Hi all,
I've been using an outdated system with a PII 400Mhz processor and a selection of VSTi with FruityLoops for some time now. I've been frustrated to the maximum as you can probably expect.
So I'm getting my music store to construct a new system around a Pulsar II and a Pentium III 1GHz processor with a few other goodies.
In another forum I asked if I would say goodbye to my VSTi and use the superior Pulsar II and I received some interesting responses.
There was a common opinion that the Polyphony maxes out pretty quickly on the Pulsar II with the synths provided. Other remarks were that the synths for the Pulsar II were inferior to the VSTi's available and that the proprietary DSP power of the Pulsar II would be dwarfed by the power of a Pentium IV chip.
Hmmmmmmmm I thought. Could this be true? So I thought I'd pass the question over to those who know the answer?
Pulsar II v's Pentium CPU and VSTi
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Funktastico
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VSTi instruments better than Pulsar ! 
But it IS true that with 6 DSPs you reach a limit pretty fast. IMHO this forces you to dump parts to audio pretty quick to ensure you can have a good variety of top devices.
A friend's studio uses a similar system to your proposed kit with a 1.4GHz P4 with softsynths like the Pro52. While this synth is excellent he still has problems syncing with his external gear, unacceptable latency attempting to "play" the Pro-52 "live" in the mix, and problems syncing VSTi midi to audio. None of this happens with Pulsar !
Sure native systems are getting powerful, but with Pulsar you'll have a lot of sonic power and routing / mixing while leaving your system free for whatever native systems you want.
But nothing is perfect. Pulsar is very DSP hungry. I'm looking at getting a second card next week (I hope) and with 12DSPs perhaps I can play everything "live" without going to audio. Despite this my single PulsarII card has been fantastic and for what it does I think it is extremely cost effective.
Now maybe if you were talking VST + Reaktor + Absynth or Battery + good sound card (similar price) then this might be a tough decision, but VSTi devices vs Pulsar? Nah, not even in the same league.
cheers
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Spirit on 2002-02-07 08:08 ]</font>
But it IS true that with 6 DSPs you reach a limit pretty fast. IMHO this forces you to dump parts to audio pretty quick to ensure you can have a good variety of top devices.
A friend's studio uses a similar system to your proposed kit with a 1.4GHz P4 with softsynths like the Pro52. While this synth is excellent he still has problems syncing with his external gear, unacceptable latency attempting to "play" the Pro-52 "live" in the mix, and problems syncing VSTi midi to audio. None of this happens with Pulsar !
Sure native systems are getting powerful, but with Pulsar you'll have a lot of sonic power and routing / mixing while leaving your system free for whatever native systems you want.
But nothing is perfect. Pulsar is very DSP hungry. I'm looking at getting a second card next week (I hope) and with 12DSPs perhaps I can play everything "live" without going to audio. Despite this my single PulsarII card has been fantastic and for what it does I think it is extremely cost effective.
Now maybe if you were talking VST + Reaktor + Absynth or Battery + good sound card (similar price) then this might be a tough decision, but VSTi devices vs Pulsar? Nah, not even in the same league.
cheers
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Spirit on 2002-02-07 08:08 ]</font>
OK, that sounds a bit better I guess.
What I'm hoping to do is Use one of the samplers quite extensively. (samples being created elsewhere and then imported)
I understand that the sampler is pretty forgiving on the DSP and that sounds promising because I'll be using a lot of them.
Other than that, probably a couple of synths and some effects with all the audio routing going through the cards mixer.
I'll probably throw a couple of VSTi and some audio tracks into the bargain for good measure.
Will a PIII 1GHz 512MByte RAM and Pulsar II card be a fantastic solution for this? Or am I going to scream about the lack of DSP?
By the way, I don't really understand the XTC mode concept. Can I use FruityLoops and integrate Pulsar's synths/effects? Or is that just a Cubase/Logic thing?
What I'm hoping to do is Use one of the samplers quite extensively. (samples being created elsewhere and then imported)
I understand that the sampler is pretty forgiving on the DSP and that sounds promising because I'll be using a lot of them.
Other than that, probably a couple of synths and some effects with all the audio routing going through the cards mixer.
I'll probably throw a couple of VSTi and some audio tracks into the bargain for good measure.
Will a PIII 1GHz 512MByte RAM and Pulsar II card be a fantastic solution for this? Or am I going to scream about the lack of DSP?
By the way, I don't really understand the XTC mode concept. Can I use FruityLoops and integrate Pulsar's synths/effects? Or is that just a Cubase/Logic thing?
Caleb
Happiness is the hidden behind the obvious.
Happiness is the hidden behind the obvious.
On a Pulsar II and a STS 4000 (thats what i use) you can have 64 sampler voices (in stereo) and still have DSP left for 2-3 mono synts. If you mostly use samples there will be no problem with DSP resources.
Just make sure that you choose a proper MOBO. Don't cheap out on that and you will have a long happy life writing plenty of hits.
And if you don't it won't be because of the equipment.
Just make sure that you choose a proper MOBO. Don't cheap out on that and you will have a long happy life writing plenty of hits.
And if you don't it won't be because of the equipment.
Hey, I really have to wonder what kind of music are you people doing that you need so many voices
It usually takes me only perhaps five to six voices to finish a song, perhaps adding some additional noises and beeps from the sampler... In well-thought out tracks you really don't need that many voices imho... (not that my own track would be well-thought out though
)
cannibal
It usually takes me only perhaps five to six voices to finish a song, perhaps adding some additional noises and beeps from the sampler... In well-thought out tracks you really don't need that many voices imho... (not that my own track would be well-thought out though
)cannibal
Obviously people who haven't yet bought anything want to know exactly what their capabilities will be, but I do agree that some people seem hypnotised by specs. I wonder if there is some of the geek factor here: people just want to spec up their system with a whole range of impressive figures but rarely play anything.
Where I grew up people did that with cars. They'd buy cars then fiddle with them - trick up the engine, replace the exhaust, lower the suspension, talk about slippery diffs and gear ratios, but they'd never actually DRIVE the things. The cars would just sit around in garages with their guts hanging out.
There's nothing wrong with that - these people got a lot of enjoyment from doing this. But you'd be mistaken to compare them with people who actually wanted their car to drive from place to place. The two groups had totally different purposes in mind. One group was obsessed with specifications; the other just wanted good transport.
Where I grew up people did that with cars. They'd buy cars then fiddle with them - trick up the engine, replace the exhaust, lower the suspension, talk about slippery diffs and gear ratios, but they'd never actually DRIVE the things. The cars would just sit around in garages with their guts hanging out.
There's nothing wrong with that - these people got a lot of enjoyment from doing this. But you'd be mistaken to compare them with people who actually wanted their car to drive from place to place. The two groups had totally different purposes in mind. One group was obsessed with specifications; the other just wanted good transport.
That's a fair enough point I think.
When people were laughing that a synth might only get 9 voices I was thinking that I couldn't remember a time when I ever needed 9 voices out of one synth. What use would that be? I'd have a mix completely dominated by one synth! It would sound awful.
Sampling voices are far more important to me than synth voices simply because ensemble samples use up voices very quickly. A string ensemble sample is quite often made up, not of one sample, but of many samples playing at the same time. This means hitting one note is often actually playing 8 voices simultaneously. I just want to feel confident that the sampling as a minimum is going to be covered quite easily by the card. The synths? I'm more liklely to bounce loops into audio and drop them into the sampler if they start causing too high a load.
I'm not really a spec head, but one of the reasons I'm upgrading like this is because my current system lets me down. I certainly have to work out whether the new system is actually going to be any better. 64 voices on the STS4000 and a couple of synths? Sounds bloody perfect to me. I have a feeling I'm going to be a happy chappy.
I heard that Volksampler is going to be given to Pulsar users for free? Is there any truth in that? I can always use that along with the sampler of the card if I need a bit extra.
When people were laughing that a synth might only get 9 voices I was thinking that I couldn't remember a time when I ever needed 9 voices out of one synth. What use would that be? I'd have a mix completely dominated by one synth! It would sound awful.
Sampling voices are far more important to me than synth voices simply because ensemble samples use up voices very quickly. A string ensemble sample is quite often made up, not of one sample, but of many samples playing at the same time. This means hitting one note is often actually playing 8 voices simultaneously. I just want to feel confident that the sampling as a minimum is going to be covered quite easily by the card. The synths? I'm more liklely to bounce loops into audio and drop them into the sampler if they start causing too high a load.
I'm not really a spec head, but one of the reasons I'm upgrading like this is because my current system lets me down. I certainly have to work out whether the new system is actually going to be any better. 64 voices on the STS4000 and a couple of synths? Sounds bloody perfect to me. I have a feeling I'm going to be a happy chappy.
I heard that Volksampler is going to be given to Pulsar users for free? Is there any truth in that? I can always use that along with the sampler of the card if I need a bit extra.
Caleb
Happiness is the hidden behind the obvious.
Happiness is the hidden behind the obvious.