Heavy Orchestral Track Composers - What Processors Are You Using?

[MeteoXavier]

My audio commission work is ramping up and the i7-3770 computer I'd been using for audio work for the last 11 years is finally struggling to work with more modern orchestral libraries, as well as more modern synth programs and processing effects. Surprisingly, my comparatively low RAM supply at 20GB has done quite well at handling its stuff; it's the CPU processing I'm more concerned about now. I'd been planning to move to a new desktop computer for almost a year, but researching into what would work best for me in a pure DAW setup, what I find is a wide range of contradictory information about audio processing and what works and what would make it not work. Too many examples to list here.

Complicating matters is I actually have a more updated desktop with an i7-10700 and tried setting up for audio work only to discover some MAD audio latency coming from the computer audio even when the DAW isn't loaded. A dedicated audio interface did not fix that. I eventually kinda fixed that with some intricate computer fixings, but I don't feel like trying that desktop again.

Only other thing I can think of doing is asking those of you who do work with large orchestral setups - Kontakt 7, EastWest Opus, BBC Symphony, etc. and 30-40 instruments set up in your templates - what computers/processors/relevant components you're using to get all those instances and programs working comfortably in your project file.

So there we have it - what processors/relevant components are you guys using in your DAW computers for larger project files with more modern sample libraries and such?

Thank you!

[legendCNCD]

For example https://blakus.com/studio/

[Pictus]

Check viewtopic.php?p=9058807#p9058807

And check https://vi-control.net/community/thread ... st-5688581

[MeteoXavier]

Check viewtopic.php?p=9058807#p9058807

I wish I could gauge those processors with the i7-3770 I have now.

[Ah_Dziz]

I used a 3930k hex core with 64 GB of ram on windows 7 for years and years. I was able to have a 200 track scoring template loaded up at all times (it used around 30 GB) in VEP locally. I then would usually have enough juice left to run another 30-40 tracks of plugins in cubase before things got slow.

I built a new system at the end of COVID with a 12th generation i5 quad core and 64 GB of ram. I put nice hard drives (2x2TB sample drives, 2x2TB audio Drives(1 for work and one for just jacking around), 1 system drive and 1 backup). I didn't install nearly as much random crap on the new system which made it snappier, and I went back to a card based interface which allows me to have better performance while running the same stuff at lower latency.

I generally had all of cineperc, all of cinebrass, all of cinewinds, all of VSL winds (old versions) all the SWAM solo winds, all of VSL solo strings1 and 2, all of LASS and LASS LS, Albion I and V, voxos, Bravura brass, MSB, all the old wavesfactory stuff (black tons is great), a whole instance of Kontakt with percussion patches from Damage, and a few pianos. I have a few EW libraries but none of them made it into the template. This stuff is always loaded and if I load my scoring template project it takes about 10 seconds to load the mixer and connect to VEP.

I add synths and other assorted bits as needed directly into cubase.
The way I work, I just load up the video and write all the music in a big ol single project. Mostly it's for TV so it's 21 minutes ish long. I'll also drop in existing cues and do edits in the same project.

In none of these use cases did I max out the CPU of any of the Intel processors I was using. Usually if I had problems they would be gpu or ram related. I have noticed in some newer kontakt libraries there's what appears to be pretty janky scripting going on that makes for CPU (asio) spikes. It seems extremely unlikely that any of the things outside of the script are causing problems. This was an issue on my old system, but not on the new one. Most of the libraries causing these issues didn't make it to the template.

[jamcat]

I use a 10-core M1 Pro. I'm thinking about trading in for an M4 Max, which is 16-core. I'm using SWAM and Pianoteq. I can get 50 SWAM strings at 96kHz with a 128 sample block size in Studio One without any clicks, but I start getting occasional clicks at 64 samples.

[MeteoXavier]

The way I work, I just load up the video and write all the music in a big ol single project. Mostly it's for TV so it's 21 minutes ish long. I'll also drop in existing cues and do edits in the same project.

In none of these use cases did I max out the CPU of any of the Intel processors I was using. Usually if I had problems they would be gpu or ram related. I have noticed in some newer kontakt libraries there's what appears to be pretty janky scripting going on that makes for CPU (asio) spikes. It seems extremely unlikely that any of the things outside of the script are causing problems. This was an issue on my old system, but not on the new one. Most of the libraries causing these issues didn't make it to the template.

21 minute-long project files - **sus Chr*st. I couldn't do that on my best day with all my youth restored.

What computer did you get with those specs in it? Did you get a consumer computer or a computer built for audio or a custom-made one, etc? I actually have a more modern computer with an i7-10700 that I tried last year to turn into my audio computer only to discover it has unworkable latency inherent to the audio output entirely; not just working in the DAW but any sound coming out of it at all (and ASIO and my audio interface were unable to fix any of that). Wasted an entire month and had to go back to the desktop I'd been using for over a decade.

So now any computer I consider I have to check on if it has latency issues coming from its audio inherently or not.

The info you sent so far is excellent, thank you!

[Ah_Dziz]

I built it myself. Nice ram and a nice Asus mobo. Did some minor tweaking that was bad for the environment but good for my computer (mild overclock and disabling of some of the power saving features on the processor). When I went to the 3930 I got a rme usb3 Babyface. On my newer system I use a card based aio. The drivers have always had a major impact. Also the way cubase uses different latency for "live" tracks and playback tracks had a noticeable impact.

The success of these systems is one of the main reasons I try to stick with VSL and kontakt. They can stream a crazy number of voices. Play and other sample library platforms that developers have made on their own don't ever seem to be anywhere near as solid.

[SoundOutWest]

I invested in a custom (I chose the parts but intel built it for me) PC about 5 years ago now. I got an almost-top-of-the-line i9 processor and 32gb of RAM which I quickly upgraded to 64. I couldn't tell you where I got my SSD because that was ages ago but I have two 1TB drives and I prioritized speed above all else. I can do pretty much whatever I want without issue. The only difficulty is the the legato engine in CineBrass and CineStrings seems to have some sort of bug that overloads the CPU if you play a ridiculous amount of legato notes too quickly. That doesn't really happen much though.

I'll be honest, I never liked the idea of a fixed template with hundreds of tracks. You increase the performance demands so much by having so many instruments open that may or may not be used. I write for film and concerts and I feel like it isn't good for the creative process, but that's a whole other debate...

[MeteoXavier]

I've already made my choice and replaced the desktop music computer as it finally bit the dust last month. I went with an Alienware R14 computer that has a Ryzen 7800x (or something) and 64GB of RAM. I have not gotten to really stress test it out with hundreds of instruments on it, but so far it's been meeting my hopes and expectations.