Thanks so much.  That's what Paul tells me as well.  I think that's what I'll do - my current 3 machines are all max'd out, so time for a 4th ;-)

Cheers!

Hello,

I currently have (3) Macs running VE Pro and I want to add a 4th.  I have (4) eLicenser keys but VE Pro only comes with (3) licenses.  Anyone know how to acquire a 4th license? I've emailed sales - just curious if anyone here has gone past 3 machines/licenses.  

Thanks!

Hello, the VE Pro manual has always stated that Logic's Process Buffer Range should be set to 'medium' - but is there any reason I shouldn't set it to 'large' if I need to squeeze a little more performance out of my main machine?  I have 3 Macs total networked with VE Pro (still on version 4.1.10988) and it's always worked perfectly, but I recently added EW Hollywood Strings & Brass, so I need every bit of extra CPU I can spare.  Any input appreciated!

Thanks...

Thanks so much for your help, Paul.   As I said though, the latest VI installer did NOT install the Directory Manager application - I've run it on all 3 of my Macs and it is missing from all of them.  I had to use Pacifist to extract it from the .pkg file manually.  Very strange...

Let me know if you need any more info!

Cheers,

Hello,

I recently updated to the latest Mac version of Vienna Instruments (5.2.11242) as well as the eLicenser (6.4.2.2104), and my Epic Orchestra license no longer shows up on my key as far as I can tell.

Also, I noticed the Vienna Instruments installer doesn't install the Directory Manager app - I had to pull that out of the .pkg file manually using Pacifist.  Once I did that I am am able to add my VSL directories but they won't show up in the player, apparently because of the license missing from my key.

Any help would be appreciated - I can't use my scoring template without these missing instruments!

Thanks...

I often run into this as well, and with a massive template it's a huge pain to have to manually reassign instances.  Is there no way VEP can "scan" the network and look for instance names rather than IP addresses?

Thanks!

I hear you - totally get your frustration as I have a similar setup.  So turning off Logic's delay compensation didn't have the same net result?  It does for me... either method eliminates the extra space at the beginning of a 'bounced-in-place' region.  I join you in hoping for an eventual fix for this!

Take care...

Hi,

As mentioned above, the easiest workaround for this (instead of turning off the buffers in each VE Pro plugin) is to just turn off Logic's Delay Compensation before doing a bounce in place.  It has the same net result.  I need to check and see if this has been resolved in later versions...

Hello,

There are 2 workarounds for this depending on which version of VEP you have installed.  The easiest is to simply turn off Logic's delay compensation altogether (in Logic's preferences) just before bouncing - then turn it back on afterwards.

The other is to set your VEP plugin buffer to 'none' - this eliminates the dead space at the beginning of the resulting bounce file.  I think this has been fixed in later versions - not sure off the top of my head.

Hope this helps!

Agreed - and it seems to me some are missing that point.  I doubt many of us with large templates are using them for anything OTHER than orchestral elements.  Speaking for myself, all 300 instruments in my template are orchestral only - and it would be a colossal waste of time to have to call up tracks as I go when I can just have my template auto-loaded & ready to work first thing in the morning.  Not to mention my entire orchestra is generally pre-mixed & ready to print... having to do that per-project would be foolish.   Maybe it doesn't work for everybody, and that's fine - but I see ZERO disadvantages to having a well-crafted orchestral template ready to go when you know you're going to use those elements all the time.

To each their own of course...

Yes, it does.  I'm not sure how (or if) the editor works since my only library from that time period is Epic Horns (and I never had need to edit them) - but it does work perfectly in OSX 10.6.5/Logic 9.1.3.

Yes, my studio is all on a fixed-IP network.  This has never been a problem until I upgraded - the problem is that I upgraded both VE Pro and Logic at the same time so I'm not sure where the fault lies.  The actual documents are the same though (both my metaframes & Logic template) - only the software versions are different.

Hello,

I recently updated from Logic 9.1.1 to 9.1.3, and VE Pro from 4.0.6150 to 4.1.7553 because of all the stated improvements.  Unfortunately I'm now having an issue where my Logic template no longer connects to the proper network instances of VE Pro on my slave machines.  Instead, it creates new blank instances in the 64-bit VEP Server on my main machine, so I have to go in and reconnect everything in my template to their proper instance - this is a MAJOR pain.

Anybody else?

Got you covered, at least for Appassionata Strings:

articulate.html

I'm at 4.0.6150.  I've been in the middle of working projects which are heavily dependent on VE Pro and other than this issue it's been rock solid, so I didn't want to risk upsetting the apple cart mid-project ;-)

I will give 7384 a try ASAP.

Thanks Karel!

P.S. I was just in Vienna a few weeks back  - wish I had time to stop by!

I've been so busy with projects that I haven't been able (or willing!) to do any software updates since I first posted about this issue.  I'll update around end of the year and check to see if the issue still exists.

It is 100% reproducible & consistent for me though, but the upside is that I know how to work around it... all I have to do is set the VE Pro buffers to "none" when I bounce and everything's fine.  The problem though is that my template has 14 instances of it, so that gets to be a chore...

Ah - gotcha.  I actually find it's easiest to simply use the key command to toggle Logic's latency compensation just before bouncing any VE Pro tracks - works like a charm ;-)

Thanks again Karel,

Hi Karel,

Respectfully, I still don't get that - there are no "latency changes" involved.  I always run my sessions at consistent settings; it's not like I'm changing anything while working.  It's simply that any VE Pro buffers (1 or 2) get added to the bounced file; setting it to 'none' or disabling Logic's latency comp fixes it.  I don't mean to sound at all argumentative, it's just that turning off VE Pro's additional buffers fixes the problem, so it seems logical (no pun intended) that the problem is on that side.  Enough of that though - my knowledge stops at C+ programming, so I leave it to you to figure it out ;-)  Besides, as I mentioned, the workaround is 100% dependable and very easy.

As for working at higher buffer settings in Logic (512, 1024 or 2048), I don't see that as being a realistic option for anyone who wants to record their parts in real time as latency becomes a problem once you pass 128 for most folks?

Thanks as always for weighing in Karel!

I suppose it all has to do with the type of music you write and what demands you place on your main computer.  I tend to write larger scores that are really involved and I use a LOT of instruments at one time (up to 300), so I need the bandwidth that only an 8-core Mac Pro with lots of SATA drives can provide.   If there's even a slight chance that you'll work on a larger project, I'd steer clear of an iMac if only for the hard drive bottleneck.

If your needs aren't that ambitious and/or you don't use a bunch of streaming sample libraries, then an iMac might work for you.  In that case,  the 27" model with an i7 quad-core processor is actually a really good machine.  Furthermore, you can have an external SATA port added by OWC, which would give you up to (2) internal drives and an external as well - leaving FW open for further expansion.

Hope that helps!

Hey Guys,

Sorry for the delayed response - it's been a crazy few days.  Here we go:

1. Yes, most of my EW stuff is in the old Kontakt format; I do use Storm Drum 2 heavily and EWQL Pianos on occasion, both of which are PLAY libraries - but those are on my main Mac (not the iMac slave). They work perfectly for me, but I do prefer working with Kontakt.

2. Yes, I absolutely recommend a current iMac over a G5 - the iMac will run circles around a G5.  As long as it's a slave machine, you should be OK with the lack of PCIe slots and drive bays.  As for my MacBook Pro, it's a 17" Core2Duo with 8 GB RAM.  I swapped the optical drive for a second hard drive (a 500 GB Hitachi Travelstar at 7200 rpm) and it works great for LASS.  I actually use the Lite version as LASS is just one of my string libraries - but that being the case, I have every articulation loaded for both 1st chair & sections, no problem.

3. The latency workaround I mentioned is to counteract a bug between Logic & VE Pro (and this may have been fixed in the new version just released - haven't tested it yet).  What happens is that you have to set your VE Pro plugin buffer to 'none' before doing an offline bounce - otherwise the resulting file will be out of sync by the buffer amount.  The other workaround is to turn off Logic's delay compensation before bouncing.  No big deal really, although it would be great if it were fixed!

4. Back to the iMac as slave - I'm using a 4-bay "Burly" drive enclosure by www.macgurus.com.  It used to be a straight SATA version but I modified it with a pair of FW800 bridge boards so I could use it with the iMac.  That's 4 drives on the iMac's single FW800 bus, but it's been working perfectly streaming all 72 loaded instruments as a slave (EW Platinum strings & winds, VSL Epic Horns & EW Storm Drum 1 kits).

Again, I wouldn't use an iMac as a main computer, but it makes a great slave!

Cheers,

You're more than welcome.  FW800 has plenty of bandwidth for what I'm asking of that machine; again, it's the drive latency (seek time) that's more important.  I wouldn't run my main machine off FW800, but for a slave it's fine.  Also, the libraries are spread across 3 drives on the slave (strings/winds/brass/perc), so that helps too.  I would definitely NOT use the internal drive for samples.

The iMac only has 8 GB RAM in it right now, but that's adequate; the G5 it replaced only had 8 GB as well, and for what I'm asking of it, that's fine.  I'm running all the keyswitch patches of every solo & string group from EW Platinum, which pretty much covers every string articulation in that whole library.  I'm also running most of the Platinum wind articulations as well plus all the special effects, runs, grace notes, etc.  Then from Epic Horns I have all the commonly used stuff (sustains, staccatos, schmett, slow/fast legatos, glisses, etc.) and finally, all the big drums  & ethnic perc from Storm Drum 1.  Total is 80 instruments loaded at once (sorry, I was wrong in my earlier post) - 16 x 5 Kontakt instances.

As of Kontakt 4.1 and the new rapid load feature (forget the term they use), it loads AMAZINGLY fast.  The entire 80 instruments (saved as a single VE Pro "metaframe" on the iMac) loads in less than a minute.  On the G5 I think it took 9 minutes, so I'd call that an improvement!  My main Mac runs ~225 more Kontakt, VSL & EW PLAY instruments, and that whole template loads in around 1.5 minutes.  I also run the majority of LA Scoring Strings on my other slave - a MacBook Pro.  It all works incredibly well, except for a few minor issues with VE Pro & Logic (to do with latency compensation when bouncing) - but those are easily worked around.

I absolutely LOVE this setup, and it has fundamentally improved my workflow!

Hope that helps,

Hello,

I basically replaced my old G5 with the iMac, so it's doing the exact same thing (but with much more room to breathe and ability to add more if necessary).  The iMac houses 72 Kontakt instruments: string & winds from EastWest Platinum, VSL Epic Horns and a bunch of Storm Drum 1 instruments.  I'm NOT hosting each instrument in an instance though - I have 5 Kontakt instances (each with 16 instruments loaded) running in a single 64-bit server.

It works flawlessly, and as I mentioned - the iMac never breaks a sweat.  I have all the samples running on a FW800 enclosure which contains 4 10kRPM Velociraptor drives.  I was a little worried about Firewire bandwidth but it's been fine; the crucial thing is access time, and the Velociraptors are great for that.

Hope this helps - the iMac does make a great slave machine!

Jim

Thanks for the info Karel - knowing that, I may try the upgrade.  However, the specific problem I'm having is with those very Apple AU's since those are the only 64-bit plugins I have at the moment!  I was trying to insert the Apple parametric EQ and of course it crashes VE Pro - so it looks like the update might not help in this case.

Anxiously awaiting 64-bit versions of my favorite plugins - don't know why it's taking developers so long :-(

Best,

Thanks for the reply Stefan.  Yes, I was aware I'm using the prior VE Pro version, but I've learned to be overly cautious about updates when in the middle of projects ;-)  My entire 300+ instrument template now resides in VE Pro and it's become the centerpiece of my entire studio, so I can't afford to take any chances.

Let me ask you this: if I roll the dice and do the update, is it possible to roll back to the previous version (the one I'm currently using) if I encounter any problems?  If so, I'll give it a shot.  Was this bug specifically addressed in the current version that you know of?

As for OS version, my main Mac is on 10.6.3 but the two slaves are on 10.6.4 - this bug occurred on all of them regardless.

Thanks again,

Hello,

I reported this a while back... I'm using VE Pro on 3 different Macs, and this problem occurs on all of them, even on the simplest setups (1 VSL instrument loaded).  When I try to insert an AU effect on any instrument channel or output, the VE Pro server instantly crashes.  This is on both 32 and 64-bit server versions.

Hopefully the wizards in Vienna can give this some serious attention for the next update since this is half of VE Pro's functionality - the whole idea is to get as much processing done in VE Pro as possible!

Sending a crash log to support...

Thanks!