PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Hi guys,

I still only have a Pulsar 2 card at the moment and I am planning to expand with an additional card in the future. That's because with most of my projects, I have to use my devices wisely to avoid running out of DSP power too soon. Untill now I always used the STS3000. I'm planning to buy the STS5000 for the extra features it has to offer. My question is, Does the 5000 only use more DSP if I use the pitch shift/timestretch functions along with the rest? Or does it still use more DSP, even if I use it in the same way as the STS3000 can do? So I mean without using the timestretch function?
When I expand my DSP's that won't be an issue anymore, but untill then...
So is it stil worth buying with only 6 DSP's in total, or should I keep using the STS3000?

hi,
I think you should update to sts 4000 unless you realy need the sts 5000, sts 4000 is a sibling of sts 5000 but without the timestrech/pitchshifting features and some filters and effects that you're unlikely to use. As you can't test the demo, it would be wiser to update to sts 4000 in order to avoid any surprises, and also bear in mind that timestrech/pitchshifting are performed by the cpu not the dsp. Hey! You're free to do what ever you're pleased with your money, again if you're a heavy sampler user, then you could consider the sts, but I'd try it before updating or if you know someone close who's got it, cheers***

PS: sts is heavy on dsp if set to max polyphony, consequently you can't load the sample along side with plugins or effect that are heavy on dsp***

hi,
I think you should update to sts 4000 unless you really need the sts 5000, sts 4000 is a sibling of sts 5000 but without the timestrech/pitchshifting features and some filters and effects that you're unlikely to use. As you can't test the demo, it would be wiser to update to sts 4000 in order to avoid any surprises, and also bear in mind that timestrech/pitchshifting are performed by the cpu not the dsp. Hey! You're free to do what ever you're pleased with your money, again if you're a heavy sampler user, then you could consider the sts, but I'd try it before updating or if you know someone close who's got it, cheers***

PS: sts is heavy on dsp if set to max polyphony, consequently you can't load the sampler along side with plugins or effect that are heavy on dsp***

That said, the STS 5000 has one (other) feature that the 3000 & 4000 do not have, which is the ability to synch LFO2 to an external MIDI clock.

I'm not sure that the STS 4000 gives you that much more than the STS 3000, but the STS 5000 certainly does (at the cost of some extra DSP power).

Sorry I can't help with the relative DSP usage, but I could check for you if you would like.

Royston

i've just upgraded the sts3000 to sts4000, and i think that the best thing about the upgrade is the individual outs, now i've got 14 instead of 8, i dunno how many you get with the sts5000 but 14 is better than 8!! i imagine you are using lots of drum sounds with a name like champion sound...so this could b useful...
keep the jungle rollin.
peace

Thanks for all your replies and advices!
The thing is, right now I'm still using SFP 3.1c and I think I'm one of the few users who still uses sts3000.
And I know, I'm quite a bit late with upgrading to SFP 4.0, but I'm about to do it. So I believe I still have the 50% discount on any plugin I buy when I upgrade to SFP 4.0.
At the creamware shop the the regular price of the sts4000 is €98, and the sts5000 costs €198. With that 50% discount the diference will only be €50 between both. Then, the 5000 will only cost €50 more than the 4000. Maybe that's an opportunity I can't miss.
For me, a great improvement of both 4000 and 5000 is, that they don't have 8 outputs, but 14 outputs. 8 individual outs is in most of my projects nog enough (that will be e.g. only 4 stereo outs). Therefore I often need to load two sts3000 samplers, and that's a waste of DSP power, isn't it?

@ dubcotics:
Oh yeah, I forgot that the stretching calculations are made by the main cpu! I knew that! I have a pentium 4 1,8 GHz PC with 512 RIMM, I hope that would do the job just fine...

So I assume that using the sts5000 will be a good choice for me. I'm also not planning to use many voices. I'm making electronic dancemusic (techno, house, jungle/drum&bass, etc.) so most of the samples are kickdrums, hihats, drumloops (mostly 1 voice per channel) etc... but no complicated 64 voice orchstra composition for sure or something like that
I also use 3 hardware synths connected to my luna 8 I/O box, so I dont use much DSP for synths, I use most DSP for sampling, mixing and FX. If I had more DSP, I would use it for anything ...

@ Counterparts:
Thank you very much for offering your help!
Maybe within half a year, I can afford to buy an additional 6 DSP Scope SRB card, and the DSP problem won't be an issue anymore (for a while at least)

@ pseudojazzer:
You noticed it very well that I'm a true jungle/drum&bass fan
Therefore I think the timestretch on te sts5000 can also be quite useful for manipulating sound in a obvious, audible, unnatural way, on purpose of course, or for an extreme vocal timestretch or something...
and of course for more subtile changes in pitch, etc...

Earlier I read in an other topic that the timestretch doesn't do the job as well on drums as it does on melodic sounds.
Is it really so bad for drumsounds?

Thanks in advance for all your advices and comments!

well junglist, its funny you should talk about timestretching so much, i can see you want something like "reach out" (on true players) with the vocals, which i'm sure you can probably do with the sts5000 (but i don't know - as i don't own one!)
the only thing i will say is that i love doing crazy timestretching as well and with a lack of money to spend on a sampler upgrade i use cubase to do it and it works great on vocals and drums, of course your 50% off is a huge factor and if i were you i'd go straight for the 5000, if you get the 4000 you'll love it but kick yourself that you didn't get the best!!
but do try and use your sequencer first for timestretching cos to my ears at least it works fine. always remember there is usually another way to get the sound you want with the stuff you already have!
come down selector and mash up the place!!
peace

@ pseudojazzer:
It's good that you mention the fact that I first could try to timestretch in my sequencer.
Right now I'm doing quite the same but I'm using Cool edit pro to edit (stretch or pitch shift) samples and save the edited sample as a new file. The only problem with this method is, that it will be a pain to shift the pitch of one sample within a range of e.g. 2 octaves, while the tempo of that samlpe should be unchanged. In that case I have to make a lot of multisamples manually (for every note). But with the sts5000, every note will be pre-calculated over the entire keyboard. So I don't have to make new samples. Not to mention the formant ability I get for vocals, which I don't have right now. I hope I'm seeing this the right way. This IS the way the 5000 works, isn't it?

Big up, all massive!
peace