Question for Sonic Foundry

jmpatrick wrote on 9/2/2001, 9:00 PM

I'm working on my new system and I'm wondering: what systems does S.F. use to test Vegas. CPU's, Drives, O.S., etc. What is the most powerful machine you're running there in the office...and how many audio and video tracks can you run before she burps?

jp

Comments

SonyEPM wrote on 9/4/2001, 9:15 AM

We test with a ton of different systems under all supported OS's. I believe the "record" for usable tracks is 60-something, but because of the vast number of possible systems, project media types and project settings it is really hard to provide benchmarks. Supposedly identical systems running the exact same project can have render times that differ significantly- we see that all the time in our internal testing.

jmpatrick wrote on 9/4/2001, 2:21 PM

Any idea what the system configuration was for the 60 track special? Single CPU? Dual P3? 1 gig of RAM, SCSI drives?? We want to know!

jp

CakeHole wrote on 9/4/2001, 11:20 PM

Yes please, do tell!!!!!!
Seriously we wont hold you LIABLE!!
dp

stakeoutstudios wrote on 9/5/2001, 7:34 AM

I've had over 72 tracks of 16 bit 44.1khz running on mine with EQ, dynamics and Effects :oP

SonyEPM wrote on 9/5/2001, 8:52 AM

Well there we go, new record track count! And the system is comprised of...

FadeToBlack wrote on 9/5/2001, 5:45 PM

MyST wrote on 9/5/2001, 5:55 PM

SonicEPM... Future politician.

Sorry, I take it back...you didn't deserve that!!
However, you've got avoiding direct questions down pat. ;)

Later.

Rednroll wrote on 9/5/2001, 5:56 PM

Running 72 tracks is not a hard task....the keyword also that you're missing is 72 "Simultaneous" Tracks. There's a big difference. Was 72 tracks playing at the same time? Or where there gaps where some tracks weren't playing, therefore no hard drive access? And if you did have 72 tracks playing at the same time, I really hate to hear what it sounded like, unless you got a chance to mic an entire orchestra individually, and recorded seperate tracks.

stakeoutstudios wrote on 9/6/2001, 5:01 AM

Download the track from here:

http://www.webpuppy.co.uk/Downloads/beggarcharlie.mp3

yes, there were 72 tracks at the same time... only in a few places. it's just efficient use of effects / dynamics that got it to that. Also bear in mind, it's running at 16bit 44.1khz, not 24bit! And no video.

I have to admit.. I was surprised the system hacked it, and it took a little bit of thinking! The processor was the limitation, not the hard drive.

It was using multiple mics on each instrument + double tracking that got it to that track no!

The system was custom built by me... at the moment, it's this:

AMD Duron overclocked to 927Mhz on an Abit KT7 motherboard.

128MB SDRAM CAS2 running at 133Mhz.

Gadgetlabs Wave 8*24 soundcard

Soundblaster Live with Livedrive (I know, I'm getting rid of it. I need it for gigastudio)

IBM 60GXP 40.1 GB 7200RPM hard drive (audio only drive)
Maxtor Diamond Max + 40GB HDD (data drive)

NVIDIA Geforce DDR graphics card

USB infrared Mouse
HP 4x CDR
Zip Drive
Floppy Drive
PS/2 keyboard.

that's about it.