Well integrated 2 computers system for NO latency vsti and audio monitoring?

Hello,

It has been a Long time i am thinking of a set up with 2 computers:

1st as mixing station

2nd as one track live playing VSTi and audio Chanel (mic or instrument -ie guitar bass keyboard ) live played through vst amp and effect , ready to be recorded on 1st computer.

the idea is while your master computer is handling heavy project with large buffer (and so on big latency) we would by master project internal control to make any overdub with the lowest latency with monitoring live through effect ( or of course played on a vst instrument (with effect too also , why not).

Ok this is not a new idea and i think a lot people might doing this since years,

but i think this does require : 2 cubase licence and 2 vst licence for any track set up, and also does need to hand copy (mirroring) all setting of the track you want to play (back and force too between the live track on the slave computer and the recorded track on the master one), so the idea would be to have a Steinberg official implementation.

Mostly it would kind of vienna ensemble pro, but aimed directly at playing in lowest latency the slave computer is capable, for only 1 track, while the master computer record effectively the same track, mirroring all the setting of the track without need the double licence.

But to achieve this lowest latency monitoring even on the slave , we cannot run everything through common LAN network connection, so we still need 2 computer with 2 sound card and a real cable connections (midi + audio + lan (for miroring the track full set up, insert send).

a kind of mix between VEP and vst system link BUT with new purpose : LOWEST latency in any situation of overdub.

You know when asio guard apply bigger latency on everything but the monitored track to keep this track itself as it lowest latency possible: this would be the same but deported to the slave computer, to keep the best efficiency on latency, whatever the master slave becoming charged of tons of tracks and plugins.

so with this official 2 computers system, whatever latency and buffer size the master computer project become with time, anytime a track is armed for recording or monitoring, it would switch to the slave computer, by routing midi or audio of the track + its total track set up to 2nd computer, and sending back to master with another audio cable.

so the typical setup would be :

  • 1 master desktop with the full project with dedicated sound card with at least 3 or 4 output
  • 1 slave laptop with the mirored project, or at least only the track monitored on the master, with its dedicated soundcard (cheapest 2in/2out is ok but better if can handle 96khz for lower latency, ok as it is only for 1 track at a time)
  • 1 midi cable to rely midi played note from master to slave
  • 2 audio cable connection: 1 to rely audio sound from master soundcard input directly to slave (in parrallele of routing to the master cubase project to be recorded while played on the slave) , and 2nd to listen the slave track back through master soundcard with direct monitoring enabled in the sound card for this input.

result : if steinberg would implement this with automatic mirroring between master and slave computer (trhough LAN) , with no need for double licence as, maybe VEP is able to deliver (?), then with only a laptop (or any spare computer) and a simple second sound card + few cables , THEN

wouldn’t this be the end of the war against latency some of us are fighting since years(…while others don’t care :slight_smile: ) ? ? :slight_smile:

Please tel if i am crazy (because i am really dreaming of set up like this) or if this would be nice idea, or even sharing your actual set up doing similar things?

Thanks for reading to one and all