Hi folks,
I am currently running a 12 core 2012 Mac Pro tower with 64G of ram. The Main drive and main sample libraries are on SSD cards that are running on the PCI slot. So I think that computer is as fast as it is able to be.
I run projects with up to around 120 tracks and with up to 50+ synths and samplers and loads of VST plugins and lots of groups, etc. I never need to record multiple tracks at once and I’m almost exclusively inputting MIDI notes with the keyboard and quantizing so latency is not a concern for me at all. I have the buffer settings all the way up. My number one concern is getting as many tracks being able to play back without glitching out. I am currently having to constantly freeze and unfreeze tracks as I’m working and it is a total show killer towards the second half of my production. Ideally I’d like to be able to keep all my synths as instruments instead of bouncing down until I have completely finished production. Then I bounce down for the mix stage.
I would say I can get about 80% of the way through my production before my computer craps out and I need to start freezing stuff. I have VEP6, but I have found it to be incredibly unreliable. It crashes all the time and I also do a lot of automating the synth and VEP is a pain in the ass for that. It also doesn’t let you easily render tracks with VEP and you can’t freeze those tracks.
I’m considering building a new computer and even moving to a PC if this will make my workflow work out-but that is really a last resort. I’ve even considered the trashcan mac because I actually like to portability of it. I know there is a new mac pro supposedly coming in 2019, but I can’t wait that long to get this sorted.
Are any of you running projects with 100-150 tracks with 50+ synths that are automated and tons of inserts? (NOT just orchestral sample projects but actual synths)?