Itse really true GPO4 needs 7200 RPM hard drive?

[JUPEKU]

Itse really true GPO4 needs 7200 RPM hard drive?

[RobertTewes]

From my experience, to avoid pops and clicks, particularly in denser scores, all computer audio libraries benefit from the 7200 rpm speed. This should be considered the minimum standard. The cost difference is negligible from a slower drive, that eventually will only disappoint.

[FLWrd]

I'm running GPO on a laptop with a 5400rpm drive, but I suffer no problems with 37 tracks (my personal record). Only when memory usage gets very high, the performance goes down (thrashing).

[JUPEKU]

True but with mac mini its hard get bigger hard drive. I know its maybe i can change hard drive but even still bit pricey and external harddrive takes own place etc.

[LFO]

With a Mac Mini you should only have your OS and program files on the internal disk. Samples should go on an external 7200 RPM drive and projects on another external 7200 RPM drive. Anything else will give you headaches....

-Kevin

[JUPEKU]

Now seems almost too complicated i mean needs so much room capacity needed.
ps. current pc i use Ik multimedia totalworkstation 2 with all files of project in same drive. and even Vienna libraries sayed they need own harddrive which i think cannot be same what i use other samples? hugely offtopic i know i sorry. And thread can be moved if any one can better place and if i know where...

[Raymond62]

More RAM --> less HD access.
More HD speed --> bigger projects.
More CPU power --> less hick ups and better ASIO (IMHO).
Running on a Intel Core Duo.

Right now I am busy with 132 tracks, consisting of 66 MIDI tracks and 66 Audio tracks, together with 8 output buses of which 7 have Altiverb.

And all is running smoothly at 7200 Rpm.

Raymond

[BenNichols]

More RAM --> less HD access.
More HD speed --> bigger projects.
More CPU power --> less hick ups and better ASIO (IMHO).
Running on a Intel Core Duo.

Right now I am busy with 132 tracks, consisting of 66 MIDI tracks and 66 Audio tracks, together with 8 output buses of which 7 have Altiverb.

And all is running smoothly at 7200 Rpm.

Raymond

Are those 66 midi tracks routed to the 66 audio tracks? Or are the audio tracks playing other material? Cos that makes a biiiiiig difference!

[LFO]

Now seems almost too complicated i mean needs so much room capacity needed.
ps. current pc i use Ik multimedia totalworkstation 2 with all files of project in same drive. and even Vienna libraries sayed they need own harddrive which i think cannot be same what i use other samples? hugely offtopic i know i sorry. And thread can be moved if any one can better place and if i know where...

It isn't complicated, it is just more than what most folks expect. :) VSL does recommend a drive dedicated to their library alone. In practice, it may not be needed if you have other samples on the same drive that you are not streaming at the same time as VSL.

The problem that hard drives introduce is the very slow mechanics they contain. SSD will change this drastically and the price point for SSD will drop mid year next year, but for now picking up a few drives is the way to go to minimize any potential DAW issues.

-Kevin

[sanyarem]

I may be way out of my league here, but was wondering...

This all depends on the size of the instrument library you are using, of course, but how practical is it to buy a 7200 RPM hard drive? As nice as they are, if you are simply getting one for its speed and plan to use it solely for instrument samples, could that be a bit of an overkill?

A year ago, I found it nearly impossible to find a hard-drive with less that 100 GB of space on it. Now, maybe I'm wrong, but I wouldn't expect many instrument libraries to use much more than 30 GB of memory. (This is a wild guess, so please correct me if I'm wrong.) edit: I see that GPO4 recommends 3.5 GB of memory.

If it is the case that an instrument library only uses 30 GB of memory, would it perhaps be more practical to get a flash drive? A 32GB flash drive is just slightly more, if not equally, expensive than a 7200 RPM external HDD. (of course, having much more space, but none of which would be used if the drive is dedicated to instrumetn samples)

So that being said, would an instrument sample library function as well on a flash drive? Since flash memory is more closely related to RAM than a hard-drive, I would think it'd run faster, but whether or not it would be compatible, I'm not sure. The other question would be whether or not you want that much software located on such an easily misplaced piece of equipment :p

Anyways, I'm more asking a question than stating my opinion. I'm curious to know if a flash drive could do the job just as well, if not better, than an external HDD.

[Raymond62]

Are those 66 midi tracks routed to the 66 audio tracks? Or are the audio tracks playing other material? Cos that makes a biiiiiig difference!

Route 66........;)

Raymond

[LFO]

I may be way out of my league here, but was wondering...

This all depends on the size of the instrument library you are using, of course, but how practical is it to buy a 7200 RPM hard drive? As nice as they are, if you are simply getting one for its speed and plan to use it solely for instrument samples, could that be a bit of an overkill?

A year ago, I found it nearly impossible to find a hard-drive with less that 100 GB of space on it. Now, maybe I'm wrong, but I wouldn't expect many instrument libraries to use much more than 30 GB of memory. (This is a wild guess, so please correct me if I'm wrong.) edit: I see that GPO4 recommends 3.5 GB of memory.

If it is the case that an instrument library only uses 30 GB of memory, would it perhaps be more practical to get a flash drive? A 32GB flash drive is just slightly more, if not equally, expensive than a 7200 RPM external HDD. (of course, having much more space, but none of which would be used if the drive is dedicated to instrumetn samples)

So that being said, would an instrument sample library function as well on a flash drive? Since flash memory is more closely related to RAM than a hard-drive, I would think it'd run faster, but whether or not it would be compatible, I'm not sure. The other question would be whether or not you want that much software located on such an easily misplaced piece of equipment :p

Anyways, I'm more asking a question than stating my opinion. I'm curious to know if a flash drive could do the job just as well, if not better, than an external HDD.

Hello Michael,
You have some valid questions and it is obvious you have thought through this. Here are some answers for you:

One of the features of GPO is its compact footprint. There are single instruments (mostly pianos) that take up 3 gigabytes of hard disk space alone. I have several libraries, several are over 100 gigabytes in size. Keep in mind that you do not pay much extra for a 7200 RPM drive. Maybe 15% more? Anything slower is just asking for trouble, so the cost/benefit is very good.

Flash memory is more like RAM than a hard disk, however the methods for accessing files on a flash drive and the lack of any kind of a cache make it a slow form of storage for sample library purposes. SSD technology is the next generation of flash type storage and overcomes these limitations and then some. When the price of SSD falls, (this is expected to happen around mid year this year) you will see a transition from mechanical based storage to memory based storage. Mechanical is not going anywhere for years, but in time it will fade into the background.

I just picked up a pair of 500 gigabyte 7200 RPM drives for $72 each. Look at the TigerDirect.com, buy.com, etc. and you will find the same deals. A great bang for the buck!

-Kevin

[sanyarem]

Hello Michael,
You have some valid questions and it is obvious you have thought through this. Here are some answers for you:

One of the features of GPO is its compact footprint. There are single instruments (mostly pianos) that take up 3 gigabytes of hard disk space alone. I have several libraries, several are over 100 gigabytes in size. Keep in mind that you do not pay much extra for a 7200 RPM drive. Maybe 15% more? Anything slower is just asking for trouble, so the cost/benefit is very good.

Flash memory is more like RAM than a hard disk, however the methods for accessing files on a flash drive and the lack of any kind of a cache make it a slow form of storage for sample library purposes. SSD technology is the next generation of flash type storage and overcomes these limitations and then some. When the price of SSD falls, (this is expected to happen around mid year this year) you will see a transition from mechanical based storage to memory based storage. Mechanical is not going anywhere for years, but in time it will fade into the background.

I just picked up a pair of 500 gigabyte 7200 RPM drives for $72 each. Look at the TigerDirect.com, buy.com, etc. and you will find the same deals. A great bang for the buck!

Ah, thanks for the reply. Yes, I've been aware of SSD's coming of age, and I'm really looking forward to any upgrades/price-cuts that will come in the future. I've been planning on building my own computer, but want to wait until I can use SSD's rather than HDD's in their place. Obviously, the longer I wait, the cheaper it'll be.

Also, thanks for the tips on sites to look at hardware, I've never really done much research into that, and I'm always hesitant to try sites based solely on a google search. (Nothing against google, I wouldn't want to anger the powers at be :) )

Thanks again,

Michael