSTs "receptorized". They are too slow.

I, for one, think it's the best to build an embedded PC system (something like HTPC), in a box that would be a bit bigger than V-Machine, but it would work with everything with no hassle. Put some nLited Windows XP there and it's fast, too. And it would probably be cheaper than both V-Machine and Musebox.

delafuerte · Post by **delafuerte** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 5:29 pm

Well, Musebox should be able to run Ivory and onother vst like B4 togheter....try to do the same (nowadays!!!) on the v-machine!!!

The absence of knobs (for output volume) IMHO is one of the weakness of the v-machine, especially in live situation! For sure on the top would have been better (one minus for musebox)!

More expansive?! Take the original price of the v-machine, upgrade the ram, add the new CPU upgrade (that its not free!!!!) and you will realize that is not so far!