Hardware required for Diva, what are you using?

[arachnaut]

I was impressed by what I read here about Reaper,
so I downloaded an evaluation copy of the 64-bit PC version and tried it out.
I made some educated guesses about proper configuration settings,
but these may not be optimal -
usually one needs a little experience with a host to tweak it the best.

I find it a bit faster than 64-bit Sonar which is a bit faster than 32-bit Live on my system. In addition, it was the easiest to set up - a remarkable, light-weight tool. I may just buy this after the demo interval if I don't run into any problems - I really don't need another DAW, though.

'INIT Alpha' patch set to 16 voices on 10 separate tracks.

Reaper x64 4.1.4

Divine
1 note - 23%
2 notes - 45%
3 notes - 56% stutters

Great
1 note - 16%
2 notes - 28%
3 notes - 41%
4 notes - 50% stutters

Fast
1 note - 8%
2 notes - 20%
3 notes - 25%
4 notes - 32%
5 notes - 41%
6 notes - 52% stutters

Draft
1 note - 7%
2 notes - 8%
3 notes - 10%
...
10 notes - 28%
...
19 notes - 40% - no stuttering at all

I quit at 19 keys - that's as long as my arm reaches ...

--

'Official' stat:
53% of Americans over the age of 12 are current or former music makers.

[Howard]

19 notes?

[arachnaut]

19 notes?

Yes,
19 simultaneous keys (notes, MIDI events) * 10 audio tracks (channels) * 16 VST voices (instruments, Divas) per track (channel) =
3040 stereo data channels of 64 bits each.

---

78% of Americans feel learning a musical instrument helps
students perform better in other subjects.

[arachnaut]

I misunderstood the voices parameter - these are not 'unison' voices.

---
Students who were exposed to music-based lessons scored a full 100% (1/1) higher on fractions tests than those who learned in the conventional manner

[Howard]

I misunderstood the voices parameter - these are not 'unison' voices.

You mean your stats are with "Voice Stack" set to 16, right?

[arachnaut]

I had Voice stack set to 6 - the maximum.

I looked over the architecture differences between IA-32 (the OS 32 bit mode of operating) and the native 64-bit mode described in the Intel Architecture manual (3 volumes in a PDF) at

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/ma ... 325462.pdf

I summarized the differences here:

http://www.arachnaut.net/zip/IA-32%20an ... rences.zip

There are many differences besides the obvious memory limitation changes.

And look at the near future:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Intel- ... 14362.html

"Sandy Bridge-EP will utilize a quad-channel DDR3 integrated memory controller (DDR3-1600 MHz) with support up to 768 GB of memory"

[ohmdsp]

I am using DIVA on an iMac 3.4GHz Quad-Core I7 with 8GB DDR3 SDRAM, running Logic Pro. I am having no problems with 10+ tracks of DIVA mostly in "divine" mode with a couple additional tracks from Omnisphere, Stylus or Alchemy. I have not tried it on my macbook pro yet.

I switched over to a Mac and Logic about 2 yrs ago. Before that I was using Sonar and the best PC I could build up at the time. I was always fighting my computer. Now, I enjoy the mac for pro audio processing. It does a great job, IMHO.

I would be curious to know if developers like Urs find the mac...(warning: non-quantifiable terms used here) more enjoyable to develop on?

[VitaminD]

I am using DIVA on an iMac 3.4GHz Quad-Core I7 with 8GB DDR3 SDRAM, running Logic Pro. I am having no problems with 10+ tracks of DIVA mostly in "divine" mode with a couple additional tracks from Omnisphere, Stylus or Alchemy. I have not tried it on my macbook pro yet.

Not to get anyone angry, but I switched over to a Mac and Logic about 2 yrs ago. Before that I was using Sonar and the best PC I could build up at the time. I was always fighting my computer. Now, I don't know why anyone would want to use anything but a mac for pro audio processing. There is just no comparison, IMHO. I do use Linux/Unix when doing serious DSP development (non-audio) for my profession, but I have started to explore using the mac for this also. Again, I would not even think about using Windows/PC for my DSP work. So, why did I ever use Windows for pro audio Anyway, I do not intend to spark any heat from others on the forum that like to use Windows based applications. I realize that people have their own reasons. I'm just sharing my increased satisfaction with doing music since moving over to the mac.

I would be curious to know if developers like Urs find the mac...(warning: non-quantifiable terms used here) more enjoyable to develop on?

Claiming superiority (which you just did) is going to start a firefest.. esp on kvr..


I think shoes from company A are better than from company B... Company B only provides one shoelace and im always fighting it.. I can't see how anyone with a brain would want to wear shoes from company B.. The insoles are not as nearly as comfortable. I'm not trying to start a fight.. but just my opinion.. company B shoe wearers must have their reasons for using inferior products... just sharing my increased satisfaction with company A

[ohmdsp]

Sorry. I'm not really trying to claim any sort of superioirity in regards to machines. I was just trying to tell my story and experience. I really have no issues with what machines, toothpaste, cars, etc. someone wants to use. I probably did not take enough time when writing the post. I do, however, find the mac more stable, and I spend much less time now dealing with my machine and more time enjoying the music. Since music is my hobbby, and I spend all day developing on computers, I do not want to spend any time debugging computer issues when I finally have time to play.

Anyway, sorry to anyone if my message sounded confrontational. I am still curious about what Urs and other developers think - is there any difference from a audio/synth developers viewpoint?

I editted my original post to get only the intended point.


In the meantime, I hope everyone enjoys DIVA as much as I do!

[xh3rv]

And look at the near future:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Intel- ... 14362.html

To be clear this article is about Intel's Xeon line of microprocessors used in servers. This measures Xeon CPUs with Sandy Bridge architecture performance relative to Xeon CPUs with Nehalem architecture. Similar comparisons of desktop-oriented CPUs between Sandy Bridge vs. Nehalem architecture have shown similar gains in performance.

In general server CPUs are set up to reliably truck loads of data around both inside a system and outside in the real world, while being essentially similar in terms of computing architecture and speed to desktop CPUs. Without having access to Sandy Bridge CPUs of any type, I'm as sure as possible that for Diva the bang-for-the-buck favors desktop CPUs.

Sandy Bridge desktop CPUs are a solid choice for some time. Ivy Bridge is the next development, and it's a fabrication process, which I think tend to be less of a surge in computational speed than the architecture changes.

(The article discusses 'Westmere' but that's a fabrication process rather than an architecture. Intel has a tick/tock strategy for decoupling the manufacturing and design of chips ... I have a brother on the manufacturing side and I really get the sense the tickers and tockers are a bit competitive towards each other ... and that Sandy Bridge -> Ivy Bridge won't necessarily look all that impressive, as it will take another round of design to take advantage of some of the cool things in Ivy Bridge)

[digitalboytn]

19 notes?

Yes Sir...

He had his cousin Louie over and he was playing the other 9 notes...

Cousin Louie lost a finger in a rather unfortunate chainsaw accident,otherwise they would have had 20 voices on hand...

Well - on hands really

[arachnaut]

I held off upgrading as long as I could from Win XP and AMD Athlon X2 - I was hoping to wait for Intel's Romley platform for the desktop.

I saw a leaked Intel Roadmap that mentioned Romley-EP Platform using Sandy Bridge_EP for workstations in 'the future'. The chart ended in 2011.

I have the PDF but I can no longer find the URL reference. The PDF is called Intel Public Roadmap expiration Q3, 2011.

These are just marketing talks, but still it gives us a view to the future.

[arachnaut]

I quit at 19 keys - that's as long as my arm reaches ...

I have the right to bare arms.

[Urs]

I would be curious to know if developers like Urs find the mac...(warning: non-quantifiable terms used here) more enjoyable to develop on?

I grew up with Macs. I prefer working in MacOS, but I highly prefer Microsoft's documentation. Apple has great development tools and APIs, but it takes too much time to work them out due to lack of information, or due to completely outdated docs.

[arachnaut]

I would be curious to know if developers like Urs find the mac...(warning: non-quantifiable terms used here) more enjoyable to develop on?

I grew up coding mainframes and warming up vacuum tubes. I built my first computer and first synthesizer from parts - lots of transistors. I built my last computer from parts - mostly boards. I think Linux is a great development platform, you can actually modify the kernel and make it work the way you want, you don't have to imitate what others do. 'a.out' should never be a folder - that breaks too many GNU builds.

And, for those reading this too seriously, please don't do that. Like everyone else, software people are extremely insecure and sensitive. We flame on with the slightest provocation.

Happy New Year everyone. Peace on Earth. OM Shanti OM. Now be good and go make some music. And try to think more for yourself.