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How to get a super cheap but seriously powerful mac.... (pg. 5)
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| DJ RANN |
Sorry to bump this one guys, but it's come to that time to slap an SSD in to my 2008 imac.
Does anyone have any input on what SSD is killing it at the moment? I'm leaning towards the intel 510 series even though my imac is only sata II, as it still should perform faster than the 320 series.
Anyone got any insight? |
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| Looney4Clooney |
i use the fast vertex for samples in a raid array. Data isn't really important. 4 in each mac. Going to add 4 more once i get that pciex expansion card.
I don't notice the difference between them. I mean fast is fast. 1 second vs 3 seconds. at the moment , not a big deal.
Oh and this wasn't super cheap. But is it really possible going ssd ? |
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| DJ RANN |
| quote: | Originally posted by Looney4Clooney
i use the fast vertex for samples in a raid array. Data isn't really important. 4 in each mac. Going to add 4 more once i get that pciex expansion card.
I don't notice the difference between them. I mean fast is fast. 1 second vs 3 seconds. at the moment , not a big deal.
Oh and this wasn't super cheap. But is it really possible going ssd ? |
Dang, that's sweet. Why dud you go vertex instead of intel. I thought all your other SSD's were intel and were performing nicely? |
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| Looney4Clooney |
the system disks and audio are intels. REst are vertex. I back up every 4 hours. Only takes 2 minutes. and i have tea. So 2 intels, 4 vertex in each mac. have a server for all the samples i own.
Oh and now i have 2 8tb thunderbolt g drives. And i'm using that as well. Well not really. BUt if i need access to something and i don't want to wait 5 minutes to transfer. That has all of them too.
I counted all the g drives i have. other than the 2 new thunderbolt ones, i have 14 kinda just lined up. And that doesn't include the backup server, and the sample server. A lot of hardrives. And then i think I have about 17 500 - 1b just not being used. man alot of ing hardrives. |
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| Mel David |
Hey, instead of an SSD which will only give you improved data streaming, have you thought about getting a second PC running Vienna Ensemble Pro to host your plugins? That will take a lot of the CPU work from your DAW.
Of course an SSD would be nice as well. Bu it just means faster loading of projects and samples. |
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| Looney4Clooney |
I only use the second one for reverb, or if i require lots of doubling to get a certain sound, i might use this for say just brass and winds. Then i one of the macbooks for extra cpu with VSL ensemble. But really it is the altiverbs that need the second computer. About 14 - 20 instances. Yes i know what a send is, but the way i'm using reverb is not how you think i'm using it.
SSD doesn't affect CPU, it allows one to say run a project with 200 audio tracks and not get all weird.
I have 2 mac pros with 32 gigs ofd ram each
2 macbook pros
2 pcs as servers
and an Imac.
I have enough power. The SSDs don't add cpu. They make loading time fast, from 5 minutes to 10 seconds, and they allow audio streaming from bounced audio faster so more tracks. |
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| DJ RANN |
Are you talking about the hybrid reverb setup? You know the lexicon 480 or 960 (hardware version) has the engine controller so instead of having to run the sends the way you're doing it (and running in to that problem about staging the wet dry balance) you can use one part of the engine for the ER and the other for the tails, all essentially in one reverb unit. Saves you having to about with the balance as you're currently having to do.
You know what would be a chummy thing to do for you fellow TA's? Do a write up/how to on your reverb setup for Orch. |
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| Looney4Clooney |
the placement is done within altiverb as well as the dry/wet mix. So it is always 100 % wet. In fact there is just no dry parallel signal. Then each section is placed within the stage in altiverb 7. Basically every group has their own reverb which has the same IR , ER is adjusted to account for proximity , the micro panning within the group is done via VSL panning tool which is really precise. And then the panning of the groups is done mostly with altiverb. So you get this thing that sounds like an orchestra, not a bunch of orchestral instruments playing togethers. Like say a drum kit compared to a bunch of drum tracks.
I've done it many ways. This is the new way i'm trying. I find it allows a more realistic result. This is for full orchestral tho. You don't really need that sort of precision and realism when you have alot electronics or percussion but the template is easy to load up.
Also for tails , usually a lexicon after. Just seems to make things smoother. I do prefer a much dryer sound than alot of people which makes reverb , at least for me something i pay attention to because i don't really like it. But i ;ve found that ER are a big part of the equation both knowing the sound dispersion, the timing say form one group to another and how to adjust these parameters to mirror what a real room would do.
I purposefully took on this cartoon show to work on that Scot Bradley type stuff ( tom and jerry ) Just brilliant stuff.
But if i were to do a tutorial , i mean i just don;t think it applies to dance. I actually really hate reverb in dance music. Well lately, this really wet synth sounds , can't stand it. I mean it seems counter productive when you hear these busy mixes and then all this reverb. |
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| Mel David |
I don't have the CPU resources for loads of reverb instances. I usually just use 2 bus reverbs with different predelay times, and 1 convolution on the master.
I like the Bricasti Chicago Hall IR on the master.
Most of the mix get say 10ms predelay, and the lead instruments get 33ms.
The amount of reverb determines the distance placing of the instruments, along with pan.
Haven't watched a real orchestra play since I was a kid on a school excursion to watch Nutcracker so I don't really know how it's all s'posed to sound anyway. |
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| Looney4Clooney |
so i have 4 of those thunderbolt G drives, whichi baically gives you pciex bandwdth and despite the drives being daisy chained, the performance does not degrade each node.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/H...bolt-hard-drive
So i replaced the drives in the G drive ( they have a 2 drive set up ) with SSDs
so i have 2 ssds in the actual macbook, 1 programs, 1 audio files.
then 6 in the G drives, all forming a raid 0 array. all samples that are stores else where and then the last drive is just a regular 4 tb g drive
So 3 TB of raid 0 SSD
4 TB of normal storage
16 of ram
loaded a heavy project from my mac pro and the I7 could handle it. I had reduce Kontact's buffer but essentially, was running a project that my other computer which was using 18 gigs of ram.
I basically use it as my video editor but ya, . |
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