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I´m having now only a 3 DSP card. A guy is selling a 15 dsp for less than 600 euro. Seems good price, isn´t?
The dubt I have is about using the 15 DSP on Magma chassis.
As many of you told, there may be problems running a big project, but I really don´t understand why.
When I open a Masterverb, why this require pci bandwith? . I was thinking that only Asio audio channels and midi data was travelling from and for windows..
In my case, with the 3 dps, have to reopen a project to can change from a sampler to a synth, and againg for a guitar simulator.
Having the 15 dsp, would allow me to have opened all devices needed. That doesn´t mean, they will work at time. I route any device audio output and use the sequencer like a tape recorder only, so only one device would work at time, for exmple:
track1 drum
track2 guitar
track3 piano (sampler)
Would I have pci bandwith problems with this working way?

There's no RAM on the cards, so memory-intensive processes like reverb and delay have to send data to/from system RAM. I've never tried a 15-dsp card on Magma but I used 2x 6-dsp cards with no problems. There is less PCI bandwidth than a desktop machine, but if you are sensible it works fine (i.e. don't set up 64 ASIO channels and load up 6 reverbs).

That´s interesting. What devices require memory acces? only reverb and delay?
My main project would be, most of time;
STS sampler (perhaps two STS, if I need more than 15 outputs)
one Modular III
one masterverb
one Dynatube
one 16 channel mixer
perhaps some effects for guitar (like chorus, delay, flanger).
Probably between 20 and 40 Asio channels through pc, and only 2 or 4 from the pc to the mixer.
The way to work would be, keep all loaded two have quick access to any of them.
For example: Take guitar and record a phrase. Then record a drum for the guitar phrase, then a piano.
Then continue recording guitar after the end of the first recorded.. and continue.
I mean, with the 3 dsp card, i must open a project each time I change the instrument. With the 15 dsp, only one devices would be working at time, but all open.
How about memory/pci bandwith of this setup?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: lagoausente on 2006-06-25 12:33 ]</font>

Since I never used STS on Magma, I can't say how it would work. However, I've read reports from others that it doesn't work too well on Magma. 20-40 ASIO channels - forget it IMHO.

i can confirm that 24 asio2/24bit channels are the limit in most cases with a magma, especially when you're using one or two verbs. and no chance to get the stw p100/a100 running side by side with a masterverb on a magma with 24 asio's and some other effects (an usual mixing project for my needs)...

there's a thread about my magma adventure, search vor katano and magma...

cheers
Roman

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: katano on 2006-06-26 05:40 ]</font>

Hi! I have been using a 4-slot Magma with 15DSP+6DSP boards. I noticed a decrease in PCI bandwidth, but apart from that, everything is working very well. I can have STS, Mixer and 3 or 4 synths open at the same time, even at higher samplerates than my desktop machine (tried Mnimax and Pro-12 @96k - and it works!). I very rarely get the PCI limit message anymore.

I believe you can open a few synths / samplers and use only one at a time, as long as DSP load allows it (all synths reserve DSP for their voices), maybe you can change poliphony according to the song you want to play, maximizing resources for the devices you will use.

What I can tell you for sure, is that my projects take a lot longer to open on the laptop... Perhaps one could set up some synths and a mixer once, and just swap patches between songs, using program change?

Hope this helps,

T

It helps, the polyphony change seems a good idea.

Does Magma chassis has good PCI Bandwith, or is it better nowadays to use scope cards directly into desktop chassis ?

Got my anwser from 2006 topic, but is the answer still right ?

Fact is that in my cheapo Dell 5000 PC, this Project runs smooth and fast, never had any issues, working on 3ms latency is no prob. BUT with the f***ing Magma chassis, PCI performance is reduced by 50%

http://forums.planetz.com/viewtopic.php ... masterverb

vaio vgn-a617b with cb2 magma case containing 2Xpulsar2

6 masterverb pro, limit reached on the 7th