EWQLSO, computers,logic 6 and the future

[Nick Phoenix]

Excuse me if someone has already mentioned this, but did anyone check out the freeze function in Logic 6.0????? This could be our new libraries best friend. I spoke with the guys at Emagic and they insisted that this would work with our new engine and enable the automatic rendering of tracks, allowing you to use one computer for a large orchestration, quickly and easily. And the best part is that you can edit a track at any time and automatically rerender the frozen track.

[KingIdiot]

Totally Agree, except taht I built those giga machines, and am budgeted to build more...

obviously PC... Dammit!

Thank god I\'ve got atleast one pretty powerful MAC powerbook here.

It will SO RAWK for the VSTi setup in your new stuff!

[peter269]

For those of we PC users who\'ve migrated to other programs (Cubase SX for me), how about a definition of what the freeze function is so that we\'re all clear about it.

Thanks,

PA

[Hasen]

Haha yeah Nick we can\'t stop talking about it. Even non Logic users. images/icons/smile.gif

Peter, here is the explanation of it from the Emagic site:

\"The Arrange window of Logic 6 now features a new “Freeze” button on all audio and audio instrument tracks. The basic concept behind this feature is to maximize the CPU resources available to Logic. “Freezing” CPU-demanding tracks, such as tracks using complex software instruments and effect plug-ins, reduces their CPU-load down to the very minimal demand of an unprocessed stereo audio track – thus freeing-up potentially very large amounts of CPU-power which can be used for other purposes. This also allows the playback of Logic songs created on faster machines which would normally overload a slower machine’s CPU processing capabilities. All users will benefit from this feature, regardless of the computer being used – put simply – more plug-ins, more audio instruments and more tracks can be used simultaneously. Tracks can be unfreezed at any time for further editing.\"

[Simon Ravn]

Uhm, so does the freeze track function do either of these:

1) Renders that track to audio, and simply treats it as an audio track until it is unfrozen.
2) Mutes it or disables effects and such from it.

Option 1 would be really nice. Option 2 would be rather silly.

[peter269]

Thanks, Hasen.

I think I like what I\'m seeing in Cubase SX a lot more, especially with System Link. In meeting with Steinberg during NAMM, I was impressed that on a PC, each instance of Kontakt yields 16 MIDI channels. So two inserts of Kontakt would open 32 MIDI channels.

Another thought is that Cubase SX can not only handle 2GB of RAM, but higher since it\'s been optimized for both a dual processor Xeon and Athlon. This means more RAM availability (up to 8GB depending on the motherboard). And with Kontakt disk streaming due shortly, even less CPU load.

Though we haven\'t tested it, the new MIDEX 8 also offers appealing features of taking the MIDI off the CPU\'s hands and routing it independently. For syncing, you need a sync box vs. the traditional MOTU/MIDISport 8x8 approach with it all in one box.

It appears to me that the workhorse host for Kontakt, at least on the PC, is going to be Cubase SX and SL. And with System Link, it just gets better.

[Hasen]

Originally posted by Simon Ravn:
Uhm, so does the freeze track function do either of these:

1) Renders that track to audio, and simply treats it as an audio track until it is unfrozen.
2) Mutes it or disables effects and such from it.

Option 1 would be really nice. Option 2 would be rather silly. <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Well it certainly does #1 and I guess in some way it must do #2 as well \'cos obviously the effects aren\'t still running and taking up CPU power as it completely changes into a standard stereo audio track.

[Does It Matter?]

From what I gathered at the Yahoo Logic Users Group, the track will be frozen with effects and all applied to a 32-bit audio file so that there is zero loss in quality. You can still control volume, pan and send though. The length of time to render depends on the amount of data on the track. For instance, they used a processor intensive audio instrument with 8 plug ins and it took under 10 seconds. For smaller things, that were less processor intensive, it either happened instantly or in a much shorter time.

[Simon Ravn]

Nick / Hasen: That sounds awesome. I\'d die to have that feature:) Of course it would only work with plugins that run within the sequencer, but with stuff like EWQLSO you could end up running a lot of it on one machine. I hope it renders in \'offline speed\' and not bounces.

[Simon Ravn]

I guess Does It Matter answered the \'offline\' thing.. images/icons/smile.gif

[@oM]

I wonder how it works when you want to freeze a midi track. Logic should play the track entirely and record it. And that would take at least as long as the song. Maybe it\'s possible to render faster with EXS, but with external and \'non-compatible\' samplers, I can\'t see another way than the slow one.

Tom

[Does It Matter?]

Tom, you\'re right, that would be absolutely impossible. The good thing about external synths is that you could just play it into the computer as an audio file if time was a factor.

[KingIdiot]

I guess there\'s got to be a way to trick an outoard synth to render and twice the pitch via sample rate trickery, then double the tempo and then half the pitch of the recorded track images/icons/smile.gif

It could help for low quality \"quicker\" renders....hehee.

Not that it would be somethign I\'d do images/icons/wink.gif

[Nick Phoenix]

Simon,
Lets say you have a harp track using EWQLSO and have all three ambiences playing and are playing arpeggiated chords, with long releases. You could use up ALL of your mac\'s processing power. Hit the freeze button and Logic automatically renders your track to a hidden stereo track that plays back instead of your original. Hit the freeze button again and you are working on the original track. Make some edits and hit freeze again, and Logic replaces the old rendered track automatically and transparently. So now you can conviently and quickly use one computer to write HUGE pieces of music. And at any time you can go back to a particular track and change the file with no fuss.