Rubens wrote:I already have a macbook pro 2.4 core 2 duo, with a special memory I bought that makes it run with 6gb ram! When I try to run VSL ensemble pro or even instruments pro mixed with Notion samples it just can't handle.
I do not use VSL, so perhaps someone else can help with VSL specifics, but the problem you have encountered most likely is a matter of NOTION 3 being a 32-bit application, which means that the most memory it can use is 4GB, and this includes all the stuff you load into its application workspace . . .
I do everything on a 2.8-GHz 8-core Mac Pro (Early 2008), and when I watch NOTION 3 running in Activity Monitor it uses perhaps 15 to 20 percent of the available processors, which maps to approximately 1 of the 8 cores, which tends to indicate that everything is coded sequentially as contrasted to being coded to use multiple cores in parallel and so forth and so on . . .
If you can be more specific regarding what happens, as well as what you consider to be a "large project", I can provide more information, but this sounds like you have encountered the 32-bit application workspace limitation . . .
I use IK Multimedia VSTi virtual instruments, Kontakt 5 (Native Instruments) VSTi virtual instruments, and FabFilter Software VSTi virtual instruments, and all of them are "heavy", where the general rule here in the sound isolaiton studio is that NOTION 3 can handle approximately 20 to 25 "heavy" VSTi virtual instruments in a single score . . .
I might need as many as 500 to 1,000 "heavy" VSTi virtual instruments, so my strategy is to create a set of NOTION 3 scores, which I "synchronize" by cloning them from the original first score and then keeping perhaps 5 instruments common to all the scores, where the common instruments are used for reference purposes, which makes the other 20 instruments available for new parts . . .
As each new score is completed, I record the NOTION 3 generated audio in Digital Performer 7.24 (MOTU) as soundbites via ReWire, where Digital Performer 7.24 is the ReWire host controller and NOTION 3 is the ReWire slave . . .
There are a few rules for doing this, and they are explained in one of my topics on this FORUM, where the three strangest rules involve ReWire:
(1) There need to be four empty measures at the start of the NOTION 3 score . . .
(2) Never move the transport earlier than the start of the 5th measure . . .
(3) Do not use the first five channel pairs, since they have single-digit channel numbers . . .
Notion 3, DISCO Songs, and Sparkles (Notion Music FORUM)The key to the strategy is layering, where you create a song in
layers, both in NOTION 3 and Digital Performer 7.24, where Digital Performer 7.24 is the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) application, and it also is a 32-bit application, hence is subject to the same 32-bit application workspace limitations, but since NOTION 3 is generating the audio and sending it to Digital Performer 7.24 via ReWire, once the NOTION 3 generated audio is recorded in Digital Performer 7.24 as "soundbites", NOTION 3 is out of the picture, which makes plenty of space available for Digital Performer 7.24, since "soundbites" are not particularly "heavy" in terms of processing requirements . . .
So, I do all the VST effects plug-ins work in Digital Performer 7.24, but I do the VSTi virtual instrument work in NOTION 3 . . .
Depending on the number of instruments, sometimes I need to combine soundbites to create a new stereo soundbite, which then replaces all the individual soundbites that were combined, and this in turn frees more tracks for use in Digital Performer 7.24, which makes it the DAW application analog of doing the same thing with magnetic tape recorders, which is the way Phil Spector created his "Wall of Sound" in the late-1950s and early-1960s, and it is the way George Martin and the audio engineers at Abbey Road Studios created multiple layers of instruments and singing when they recorded the Beatles . . .
The techniques are nearly identical, although it is done in a somewhat different way, but in great contrast to doing it with analog magnetic tape, there is no generational loss, but another problem occurs, which specifically is that background noise and hiss accumulates, so it is very important to get strong recording signal levels, as well as to use noise gates when it is convenient . . .
In some respects, the entire thing is vastly complex, but it makes sense after a while . . .
And as best as I have been able to determine, it all started with Les Paul in the early-1950s when Bing Crosby got him some Ampex analog magnetic tape recorders, where this YouTube video provides a nice overview of the way Les Paul created the first "Wall of Guitars" . . .
[
NOTE: This was done in the early-1950s, so there is a bit of joking around and general silliness that runs for about 8 minutes and 30 seconds, but there is some good information on the technique, and then starting at 8:30 you can hear how 12 guitar tracks and 12 vocal tracks sound as they record another guitar track and another vocal track . . . ]
Les Paul and Mary Ford ("Omnibus", Alistair Cooke) -- YouTube videoRegarding new Apple computers, I like the new 21.5" iMac, and the strategy I use is to get the most basic model from Amazon.com a week or two before Apple releases a new model, since Amazon.com usually discounts the basic model by as much as 7 to 8 percent, although only for a few days. And I get memory from Other World Computing, since it costs a lot less and Apple memory, which also is the case with internal hard drives for the Mac Pro . . .
I go with the numbers, where if doing a special order to get a faster processor cost 20 percent more but the faster processor is only 10 percent faster than the basic model, then it costs too much to get only 10 percent faster performance, and most of the time the computer is not doing a lot, so 10 percent or 20 percent faster performance only makes sense when one is doing something like video rendering, CGI, or stuff that is highly processor and memory intensive, which for digital music production tends never to be the case when you use the "layering" techniques . . .
It also is useful to know that Apple has reduced the prices for Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro when they are purchased through the Mac App Store and downloaded, where Logic Pro 9 costs $200 and Final Cut Pro costs $300, not including sales tax, which is a significant price reduction . . .
I am intrigued by Logic Pro 9, because (a) it is a 64-bit DAW application and (b) it has true stereo panning controls, which is not the case with Digital Performer 7.24, since it only has stereo balance controls, which are entirely different and are not true panning controls . . .
Curiously, the NOTION 3 Mixer also has true stereo panning controls, where the difference is that a stereo balance control only lets you adjust the volume of the left and right channels but a true stereo panning control lets you move the left channel to the right channel and vice-versa . . .
For example, if a trumpet is recorded to the right channel of a stereo track, but a saxophone is recorded to the left channel of the same stereo track, then with a balance control you can make the saxophone and trumpet louder or softer, respectively, but the saxophone always is on the left while the trumpet always is on the right, but with a true stereo panning control, you can move each instrument wherever you want it to appear, and you can put both instruments on the same side, which is not possible with a stereo balance control . . .
SUMMARY(1) I think that you have encountered the 32-bit application workspace limitation . . .
(2) As the number of instruments increases, at some point you will need to use a "layering" strategy . . .
(3) I like the new 21.5" iMac, where it specifically is the basic model, which you extend with memory from Other World Computing, and for truly peppy performance you can add an external SSD drive. I like the LaCie d2 Quadra External Hard Drive as a second hard drive, which will be reasonably peppy when you connect it using FireWire 800, where the general rule is that you get the most performance for the lowest cost when you focus on the slowest component, which basically is the hard drive, since the processors and memory do stuff in nanoseconds and microseconds but hard drives do stuff in milliseconds, with the exception of SSD drives, which are solid state memory drives. You already have a reasonably new MacBook Pro, which is fast computer, so I think that a new iMac probably makes the most sense, and if you want a lightning fast iMac, then the new 27" iMac with some "build to order" factory upgrades, specifically the 3.4GHz Core i7 quad-core processor and internal SSD drive upgrades, is faster than a 6-core Mac Pro, although I would
not do the Apple memory upgrade, which costs $600 to get 16GB of memory, since you can get 32GB of memory at Other World Computing for approximately $500 or 16GB of memory for about $250 and install it yourself . . .
iMac (Apple)iMac Memory (Other World Computing)Solid State Drives (Other World Computing)d2 Quadra External Hard Drive (LaCie)Lab Report: Core i7 SSD iMac is the fastest Mac we've tested (MacWorld, June 2011)Lots of FUN! 
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 11:56 pm