Minimum laptop requirements

[160515]

Hi all. I need to buy a new laptop. Could anyone tell me a specific laptop to buy, which would comfortably run the VSL, with no problems? Many thanks Kenny.

[Paul]

Welcome Kenny, 

Could you give us an idea about your budget, and your preference on your OS?

Do you have an audio card? If yes, which one is it?

Best, 
Paul

[160515]

Hi Paul. Thank you for the reply. I don't mind spending £600+ on a laptop; or even a small PC, but preferably a laptop. I've heard the i5 and i7 ones are good. Is 8gb ram enough or 16? I have been told the Motu M2 is a good interface, but I'll let you tell me!! Many thanks Kenny.

[Paul]

Hi Kenny, 

Thanks for the additional info!

I'm not really in the hardware business, but the more cores you have and the faster those cores are, the better. I'd definitely go for 16 GB, if possible: more. 

You will definitely want a fast SSD drive for your OS, and you will see that you will get better specs if you go with a desktop computer... 

Regarding audio interfaces: A lot of choice there... I'd check out some online reviews. 

Which VSL product(s) are you looking at, and what are you musical goals?

Best, 
Paul

[160515]

Hi. Sorry for the delayed reply. As someone who can't see past Bluthner, I find the 1895 Bluthner the best in your library by far. The large pianos can be much of a muchness, sometimes; and that not just VSL pianos, but your Bluthner has real beauty of character and tone. Who would want that Steinway junk, when you can have a Bluthner!! I jest of course.😉 I have really been an organist, for many years, and have had the Hauptwerk organ software for years, but I hardly use it, and usually practise on my piano, and add the organ pedals at the church. I am doing a lot more on the piano, now that I am back taking lessons, and really getting into it. My upright piano is past it now, and I have a Kawai VPC- 1 coming shortly. I already have the speaker system from the hauptwerk. However, I have not quite decided on which software company to use. It's between you and that other company!! Many thanks for your kind help. Kenny.

[Paul]

Hi Kenny, 

Looks like you are looking at some great times ahead!

Good luck, and enjoy the journey 😎

Best,
Paul

[AlexanderMcKenzie]

Dear VSL team and friends online !

I have a question about my laptop and whether I should be able to run Symphonic Cube comfortably on it. It's for an orchestral score so I'd be using the full range and number of tracks.

The laptop has following specs:

MacBook Pro 2018

Processor: 2,6 GHz 6-cores i7

Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

Memory: 32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4

Any help and pointers before I buy the Symphonic Cube and a few other string bundles would be much appreciated!

All the best,

Alex

[Paul]

Hi Alexander,

You can definitely give it a try and then bounce, when necessary. In my opinion, you will reach a limit quite quickly with a full orchestration, but there are definitely workarounds.

Any chance you can upgrade to a Silicon Mac, best a MacBook Pro?

Best,
Paul

[AlexanderMcKenzie]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your swift reply! I've bought Symphonic Cube + the Dimension Strings bundle now - can't wait to download and give it a shot. I'm guessing I should do what I can to minimise CPU by being careful to only load articulations and samples that I'm actually using. Would love to hear about any other obvious ways to keep the CPU down? And of course, if I experience crashes or that everything is slowing down too much, I'll be looking at buying a faster and bigger computer..

All the best,

Alex

[Paul]

Hi Alexander,

Sounds like a plan!

The number of loaded articulations/samples really only affects your RAM.

For low CPU usage with Intel processors on Mac, use the highest acceptable buffer size to start with.

[Sacigyan]

@Paul said:

Hi Kenny,

Thanks for the additional info!

I'm not really in the hardware business, but the more cores you have and the faster those cores are, the better. I'd definitely go for 16 GB, if possible: more.

You will definitely want a fast SSD drive for your OS, and you will see that you will get better specs if you go with a desktop computer...

Regarding audio interfaces: A lot of choice there... I'd check out some online reviews.

Which VSL product(s) are you looking at, and what are you musical goals?

Best,
Paul

Hey Paul, sorry for bumping thread.

Why you suggested SSD instead of hard drive? Let's suppose, I've SSD of 256 GB and hard disk of 1024 GB, what should I prefer? I know both have impacts on laptop/pc speed but any other aspect which common audience like me don't know? Thanks!

[rAC]

@Sacigyan said:

@Paul said:

Hi Kenny,

Thanks for the additional info!

I'm not really in the hardware business, but the more cores you have and the faster those cores are, the better. I'd definitely go for 16 GB, if possible: more.

You will definitely want a fast SSD drive for your OS, and you will see that you will get better specs if you go with a desktop computer...

Regarding audio interfaces: A lot of choice there... I'd check out some online reviews.

Which VSL product(s) are you looking at, and what are you musical goals?

Best,
Paul

Hey Paul, sorry for bumping thread.

Why you suggested SSD instead of hard drive? Let's suppose, I've SSD of 256 GB and hard disk of 1024 GB, what should I prefer? I know both have impacts on laptop/pc speed but any other aspect which common audience like me don't know? Thanks!

Probably because a SSD is now listed as minimum requirement for some libraries.

[Cyril Blanc]

@Sacigyan SSD are more than 10 times faster than an HD

[Andreas8420]

Hi @Sacigyan - Our Synchron Player multi-mic libraries require SSD speeds. (= streaming samples for multiple mic positions, simultaneously) The older VI Series runs fine on HDDs. Best, Andreas