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PLAY performance


zephonic

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Anybody else out there use EWQL PLAY engine? I got Goliath and find that it causes dropouts (CPU overload) at 256 samples, with only one sound playing.

 

local: Korg Nautilus 61 AT | Yamaha MODX8

away: GigPerformer | 16" MBP M1 Max

home: Kawai RX-2 | Korg D1 | Roland Fantom X7

 

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2007 Intel iMac 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM.

OS 10.5.8

Cubase 4.5.2

Focusrite Saffire LE

 

Time for a MacPro, I guess...

 

 

local: Korg Nautilus 61 AT | Yamaha MODX8

away: GigPerformer | 16" MBP M1 Max

home: Kawai RX-2 | Korg D1 | Roland Fantom X7

 

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I have been considering buying the Storm Drums2 collection from EWQL but have heard similar things about the performance and I'm concerned that my laptop won't handle it (unfortunately where most of my music is being done lately).

-Mike Martin

 

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The Big Picture Photography Forum on Music Player Network

 

The opinions I post here are my own and do not represent the company I work for.

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Your computer's the exact same as mine Zeph. I have been happy with it and surprised at what it's capable of (I recorded those smooth jazz cuts on it for instance) but it's starting to creak and groan with certain processor intensive actions, and running instances of large libraries makes it run out of headroom fast.

 

I'm telling you guys, wait for the new Macpro! 12 core, blazing fast, incredible expansion options. And the current 8 core Macpro is a pretty horrible value. Right now the latest iMac actually smokes the fastest Macpro on the market for a lower cost and an included screen.

 

The new ones are supposed to be right around the corner, within a mere month or two, and I'm going to pull the trigger then. At the very least, when those new ones hit, the current ones will plummet in price, so it makes sense to wait either way.

Kawai C-60 Grand Piano : Hammond A-100 : Hammond SK2 : Yamaha CP4 : Yamaha Montage 7 : Moog Sub 37

 

My latest album: Funky organ, huge horn section

https://bobbycressey.bandcamp.com/album/cali-native

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You and me both. I told you in December that I had practically bought one already, and that was pretty much true. The company ended up being out of stock for a minute, and that gave me a chance to reconsider and cancel the order. It's a matter of days vs. thousands of $$, so that's the way I look at it. When the money starts burning a hole though, who can stop it?

Kawai C-60 Grand Piano : Hammond A-100 : Hammond SK2 : Yamaha CP4 : Yamaha Montage 7 : Moog Sub 37

 

My latest album: Funky organ, huge horn section

https://bobbycressey.bandcamp.com/album/cali-native

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yea...I've got checks from a couple extra gigs sittin' here. The checks aren't good yet! AHH!! I know they will be though,as I've done work for these folks before. I've just been asked to hold 'em for a couple weeks. That's my mad money. God help me when they clear.
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I'm salivating over the next-gen MacPro's as well, but am leaning towards a MBPro because I really want to start using some of my VI's live.

 

But if the PLAY engine's performance is any indication of what I'll have to deal with, I'd really rather not.

 

Your computer's the exact same as mine Zeph. I have been happy with it and surprised at what it's capable of (I recorded those smooth jazz cuts on it for instance) but it's starting to creak and groan with certain processor intensive actions, and running instances of large libraries makes it run out of headroom fast.

 

Mine was good for the longest time, but recently it has lost some performance. Maybe it's the Goliath library that reduced free disc space from 110GB to 70GB. Or maybe it caught one of those rare Mac-viruses. Any way to check that?

 

 

 

local: Korg Nautilus 61 AT | Yamaha MODX8

away: GigPerformer | 16" MBP M1 Max

home: Kawai RX-2 | Korg D1 | Roland Fantom X7

 

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THe EW stuff works better on my G5 than my intel quad...

I have dropouts..say Im playing a line, if I hit x notes so many times, they become inaudible. Doesnt happen on the G5..think its the way they thread..but after crossgrading RA, MOR, SD2 and adding $$ the Sym Orch Plat Plus, Im rather disappointed. I have spoken to their techs, tried every concievable remedy, even reinstalled..nada. Its usable, but that depends on what Im trying to laydown. Im going to stay away from their products for awhile, I shouldve actually went for the VSL..Plus, none of my other plugs give me any probs at all...Omni, Trillian, RMX, Project Sam etc..they all work fantastic on both the Quad and the G5. So after bookoo bux, needless to say, Im a tad disappointed...I coulda bought a small used car for the price of the Plat Plus...or another board 8)

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I run into occasional bursts of noise, running PLAY as an executable on a new Athelon dual core HP PC, 8G of RAM, dual 500G SATA3 HDs, 64 bit Windows 7 Pro - which configuration is way beyond their minimum and pretty much up to their optimum as stated on the web.

 

This is running a single instance of Gold Pianos - no other apps running on the computer at all except the eMu 1820M audio/midi virtual mixer.

 

Generally while playing a long group of full chords in a row - I've tried watching the overall CPU utilization (with the Windows Task Manager) - it never spikes up over 25 to 35%; about 5.5G of RAM still free.

 

It sounds great when it IS working well - I do computers as a business, I'm pretty sure is is not a hardware related problem or Windows related problem. It is possible that the samples fail to load in time briefly - but the system completely meets specifications. Was a bit of a problem to get installed at the beginning due to Windows 7 incompatibility with the iLock drivers on the DVD, but two passes (not one) of the PLAY update cleared that problem.

 

Since my main intent was live performance, it kind of kills that. I could understand better if I was running a full orchestra and really heavily loading things with multiple instruments (although 7 to 9 note chords may load it similarly).

 

I may switch it over to another computer, which is a quad proc Opteron with 4G of RAM - see if the intermittent glitches go away (that machine is running 32-bit, but RAM usage doesn't seem to be a problem).

 

Maybe it would run if I had the needed 23G or so of free RAM to load all the samples into RAM. It definitely has dampened any prospect of them selling me more products. As I say, it is not often, bue even once in a performance would be unusable.

 

Howard Grand|Hamm SK1-73|Kurz PC2|PC2X|PC3|PC3X|PC361; QSC K10's

HP DAW|Epi Les Paul & LP 5-str bass|iPad mini2

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Jim

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I use some of their Orch Gold plus Gypsy and Ra. I do notice that I get "stuck notes" more often than I should, and often, the only way to clear it is to dump and reload the samples. Still, I'd have to say I like the quality of the samples a lot more than the quality of the company's service. From the number of complaints I read on their own boards, they appear to be quite comfortable running credit cards and taking withdrawing funds for products they don't actually have in stock. Compared to a number of other folks posting in their forum, I was lucky they only took my money a couple of weeks before they eventually shipped.
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I've had none of the aforementioned problems, except to much lesser degrees. Every now and then, a stuck note will happen - like once every few days. Sometimes an instrument will deselect itself in Logic (I've switched to Logic now), so I'll just reload it.

 

Most of the problems described here may be due to how each person's computer reacts to any quirkiness in the PLAY engine. I'm using a lowly duo-Core and seem to be getting better results than some of you.

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SK, your machine is new and you probably haven't installed a lot of stuff on it yet. Also, your hard drive may still be relatively empty and thus provides better performance.

 

And as Bobby pointed out, the new iMacs may actually outperform the last MacPros.

 

 

local: Korg Nautilus 61 AT | Yamaha MODX8

away: GigPerformer | 16" MBP M1 Max

home: Kawai RX-2 | Korg D1 | Roland Fantom X7

 

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That's true, Menno - I only have 3 large programs installed - EW QL pianos, Logic Studio and Digital Performer.

 

I'm guessing many of you have a 64-bit OS now. I have seen a noticeable difference with Snow Leopard in EWQL instrument loading times and overall performance. The PLAY system is 64 bit, and their QL pianos are 24-bit to 32-bit. At least for the moment, the system seems to be smokin'.

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I'd be curious to know if any of you EWQL users have had similar problems using their Symphonic Choirs? I've been really taking a look at that and am quite impressed, especially with the ability to enter text and be able to create sung words (or at least a good approximation thereof.).
There are 10 kinds of people in the world...those who can read binary, and those who can't.
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Ive been looking at choirs too..but VSL will have choirs out soon..their stuff runs a lot better..dont think it will have the wordbuilder like the ew, but its worth a look for me. As for ew working on a lesser powered machine, they do work better on my G5 than the quad, a bit quirky at times, but no dropouts, and Im able to get things accomplished...on the quad its like I have to tiptoe around, do a part, reload the sample etc...its like babysitting...doesnt do much for ya in terms of inspiration...
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2007 Intel iMac 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM.

OS 10.5.8

Cubase 4.5.2

Focusrite Saffire LE

 

Time for a MacPro, I guess...

 

I'm not a Mac guy but wouldn't bumping that RAM up be an inexpensive way to get more out of your current system? Two gigs of RAM is positively anemic these days.

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2007 Intel iMac 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM.

OS 10.5.8

Cubase 4.5.2

Focusrite Saffire LE

 

Time for a MacPro, I guess...

 

I'm not a Mac guy but wouldn't bumping that RAM up be an inexpensive way to get more out of your current system? Two gigs of RAM is positively anemic these days.

Yeah, unless that's maxed already, another couple of GB of RAM would do wonders
A ROMpler is just a polyphonic turntable.
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When I went from 2 to 4 my computer was a different animal, and I'm still too low for 2010.
I have 4 in my laptop. Once the price comes down a bit more, I'm getting 8. Now that Logic is 64-bit, I'll be in piano library bliss
A ROMpler is just a polyphonic turntable.
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2007 Intel iMac 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM.

OS 10.5.8

Cubase 4.5.2

Focusrite Saffire LE

 

Time for a MacPro, I guess...

 

I'm not a Mac guy but wouldn't bumping that RAM up be an inexpensive way to get more out of your current system? Two gigs of RAM is positively anemic these days.

Yeah, unless that's maxed already, another couple of GB of RAM would do wonders

 

If his Macbook is like mine, 2 GB is the max. Otherwise I would have 4 for sure.

Kawai C-60 Grand Piano : Hammond A-100 : Hammond SK2 : Yamaha CP4 : Yamaha Montage 7 : Moog Sub 37

 

My latest album: Funky organ, huge horn section

https://bobbycressey.bandcamp.com/album/cali-native

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according to soundsonline.com, these are the system requirements.

 

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR MAC

G5 1.6GHz, 2GB RAM, Mac OS 10.4 or newer

RECOMMENDED MAC SYSTEM

Mac Pro Quad-Core Xeon 2.5GHz, 4GB RAM

 

I wouldn't have bought Goliath if I didn't think my puter could handle it. What's more, it has negatively affected the over-all stability of my system. EastWest support have been prompt and helpful, which is the only reason I am not pissing all over this product.

 

 

local: Korg Nautilus 61 AT | Yamaha MODX8

away: GigPerformer | 16" MBP M1 Max

home: Kawai RX-2 | Korg D1 | Roland Fantom X7

 

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What's more, it has negatively affected the over-all stability of my system.

 

Out of curiousity, how has it done that?

 

These uber-libraries really need to be kept on their own seperate hard drive. If you install a 40+ gig library on any hard drive, it will indeed slow it down. I'm going to try and get a 3rd hard drive this weekend just for the libraries. I have about 80 gigs of them, it's slowing down my audio drive.

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