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  3. [ANSWERED] Why do people use 'slave' computers when working with Vienna Instruments??

  • [ANSWERED] Why do people use 'slave' computers when working with Vienna Instruments??

    K
    K

    This is probably an easy question for someone to answer so sorry if it's a bit of a basic question!

    I am currently planning to upgrade my pc and was going to sell off bits of my current pc (Core2Duo 3.0Ghz cpu, motherboard, Corsair 4GB RAM) to raise money for my new i7

    Would it be better if I kept this computer in case I decided to use this as a 'slave' pc in the future?

    Why do people set up slave computers when using VI? Performance? Extra RAM space?

    Is a slave set up essential once you're working with all of the large VI libraries?

    I'm currently starting to buy up the VI DVD collections - will I eventually look to using a slave computer, or will one be sufficient?

    I use Sibelius and am only planning to use my DAW (Sonar) for mixing in the future.

    Hey, that was a bigger question than planned! [:D]

    Any thoughts on this will be most welcome!

    Best regards,

    Ian
  • M
    M

     I think most people start using slaves for the extra RAM -- or at least that's the way it was for me. I see you use Sonar, as do I. One advantage to having all of my instruments on slaves and keeping only Sonar running on the DAW (master), is that when Sonar does it's automatic save every few minutes, it does it lickety-split (Southern U.S. for fast). If I have a bunch of vst and samples on the main computer, it can take several long seconds to save -- which can get annoying.

    Also, another reason to have slaves it that you (or at least me) don't have to upgrade them quite as often. If you've got a reasonably powerful processor and 8 or more gigs of RAM, that slave is going to be good to go for a long time to come.

    Thirdly, I suppose having slave machines just keeps things tidy and neat -- though I have paired down to two slaves only. I find that three or four slaves gets to be a headache keeping up with operating systems, etc. etc. Ultimately, I'd like to go with one 24 gig i7 slave, but that will be sometime in the future for me.

    Good luck,

    Mahlon
  • K
    K

    Thanks for your reply Mahlon!

    Some fab points, cheers!

    I'm aiming for a 24GB i7 so RAM shouldn't be a problem (for now!)  - so I guess I may not run into needing a slave in the near future.

    Forgive another basic question...

    But if I did keep my Core2Duo 3.0Ghz pc using DDR2 RAM, and ran this as a slave, would this slow down my master newer i7 system which is obviously a faster system and which would be using DDR3 RAM??

    I suppose the master computer wouldn't know the specs of the slave computer, and would just act on the data coming through the LAN cable??
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    @knievel said:

    I suppose the master computer wouldn't know the specs of the slave computer, and would just act on the data coming through the LAN cable??

    Exactly! You use it as the another "streaming data machine". You must remember to have fairy fast LAN connection (1GB or above). Don't worry about SLAVE power configuration. It has no connection to your MASTER system power. Nowdays, it's not bad idea to buy as much as you can memory sticks, buy 64 bit OS and use it as a sampler ( to carry f. ex. the 1GB samples! in spectrasonics products).
  • K
    K

    Cool... thanks for the help! All sounds pretty good.

    Does the slave computer also need it's own monitor?? Or have people on here thought a way round that problem??

    I know monitors are fairly cheap these days, but I'd prefer to work off one monitor as the one I have at the minute is 24" so I feel that's big enough!  [:D]

    I guess it's all about peoples own preference, and how they prefer to work...

    knievel
  • M
    M

    I use Microsoft Remote Desktop to connect to my slave machine. This replaces the need for a separate keyboard, mouse and screen.

    M
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    You don't need nothing more than motherboard (with LAN controler), cpu, memory, case, hard disk and...graphic card!, even if you do not plan to use the monitor. Without graphic card common Windows OS's will not boot. Remote Desktop is very useful and I don't see the circumstances - after you made the proper configuration - to use the external monitor, keyboard etc.
  • M
    M

    Another way is to have the video output of your slave computer coming into the second input on your 24 inch monitor. Then use the input command (if it has one, which most do, on the front of the monitor) to switch back and forth.

    If you do decide that you need more screen real estate and connect a second monitor (and I recommend this if it's affordable for you), you might want to look into a great, little, free program called "Input Director" which will allow you to treat both computers' desktops as ONE large desktop, using only one keyboard and one mouse to go between the two. Works absolutely brilliantly! Just google it.

    Mahlon
  • K
    K

    Great!

    All good help this - much appreciated.

    Sooooooo......  slave computers are used because of the extra RAM capabilities and also less CPU burden on the master computer.

    Sounds sensible!

    I think I might upgrade my firewire to 800mbit/s as I suppose I'll eventually be sending quite a fair bit of audio date to my external firewire soundcard.

    Do others have problems with any 'bottlenecks' when using two or more systems together?? i.e. on big orchestral pieces where many samples are being used??

    I suppose the speed of hard drives is a factor - although I am not sure how close the VI samples come to testing the limits of multiple 7200rpm hard drives?? 

    knievel
  • M
    M
    HI, do I need a professional soundcard in each slave computer? Can I sync via MIDI? Thanks
  • C
    C

    If you use VE Pro, you do not need sound cards in any "slaves", you only need network cards.

    Maestro2be
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