# RAM/specs for Spitfire libraries on MBP



## passsacaglia (Jan 29, 2016)

Hey guys!

Tried to search through this forum and also google but people tend to have different types of info and user experiences.

I just wondered, for all of You who own libraries from Spitfire (Albion 1,2,) and maybe some Cinesample's CORE/PRO libraries etc.
What is, to you, the "minimum" of system requirements for these libraries?
Let's say I make a track using 3-4 different "strings" from either Albion 2, Mural/Sable Ensembles and 1-2 mic positions each at most.
To this, one channel with a grand piano where I use the Yamaha/Steinway grand in Logic.

What would be "OK" system specs for allowing me to use these without any trouble?
At the moment I'm running on an 8GB i7 macbook air (have an earlier thread with specs). But, I really like to make music on a laptop and not be dependent on always work in the studio and be home, so to speak. Are my ideas crazy to think that a duo/quad-core i5/i7 MBP with maximum 16gb ram and at least a 256GB SSD will make it? 

Just wondering what you guys use, what your thoughts are if you ever been in the same situation and wished that you'd have bought an iMac or MacPro with at least 24-32GB instead of trying to make music with large libraries on a MBP?
Kind regards,


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## thesteelydane (Jan 29, 2016)

You'll be fine running the Albions and quite a bit more on a MBP, but go for the quad core 15 inch and 16 gigs of ram.


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## mc_deli (Jan 29, 2016)

i7 rMBP 2.2 16gb here.

Get the best you can. The ram is notupgradeable so get 16. Get the bigger ssd. The built in ssd is incredibly quick and getting 500gb instead of 256 is ok value.

Don't expect to be able to use multiple mic positions with a lot if VIs. I have BWW, NI SSB, Cineperc core, CS2 and i can run that (all in VEpro on the rMBP) plus some Albion One and 1 and a few extras. With careful purging that teeters on the brink. If i open a second Core mic then it can't handle it.

Again, get the bigger ssd. I really regret not doing that. I am already on a 2nd ext 1tb ssd and i could have avoided the 2nd for a lot longer. Don't underestimate the cost of e.g. 2nd monitor, then either a powered Usb3 hub or tb2 dock... The rMBP is not ideal but still an incredible machine.

They glue the battery!


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## passsacaglia (Jan 29, 2016)

thesteelydane said:


> You'll be fine running the Albions and quite a bit more on a MBP, but go for the quad core 15 inch and 16 gigs of ram.


Thx a lot! What SSD do u use? Does i5/i7 matter? 


mc_deli said:


> i7 rMBP 2.2 16gb here.
> 
> Get the best you can. The ram is notupgradeable so get 16. Get the bigger ssd. The built in ssd is incredibly quick and getting 500gb instead of 256 is ok value.
> 
> ...


Such a good feedback, thanks a lot for this! Yeah I figured that, SSD really matters. Do you have a fusion drive or pci? TB2 dock I need to check. 
How large are the project files let's say 3minute track? 
So, minimum 1-2 TB then would be cool? I wondered if a fusion drive would be cool (around 1gb/sec) but I know pci'd are twice faster. Also a prio? 
Thanks once again!


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## mc_deli (Jan 29, 2016)

i7 if you want to make VI-heavy music. So for Mac portable the 15" rMBP. I can't tell you if the bigger cpu and extra graphics card of the 2.5ghz make a difference (i am happy with the 2.2 and Iris graphics).

The factory SSD in a new rMBP is an (Intel?) PcIe. My read test showed 680 vs 280 for my usb3 ssd. 

It is 300e extra for 500gb ssd. On a per gb basis it is expensive when a 1tb evo 850 ssd is under 350 euros. But with 500gb of lightning fast on board storage you might be a long time before you have to get an ext ssd.

Project files are not the big deal. It is the 70gb libraries or 320gb for KompleteU that take up space. That said a lot my logic projects are up to a gig when all bounced but projects are easy to archive off onto a cheap spinning HD. Your sample libraries need/want to be on SSDs ready to play.


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## thesteelydane (Jan 29, 2016)

passsacaglia said:


> Thx a lot! What SSD do u use? Does i5/i7 matter?
> Thanks once again!



I run the most demanding stuff from the internal, because it's twice as fast as anything I've been able to connect externally. I use a Samsung Evo 850 in a USB 3 enclosure for the rest. Make sure your enclosure supports UASP, or it will be slower, and keep in mind that the rMBP only has 1 "superspeed USB 3" port - which Apple doesn't tell you in their marketing. I'm looking into getting thunderbolt storage at the moment, or a slave PC to run Play libraries. At the end of the day, it's a laptop, and although it is an absolutely amazingly powerful machine, when you push past the Albions you will quickly run into a wall. I don't know if i5/i7 makes a difference, but I suspect it does. I have the rMBP i7, and it's not hard to push the CPU into the red zone the moment you run a full orchestra template. I use Logic, and running everything in VE Pro helps a lot to distribute the load better across the cores, but then again the recent Logic update supposedly fixed that. Haven't had a chance to test that. The bottom line is this: if you don't get as much horsepower now as you can possibly afford, you will regret it - and even if you do, there'll come a day when you'll wish for a powerful desktop system. Sorry, but that's the truth.


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## thesteelydane (Jan 29, 2016)

Forgot to say, that with my setup I have been able to lower the preload buffer in Kontakt, so loading all articulations in Albion One, I, II takes less than 3 gigs of RAM. I'm adding Albion III at the moment, then we'll se if it can still handle it.


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## passsacaglia (Jan 30, 2016)

mc_deli said:


> i7 if you want to make VI-heavy music. So for Mac portable the 15" rMBP. I can't tell you if the bigger cpu and extra graphics card of the 2.5ghz make a difference (i am happy with the 2.2 and Iris graphics).
> 
> The factory SSD in a new rMBP is an (Intel?) PcIe. My read test showed 680 vs 280 for my usb3 ssd.
> 
> ...


I will really think of this when I will buy a new one, considering maybe an iMac 27" with the 1tb flash ssd and upgrade it to 32gb rams, or an older mac pro with 4 or more cores if that's better...I don't know. But thanks for the input!!


thesteelydane said:


> I run the most demanding stuff from the internal, because it's twice as fast as anything I've been able to connect externally. I use a Samsung Evo 850 in a USB 3 enclosure for the rest. Make sure your enclosure supports UASP, or it will be slower, and keep in mind that the rMBP only has 1 "superspeed USB 3" port - which Apple doesn't tell you in their marketing. I'm looking into getting thunderbolt storage at the moment, or a slave PC to run Play libraries. At the end of the day, it's a laptop, and although it is an absolutely amazingly powerful machine, when you push past the Albions you will quickly run into a wall. I don't know if i5/i7 makes a difference, but I suspect it does. I have the rMBP i7, and it's not hard to push the CPU into the red zone the moment you run a full orchestra template. I use Logic, and running everything in VE Pro helps a lot to distribute the load better across the cores, but then again the recent Logic update supposedly fixed that. Haven't had a chance to test that. The bottom line is this: if you don't get as much horsepower now as you can possibly afford, you will regret it - and even if you do, there'll come a day when you'll wish for a powerful desktop system. Sorry, but that's the truth.


Amazing facts this too, have you ever thought of "Oh I'd rather bought an iMac or old Mac Pro with at leas 32gb rams or 6 cores instead..." ? I am considering maybe to go with an iMac or Mac Pro in the future also if I'm not going with the rMPB i7 and the 16gb rams. So, my prio's will be SSD, i7 then RAM and 4cores.
Do you mean that the libraries will go better with VEPro instead of Kontakt? Play is only for EW stuff right?  or is VE Pro a DAW like Logic? I haven't got it yet, Kontakt is a library play engine or what you call it right? 
Appreciate all answers so far, really. And I think it will give info to other individuals as well


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## passsacaglia (Jan 30, 2016)

Just read the SOS review of VEPro and it looks AMAZING! You get the Orchestra and you can run 32b plugins. 
Thinking of maybe get this one instead of Kontakt...if you guys have used it/using it, no latency delays or so?  
Will the interface of the 3rd party plugins look the same like in kontakt with all the effects and switches
Or are all 3rd party libraries interface only "made" for kontakt? 
If VEPro is cpu better to my mac I'd rather go with that.


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## mc_deli (Jan 30, 2016)

Strongly recommend you read a lot more before buying anything. You should understand better about Kontakt, Kontakt Player, VePro, Logic (or other), Play so you can work out what you really need.

There is a good beginner's guide on here from a couple of months ago.

(I would have bought an iMac or stretched to an MP but I needed a portable for other things. After less than a year I want a slave...)


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## thesteelydane (Jan 30, 2016)

passsacaglia said:


> Just read the SOS review of VEPro and it looks AMAZING! You get the Orchestra and you can run 32b plugins.
> Thinking of maybe get this one instead of Kontakt...if you guys have used it/using it, no latency delays or so?
> Will the interface of the 3rd party plugins look the same like in kontakt with all the effects and switches
> Or are all 3rd party libraries interface only "made" for kontakt?
> If VEPro is cpu better to my mac I'd rather go with that.



You need Kontakt. Some libraries run in the free Kontakt Player (like the Albions), but many require the full version of Kontakt. VE pro is just a hosting platform that you run Kontakt inside of. It does nothing on it's own, as it's not a sample player in itself. If you're just starting out, it should be at the bottom of your list.

But as I said, if you're just running the Albions and a few other libraries, you'll be absolutely fine with one the new Macbook Pros. I run my entire business of it, recording up to hundreds of tracks of real strings on it. Of course that's different than working with midi, but it is a very capable little machine. It's only when you start punching the envelope and realise you can't upgrade anything that you'll be frustrated.


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## passsacaglia (Jan 31, 2016)

mc_deli said:


> Strongly recommend you read a lot more before buying anything. You should understand better about Kontakt, Kontakt Player, VePro, Logic (or other), Play so you can work out what you really need.
> 
> There is a good beginner's guide on here from a couple of months ago.
> 
> (I would have bought an iMac or stretched to an MP but I needed a portable for other things. After less than a year I want a slave...)


Aaah, got it now. Thank you mr! Then I will better keep my i7 mbAir with my 8gigs and try run whatever is ok and perhaps buy the iMac 27" 5k late 2015 later hehe, since you "can" upgrade the ram to 64 gigs (owc).
Thanks for the input, always easier when someone else do the thinking 



thesteelydane said:


> You need Kontakt. Some libraries run in the free Kontakt Player (like the Albions), but many require the full version of Kontakt. VE pro is just a hosting platform that you run Kontakt inside of. It does nothing on it's own, as it's not a sample player in itself. If you're just starting out, it should be at the bottom of your list.
> 
> But as I said, if you're just running the Albions and a few other libraries, you'll be absolutely fine with one the new Macbook Pros. I run my entire business of it, recording up to hundreds of tracks of real strings on it. Of course that's different than working with midi, but it is a very capable little machine. It's only when you start punching the envelope and realise you can't upgrade anything that you'll be frustrated.


Thanks a bunch, read and watched some videos on VEP now and got the point.
So the next mac will prob be a good iMac with a good SSD like 1-3 TB and not the fusion drive.
To me Albions lack in some things, like they use the hi-lo strings etc. I miss the solo clarinet, oboe and english horn in most libraries, even MetroArk1 doesn't have those woodwinds and I love woodwinds haha.
But, I found the Westgate instruments/Bigfish audio Clarinet, Oboe, Flute and English horn modular series with The perfect sound, each for 49 or 99 which is good!
So I think I will be getting those later and add it to some orchestral library that I will buy.
So I think I will start off with buying CineLite with their edu discount and if I need more, I will look into Metro, Sotto,Majestica or Albions and maybe add the Westgate woodwinds stuff to it. 
ps just listened to your trailer video, you play absolutely beautifully mr


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## mc_deli (Jan 31, 2016)

That's a plan


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## passsacaglia (Jan 31, 2016)

Thank you guys, all of you!
Lastly I just wondered, has anyone of you experience of the Westgate Studios woodwinds/brass patches, would you consider patches/libraries like these cpu friendly on my macbook air setup i7 8gb?
Or are some woodwind-patches a cpu killer, like Cinebrass/Cinewinds?


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## passsacaglia (Jan 31, 2016)

Just figured. Ofc larger libraries takes more memory than smaller ones. 
Once again thanks for the input on everything


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