What polyphony can I expect with my PlugSound libraries?

It’s very difficult to measure polyphony on desktop computers because there are so many variables. This is why even music magazines rarely take the risk of providing figures.
Our tests show that a perfectly optimized Plugsound sequence using no filters or MIDI controls, no effects and running in 32-bit mode can allow you to obtain about 10 voices of polyphony per 100 MHZ of computing power on G4 and Pentium 4 CPUs (other CPUs show less impressive results).
In other words a 667 MHZ computer will get you about 64 voices, a 2 GHz computer approaches 200 voices. However, these are lab tests. In a real world situation with:
– Disk tracks being read
– Audio plug-ins running
– Filters and other controls being used in Plugsound…
You should expect about half of these values to be comfortable. Therefore a “no bull*” situation should allow about 50 stereo voices comfortably available for every 1,000 MHz of computing power. Make no mistake: this is enormous. Thanks to the multiple stages of code optimization Plugsound went through in its 2 years of development, Plugsound is one of the best sounding and most efficient sample playback engine available today!
However, please understand that your mileage will vary. We hope you appreciate our candor in this matter.

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