GS and ethernet

[Laurence]

Has anyone had any success playing GS samples over a network system. It\'s an advertised feature that I\'ve never been able to imagine working well. On the other hand it sure would be useful. Is anyone here doing it?

[Bill]

Yes, It works very well, at least on a 100BaseT connection.

[LHong]

How about USB networking protocol, what do you think, Bill?
Thanks,
LHong

[elle]

The message is...avoid USB for now.
Maybe try a direct interconnect cable between two PCs?

[Laurence]

How well does GS work with the fast ethernet connection? There must be some kind of polyphony limit over such a connection.

[elle]

Some arguments:

Fast Ethernet (100mb)can suck dry any remote fast HD. Modern HD only get between 20-40 Mb/s STR (sustained transfer rate).

How much does GS need to transfer 160 voices concurrently at 16bit/48Mhz. Not even close to the max capacity of either HD throughput or fast Ethernet.

So other factors like HD random acess time are in fact more important than STR for achieving max polyphony.

For Ethernet it\'s mainly things like network load, distance, and ...using a switch instead of a hub.

[LHong]

Basically, the audio and video should works under fast networking connections. I have seen someone has already done that with the DSP-networking-systems but I don\'t know exactly what CPU and networking protocol, maybe unix or NT server (about $250,000). In my knowledge, for two systems, the win98SE should handles it via \"100BaseT connections\". Just guess it, who want to try it? let\'s us know the result!

Well, questions? who has the 100BaseT connected between two PC? please try this:
PC(1) set to server
PC(2) set to client

Setup 1: The PC(1) will has Gigastudio and giga-sample-lib (in PC1\'s harddrive)
Setup 2: The PC(2) will has audio-MIDI-program (cakewalk/Logic/Cubase/CoolEdit)

a> from the network on the PC(2), mount all drives from the PC(1) to PC(2), when you open windows-explorer you could see all drives letter from PC(2)
b> Without touching PC(1), From the PC(2) to launch the Gigastudio (, for the first launch the Giga could see that you have PC(1)-HD + PC(2)-HD. When the giga is working right, it will takes time to scan all the drive in the network (two-PC) then for the following time would be ready to use the sampler from the network-drive (on PC(1)). Of course you should re-start the windows for both PCs for next times launched.

What we want to see? what\'s advantage for doing it?
If this works,
a> it meant that the ethernet connection is fast enough to handle audio-streaming
b> there is only one soundcard is required for two systems
c> The Giga+audio are sharing between two system\'s power (double CPU/MEM in GigaStudio invironment, PC1+PC2\'s Power)
d> simplize the connections between two PC (one keyboard, one mouse, one monitor). the PC(1) just a server, you can put anywhere you want, just run a single coaxial cable (100 feets), leave power-on, once it\'s setup, you don\'t need to touch it. Everything can be done like a single PC (PC(2) via networking.
Please note that, this is just a thought, I\'ve never tried it by myself, but I would be interesting when you tell me that it\'s working right. I\'m just worry that Giga won\'t let you launch on the network or you need to re-install on the network or something like that, anyway just a tried. Any other ideas?
Good lucks,

[Laurence]

So GS over an ethernet network probabaly works pretty well then. Can anyone using ethernet give a detailed report of how well it works? I would love to use an external drive connected to my computer with ethernet for streaming GS samples. Is this a good idea?