KVR Audio

Melodyshine · Post by **Melodyshine** » Sat May 09, 2015 9:19 pm

Which processors or tablets can cope with Alchemy? I tried Alchemy within Reaper with a Intel Atom Z3735F tablet and it didn't work well(long loading time). Will a Surface 3 with an intel atom Z8700 or a Acer Switch 11 with an intel i3 4012y manage it? Is the i3 4012y still better?

garryknight · Post by **garryknight** » Sat May 09, 2015 11:03 pm

doesn't specifically cover Alchemy, but it gives you some idea of what the Surface 3 can handle. It compares the Surface 3 with the Surface 3 pro and runs several DAWs with many plugins as well as a few bits of hardware. I would think it's worth watching for anyone thinking of getting a Surface 3 for music production.

iPlogger · Post by **iPlogger** » Mon May 11, 2015 4:01 pm

I have the same exact question. Alchemy is the product I am most interested in using. When I saw the Surface 3 video last week, it looked extremely promising.

Melodyshine, other than the long loading time, was the Z3735F able to play sounds in Alchemy or was it choppy?

Melodyshine · Post by **Melodyshine** » Tue May 12, 2015 10:06 am

Yes, it could play notes, but I didn't test it with a midi keyboard. Just with Reaper's virtual keyboard. The virtual keyboard nearly doesn't respond to touch, but that's a software issue, I saw a video where Cubase has the same issue. The loading time is extreme! Scanning just for one library took maybe 15 minutes. I assume one needs an i5 or a good Core M tablet in order to manage it well and at least an i3. I guess that the i3 4. gen is still better than the new atom, but I am not sure.

iPlogger · Post by **iPlogger** » Wed May 13, 2015 8:19 pm

Wow! That is very slow and I have several libraries. Thanks for the info. I've always been curious how Alchemy will run on Z3735. I'm tending towards the Surface 3, but no immediate plans to buy one.

iPlogger · Post by **iPlogger** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 5:41 am

With the recent special (ended on Saturday), I just got the Surface Pro i5 on Saturday. I have only done some quick tests with it so far.

Since the Surface has only one USB port, I hooked up a non-powered USB port. At first the Surface complained it was incompatible. I removed it and tried again and had no problem. I then attached the iRig keys (the small version) and the M-Audio Oxygen 49 to the USB hub. Everything lit up. I opened up two instances of Alchemy using savihost64. I was able to play both keyboards and both instances of Alchemy just fine. My settings had some latency though. But my first test was a success.

My next test was to hook it up to my Yamaha MOXF6 which has a USB MIDI and Audio port built in. This is mainly how I will use it live. This worked great. I was able to play Alchemy just fine as the Surface audio routed through the Yamaha's DAW mixer. And using the Yamaha driver lowered the latency to something a little more reasonable. It also lays down nicely along the left side of the keyboard if in portrait mode.

No long term tests yet, but already it shows me it can potentially handle my needs. I mainly want to use it live.

Don't forget to download all of your libraries from the Camel Audio site. I think it all closes down on July 6th.

Windows tablet for using Alchemy