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So I'm curious about trying to use VST sounds in my church band. I'm trying to get some fatter string sounds and more variety out of my MOX6.
I have a Macbook Pro which is about a year old. Right now, I run VSTs through Cubase Elements 7. It works fine, but my laptop tends to get hot. I have one of those platforms with a fan on it that the laptop can sit on to help keep it cool, but it barely keeps up.
So I was wondering if there was something less CPU-hogging than Cubase to simply run VSTs on. I don't need any sequencing capabilities, but effects would be nice as well.
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I use mainstage, works great. Takes awhile to initially load a 'concert' but after it loads it works really well. The load time isn't issue, because a single concert can have a whole show and it switches between patches fast. And at $29.99 you can't beat all the sounds you get for so little.
Last edited by Kbeaumont; 11/09/15 11:08 AM.
A long long time ago, I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile....
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I would think that the host should not make much difference in the CPU usage. Mainstage would be the natural recommendation but you could also try MicroDAW.
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I would think that the host should not make much difference in the CPU usage. Mainstage would be the natural recommendation but you could also try MicroDAW. Hmm, free is good  I'll check out Maintstage, too, $30 isn't all that much.
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Looking at Mainstage, it says "You can use all your favorite instrument and effect plug-ins from Logic Pro." I don't use Logic Pro, is that a problem?
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Looking at Mainstage, it says "You can use all your favorite instrument and effect plug-ins from Logic Pro." I don't use Logic Pro, is that a problem? No... Mainstage at €30 comes with all the instruments from logic... There is nothing that comes even close to this amount of content, more then any DAW, and only for 30 bucks... And you can add your Audio units(VST like MAC specific format) to Mainstage.. keep in mind however that its not Cubase thats a cpu hog, but your VST's I dare say that buying Mainstage is the best €30 i ever spend
Last edited by Bachus; 11/09/15 11:42 AM.
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I would think that the host should not make much difference in the CPU usage. Mainstage would be the natural recommendation but you could also try MicroDAW. Agreed. I doubt that most of the CPU hogging comes from Cubase. It is actually quite efficient, depending what you do. I suppose I only create perhaps two or 3 tracks at the most, simple stuff. However I can run Ivory through its own cantabile player, or pianoteq alone, and when I host them in Cubase it makes no marked difference to temperatures or CPU use from what I noticed. I actually set the windows resource monitor on it one time to generate a report, and that told me most of that resource eating comes from the VST instruments themselves. It just adds a little to the memory use foot print, that's about it. I could and tried some project with many more tracks and it had no problem either. I don't think you be able to do much to if the laptop struggles getting hot though. I have a laptop too downstairs and it is just noisy and gets hot when it gets stressed. A macbook, not that I own one to know for sure, but like most laptops designed for desktop use were not designed for long periods of serious flatout grunt work, though some may be okay with it. I am not sure I'd feel comfortable for a real life situation setup long term that way If I were in your situation. Perhaps one approach/solution is to build or buy a small computer case desktop model with a carrier handle. Something compact could be got with a miniATX form factor motherboard. You could still carry a laptop as means to provide a screen and (typing) keyboard by connecting it up to the little desktop box for that purpose instead of lugging around a monitor. it would be no bigger than ![[Linked Image]](http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/P6090035.jpg) not that I read in detail but that was just one guy that came up in that top of the search you can read it here http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/2...o-recording-gaming-mini-itx-powerhouse/3 There is a bit of an outlay and spending but if you want to go longer term with VSTs in public without breaking the bank too much I imagine something along those lines may be worth it.
Last edited by Alexander Borro; 11/09/15 11:49 AM.
Selftaught since June 2014. Books: Barratt classic piano course bk 1,2,3. Humphries Piano handbook, various... Kawai CA78, Casio AP450 & software pianos. ![[Linked Image]](https://www.pianoworld.com/ABF_Medals/12xmedals.jpg) 12x ABF recitals. My struggles: https://soundcloud.com/alexander-borro
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Joined: Apr 2007
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Looking at Mainstage, it says "You can use all your favorite instrument and effect plug-ins from Logic Pro." I don't use Logic Pro, is that a problem? No... Mainstage at €30 comes with all the instruments from logic... There is nothing that comes even close to this amount of content, more then any DAW, and only for 30 bucks... And you can add your Audio units(VST like MAC specific format) to Mainstage.. keep in mind however that its not Cubase thats a cpu hog, but your VST's I dare say that buying Mainstage is the best €30 i ever spend Thanks for the clarification...didn't want to spend the money only to find that it wouldn't work without Logic Pro. Now that I think about it, I was using Film Score Companion by Sonivox to create orchestral tracks. I could get about 7 tracks running before it would crash, and for an orchestra I needed much more than that. However, once I ripped the individual tracks to audio, then the laptop wasn't running hot anymore. So that makes sense that it's the VSTs that are the CPU hogs. Still, if I can get a nice library for $30, that may be worthwhile.
private piano/voice teacher FT
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I would think that the host should not make much difference in the CPU usage. Mainstage would be the natural recommendation but you could also try MicroDAW. Agreed. I doubt that most of the CPU hogging comes from Cubase. It is actually quite efficient, depending what you do. I suppose I only create perhaps two or 3 tracks at the most, simple stuff. However I can run Ivory through its own cantabile player, or pianoteq alone, and when I host them in Cubase it makes no marked difference to temperatures or CPU use from what I noticed. I actually set the windows resource monitor on it one time to generate a report, and that told me most of that resource eating comes from the VST instruments themselves. It just adds a little to the memory use foot print, that's about it. I could and tried some project with many more tracks and it had no problem either. I don't think you be able to do much to if the laptop struggles getting hot though. I have a laptop too downstairs and it is just noisy and gets hot when it gets stressed. A macbook, not that I own one to know for sure, but like most laptops designed for desktop use were not designed for long periods of serious flatout grunt work, though some may be okay with it. I am not sure I'd feel comfortable for a real life situation setup long term that way If I were in your situation. Perhaps one approach/solution is to build or buy a small computer case desktop model with a carrier handle. Something compact could be got with a miniATX form factor motherboard. You could still carry a laptop as means to provide a screen and (typing) keyboard by connecting it up to the little desktop box for that purpose instead of lugging around a monitor. it would be no bigger than not that I read in detail but that was just one guy that came up in that top of the search you can read it here http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/2...o-recording-gaming-mini-itx-powerhouse/3 There is a bit of an outlay and spending but if you want to go longer term with VSTs in public without breaking the bank too much I imagine something along those lines may be worth it. I think the main problem just comes from running all the tracks that I was for composing. But this will be one sound at a time, maybe two, so we'll see how it goes. Since I play at church for free, not really looking to spend money on more equipment if I don't have to.
private piano/voice teacher FT
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I personally use Cantabile as a VST performance host. Works brilliantly for my needs. The developer is very responsive too. http://www.cantabilesoftware.com/
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Cubase isn't going to be any worse than anything else as far as heat is concerned. It's the instruments and effects you are using that is the problem. You're going to be hot no matter what VST host you use if your VST plugin chain is the same. So I fail to see the reasoning for spending any money to try to solve a heat problem. What you might do instead is experiment with different effects and instruments to see what is causing the problem. I'd look first at reverbs and compression plugs. Non-streaming instruments that rely on computer algorithm to generate sounds is another likely source of heat.
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Cubase isn't going to be any worse than anything else as far as heat is concerned. It's the instruments and effects you are using that is the problem. You're going to be hot no matter what VST host you use if your VST plugin chain is the same. So I fail to see the reasoning for spending any money to try to solve a heat problem. What you might do instead is experiment with different effects and instruments to see what is causing the problem. I'd look first at reverbs and compression plugs. Non-streaming instruments that rely on computer algorithm to generate sounds is another likely source of heat. OK not worse as far as heat is concerned - and I don't think that will be an issue if I'm only using one or two voices at a time and not over 7. But do you think it's good for live performing?
private piano/voice teacher FT
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It can be. Whatever you're comfortable with. If you already know how to use Cubase then it should be fine. Other program might be more convenient, but there are learning curves with anything.
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It can be. Whatever you're comfortable with. If you already know how to use Cubase then it should be fine. Other program might be more convenient, but there are learning curves with anything. I'm not really daunted by learning curves. Heck, I learned how to use Finale  . So what do people think about Kontakt 5 Player? It's free as well, and I've always heard good things about their sounds.
private piano/voice teacher FT
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Looks like they're coming out with version 3 soon, but not for Mac right away, unfortunately. It looks very cool. Do you use it in a live setting at all?
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So what do people think about Kontakt 5 Player? It's free as well, and I've always heard good things about their sounds.
It's one of the most used by third party developers. Also you can get their Komplete Essentials for about $50 which has a lot of usable samples, synths and effects. It's my main platform for running VST/VSTi and it works fine most of the time. But I also use Player (for EWQL) and Pianoteq....which is hard to beat as a neat piece of software.
Roland HP 302 / Samson Graphite 49 / Akai EWI
Reaper / Native Instruments K9 ult / ESQL MOR2 Symph Orchestra & Choirs / Lucato & Parravicini , trumpets & saxes / Garritan CFX lite / Production Voices C7 & Steinway D compact
Focusrite Saffire 24 / W7, i7 4770, 16GB / MXL V67g / Yamaha HS7s / HD598
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So what do people think about Kontakt 5 Player? It's free as well, and I've always heard good things about their sounds.
It's one of the most used by third party developers. Also you can get their Komplete Essentials for about $50 which has a lot of usable samples, synths and effects. It's my main platform for running VST/VSTi and it works fine most of the time. But I also use Player (for EWQL) and Pianoteq....which is hard to beat as a neat piece of software. One of my students was given a free version of the Kontakt Komplete Ultimate as a gift from NI and since she already owned one, offered it to me. She's been busy so I haven't wanted to bother her about it, but perhaps I should
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Well, that's another ball game altogether - there are enough pro studio effects, synthesisers and sample sets to spend the rest of your life with that. I've got Komplete Ultimate 9 and I'll certainly upgrade to 10 (or beyond) when it's on half price promotion. I haven't done already simply because my computer would collapse under its weight. I must be sensible this time and buy a new computer before anything else. But in your place, it certainly seems timely to bring up the matter of the software pack with your student. If you register it, you get extremely good deals on upgrades - and since that's the top-of-the-range bundle, you get the best deals of all. Even if you only use 5% of it, it's a good deal.
But it is not 'complete' in my opinion - on 'world' instruments it's very patchy - great if you want a javanese gamelan orchestra or some west african sounds, but by no means comprehensive. No period instruments, either (around Christmas, I often feel like getting the crumhorns, serpents and sackbuts out, but there aren't any. Also acoustic guitars could be better - great for preset strummed, but I don't like that degree of 'ready-made' - same with the funk guitar set.
Roland HP 302 / Samson Graphite 49 / Akai EWI
Reaper / Native Instruments K9 ult / ESQL MOR2 Symph Orchestra & Choirs / Lucato & Parravicini , trumpets & saxes / Garritan CFX lite / Production Voices C7 & Steinway D compact
Focusrite Saffire 24 / W7, i7 4770, 16GB / MXL V67g / Yamaha HS7s / HD598
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I got komplete elements and kontakt free player for just under a year only and that is already quite an impressive collection of sounds in parts, I am still nowhere close to knowing in full what you actually do with things like reaktor in terms of sculpting sounds, it is sooo powerful, but a lotta fun, meta-physical function is total nuts and spooky, not for church sounds I imagine unless you want the scare factor  Elements in the UK it is 44 GBP about 5 Gb of stuff, you can top that up with the factory selection for free even which has some goodies as well. Ultimate is > 400 Gb of stuff, will it even fit on your macbook, it's a huge collection of stuff, though you can select what to install with NI. You'd certainly be getting a lot of goodies I Imagine in ultimate. I've been thinking about komplete standard myself ( 130 GB) at some point for other sounds besides me pianos. As an aside you may even love the pianos on it, for example maverick certainly had my attention a few times from what I heard of it, a lovely sounding sampled Bechstein grand on there with a unique tone, a bit different to the many regulars like steinways floating around. Dear santa ....
Last edited by Alexander Borro; 11/10/15 11:47 AM.
Selftaught since June 2014. Books: Barratt classic piano course bk 1,2,3. Humphries Piano handbook, various... Kawai CA78, Casio AP450 & software pianos. 12x ABF recitals. My struggles: https://soundcloud.com/alexander-borro
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