Originally Posted by: Paul

Hi Synetos, 

Can you please send screenshots to , with a link to this thread?

Also, please include which versions of software you are using (version numbers). 

Best, 
Paul

Paul,  For whatever reason, I am no longer having the issue.

However, I did make several changes to my system, so it is hard to say what was the real issue/solution. I completely removed VEP, had updates to other software, and moved some things around for USB ports.

If it comes back again, I will send in the info to support. Hopefully just something to do with other software I updated.

I get eLicenser errors relating to ID NOT recognized. 

If I open Cubase, or Studio One, and then close them, I cant get either to load again if VEP is running.  In fact, I end up rebooting. 

I have reinstalled, reregistered the elicenser with Steinberg, but it still keeps coming back. 

Yes, I have installed all the latest versions of everything. If it is because of Windows 10 update, it has been out for months now. There shouldn't be an issue.

If you are already going to mix everything down to a single stereo return out of VEP for the instruments in the first place, then why not rip that to an Audio Track and then blend it in with your other tracks and final effects...through VEP, or locally in your DAW?

Originally Posted by: Dewdman42

Also, there is no truth at all that macs like more instances and PC's like less.  

I meant to say Logic. It's just assumed for me that I run Logic on Mac and Cubase on PC. Since I own both, I get to disagree. YMMV

I bounce back and forth with the concept of one vs many instances., as well

The problem: Lot's of variables make it hard for a standard recommendation.

One big one...OS. Macs like lots of small instances. PC's perform better with less instances.

If one is doing full orchestral stuff all playing concurrently vs Pop songs where you can work on drums, then pads, etc. In that case, you could disable whatever you are not using.

I think it really boils down to a blending of what works for your workflow, your gear, and preferences.

Hence, VSL just says least amount of instances will be best. What number that equals is all over the map.

Personally, I like working with one instance from the point of the DAW, but I cant stand that mess from the perspective of VEP.

I think this issue was a bad switch, or outdated NIC driver. Too far back for me to recall.

Check out what your Network card is, go to manufacture and get the latest driver. Same for all your hardware. I dont rely on Windows 10 to have it right. In my case, I went straight to Intel.

Yes, you are correct. You have a send and return concept when offloading FX to VEP. It isnt an insert in the traditional routing sense.

Originally Posted by: digiot

I am trying to figure out how to route the mono channels from BFD3. It seems that no matter where I send it to it comes out as a stereo pair!? I want to track the individual mic's from BFD3 in to my DAW but VEP seems to only be able to handle stereo pairs. Am I missing something here?

I ran into the same problem using Addictive Drums. I will try to explain the work around I am using to split the channels. the end result is outputs for mono instruments that are essentially dual mono on the stereo channels in VEP

Here Goes:

Example: the kick and snare are on the same stereo channel coming out of AD2 into VEP mixer channel

I basically make two copies of that input, and then use the matrix mixer plugin (now included in VEP7) to grab the kick only channel and make it dual mono into it's own stereo track. You still end up with stereo tracks back into your DAW, but at least it is isolated to just the kick...etc.

What i like about this setup; I can have multiple drum kits setup in my instance, process them individually, and then merge them to BUS channels before going back to my DAW. So no matter what Kick I want, they all come back on the same bus channels to by DAW. That way I can group things like TOMS's into a stereo pair before they ever go back to my DAW. I can also mix it all up and just send a stereo pair back to my DAW. But, I like to be ablet to still tweak in the mix, so I dont do that very often.

Hopefully this helps a little.

Crickets...

I run my setup with it's own network...meaning, I put a 2nd network cards in my Windows 10 master and slave machines.

I then just connect them with a Cat6 cable, and assign static IP's to them, and a gateway to each other. Works perfectly, and I dont have any internet traffic interfereing with my VEP session. Most of the time, I disable my internet connection so I am not surfing all day, or getting trolled by spamware and Windows updates.

You also might need to make sure your firewall isnt blocking VEP.

I was wondering what each output for an instance uses for system resources...whether in use or not? 

If I create 64 Stereo returns, but only activate 32 in my daw, do the unused/idle connections still use resources?

For some Instances, I want more than 32 returns, but in others, I only need a couple. 

Originally Posted by: civilization 3

You don't need to reserve threads for the DAW, btw.

Oh? I thought I did. I will take it to 20 then. Thanks

I have moved to using 1 large instance, running in local host mode on a Windows 10 setup.

I setup VEP preferences for 20 midi ports (320 unique midi channels) and 32 audio channels (16 stereo returns)

Then I assign all cores except 2 I keep for the daw. So in my case, 18 cores per instance

This has allowed me to setup my favorite instruments and just call on them when I need them in my project by adding a midi track pointing to the the assocaited port/channel, rather than having 100's of midi channels and returns in a massive template.

I use one stereo return for each catagory: Drums, Piano, Strings, Winds, FX, etc. So, I might have 20 different VST pianos to select from, but they all play back on the same stereo return to Cubase.

I use XLN Audio Addictive drums hosted in VEP. I use a channel matrix plug to separate the stereo channels into dual mono and route that to a set of bus tracks. This gives me the ability to do whatever processing I want and then just return the drum master bus to cubase on one stereo channel. Works quite well.

I have also experimented with hosting FX send/return channels with VEP. It works so much better in VEP7. My need has not been as great since I run Waves SuperRack with Mercury. Although, I have demonstrated to myself that I could do everything I am doing in SuperRack, right inside VEP. Performance was very smooth in local host mode.

Anyway, my system has been humming along just fine since doing this, and my Cubase Project template is basic.

I don't have an answer for that. However, I do not use Track instruments. I use Rack instruments. Not sure there is a difference, but you could try it.

I already basically did that, and I do not experience the latency you are running into. Your latency is most likely your audio interface. I dont think you can duplicate what I am doing with a USB interface.

What is your Audio interface? I am running a complete Waves Soundgrid setup.

If you are using a USB interface, you will have latency from USB alone.

My PC is 6950x running at stock clock speed. I have 128gb ram, but never use more than 50% of it. I have my Windows 10 OS tuned as well. There are links all over the place on how to do that. One thing for sure, disable windows defender. I run ESET, which is much more efficent. 

Drop your DAW buffer to 64, and you will cut your latency. But again, it has much to do with your overall signal/rig chain. 

Originally Posted by: lahatte

You are running VE Pro on your Daw computer, I presume?

So if you put a reverb, for example, on VE Pro and connect to it via a send in your DAW, and turn the mix on the reverb all the way dry, do you get no delay to speak of? What does the VE Pro plugin show for the latency in that situation?

Thanks.

That is correct. I am running VEP on my DAW, local host mode. VST and FX are all on the DAW and accessed via VEP rack instruments. 

In my pcubase project, I create an FX channel, and then put VEP Audio Input plug on the FX channel.

With zero buffer on VEP, the channel latency in Cubase is reporting 2ms. The VEP plugin shows RT latency as (192)2.0...so, the same thing as Cubase. With 1 buffer, it is 3.3ms. Again, I run 96k/128 samples and my DAW reports a RT latency of 5.333ms

I did what you described, played a piano VST with a prefader send to the effects channel, put Eventide Blackhole reverb on the FX channel in the VEP instance, and turned the mix to zero...basically running through the plug without any reverb effect. I pulled the fader back in my daw, so all I can hear is the FX return coming back from VEP, and it is perfectly fine. No delay. 

If there was a delay, I wouldnt be doing this and I would use my Soundgrid Server for tracking. Once I am mixing, i dont care about latency so much, as it is all relative.

Of course, with send effects, running them dry wouldnt be a real world senario. I can monitor the channel and blend in my effects send/return as desired. I still like to record clean and process after the fact. 

If i decide to do a channel strip, say for a vocal track, and I want to monitor it with the full effects chain in play, then it might add up. However, that would be the case even with the Soundgrid server and the Soundgrid Studio Mixer.

This is a really good thing for my workflow. I have now put my Waves soundgrid server in my live rig and I am running multirack soundgrid, live! It is a super great setup! I may just use VEP live on my slave machine, since I am not really using it in my studio at this point. That would give me the option to run any plugin, and not just Waves. 

I don't know what changed with VEP7, but this didnt work so good on previous versions. I am very happy it does now :)

I too have been experimenting, again, with VEP7 on local host for send effects.

I am super happy with how it is performing. It is much better than previous versions, and good enough that I shut off my Waves Extreme server.  That is a $2000 piece of gear I do not need now, and I am not limited to Waves only plugs for low latency in my studio.

I am also not limited to a few mixer channels (8) like I was with SoundGrid studio mixer. I can have low latency hosting on anything now. Sweet!

I created an FX instance, purely for this purpose. I can run with a zero buffer, and still not get any artifacts. 

I am basically doing sends from audio channels, and the VEP VST instrument returns audio channels.

Example:I can sing and play piano with all the effects I want, from any library I own. How awesome!

Thanks VSL team! It was well worth the upgrade price. :)

EDIT: I am running at 96k 128 buffer. My RT latency is 5.333ms. I can go lower, but I dont feel the need. I actually can run my system as low as 2.333ms, but it isnt necessary.

I realize some are experiencing issues, but my experience has been good from the moment I installed.

Originally Posted by: Bill

Remember, whining is your choice.

Agreed...but I am not whining...I am pointing out the whole basis for the whining many others are doing.

I will upgrade, I always do. I dont worry about the cost. If it has the features I want, and isnt a buggy mess, I will be all over it...no matter what the price point. However...my setup works just fine as it is, so I probably wont be an early adopter. 

It is all just a big old marketing fumble, period!

If VSL would have announced all the VEP 7 feature candy that was coming, and it was seen as good stuff, noone would be whining about upgrade costs. We'd be whining about how long we have to wait to get our hands on it.

The pitch was misguided to think that most of us would care about EPIC. Like many users of VEP,  I got thousands $$$ tied up in VSL sample libraries. The cost of VEP, or its upgrades, is really trivial by comparison.

I dont care about EPIC update. Sure, it is nice, but I am more interested...like many...as to what VEP 7 brings to the party.

You guys can put this all to bed by just announcing the new features that will be in VEP 7. If you dont know yet, then why even announce it at all? It's like telling the kids we will go to Dairy Queen for a Blizzard...someday. They got some awesome new flavors. Your little kids are like "I wanna go now"..."when can we go"..."what flavors"?

If you dont know the prodcut features of VEP7 at this very moment, it likely means you are probably 12+ months out from a release of VEP 7.  If so, it makes no sense to announce anything. 

Hence...the marketing fumble.

I would try VEP in local host mode right on your current DAW, before even buying a slave machine. You might be suprised and not even need another machine.

Are you running VEPro on your MacPro? If not, that is where i would start and run it as local host to get all your VST's outside the Cubase processing space.

What is your audio interface?

Seems like a nice box. I dont have any experience with the i9.

There are many variables in figurng out the best setup for your particular workflow. It was pretty much trial and error to come up with something that works for my setup and how I like to operate.

Personally, I would rather have multiple slaves machines running i9's than big beast running Zeons. Which is better? again, it depends...blah blah blah. :)

NIC= Network Interface Card

I have had good luck putting multiple NICs in my machines and then all my VEP connections are run thoug their own switch. Here is what I am running in my PC's.

• Intel Gigabit CT PCI-E Network Adapter EXPI9301CTBLK
• NetGear 5 Port switch (GS105NA)

I use RDP to control my machines from my main DAW, but I have it on its own network. I dont run anything else across my VEP network connections. I block the VEP app at the firewall level on the nics I dont want popping up when trying to connect a RACK instrument.

Another thought: While this forum is helpful, there are other resources much more active where these kinds of topics are discussed alot. VI-Control is one that I have learned a lot from just reading other peoples discussions on the same topics myself. There are many users of VEP on that forum. This forum is useful too, particularly with VEP issues. But, it can also have alot of cricket sounds at times when one is asking for suggestions. Just my experience. YMMV

https://vi-control.net/community/