I’ve typically used VEPro to run orchestral templates in Cubase, but I’ve been increasingly frustrated by the workflow limitations inherent to separate midi/audio tracks. It tends to “discourage” experimentation when its so annoying to switch from midi to audio return, and so I’ve been experimenting loading my orchestral template as single instances of Kontakt.
Now I would not have tried this if I hadn’t been told by my Logic counterparts that they were running 100s of Kontakt Instances (as instrument tracks) without issue. But when I tried to load up a bunch in Cubase, I found that I couldn’t load more then around 50 before I started seeing massive CPU spikes while IDLING.
I fired up Logic Pro X (which I own but don’t use) and found I could load 150 individual Kontakt instances without seeing CPU spikes.
I’m running a Mac Pro 2010 12 Core at 3.4 gHz - not top of the line for sure, but still pretty powerful. Couple questions -
1.) Those of you running top of the line Mac Pro 2013s, have you done any testing like this? How many Kontakts can you have open in Cubase?
2.) Why is Logic able to handle so many more?
3.) I heard from a friend running Cubase on PC he has up to 300 instances of Kontakt. Is this a result of the rumored “Cubase peforms better on PC” syndrome? Is there any chance the OS X version will ever see that kind of power?
Couple disclaimers - no need to evangelize me on VEPro, nor on using Kontakt as a multi-timbral plugin. The goal is one instrument per Kontakt instance, the way Logic is able to do on the same machine. Also, for the record, multi-processing is off in Kontakt and on in Cubase, and I have ASIO guard set to normal (turning it off immediatly sends my CPU meter spiking to the red).