Apple Logic Pro /LogicExpress Discussion

From: Gregory Anderson <glists@...>

> Nick, how do you do this, in terms of software and connection method?
> I am very married
> to Logic and don't want to invest in some new flagship product ($$$)
> for the PC, but there
> are cheap VST hosts that can run softsynths.  Are you doing Giga?  And
> as for connections, do I go Rewire, network, midi...?
>
> And finally, is it worth it?  Does the 2-computer combo add a lot of
> latency, am I too
> restricted in what it can run, etc?   Anybody's experience with this
> would be greatly
> appreciated.

I use a G5 for Logic mostly, and I have three PCs (two Giga, one  
Kontakt and other soft instruments). For MIDI I use MIDI Over LAN  
(www.musiclab.com), which works great. For audio, I have a Frontier  
Designs Wavecenter PCI card in each PC, connected by lightpipe to  
MOTU PCI-424-based hardware on my G5 (the PCI-424 acts as my mixer).  
Those cards are cheap ($300), with lightpipe and S/PDIF I/O plus two  
MIDI ports that I don't use.

Unfortunately, I also have my Quicksilver dual gig G4 running Pro  
Tools MIX, since I decided I couldn't justify upgrading to PT HD  
(much as I'd like to) and the MIX hardware doesn't work on G5s. That  
system has a 24-bit ADAT Bridge, which is connected to an additional  
2408 box on the PCI-424 card. I'd love to be able to get rid of that  
system, but there isn't anything between Pro Tools LE and HD.

So yes it's worth having multiple machines. I run  large orchestral  
libraries, and they don't fit on one machine.

Now, your old PC may not be up to much as far as modern V.I.s are  
concerned, but multi-computer set-ups are necessary if you want to  
have lots of stuff ready to go when you're writing.


>    From: GAmoore@...
> Subject: Re: Re: pcs and macs
>
>
>
>> Nick, how do you do this, in terms of software and connection method?
>> I am very married
>> to Logic and don't want to invest in some new flagship product ($$$)
>> for the PC, but there
>> are cheap VST hosts that can run softsynths.  Are you doing Giga?   
>> And
>> as for connections, do I go Rewire, network, midi...?
>>
>>
>
> yeah... i'm curious too... does the PC have a Midi board and it  
> treated like
> a synth, but runs a standalone version of something? or can you  
> hook them up
> via ethernet or firewire which are probably much faster to get a  
> virtual midi
> connection?

You can connect two Macs running Tiger with Apple's AUNetSend and  
AUNetReceive plug-ins (I've never tried it). There's also Wormhole.  
The one I'm waiting for is FX Teleport.  Right now it only works  
between PCs, but if there's ever a Mac version, I'll jump on it.



Nick Batzdorf, editor/publisher
Virtual Instruments magazine - the world of softsynths and samplers
www.Virtualinstrumentsmag.com
1-877 VImagzn (846-2496)
818/905-9101, cell 590-9101