low CPU "cost" Direct-X plug-ins? (compressors)

[Geeheeb]

Does anyone know where I can get some info on what D-X plug-ins don't tax the CPU so much? I LOVE the way my Rennisance C/L sounds, but its somewhat intensive. Before I go out an spend more money, can someone point me in the direction of some literature about plug-ins, and processor use, or bust some first-hand wisdom?

[TimOBrien]

Flavio's DirectX Compressor at www.fasoft.com

Only $20, good sounding, 32-bit operation and only takes a couple of percent CPU on a 24-bit file. He has a demo on his website.

[Geeheeb]

Thanks! I'l check it out ASAP!!

[xxFT13xx]

its always been said that if you have a VST and DX version of the same plugin, ALWAYS use the DX version. It doesnt use as much cpu power as would the VST version would.

but then again, it all matters what cpu and speed it is.

i sure hope your at around the 1gig section....or else your in trouble if you wanna start using a lot of plugins!!

-Sin
http://zwap.to/ft13

[Scott Reiber]

get a dual processor mac and run DP3 and you'll have no problems

[Geeheeb]

Originally posted by xxFT13xx
i sure hope your at around the 1gig section....or else your in trouble if you wanna start using a lot of plugins!!

-Sin
http://zwap.to/ft13

I will! I'm going to have somewhere in the realm of 1.5-2 gigs or DDRAM.

[Spastik]

I highly doubt that a dual Mac will come close to a dual Pentium with over a Gig of RAM. Can someone please enlighten me on how a company like digidesign could just cut themselves out of 75% of the market by catering only to mac? The power just isn't there on tha apples and upgradability wise, yer screwed.

[Scott Reiber]

I have a gig and a half of ram in my Mac... If you PC guys would actually do your homework you would know that an Apple processor is so much faster then any garbage PC processor. Let me give you an example: The Apple 733mhz out performs a 1.4 Ghz PC. So ... you can doubt all you want... and I tip my hat off to Digidesign for staying mostly Macintosh. If I were them I wouldn't involve myself with junk either.

[synchronistic23]

I was under the impression that digidesign was working on ProTools system for PC. I personally enjoy using MAC's more when it comes to digital audio, even though I prefer PC's for everyday use. Many times it is not about which machine is better but which OS operates most effeciently for whatever function you desire.

[atma]

i'd simply download the demo versions of the comps you're interested in and see what works for you and what doesn't

[Eulogy]

I've run across a set of nice Shareware plugins that rock as far as sound vs. CPU usage is concerned. I've A/Bed them against some excellent DirectX plugins and they hold their own, no doubt.

www.digilogue.de (http://www.digilogue.de)

It's a full set of DirectX plugins. The compressors and EQ's are rather nice sounding at only a fraction of the CPU usage of anything Waves or TC has put out.

Check 'em out.

[Geeheeb]

As far as cost goes, come on. Macs CANNOT compete there! As far as stability goes...well...I think a PC can compete, if you run it only as a DAW (with GeoShell, or Litestep), and with all of your cache setting tweaked. Don't fall into a speed argument, or a MHz argument, those are really bad ways of measuring a computers performance. For me, a person who knows PCs OS and hardware, it IS a viable platform. Much more suitable for me than a very exspensive Mac, which I don't know very well (I do have a lot of BeOS experience, but that won't help too much).

I can understand why Digidesign chose only Macs, because they don't have to worry about obscure processors, motherboards, and other stuff that is part of the x86 world. You can streamline your code a lot more, and make it a lot more efficient, and stable if you only have a select few environments in which it will be operating. This is why photoshop and other programs run so much faster on a Mac, not because of the operating system, or the hardware.

[Geeheeb]

Originally posted by Eulogy
I've run across a set of nice Shareware plugins that rock as far as sound vs. CPU usage is concerned. I've A/Bed them against some excellent DirectX plugins and they hold their own, no doubt.

www.digilogue.de (http://www.digilogue.de)

It's a full set of DirectX plugins. The compressors and EQ's are rather nice sounding at only a fraction of the CPU usage of anything Waves or TC has put out.

Check 'em out.

Hey thanks! These look pretty sweet. I'll check them out when I get home. Thanks a bunch!

[howeedoo]

well from my experience and from all ive read macs process data in 128 bit chunks which make them more powerfull then pc's. I'm not completely sure how fast pentiums process data, i think pentium 4's process at 64 bit chunks. Wich basicaly means that a mac can take the same amount of data as a pc and handle it with much more power wich means less hickups, but pentiums run fast, its not always the processor thats causing problems in systems its your components. If you have a daw system and have a great sound card, great modem, great midi interface then you probably having problems. modems and high quality sound cards dont mix (from my experience and info from some great engineers ive spoken too). And as far as hard drives, i like using scsi it seems to be much faster. I was told controller cards help alot bcuz they have processors on them wich take up some of the stress on your cpu when u get in to using lots of effects and lots of audio tracks at the same time your basically draining your processor so what ive found was to add components that were powerfull like pulsar2 card for processing effects and adaptec scsi card to control my hard drive to releive some of the stress on my processor i also use a midi time piece av for midi interfacing, and i think one of the most important things is that i have two computers, one for music and the other for surfing the net and what ever else i wanna do besisdes music.

no modem on my daw just heavy duty components that a daw should only have, and loooots of ram the more memory the better.
I have a pent 4 1.7 , 20 gig 7200 rpm drive, 1 gig ram, second drive only for audio tracks! 10,000 rpm seagate cheetah scsi, adaptec 29160 card, matrox dual g450 grafix card, echo mona 24/96 sound card, i use dvd ram for storage. I use cakewalk pro 9
wich is much better than version 8 more stable.
my system is pretty smooth it does what i need it to do...

YES MACS ARE GREAT BUT I LIKE TO GO WITH THE MOST PENTIUM, WHY, BCUZ THEY ALREADY HAVE PROCESSORS THAT DO WHAT WHAT APPLES CAN DO.. RIGHT NOW IN THE COMPUTER WAR ITS ALL ABOUT DOLLARS.
HE WHO HAS THE MOST DOLLARS POBABLY WILL HAVE THE BEST PRODUCT MAY NOT BE ON THE MARKET BUT IT WILL THEY MARKET IT TO U SOME DAY LOL...