So I started loading up the synths and effects in XTC, and I

Basic Pitch · Post by **Basic Pitch** » Sun Aug 31, 2003 4:09 pm

Greetings all,

While I must admit, I am extremely new to SFP and creamware, upon my purchase it was a toss up between a pulsar and a Powerpulsar II, I went with the 15 DSP model, so last night in a quick test to see how much I can throw at the card I was goofing around in XTC mode and said lemme see what I can do here.

I started with about 10 synths, ranging from the stock synths that are compiled with SFP 3.1c, then threw about 9 various effects, verbs, delays, modulation, compression and so on, after loading 19 items into Nuendo via XTC mode, the DSP meter was only sitting at about 48%, this pretty much blew me away because my CPU meter was only showing 9% in Nuendo and I am assuming the 9% was only the data from the GUI's loaded, this is pretty amazing to think about how powerfull the card is.

Now, as I said I have yet to try and of the aftermarket synths or shareware synths etc, not sure how these compare in terms of DSP usage but, I can not imagine my self using much more than 20ish items per mix, well not yet atleast, could be due to I never had enough power to do so, so I always bounced everything to open up some CPU headroom, but how much does it take to max this card out, because in my current state I cant see myself going much over 50% DSP usage.

How would a Pulsar II stand up with 20 running items compared to this card? I dont think I would change my configuration around, but I also dont understand what some people are running when they need 30+ DSP hehe

Just curious is all..

Cheers!

virtualstudio · Post by **virtualstudio** » Sun Aug 31, 2003 4:33 pm

start putting more than one voice in your synth's and you will get over 50% soon

regards
Terranova-amsterdam

interloper · Post by **interloper** » Sun Aug 31, 2003 4:37 pm

Essentially, I started with a Pulsar II. Great foundation for a Creamware system. I found that I had to construct several projects as I progressed through the creation & finalization of a track.

Usually there would be a project for the drums and for adding synths or samples. Depending on the synth, you could run all this and 4 - 10 voices (depending on the synth) and record audio.

Then I'd use another project for mixing, with filter's and eq's to optimize the spectrum of each sound. I'd do audio editing in this project as well. With everything loaded, I was still able to use a synth or two.

Then another project for mastering or finalization (even though very similar to the mixing project).

Now, with a ridiculous amount of DSP - 27, I find that I can do everything within one or two projects. I can have all the effects you want, all the synths, and more to boot. So, in this case, I'd say I can work a bit faster, but the person with the Pulsar II can do EVERYTHING I do, just with a few more steps. I like not having to take down the sequencer and reload SFP and SX projects, but that's part of the benefit.

For another application, like live performance, the ridiculousness of the 27 DSP's wears off quickly, and becomes a powerful mechanism for a trip into another world. Hmmm....