Hardware is old-school and dying. A progressive software company like VSL realized that phillosophy years ago. VSL embodies that philosophy. Now they just need to be innovative in that sense across the board, including offering software/cloud-based licensing solutions. Full 100% software solutions are the future! 

iLok for example, allows you to create "cloud sessions" so you no longer need to have a physical USB dongle. You just launch whatever software and if anyone else is using that license somewhere else, you optionally sign them off and then you can run your software.

iLok is a much better solution in this regard (freedom from hardware).

Hey Paul, nice to hear from you. :) Ah, okay. Is there any workaround? What about Soft-e-Licensor from Steinberg? Over the next 5, 10, 20 years, computers will move into the cloud (like Stadia and Apple Arcade are doing this year). It won't be long before local machines will be like having your own giant computer from the 1950's in your garage, compared to what you could run in the cloud and use from your mobile phone. Do you see this change coming? Are you aware of this trend? Do you think like I do, that it is going to be the way things are done in the future? For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2Epm8tWmT0

To say nothing about VR and VR DAWs.

Evan

Do you, or will you be, offering cloud based licensing? Or software-based licensing? Anything non-hardware non-USB?

Hi there,

I am connecting to VEP remotely for the first time (as opposed to running it on the same machine), and I am experiencing intervallic hiccups (regular, every 2-3 seconds) where the audio and MIDI communication drops out regularly without fail. But when I do an offline bounce, the resultant audio is perfectly rendered.

I am running hardwired on a 1Gbps LAN using the latest switches (ethernet hub) which has 15k Jumbo Frames. 

Changing buffering on either side has no effect.

What can I do to make it work correctly? Thanks,

Evan Evans

Nevermind. I figured out the problem. The default Templates supplied by VSL had errors in the Environment upon loading. I figured out where the mistakes were and fixed them, all is well and working now. 

Nevermind. I figured it out and created it myself.

I've loaded up the 6x16, but I am unclear on how it works. If I record enable a MIDI track, I cannot hear anything unless I also record enable the INST track that points to the VEP Instance. But if I record, then it records onto both tracks. Furthermore, if I delete the MIDI data from the INST track and just leave the MIDI track's MIDI data, then the track does not sound at all. Is there a tutorial that goes with these templates?

I see there is the 6-instance, 12-port, and the 2-instance 48-port. But I need something like 8-10 instances times 48-ports, for Logic. Has anyone created this?

Will it ever be in the future of VEP, do you think, for the VEP Server to allow connections from multiple hosts and to manage and serve the results to them? Essentially internally cloning itself for multiple hosts. Did you guys already think of this? Is this coming?

It sounds like the CPU% inside VEP6 and showing for it's "process" in Activity Monitor is % of ONE CORE.

And there is this info out there on the web:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7896166?start=0&tstart=0

I notice that, my VEP (which is set to assign 2 threads per instance), shows up in ACTIVITY MONITOR (OS X) as using 86% CPU, and each individual CPU% at the bottom right of each instance shows something like on average 10% for example. But, in ACTIVITY MONITOR, the "User" % being used is only 4% (when VEP is at rest by engine is on). 

So, which number do I trust? Is VEP using 86% of my CPU when at rest? Or only 4% as according to the overall CPU reported in Activity Monitor. 

Awesome. I really like the programming you guys have done so far. Lots of convenience programming. This would be one of those conveniences. Thanks so much Paul and all!

Best,
Evan

When I stop the engine on one instance, the CPU% goes to "---%" but when I click on another instance it's CPU% is going (ie: "7.8%"). So I stop that one too. It seems you must stop all instances in order to rest the CPU.

Is there a keyboard shortcut, or way, to stop the Engine on ALL project instances?

I'm running MIR PRO 24 in standalone mode as opposed to integrated into VEP6, and I am connecting it to my VEP6 on the same Mac, using AU instances of MIR. My question is, which is faster, the AU or the VST instance? Which or do either use more CPU, have more lag, go 32bit vs 64bit, etc? Is there any difference in the CPU hit using the Standalone MIR vs. the integrated MIR? Or is the CPU, RAM impact identical to the very last bit and CPU cycle?

I'm not sure why, but I don't see MIR PRO or any VSL plugins, listed in the VST submenu of the plugin selector dropdown.You say it would be on a separate server. Could it be on the same server? Would I just insert it on another Project called for example: "MIR"?

Best,
Evan

VEP6 just sits there, waiting for Kontakt to load an instrument, if I try to load a Kontakt Instrument when the VEP Engine is off. I cannot press CANCEL on the Kontakt Instrument Load Progress bar. And I cannot turn on the Engine. Both VEP and Kontakt become infinitely stuck and dependant on each other. VEP can't work until Kontakt is done, and Kontakt can't work until VEP Engine is turned on.

Similar to how a hard drive spins down when it's inactive, could you guys add a feature where VEP automatically turns off the CPU (turns off the audio engine) after a certain period of inactivity? And then when activity occurs again, it auto switches back on, and is up and running again.

Are you guys going to eventually implement what is the equivalent in Kontakt of it's "Purge All" feature? It allows the end user to have their library load up fully unloaded into RAM, and then the notes load automatically as they occur, as needed for a tune. There is no need to enter a learn or optimization mode(s). It's automatic. If a note is needed, it simply loads and readies on first trigger. At any time you can roll-back to zero again by selecting "purge all". EW PLAY also uses the same technique.

This would be great for a VSL VI type setup, because one can load all the instruments of VSL up, at one time. All articulations, all variations, every single instrument. 1000s of them. And it would take up zero RAM. Then whenever some instruments are needed, whenever those notes are performed, they load. Automatically.

Oh great, thanks Paul, that was happening to me a lot!

How, about is it possible to insert another plugin before Kontakt / VI? If so, I can insert this one:
http://eareckon.com/free/MIDIPolysher_1_2_0.zip

Is there a way to LOCK or BLOCK my inserted plugins from recieving VOLUME CC7 and PAN CC10? And also to LOCK VEP channel faders and Pans so that they may not be moved or changed?

Okay thanks Paul. And hopefully I can achieve this with MIR PRO 24, right? I'll give it a try this weekend.

Really cool screenshot. But, hmm, I'm not sure I understand the routing going on here. I am not sure which window is showing the contents of which VST plugin and which VST plugin is in which instance. How to set it all up. Maybe it will be easier to illustrate more clearly with just 2 instances in a screenshot like this Dietz?

Best regards,

Evan Evans