The goal with the gear I'm looking for/ asking about is to create a full release/ new set up I can play out, so it'll be a minute on that but here's a chill piece I threw out there last year with the DAW rig I described:
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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread
- Thread starter ttasselm
- Start date
What sort of hardware are you running in the MacBook? I'm currently on a 2.7 GHz i5 with 8 of RAM and a 256 flash drive. I'm looking at popping for a 2.8 GHz i7 with 16 of RAM and a 512 drive. I'm curious how much faster things will be, and what the latency will be like. I certainly couldn't run what I'd want to run with my current rig without tons of latency.
Macbook is Mac Pro retina, 16 gigs ram, SSD, 3.1 i7.
The latency is really a combination of not only available power, but also interface, resolution choice, and daw.
So, soft synths eat a lot of power if using lots of voices, and mostly loose their timing on the way out of the machine compounded by larger buffer needs. The instrument processing alone requires input as well as output processing times, compounded by daw processing time in the middle. Put these together, it can get tough, so minimalism is pretty key. By offloading the amp sim and basic instrument tone processing to the UAD interface, it alleviated a lot of stress on the rig and felt natural (1.5ms in/ out total). Splitting for wet only effects is great but still runs into phasing issues etc. and added latency of 3rd party plug ins. So, really it depends on what you want to try to get from the system. If all processes were specialized, for example having the UAD processing dedicated just to that, things would be better but the multi- tasking is where things seem to get the most bogged down. I don't think there's any one system really fast enough for this type of multitasking/ heavy lifting that is portable.
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Alienware Gaming 15 laptop. SSD. 8GB nVidia video. Latest generation i7 Intel. This is the beast that can tame latency.
Interesting. Lots of things I've thought about. Certainly good to read this from someone who has tried, so I can temper my expectations. I'm usually okay with soft synth processing. It tends to be things like Reaktor synths, which aren't core optimized for multi-threading, which can chew CPU. Also, delay and reverb heavy patches seem to chew up the CPU as well. My overall gut feeling is that I'm not going to be able to run an all-in-one synth and instrument effect processing machine.
I've been a Mac user for a while, but the specs on the Alienware stuff look nice.
Yeah, regardless of machine there are many variables involved and no major breakthrough on any platform. If it was just a processor power level issue it'd moot at this point. Best to keep expectations realistic, which is actually pretty damn awesome despite limitations.
Got the Novation Circuit controlling both the Dreadbox Erebus and Nyx, on MIDI 1 & 2, and sending its internal drum and samples sounds. Now to jam a bass in there.
The Nyx is a background, drone, pad machine. The Erebus will handle melody or bass duties. Once I get things sequenced on the Circuit, I can play bass along with them
I’ll probably run my bass through a looper, so I can trigger changes on the Circuit.
...ooh. I wonder what midi sends from the Circuit will do if I connect them to the Pigtronix Infinity. I wonder if it can trigger preset changes on the Circuit. I am doubtful, but I’ll look.
I also ordered a Make Noise 0-Coast. Because 15% off is awesome
The Nyx is a background, drone, pad machine. The Erebus will handle melody or bass duties. Once I get things sequenced on the Circuit, I can play bass along with them
I’ll probably run my bass through a looper, so I can trigger changes on the Circuit.
...ooh. I wonder what midi sends from the Circuit will do if I connect them to the Pigtronix Infinity. I wonder if it can trigger preset changes on the Circuit. I am doubtful, but I’ll look.
I also ordered a Make Noise 0-Coast. Because 15% off is awesome
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Got the Novation Circuit controlling both the Dreadbox Erebus and Nyx, on MIDI 1 & 2, and sending its internal drum and samples sounds. Now to jam a bass in there.
The Nyx is a background, drone, pad machine. The Erebus will handle melody or bass duties. Once I get things sequenced on the Circuit, I can play bass along with them
I’ll probably run my bass through a looper, so I can trigger changes on the Circuit.
...ooh. I wonder what midi sends from the Circuit will do if I connect them to the Pigtronix Infinity. I wonder if it can trigger preset changes on the Circuit. I am doubtful, but I’ll look.
I also ordered a Make Noise 0-Coast. Because 15% off is awesome
Nice! A buddy of mine has one...really great piece!
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Last edited:
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Unreal. Coolest thing I may have ever done.
Edit - Well coolest music production
NICE!!!
Here is one of the more TB friendly pics I can post. This was setting up.
...now we are tearing down
Yup. Those are coffins.
...now we are tearing down
Yup. Those are coffins.
