64 bits, GigaStudio 4, and my marbles

[Chris Alpiar]

OK I got my first GS4 machine up and running in sexual 64 bits of hormonal rapture!

This was an upgrade from my most recent GS3 machine which had some issues with the MB which I think suffered from a brown out and I think I left off some of the very very important felt washers that go underneath the copper/brass screws w/ copper/brass washers on the MB. So I think I let it get some shorts... So I ended up replacing the MB and the video card - anyhow here is my machine:

OS: Windows XP Professional x64. I had some weird issues on install 1st go around. And I had some crashes when I use Internet Explorer 32 bit version. It supplies both in x64 and the desktop icon from desktop setup is to the 32 bit version, so I took away the icon from the desktop and start menu and the 64 bit IE seems to have no issues

MB: Asus P5N-E SLI (tho I have SLI disabled, not gaming here, only GS4)
I disabled the onboard sound and installed the latest 64 bit nvidia nforce drivers

CPU: Intel Core Duo 2.8

RAM: 4 gigs of OCZ DDR2 800 1 gig sticks. (Incidentally I tried 8 gigs of 2g sticks but this computer threw a hissy fit and I had to downgrade to 4 gigs /cry, maybe when I move my 2nd machine over ill get a newer MB and make sure i can get 8g out of it)

Hard Discs: I have a mish mash of discs that I didnt replace. I reformatted my old C drive which is a standalone 80g 7200 rpm seagate IDE disc. Then I have 2 SATA drives which have been RAID 5 since GS2.5 days, again 7200 RMP discs totaling 400g space, then I have another SATA 350g and a SATA 500g in there, all 7200 rpms If I ever redo the discs Ill get raptors but for now i will work with what i got ;-)

Video: Asus EN8400 GS Silent (Geforce 8 series) was very cheap like $70 and still decent enough to give me nice dual monitors for giga editing ;-)

Sound: RME HDSP 9652 w/ latest GSIF 2.1 drivers

MidiOverLAN 3.2.6

This is obvious not the latest greatest machine available but it is reasonably fast and solid. So far everything seems to be working well, tho I havent really loaded the snot out of it yet

[Chris Alpiar]

Excerpt from email to Tascam customer service:
I set up custom names for each of my inputs (like solo violin, section violin, section viola, solo cello, synth1, etc etc), i have 46 input channels enabled which route to the 32 groups which route to the 24 I/O i have on my hdsp 9652

I made a very large performance using 88% memory [i toned it down from 93% to troubleshoot before I sent this to tascam] and when idle the cpu bounces from 38-40% (as I have everything running through an instance of GigaPulse on an Aux buss

problem 1: as I use GS from my DAW (DP 5.13 on a mac pro talking via MidiOverLAN) these input channels seem to move around. For instance when I set up this performance i have G4Port6 channel 13 14 15 16 set to "Misc Brass" input channel (one of the 46 that I renamed) and right now, without having touched them channel 13 has moved to "Piano" 14 to "Harp" 15 to "Mallets" and 16 to "Guitars" which is very awkward having some brass all the sudden shooting through a guitar channel with chorus and eq and such

Problem 2: Sometimes if I move them back to the "correct" input name I get a BSOD which not only is annoying but now that I have ability to load this many samples, loading a performance takes a LONG time, like back in GS2.5 days. I understand why it does but it makes getting a crash or a blue screen really not friendly. I notice this happening randomly, but it is reproduceable in one situation:

On G4Port1 channel 2 I have loaded one of the GigaViolin patches that comes with the GS4 disc (really amazing sounds btw!). Anyhow I had it pointing to "Solo Violin" input channel and I noticed it had been swapped out for "Section Violin" randomly and mysteriously... So I clicked the arrow to select a different input channel and move it back to "Solo Violin" and BOOM blue screen of death and its all over

[Chris Alpiar]

I look forward to PLAY versions of EWQLSO, Symphonic Choirs, and RA

[Ray Kemp]

cheers Chris,
I think I'll stick with my 64 bit EW play engine stuff for a bit

[Chris Alpiar]

I dunno Ray but I would say unless your audio card has specifically GSIF 2.1 drivers don't bother, it is required for GS4 64 bit. As for a control desk I have no idea I use the mouse =( My only mixer is an old Mackie 24x8 bus analog i use for monitoring old school midi instruments

[Ray Kemp]

Glad you're having fun Chris,
I had the same problem with my first ASUS board and lots of ram. Now with the P5K Pro and Vista x64 I'm flying. The thing is... can you convince me I need GS4 when Tascam can't give me asio drivers for my FW-1884 control desk

[Alex Davis]

Would love to hear an example of it!! I'm stilling in sample-heaven, playing the new Trumpet from sample-modeling.

[Chris Alpiar]

HOLY HOT TOMATOS GigaViolin the version that comes with GS4 sounds AMAZING ... I am going to go spank mah monkey now... :o

[Chris Alpiar]

had my first BSOD earlier i guess I just pushed too hard on the memory loaded lol. But it was still cool to have that much stuff loaded. Funny part was reloading the performance with 93% memory used took like 30 mins, like the old days again with GS2.5 160 well I can see that I am going to have standard setups with GS4 and not much changing for each song. Maybe I will keep a GS3 box for adding here and there sounds that will change and then have a couple of GS4 boxes for the standard "Alpiar Orchestra in the Box"

[Chris Alpiar]

OK I have this GS machine with 4 gigs of ram loaded at 92% memory! I am scared to go much further, but its soooooo cool. The best part I am finding is making stacks out of similar VSL instruments. I have the old VSL full pro edition so I dont know maybe they do this in Vienna Instruments but I can take say VI-14 mV long note samples and make a nice stack that I can switch with keyswitch. So I take

VI-14_mV_sus+0+RS
VI-14_sV_ffespr_4s+0+RS
VI-14_mV_sus+ffespr+0+RS

and make a nice little stack and add in 3 notes as a keyswitch to choose which one I will use. Its great since in VSL there are so many subtle variations which are similar and now not only do I have the power to load a lot of them but to organize them in nice ways

Here is what i got loaded on this one machine, not too shabby:

Bank 0
============
WLPS String 4 0
Taos Drum_Stix_Brsh_Sball_MW adds Fx_Sus. Ped. Rims 0
Solo - Detache Mono-Legato (Up/Dn Loop) MW-->Vib + PW-->DEF 0
VC-B_all 0
WLPS String 5 1
Dramatic Percussion 1
Solo - Staccato Mono PW-->DEF 1
VI-14B_basic_all 1
WLPS String 6 2
Solo - Pizzicato Mono AT-->Vib PW-->DEF 2
VA-10B_basic_all 2
WLPS String 8 3
Solo - Detache Mono-Gliss (Up/Dn Loop) MW-->Vib + PW-->DEF 3
KB-6B_basic_all 3
Solo - Staccato Mono-Gliss PW-->DEF 4
VC-8B_basic_all 4
Solo - Pizzicato Mono-Gliss AT-->Vib PW-->DEF 5
HO-B_basic_all 5
GV Solo FLEX ---> Select Body and Environment from FX Menu 6
HO-4B_all 6
TU-B_basic_all 7
KTU-B_basic_all 8
Tr-3B_all 9
TrC-B_basic-all 10
TP-B_basic_all 11
PO-3B_all 12
BP-B_basic_all 13
KP-B_basic_all 14
WT-B_all 15
CI-B_basic_all 16
16 layers PMI Steinway D Classic 17
CVPiano - normal 18
Xyl_YARN_1+2+RC 19
MA_SO-1+2 20
Acoustic Finger Pick 21
Talk Box Mixed Tube1 22
Les Mute 23
PRS Light Pick 24
Fender Jazz Bass 25
Dynamic Jazz Bass 26
Trumpet Section KeySwitch 1 27
Trumpet Section KeySwitch 2 28
Trumpet Harmon KeySwitch 1 29
Trumpet Harmon KeySwitch 2 30
Trumpet Cup Mute KeySwitch 1 31
Trumpet Cup Mute KeySwitch 2 32
Trumpet Straight Mute KeySwitch 33
Trombone Section KeySwitch 34
Tb Cup Mute Riffs 35
Tb Plunger Mute Riffs 36
Tb Riffs 1 37
SAM True Strike - Basic Percussion Promo Stage Mic 38
Tpt Mute Improv 1 39
French Horn KeySwitch 40
Studio Kit1 41
Flugelhorn Section KeySwitch 42
Flugel KeySwitch 43
ASax Tpt Tb FPSwell 44
ASax Tpt Tb Staccato 45
Tpt Tb Fall Long 46
SAM True Strike - Effects Set Promo Stage Mic 47
SAM True Strike 2 - Bangs and Effects Promo 48
SAM True Strike 2 - World Percussion Promo 49
MandoTrem Mandolin + Bouzouki Octave 50
Koto 51
SHIVA FLUTE KEY MB 52
RGD Kit 1 DRY 53
Studio Kit2 54
VANISH BELL 55
VOYAGE 56
8BIT TUBE 57
OUTER 58
METAL PAD 1 59
BASS MOOD 60
SCARRY 61
FECTIVEPAD 62
DRIFTER 2 63
SPACEGLIDER 64
DEEPWATER 65
SPACE CALL 66
20 CYMBAL 67
WINDENGINE 1 68
GIRL SING 2 69
Pad1- Saw 70
Pad2- Filter Strings 71
Pad3- Bell Filter 72
Pad4- Singing Bowl 73
Pad5- Bright String LFO Filter 74
Pad7- Brass Filter 75
Pad8- Bell Ring Mod 76
Pad9- Brass Pan Mod 77
Pad10- Saw Pan Mod 78
Pad11- Arp Pan Mod 79
Pad12- Arp LFO Amp Mod 80
Pad13- Pitched Cymbal Bow 81
Pad14- Bowed Steel Pan 82
Pad15- Square Filter Sweep 83
Pad16- Brass Filter Sweep 84
Pad17- Saw Pad2 85
Pad18- Flute Filter Mod 86
Pad19- Dual Filter Square Sweep 87
Pad20- Saw Filter Amp LFO Mod 88
Studio Kit3 89
Studio Kit4 90
Studio Kit5 91
RGD Kit 1 OVER 92
RGD Kit 1 ROOM 93
RGD Kit 1 DRY stereo 94
E Piano 95
E Piano Gentle MW>Swirl 96
E Piano Harder MW>Swirl 97
E Piano Swirl1 98
E Piano Swirl2 99
E Piano Mono 100
Silly Whistles Legato MW>Vibrato 101
VA-10_stac-1+2 102
VA-10_0'3s-1+2 103
VA-10_stac_p-ff+MOD 104
VA-10_mV_sus+0+RS 105
VA-10_sV_espr_4s+0+RS 106
VA-10L_mV_sus_pp-f_4LAY 107
VA-10_legno-all 108
VA-10_mV_dyn-spec_all 109
VA-10_mV_dyn2_1'5s 110
Congas 111
Cuban Guiro 112
Meringue Guiro 113
Afoxe 114
Maracas 115
Frogs Eggs 116
Cowbells 117
Vibraslap 118
VI-14_stac-1+2 119
VI-14_mV_0'5s-1+2 120
VI-14_stac_p-ff+MOD 121
VI-14_mV_sus+0 122
VI-14_mV_sus+0+RS 123
VI-14_sV_ffespr_4s+0+RS 124
VI-14_mV_sus+ffespr+0+RS 125
VI-14_mV_dyn_1'5s 126
VI-14_mV_dyn_3s 127

Bank 1
============
VI-14_mV_dyn_6s 0
VI-B_basic_all 1
VI-14_0'3s-1+2 2
VA-10_mV_0'5s-1+2 3
VA-10_pz_all 4
VI-14_mV_spec-dyn_all 5
VI-14_oV_dyn2_2s 6
VI-14_oV_dyn2_4s 7
VI-14_oV_fp-sffz 8
VI-14_trem_sus+0 9
VI-14_trem_2s_dyn 10
VI-14L_trem_sus_p-ff_3Lay 11
VI-14_tr_ALL 12
VI-14_pz_all_1+2 13
VI-14_legno-all 14
VA-10_mV_dyn2_3s 15
VA-10_mV_dyn3_1'5s 16
VA-10_mV_dyn3_3s 17
VA-10_mV_dyn3_6s 18
KB-6_stac-1+2 19
KB-6_0'3s-1+2 20
KB-6_0'5s-1+2 21
KB-6_sus+0+RS 22
KB-6_flaut_sus+0+RS 23
KB-6_pz_all 24
KB-6_legno-all 25
KB-6_dyn2_2s 26
KB-6_dyn2_3s 27
KB-6_dyn3_2s 28
KB-6_dyn3_3s 29
KB-6_dyn3_5s 30
VC-8_stac-1+2 31
VC-8_mV_0'5s-1+2 32
VC-8_mV_sus+RS+0 33
VC-8_oV_sus+0+RS 34
VC-8_flaut_sus+0+RS 35
VC-8_sV_espr_4s+RS+0 36
VC-8_mV_sus+espr+RS+0 37
VC-8_mV_dyn2_3s 38
VC-8_mV_dyn3_5s 39
VC-8_oV_dyn2_2s 40
VC-8_oV_dyn2_4s 41
VC-8_dyn_special-all 42
VC-8_oV_fp-sffz 43
VC-8_trem_all 44

Bank 2
============
HO-4_flatter+cres 1
VI-14_sV_ffespr_4s+0 2
VI-14_mV_sus+ffespr+0 3
VI-14_mV_sus+0+RS 4
VI-14_oV_sus+0+RS 5
VI-14_flaut_sus+0+RS 6
VA-10_oV_sus+0+RS 7
VA-10_flaut_sus+0+RS 8
Vib_Me_all-1 9

Bank 3
============
HA_normal+mute 1
HA_normal+flageolett 2
VI-14L_mV_sus_4Lay 3
Strings_all 4
WLPS Modern Tube Amp Bright REV=LOW 16

Bank 6
============
FL_Leg V_MOD Attack (Intervals) 1
OB_Leg V_MOD Attack (Intervals) 1
FL_Leg V_MOD Attack (Sustains) 2
OB_Leg V_MOD Attack (Sustains) 2
FL_Leg NV_MOD Attack (Intervals) 3
OB_Leg NV_MOD Attack (Intervals) 3
FL_Leg NV_MOD Attack (Sustains) 4
OB_Leg NV_MOD Attack (Sustains) 4

[Chris Alpiar]

I am using this as dedicated giga so those 24 adat I/O are talking to one of a pair of Motu 2408 MKIIIs that I have on my mac pro

so - mac pro (quad xeon intel 2.6 w/ 9 gigs ram, os 10.5.2, DP 5.13, Cubase4) uses a Motu PCI 424 with 2 2408 MKIII expansions (each has 8 analog I/O and 24 ADAT Optical I/O) each 2408 is the interface to one of my PCs

PC1 is explained above, PC2 has GS3 and all my windows 32 bit apps (Cubase 4, SX3, Sonar 6, finale, etc)

all 3 machines have midi over lan and gigabit ethernet switch

I have been just puttering with it today so no real benchmarks but I can tell you that a GS3 Performance that has been about 10 bytes from crashing my machine in 32 bit mode is now loaded with less than 30% memory used and about 1/2 the processor that it used to use.

I will make a monster orchestral performance tomorrow and Ill let you know how far I get before I bring it to its knees begging for sweet death of a blue screen ;-)