| Author
|
DSP platform advice !
|
WAVELOGIX
Wavelogix
Started Topics :
136
Posts :
1214
Posted : Aug 26, 2005 19:15
|
hello guys ,
my budget is 375-500 USD .... i need a dsp platform ... im tired of the fucking chicking cpu and cant just put enough effects ... plus i also need FAT sounding synths  .......
so please gimme real honest advice and which is best in this price range ... i use nuendo / cubase sx 3 ....
hope to hear from you soon ...
respect .. chandan ! |
|
|
Lithium
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
33
Posts :
646
Posted : Aug 26, 2005 19:19
|
|
UAD or TC Electronics, both of them very good but from what i´ve heard UAD plugs are better that Tc Electronics. |
|
|
|
orange
Fat Data
Started Topics :
154
Posts :
3918
Posted : Aug 26, 2005 19:58
|
|
midislave
Started Topics :
5
Posts :
54
Posted : Aug 26, 2005 21:04
|
|
emu 0404 has some dsp fx built in as well, they are about 100$ and work very well |
|
|
|
tomcat
Started Topics :
2
Posts :
48
Posted : Aug 26, 2005 23:44
|
Im using the powercore firewire togethter with the sony oxford plugins, so heres my personal opinion:
If you want just most effect as possible imo youre better to invest the money in your cpu.
The dsps are always limited with the number of plugins you can load. With the uad its more easy, just one dsp. OIn the powercore and others with multiple dsps you can use more than one plugins on one dsp but youre not able to split one plugin on two dsps (eg. you have 40% on dsp1 left and 20% on dsp 2, here you can load a plugin wich uses 30% on dsp 1 but you cannot load a plugin wich needs 50%).
If youre looking for high end, top quality effects go the dsp route. But you will need the hardware and evtl. also 3rd party plugins, so that means $$$.
Anyway, with the budget you posted you dont have so many choices.
|
|
|
|
WAVELOGIX
Wavelogix
Started Topics :
136
Posts :
1214
Posted : Aug 27, 2005 10:08
|
well, then do i also ave to install additional ram for these dsp platforms to work properly ? ... currently i have 1gb ram [ ddr 400mhz ] ....
thank you , respect .. chandan ! |
|
|
|
Lithium
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
33
Posts :
646
Posted : Aug 27, 2005 13:07
|
|
Spindrift
Spindrift
Started Topics :
33
Posts :
1560
Posted : Aug 27, 2005 13:32
|
Quote:
|
On 2005-08-26 23:44, tomcat wrote:
The dsps are always limited with the number of plugins you can load. With the uad its more easy, just one dsp. OIn the powercore and others with multiple dsps you can use more than one plugins on one dsp but youre not able to split one plugin on two dsps (eg. you have 40% on dsp1 left and 20% on dsp 2, here you can load a plugin wich uses 30% on dsp 1 but you cannot load a plugin wich needs 50%).
|
|
Thats very bad, but I would say that the powercore is an exception in that it cannot distribute DSP of the chips.
On the Scope platform there is no such issues.
 (``·.¸(``·.¸(``·.¸¸.·`´)¸.·`´)¸.·`´)
« .....www.ResonantEarth.com..... »
(¸.·`´(¸.·`´(¸.·`´``·.¸)``·.¸)``·.¸)
http://www.myspace.com/spindriftsounds
http://www.myspace.com/resonantearth |
|
|
|
Bikini Blitz
Started Topics :
4
Posts :
27
Posted : Aug 29, 2005 15:44
|
Hi...
Actually in The TC Powercore it´s also possible, just need to configure it to load the plug-ins non-standard way, otherwise it will load them into one available DSP before it drains all available power of one DSP already in use.
Also now with Access and Novation creating Instruments for this platform, it´s no longer a Fx unit only.
The Plug-ins bundled with the UAD card are also very good ( and just like the Mac vs PC issue it´s more a matter of taste, when compared to the Powercore ), though FX only unit i think.
Of course that if you want to run Fx & instruments, i would advise the Creamware cards, although somewhat old, they´re still bundled with greaT sounding plug´s and a huge user community.
If you aim only at good fx plugs and tho release some cpu cycles for instruments them also worth checking is the new Focusrite Safire;
Hope it helped;
|
|
|
|
tomcat
Started Topics :
2
Posts :
48
Posted : Aug 29, 2005 16:39
|
Ok to make it clear:
Ram: You cannot install Ram for a DSP Platform (or none that i know), each dsp has its own ram and to expand the ram in your computer makes no difference for the plugins.
Think about each dsp like its a own computer. You will have also hard time to run logic or even word on two computers  (except the node stuff, but this is another story)
DSP distribution: You can run more plugins on one dsp but you cannot run 1 plugin on two dsps (split). Imho this is the same for all dsp cards, powercore, uad (has only 1 dsp), imho also scope and ptools ...
To split one plugin on 2 dsps you need multithreading dsp plugins and for this applications theres not much sense to do this.
If theres not enough free power/ram on eg the 1st dsp to run one plugin you have to load it on the next one. But if you load another plugin after wich fits in the remaining slot of the 1st dsp you can do it.
DSP 1: 30%, 40% = 30% left
DSP 2: 0% = 100% left
load plugin wich needs 50% (on dsp2)
DSP 1: 30%, 40% = 30% left
DSP 2: 50% = 50% left
load another plugin wich needs 25% (on dsp1)
DSP 1: 30%, 40%, 25% = 5% left
DSP 2: 50% = 50% left
everything clear?
Btw. the loading is automatically, you dont have to think wich dsp you load something in
---
Personally i dont like combined audio interface / dsp systems. On the dedicated dsp & audio interfaces youre more flexible with upgrades of HW & SW, |
|
|
|
texmex
Started Topics :
5
Posts :
189
Posted : Aug 29, 2005 18:50
|
Quote:
|
On 2005-08-29 16:39, tomcat wrote:
DSP distribution: You can run more plugins on one dsp but you cannot run 1 plugin on two dsps (split). Imho this is the same for all dsp cards, powercore, uad (has only 1 dsp), imho also scope and ptools ...
To split one plugin on 2 dsps you need multithreading dsp plugins and for this applications theres not much sense to do this.
|
|
On Creamware's cards you can certainly use multiple DSP's with one plugin. For example Minimax (Moog emu) can choke the whole card (6 dsp's in the scope project).
So I guess it greatly depends on the architechture... |
|
|
|
tomcat
Started Topics :
2
Posts :
48
Posted : Aug 30, 2005 21:18
|
Quote:
|
On 2005-08-29 18:50, texmex wrote:
On Creamware's cards you can certainly use multiple DSP's with one plugin. For example Minimax (Moog emu) can choke the whole card (6 dsp's in the scope project).
So I guess it greatly depends on the architechture...
|
|
Do you know if its possible to split a lets say reverb on 2 dsps? On the synth plugins its different story, you can use more dsps to create bigger polyphony.
Would be interesting if this is possible. |
|
|
|
symbiote
Started Topics :
0
Posts :
24
Posted : Aug 31, 2005 01:24
|
The main reason forcing some plugins to run on a single DSP is phase coherence. With a synth you can treat each voice as an independant device (global effects aside, which you can run on yet another DSP), so as long as a single voice fits on a single DSP, you can easily distribute all the voices among several DSPs, as the signal from one voice doesn't depend (processing-wise) on the signal of another voice.
With reverb and other processing plugins, the left and right signals are interdependant, and phase-coherency is much more critical (i.e. you don't want your left channel delayed by a few samples from the right or vice-versa,) hence why you will want to load it on a single DSP, otherwise you can't garantee that everything will be processed at the same time.
So yeah, it depends on the architecture, and the plugin's algorithm. Tomcat's posts explains what happens really well.
If you could cook up a multiple-DSP platform that could garantee phase-coherence, then I guess distributing a single plugin over multiple DSPs would be much easier, but none of the current platforms that I know of do this. This will become easier as DSP get faster, since there will be more "time-slices"/clock ticks during which you can send data between the DSPs before you have to output the next sample.
As a side note, there's the Symbolic Sound Kyma Capybara that will let you add more memory (expansion boards have like 4 DSPs and 64Mb RAM each, at least had last time I checked (long time ago.)) This won't help with distributing the processing among DSPs tho.
To get back a bit to the original topic, 350-500$usd might not be enough to get you enough processing power to completely unload all effects from the CPU, but would still unload some.
Be advised tho, that DSP-based effects will use alot of PCI throughput, as each audio signal has to travel thru the PCI bus to reach the DSP card. Make sure you research your current computer setup (mostly dependant on motherboard and motherboard chipset), see which cards work well and what kind of performance you can expect. Some effects, most notably reverb, are highly dependant on PCI performance, since they don't have enough on-board memory to compute and store all the delay lines. It'll have to use your computer's RAM to do this.
There's really no "wrong" choice between UAD, PowerCore, Creamware, ProTools or a faster CPU, they all provide pretty good bang-for-the-buck and nice algos, so it'll depend more on your needs, budget, and current computer system. I'd say (warning, biased opinion =P) Creamware has the best synthesis around, but the PowerCore has the Virus plugin, so it would be a pretty tough call. UAD doesn't have any synths, but really nice effects. |
|
|
|
WAVELOGIX
Wavelogix
Started Topics :
136
Posts :
1214
Posted : Aug 31, 2005 16:20
|
i have intel 2.8ghz HT processor ... incase i imply want to uprade my processor , which is the best choice ?
also , what is the difference between ECG RAM's and DDR RAM's ?
some one please guide me ..
thank you .
respect .. chandan ! |
|
|
|
WAVELOGIX
Wavelogix
Started Topics :
136
Posts :
1214
Posted : Sep 2, 2005 20:11
|
|
any body home ???????? |
|
|
|
