Good enouh PC?

[wcreed51]

With any of the bigger sample libraries, it's essential that you have a second hard drive, as the sounds stream from disk in real time.

I don’t know what the iMac has for built in audio, but it’s also essential that you have an audio card with good ASIO drivers.

[Surfwhammy]

You can install Notion on a 64 bit machine, but Notion itself is a 32 bit program.

Thanks

So my final question is, would I be OK with this computer?

Apple iMac 21,5"
2,8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 (upgrade from 2,7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5)
16 GB RAM (upgrade from 4GB)

This is a very nice iMac!

You will be able to run NOTION 3, Logic Pro (Apple), and as many as 50 VSTi virtual instruments in NOTION 3, where the number of VSTi virtual instruments depends primarily on the processor and memory used by each VSTi virtual instrument . . .

Depending on the number of VSTi virtual instruments, you also will be able to run some VST effects plug-ins in NOTION 3, but it is important to understand the limitations of 32-bit application workspaces, because NOTION 3 is a 32-bit application (Mac and Windows) . . .

At present, I use IK Multimedia VSTi virtual instruments (Miroslav Philharmonik, SampleMoog, SampleTank, SampleTron, and Sonik Synth), and when properly configured the upper limit is 50 of them in a single NOTION 3 score when there are no VST effects plug-ins . . .

[NOTE: "Properly configured" maps to doing a few very simple things, where the first thing is to install of the VSTi virtual instruments separately. All of them are powered by the SampleTank engine, but each one has its own standalone user interface. You can install only SampleTank and then install all the sampled sound libraries in such a way that everything is available in SampleTank, which in some respects can be convenient, but is maps to longer loading time. So the smart way to do it is to install SampleTank and its sample sound libraries as a separate VSTi virtual instrument. Then install Miroslav Philharmonik and its sampled sound libraries as a separate VSTi virtual instrument. Do this for the other three VSTi virtual instruments (SampleMoog, SampleTron, and Sonik Synth). This is the way they are installed by default, so you do not need to do anything special to do this. Done this way, when you assign SampleMoog to a staff in NOTION 3, the standalone user interface for SampleMoog is launched and you browse through the SampleMoog sampled sounds to select the one you want to use. If you assign Miroslav Philharmonik to a staff in NOTION 3, then the Miroslav Philharmonik standalone user interface is launched, and you browse its sampled sounds to select the one you want to use. There are two primary advantages to doing it this way, where one advantage is that the computing footprint of each VSTi virtual instrument is smaller and the other advantage is that each standalone user interface is customized to the specific VSTi instrument, where for example the standalone user interface for Miroslav Philharmonik has controls and parameters that are relevant to symphonic orchestras, while the SampleMoog standalone user interface has controls which make more sense for a Moog synthesizer. The other key to fast loading is to set the preferences so that all the sample sounds are not relisted at load time, which is done via clicking on the "PREFS" button and turning-off "RELIST". You only need to do a RELIST one time, which you do after you first install the VSTi virtual instrument and its sampled sounds. The only reason to do a RELIST later is if you install more sampled sounds, and you can do a manual RELIST by clicking on the "RELIST" button in the standalone user interface. It takes a lot of words to describe this, but it actually is very easy to do . . . ]

However, the strategy I use here in the sound isolation studio is to limit the number of VSTi virtual instruments to 25 in a single NOTION 3, and for a few types of VSTi instruments I lower the limit to 10 VSTi virtual instruments, because there are a few very heavy VSTi virtual instruments, where MachFive 3 (MOTU) is an example of a very heavy VSTi virtual instrument (nice but very heavy in terms of processor and memory usage) . . .

VST effects plug-ins like T-RackS 3.5 Deluxe (IK Multimedia), AmpliTube 3 (IK Multimedia), CSR Classik Studio Reverb (IK Multimedia), Timeless 2 (FabFilter Software Instruments), and TrackPlug 5 (Wave Arts) use processor and memory resources, as well, hence the more VST effects plug-ins you are using in a NOTION 3 score, the fewer VSTi virtual instruments you can have . . .

The strategy I use here in the sound isolation studio is to use VST effects plug-ins in the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) application, which is Digital Performer 7.24 (MOTU), and this is a matter of common sense . . .

NOTION 3 uses music notation and VSTi virtual instruments to generate audio, and this is plenty of work for NOTION 3 to do. In contrast, Digital Performer 7.24 does not need to generate audio by controlling VSTi virtual instruments, so it has more headroom for a virtual festival of VST effects plug-ins. Hence I do the VSTi virtual instrument and music notation work in NOTION 3 and then record the NOTION 3 generated audio as soundbites in Digital Performer 7.24 via ReWire, and once the soundbites are recorded I close NOTION 3 and then focus on special effects via VST effects plug-ins in Digital Performer 7.24, as well as mixing and mastering . . .

In other words, I use NOTION 3 for composing using music notation and for generating the audio for music notation via VSTi virtual instruments, but I use Digital Performer 7.24 for recording, producing, mixing, and mastering, which includes doing the work with VST effects plug-ins for such things as echoes, reverberation, limiters, compressors, and so forth and so on, which is important because I play a few real instruments and sing, where the real instruments (drums, bass guitar, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, and keyboards) are recorded in Digital Performer 7.24, as is singing. For reference, NOTION 3 does not record real instruments and singing via microphones and direct inputs, but it will "record" the MIDI output of MIDI instruments and then convert it to music notation, although this is very different from recording vocals or real lead guitar solos played through an amplifier and effects pedal rig with microphones . . .

And when I need more VSTi virtual instruments, I clone the original NOTION 3 score; keep perhaps five (5) instruments common, which I use for cues to determine rhythm patterns, chords, bass, simple melody, and sections (intro, verse, chorus, bridge, interlude, and so forth), which makes 20 staves available for a new set of VSTi virtual instruments. For example, if I need 150 VSTi virtual instruments, then I have seven (7) NOTION 3 scores that I keep synchronized, and I append a suffix to the score name (PT-1, PT-2, PT-2, . . . , PT-n) . . .

As each cloned and updated NOTION 3 score is finished, I record its generated audio as soundbites in Digital Performer 7 via ReWire, where Digital Performer 7.24 is the ReWire host controller and NOTION 3 is the ReWire slave, but since Digital Performer 7.24 at present is a 32-bit application, it also has the 32-bit application workspace limitations, which mostly involves the total number of tracks, so when the total number of tracks is 50 or so, I merge sets of tracks into single stereo soundbites, which makes the other tracks available for use again . . .

Done this way, I can have 500 to 1,000 VSTi virtual instruments for a song, which basically is the same strategy that was used when everything was analog and magnetic tape machines were limited to as few as two (2) tracks or as many as eight (8) or perhaps sixteen (16) tracks, which was the strategy that Phil Spector used in the late-1950s and early-1960s for his "Wall of Sound" and was the strategy that George Martin and the audio engineers at Abbey Road Studios used when they were recording the Beatles, where for example "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (Beatles) was done with a set of 4-track analog magnetic tape machines with tracks being "bounced" and "combined" by moving them from one 4-track machine to another, where the four (4) already recorded tracks on one 4-track machine were combined and recorded on a second 4-track machine as two (2) tracks, while the other available two (2) tracks were used to record new material for the song (instruments, singing, or whatever), and the colloquial name for this technique is "ping-ponging", which makes a bit of sense if you think about it for a while, where the high-level strategy is to construct a song in layers . . .

Doing songs this way with NOTION 3 and a DAW application is a bit easier if you did songs the "old-fashioned" way with analog magnetic tape machines, but the basic idea is to record a song in layers, where the key requirement is that you do a bit more planning in advance. However, it is possible to add new verses, choruses, and so forth, where for example you can insert new measures in the NOTION 3 scores and do the music notation for the measures, followed by doing the ReWire soundbite recording, and you also can cut, copy, and paste soundbites and real recorded tracks in DIgital Performer 7.24, but in the grand scheme of everything it is easier if you determine the structure for a song early . . .

[NOTE: Continued in the next post . . . ]

[Surfwhammy]

[NOTE: Continued from previous post . . . ]

And to keep track of everything, I put all the NOTION 3 cloned scores in a separate folder for the song, and I usually remember which VSTi virtual instruments were doing in each of the cloned NOTION 3 scores, so if I decide to change a few notes or perhaps switch to a different set of sampled sounds, then it is easy to do, but if I forget, then I just open each cloned NOTION 3 score until I find the one that has the VSTi instrument that I need to change. However, after doing this for a long time, one tends to develop a "system" or "formula" for songs, which makes it very fast and efficient to do typical songs that one hears on radio or whatever in a few of the popular genres (DISCO, Pop, Rock, Heavy Metal, Country Western, Blues, Polka, and so forth) . . .

For all practical purposes, it is pretty much the same strategy chefs use when planning and preparing gourmet meals, which is similar to what artists do when they paint a portrait or landscape one layer at a time, really . . .

Really!

HARD DRIVES

The iMac is a self-contained "all-in-one" computer, so it is not possible to add more internal drives. However, you can have external hard drives, as well as SSD drives . . .

I use LaCie external storage, because they have been doing external storage for Apple computers forever, and I like the LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk series, which have several connection options and technologies (eSata 3G/s, FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and USB3), hence "Quadra" . . .

LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Disk (LaCie)

LaCie has a new line of Thunderbolt, which on the Mac support RAID 0/1 arrays, and they actually are faster than most internal hard drives. Your new iMac has a Thunderbolt port, for sure . . .

LaCie 2big Thunderbolt Series (LaCie)

For sure!

THOUGHTS

I did a bit more research on Hollywood Strings (EWQL), and I found a lot of comments from unhappy users, but perhaps the problems have been corrected. I like the audio samples at the EWQL website, but when you browse FORUM, there are too many complaints about stuff not working, especially on the Mac but on Windows, as well . . .
As best as I can determine, it is not so much a matter of stuff simply not working as it is a matter of Hollywood Strings requiring to much processor, memory, and hard drive capabilities that doing very detailed work with articulations and so forth in some instances requires a set of standalone servers to stream the generated audio to the primary workstation, so while everything works it certainly appears to require massive computing resources, where the primary workstation might be a Mac Pro or a comparable Windows server and there are several satellite Windows servers streaming stuff. At present, it appears that Hollywood Strings works best on Windows servers, but there are Mac Pro users . . .

However, none of them are using NOTION 3, and the general strategy is to do the work in the DAW application via "piano rolls" and MIDI, or whatever, which is great, but it is very different from working in NOTION 3 in terms of complexity and immediate feedback . . .

Hence, all things considered, I probably would "hold that thought" for a while, although perhaps not, because there is a lot more to the Mac that most folks imagine . . .

THE MAC IS A WINDOWS COMPUTER

It is vastly useful to observe that the folks at Apple are very smart, and while it appears to be the case that the "high-end" EWQL products like Hollywood Strings are optimized to run best on Windows computers, all you need to do to transform your iMac into a Windows computer is (a) to purchase a copy of Windows 7 and (b) to use Boot Camp (Apple) to run Windows 7 natively, where you have the option to boot to Mac OS X or to Windows 7 . . .

Boot Camp 4.0, OS X Lion FAQs (Apple)

It also is useful to know that you can boot to OS X from the LaCie external drives that I referenced (see above), where in this scenario the LaCie external drive temporarily becomes your primary hard drive . . .

However, you cannot run Windows 7 from an external hard drive, so it must be run from the iMac internal hard drive, but this is not the case with Mac OS X, where you can run Mac OS X from a LaCie external hard drive so long as the LaCie external hard drive supports booting to Mac OS X, which is the case withmost or all of the LaCie external hard drives, hence another reason to get LaCie external hard drives when you have a Mac . . .

And while you cannot run Windows 7 from an external hard drive, once you boot to Windows 7 via Boot Camp, you can use LaCie external hard drives that are partitioned and formatted accordingly, where there is considerable flexibility with respect to the way the LaCie external hard drives can be partitioned and formatted . . .

MORE THOUGHTS

There are several "high-end" string products, but the two that I find intriguing are LA Scoring Strings (Audiobro) and Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL), where for reference LA Scoring Strings uses the Kontakt 5 (Native Instruments) . . .

LA Scoring Strings (Audiobro)

Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL)

The interesting aspect of the various Vienna Symphonic Library products is that have a product which works as a streaming server (Mac and Windows), specifically Vienna Ensemble Pro, but they also have "high-end" sampled sound libraries . . .

Vienna Ensemble Pro 5 (VSL)

As noted in one of my previous posts, while I like the "high-end" stuff, it costs too much, so I focus on other VSTi virtual instruments, at least until there is a fantastic discount sale, where for example I wanted to get Kontakt 5 for a long time, but I could not afford it until Native Instruments had a 50 percent discount sale for a few days in November 2011, which is the way I got Kontakt 5 for $200 (US) . . .

Kontakt 5 (Native Instruments)

And in the truly surreal department, the reason I got Kontakt 5 was that I like the Bolder Sounds handbells and crystal glasses sampled sounds, which are sampled sound libraries for Kontakt. I could have used the FREE Kontakt 5 Player, but the key to unlocking the coffee can here in the sound isolation studio is to have a nearly absurd discount sale, since I really like discounts!

Handbells V2 for Kontakt 3+ (Bolder Sounds)

Crystal Glasses V2 Kontakt (Bolder Sounds)

It also is important to consider the NOTION 3 bundled sounds, which is especially important for live performances, since they are not VSTi virtual instruments and are optimized specifically for use with NOTION 3 so that you can have more instruments than otherwise is possible if you only use VSTi virtual instruments . . .

NOTION 3 also is used to provide orchestral instrument support for live performances, concerts, Broadway shows, and so forth, which is where the NOTION 3 bundled sounds and the NOTION Expansion Sounds become important, which is part of the reason that they tend to cost more, because they are designed and tailored for accompanying live performances, which is entirely different from doing songs in layers in a sound isolation studio, since what one might call "do overs" are allowed here in the sound isolation studio but are not good in the middle of a Broadway show or live concert, which is fabulous . . .

NOTION Expansion Sounds (Notion Music)

NOTION Live (Notion Music)

Fabulous!

[Surfwhammy]

I don’t know what the iMac has for built in audio, but it’s also essential that you have an audio card with good ASIO drivers.

On the Mac, it is not "essential that you have an audio card with good ASIO drivers", and this is one of the reasons that I recommend Apple computers, because they come from the factory with the highest quality audio hardware, and it specifically is designed to work with Mac OS X Core Audio, MIDI, and whatever, including all the "drivers" and so forth being installed automatically as part of Mac OS X, hence instead of having to mess with a bunch of technical stuff and special order and install a separate "sound card" and "drivers", you just need to do five things, because everything already is there:

(1) Get the new Mac out of the shipping box . . .

(2) Plug the power cord of the Mac into a wall outlet . . .

(3) Turn it ON . . .

(4) Install Mac OS X . . .

(5) Have FUN!

And it works, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous!

P. S. Before I switched to the Mac, I messed with Windows audio cards ("high-end" SoundBlaster audio cards, mostly), but it was a huge hassle, and instead of doing music I spent most of the time messing with computer hardware and operating system stuff. I have no idea what "ASIO" is, although I could read about it if I had nothing better to do, but the truly stellar thing about Apple computers is that I do not need to know about it . . .

Instead of composing and recording songs, I spent nearly all the time building Windows computers and trying to make sense of how one might use a Windows computer to do digital music production, but there was so much technical computer stuff that It was overwhelming, so I stopped messing with it until I switched to the Mac and discovered that on the Mac stuff just works . . .

I use a MOTU 828mk3 Hybrid FireWire audio interface to connect real instruments and microphones to the 2.8-GHz 8-core Mac Pro here in the sound isolation studio, and it has a set of "drivers", which MOTU updates whenever Apple releases a new version of Mac OS X, at which time I download the updated "drivers" from the MOTU website and run the installation program, which asks me to accept the license by clicking "Agree", and then it installs everything without annoying me with a bunch of questions, which is the way nearly everything installs on the Mac and is another reason I like the Mac, where the primary rule is that the machine never should annoy or bother the human, for sure . . .

For sure!

[pcartwright]

On the Mac, it is not "essential that you have an audio card with good ASIO drivers", and this is one of the reasons that I recommend Apple computers, because they come from the factory with the highest quality audio hardware, and it specifically is designed to work with Mac OS X Core Audio, MIDI, and whatever, including all the "drivers" and so forth being installed automatically as part of Mac OS X, hence instead of having to mess with a bunch of technical stuff and special order and install a separate "sound card" and "drivers", you just need to do five things, because everything already is there:

Well, this is true and not true. I worked in a professional audio setting with Macs and Windows PCs. The truth of the matter is you can get good on-board audio on either a Mac or PC without having to update and support drivers. But if you ever utilize a professional audio interface (i.e. a third party device), then you still have to go through the same driver hassles and installation issues. And no, the on-board audio on Mac anything is not professional; Macs, like most Windows machines, are designed for the consumer and not the music producer.

I worked at a studio that had a Mac laptop (I forget the model as it's been a few years), but we utilized a Digi 2x2 external sound card. And yes, we had to run efficiency tests, tweak the device and the driver parameters to remove clicks/pops, reduce latency, etc. There is some truth that Apple hardware works well out of the box because the internal components are designed to work to together, but all of that goes out the window the second you attach a third party device to the machine.

[pcartwright]

[duplicate post]

[Surfwhammy]

I've found the system requirements for several products that I wanna use.

NI Kontakt 5

This is an excellent time to get Kontakt 5, because Native Instruments is having a 50 percent discount sale to celebrate its10th anniversary, and the discount sale runs from June 28, 2012 until July 7, 2012, which is fabulous . . .

Celebrate 10 Years of Kontakt (Native Instruments)

Fabulous!