Choosing a computer to run a patcher with many vst~ objects: Processor speed vs # cores
Hello,
I'm working on a patcher for live performance that uses about dozen vst~ objects simultaneously (loading Audio Units plugins). My current machine is having some trouble keeping up when all plugins are active, and I get crackles and pops.
Eventually I hope to upgrade to an M1 machine, but some of my audio hardware isn't yet compatible with Apple silicon. So for now I'm looking at getting a beefier intel-based system to use for shows.
For this type of bottleneck (multiple vst~ effects) is it better to look for increased clock speed, or more cores? For example, choosing between a laptop with 3.5 ghz dual-core intel core i7, vs one with 2.7ghz quad-core intel core i7.
I'm watching a video on the multithreading model in MSP; will try to understand that better, but interested in getting the community's thoughts as well.
it shall be easy to put vst~ objects into poly~ patchers in order to make use of multiple cores.
Cool, I started reading up on poly~!
In my patcher, the vst~ instances are being used as part of the effects chains of many different channels of audio. So they're all loading different AU plugins with different settings. And on some channels I'm using multiple VSTs chained with non-trivial routing, such as parallel processing and side chains. Any hints on how I could translate that into a poly~ paradigm?
I thought I read somewhere in one of my open tabs that a single poly~ object could be made to load different patcher files for different voices, which would be a start. But now I can't find anything else about how to do that, in the documentation or forums. Is that a thing? Perhaps I haven't had enough coffee yet.
But from my experience Max does not like many vst~ objects running in parallel. Not sure if a new computer would help.
You can load different patchers in each voice of poly~ use @patchername attribute with a list of patcher names
^my bad :)
"that a single poly~ object could be made to load different patcher files for different voices"
if it is only 10 or 16 or so, i would just use different signal inlets in the same poly to reach the 16 different instances.
in~ 1 in~ 2 in~ 3 in~ 4 in~ 5
selector~ 5 <- controlled by thispatcher~ instance number
but that method doesnt include making feedback loops from one voice to another, it only works for parallel order of the vst objects it contains.