v.i. control forum

Dave Connor · Senior Member

I have a 32 bit PC with a 3.2 ghz P4 processor and 4 gigs RAM. I used to run Giga on it and now run GVI using the 3gb switch. Since I don't use it that much I thought it would be nice to run Kontakt 3.5 and get some use out of it with more current libraries and newer technology.

My Questions:

1. Will K3.5 (or 4 if need be) take advantage of the 3gb switch without any tweaks?

2. Does it need to be made Large Address Aware?

3. What are people with 32 bit PC's doing to solve this - if anything?

TIA!

DC

Studio E · Senior Member

I indeed have K3.5 working here on a P4 2.6 under xp32 sp3 with the three gig switch engaged. Works fine.

gsilbers · Senior Member

Just get windows 7 pro for it. I hate windows but v7 is actually pretty good and gave new life to
my old pc.
And you'll have the DVD installer or néw pcs.

Dave Connor · Senior Member

I have XP and it's solid so I don't think I need a new OS. I just wanted to make sure K 3.5 would see the RAM with the 3gb switch enabled. Studio E seems to say it works fine so I'll give it a shot.

Thanks you guys!

chimuelo · Senior Member

Actually Windows 7 32bit allows much better loads than the 3GB PAE.
I too reluctantly walked from GVI/GS4 w/ the switch to Kontakt w/ the switch and it does work fine. XP 32bit stripped is 100% stable for live work as I have never yet had a crash during a gig.
However, I am not thilled about jumping into the 64bit trap yet, so after seeing the 3.3-3.5GB's of RAM that loads 40% more RAM buffers than XP I think I will give it a whirl.
Kontakt 4 seems to be a really great way to use NCW and SSD's and I also hope using the RAM for even better loads can be achieved.
This is all experimental dreaming still, but Windows 7 loads I have seen, and it appears to be as stable as XP while loading much more, so that's my next step.
I am still missing the extreme polyphony on the same libraries that GVI/GS4 had.
Plectrum was my only reference but Gigastudios' polyphony will never be matched by Kontakt. Crying or Very sad

Dave Connor · Senior Member

I wonder if Windows 7 just uses less memory to run than XP. In any case I'm glad I can make better use of this machine which I had stopped using. I'll try Kontakt with XP and then maybe move over to Windows 7 to access more ram.

Thanks for insightful post chimuelo.

chimuelo · Senior Member

I am recording for the rest of the month, then a 5 week Pool gig ending on Labor Day. I will install W7 then and test it for a week and report back.
Kontakt has its own 1U DAW now, and everytime I upgrade now I will build another 1U. Eventually these will all be 8GB/64bit 1U DAW's.
I can't go back to this studio and watch my 32bit XP load while the clock's ticking. Thankfully my synth tracks are from Analog and DSP that require no downtime loading instruments or presets. Even a 30 second pause has engineers leaving to go get a drink or texting........ Embarassed

Dave Connor · Senior Member

Thanks! I am very interested to know results. Also if possible, I would like to know more about your 1U DAWS (components and what it is costing to build those - when it's convenient for you.)

chimuelo · Senior Member

I tried a couple of various AMD and Intel solutions and ended up using this, which is what I use now with the 1U XITE-1 DSP rack that covers all mixing, monitoring and polyphonic synths.

Gigabyte H55N-USB3 Mini-ITX Motherboard 125
PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 300 1U 75
SUPERMICRO CSE-512L-260B 100
Mushkin Enhanced 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 CAS 7 110
Intel Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz LGA 1156 115
XP 32bit Home 75
Kingston SSD 80GB 100
Velociraptor 2.5" 300GB 200
Corsair 128 Sandforce SSD 450
-----
1250

The above rig includes a hot spare in case of the SSD failing. I never used them before, and chance favors a prepared mind.
So the build minus 450 is fine for a 1U where mission critical audio isn't necessary.
I overclocked this to 3.786 for Kontakt only.
All effects are in the 1U DSP rack.
I have lugged a 28U, then a 16U around since 2004, so the 2U total I use now is faster, and more powerful, and the 2U SKB Shoulder bag is a dream.
BTW the Supermicro SNK-P0046P comes w/ the 1U case. Its a perfect HSF for 1U's.

I also use 2 x Akai MPK49's and an EML-101 Analog synth.
When I need to do Grand Pianos I can use 1 sustain pedal and treat both controllers as an 88 noter. Otherwise 3 x smaller keyboards work fine.
I can create splits and layers without having to have a multizone controller.
Kontakt is a great live application, everyone I know has switched over except a couple of shows like the Love show where the remastered Beatles tapes are played back by Gigastudio DAW's w/ a 32 channel analog switcher.

Dave Connor · Senior Member

Wow, thanks very much for all that! I will take a thorough look at it. I know you do a lot of live stuff so I understand the lean and mean approach. We are all trying to get more going on with less space even in our little home studios. I think your setup is brilliant. You are way more tech savvy than me so I will try and get my head around all this.

Thank you very much!