Tell me if this sounds ok please?

[paynterr]

Hi there,
I\'ve recently got gigastudio (an upgrade on gigasampler) and want to buy a dedicated PC for it.
I am going to run it a 1.4 gz with a 60 gig IBM deskstar 8.2 seek drive.
What I am intending to do is use my existing 450pentium 3 as a midi/cubase/audio master and drive midi from there and collect audio digitally from the slave gs pc.
I am intending therefore to have a digital card in each PC and sending the digital signal (possibly multiple digital signals) out of the gs slave, back into cubase for real-time mixing and adding of VST effects, thus probably not bothering with the NFX.
Does this sound OK?
The big question I have is which sound card to get on the GS slave.
I also have digital monitor speakers and am planning on sending the signal directly out of the master to the speakers digitally.
Is this wise also? Can I achieve \'good enough\' levels of signal processing/amping/fx/eq etc. inside cubase and thus avoid an analog amp and mixer?
Obviously the last question is a bit etherical and raises all sorts of analog vs digital eyebrows?
Be interested to know your thoughts
Rich

[Blob]

IMO you\'d be better running the p3 450 as your giga box (giga\'s not very cpu intesive)and using your spangly 1.4 for Cubase etc..

Don\'t have much of an opinon vis-a-vis (what, moi..pretentious http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/wink.gif sound cards \'n\' stuff (looking for a couple of new ones myself)

[RaGe]

Paynterr I am currently building the same kind of setup than yours. GigaStudio on one computer feeding the other Nuendo computer (with a RME Digiface) via lightpipe. I\'ve been looking around and I\'ve found the Dakota to be a good candidate (2x8 Lightpipe, 2 Midi ports ...).
As far as monitoring there\'s a SPDIF I/O (that will temporarily feed my Yamaha 01V mixer while I complete the Nuendo system).
Hopefully I will ultimately be able to monitor Nuendo (with GS inputs) via SPDIF too.

I\'ve also been looking at the RME Hammerfall 9636 that can always be upgraded to a 9652 once you need a 3rd ADAT lightpipe and/or Wordclock I/O.

Wish me luck http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/tongue.gif and in the meantime if any of you has been able to run such a setup, please share your experience with us.
Keep groovin\'!

[This message has been edited by RaGe (edited 09-16-2001).]

[Partyhard]

Hi Paynterr

Cubase 5 would definitely struggle on a P3 / 450 PC if its doing both MIDI and audio. Throw in some VST instruments and Cubase will want a Gig+ PC to avoid dropouts.

Since its easy to move the Cubase dongle between PC\'s, why not install it on BOTH and do some testing before making a final decision? I would suggest playing your MIDI tracks + 16 tracks of audio (or the number you plan on recording at the tracking stage) + some \'typical\' effects like compression and EQ on the master channels. Listen to one audio channel with some constant tones playing (just a sine wave would do) and check for dropouts while watching the CPU meter. First PC to pass gets the job!

My set up uses 3 PCs: Cubase 5 doing MIDI + VSTi on an Athlon 950, Gigastudio 96 on an Athlon 900, both sending to a DAW PC running SAW Pro. Cubase often runs to 80% CPU while GSt never goes over 30% before I run out of voices.

Do some testing & tweaking, and be prepared for an eventual Mobo upgrade...

The RME Hammerfall cards are excelent and your digital speakers (Genelecs?) would work fine if they take co-ax SPDIF. The Digiface is even better if you can afford it.

One thing to watch with the Hammerfalls is live record monitoring. The driver works differently from everyone else\'s and some software may not monitor properly. Check the return policy from your vendor! The Digiface has a brilliant hardware mixer and has no monitoring problems. You might also look at the Creamware Luna 2 card with the optional ADAT interface.

Best of luck, Nick

Nick