PC farm options?

[zildjohn01]

I'm looking to possibly set up another workhorse PC for sampled drums, and running amp sims (don't yell at me!) Here are my options:

1. A networking VST plugin (one of these). I'm guessing this would be simplest to set up, but have the most latency. Does any one have any experience with any of these (or others) that work smoothly? Support for non-realtime export would be awesome

2. MIDI Timecode
3. VST System Link

#2 and 3 are both in the sync dialog in cubase. It looks like they don't actually send audio data, just timestamp data through a midi or audio cable. So if I only have 1 real audio interface are these out of the question for me?

And are there any other options I missed? Thanks guys

[brandondrury]

I'm anxious to see if there are any good answers here. I've pretty much given up on the notion of using multiple computers. While it does seem like a waste to take a perfectly good recording computer that is a little short on power and toss it in the trash, I'm not aware of a seamless way to do it.

Brandon

[PAETEK]

If you choose to use the vst system link, you will need another audio interface, because audio data is being sent from one computer to the main computer. Unfortunately no matter how you do it, Midi is just code, and information, and although you can process on another computer, that audio must still be sent to the main computer through some type of audio format.

[Phlipper]

wouldn't you think that some of the better interfaces might have an option for routing the data from 2 pc's.... it would certainly be do-able.
Actually, looking at some of those on the page, you don't need an interface (just a decent soundcard to deal with the audio). The audio/midi data is transported via the LAN (Network) - so you should be fine as long as you can happily playback your DAW via your soundcard

[PAETEK]

Originally Posted by Phlipper

wouldn't you think that some of the better interfaces might have an option for routing the data from 2 pc's.... it would certainly be do-able.

You would still need an audio interface to interface with both computers. Even the higher end interfaces don't have this capability yet.

Actually, looking at some of those on the page, you don't need an interface (just a decent soundcard to deal with the audio).

True, but that's the point, you need separate sound cards for this task.

The audio/midi data is transported via the LAN (Network) - so you should be fine as long as you can happily playback your DAW via your soundcard

In some cases yes, but for cubase vst system link, the audio/midi data is sent over a spdif connection, they don't yet support transmission of this data over a LAN, the LAN is just used for networking.


Also keep in mind that if you did use the system link, then you would need to buy another license for cubase to use on the second computer. To avoid this you can use your plugins and vst instruments in standalone mode on your second computer, and go digital out into your main computer via the interface.

[brandondrury]

wouldn't you think that some of the better interfaces might have an option for routing the data from 2 pc's....

I'm not aware of any altough there may be some way to do with with Lightpipe or something.

you don't need an interface (just a decent soundcard to deal with the audio).

An audio interface and a soundcard are the exact same thing. Some people confuse the breakout box for being the "audio interface" but this isn't the case.

So basically, this whole system link thing isn't exactly giving your system more power. It's basically turns your second computer into a hardware effects processor. That has it's merits, I guess. I would be nice to run a few CPU intensive processes on a second machine.

It seems that this could be achieved with external busses if you really wanted to although it may not be as convenient.

Brandon