ivashcheI’m completely green to this whole field of e-drumming. I was curious how exactly I go from point A (of having nothing) to point B (playing my ekit, using SD2.0, preferably w/ low latency).
From what I understand, I’d need the kit, the brain, a MIDI interface between the brain and my computer, and the program (SD2.0).
So…
1) Would the stock hardware on my mac mini be enough to run the program properly? (I’m pretty certain I may wanna upgrade to 2GB or so of RAM, but aside from that, is there anything else that’d be needed?)
2) Would I need a fancy, multi-hundred dollar interface, or would, say, the M-Audio MIDIsport be sufficient?
I appreciate any help I can get 😀
Thx.
R.J. Van Steenbergen Hi,
When I went to buddies house I took my 2007 Macbook (probably similar specs to your mini), A Midi-USB cable and S2.0. I had no audio interface and I was able to play using Toontrack Solo with no problems what-so-ever.
He had just gotten an e-drum kit and wanted to try it with S2.0 to see what it sounded like. It worked great. He has since gotten his own copy.
Funnily we had to add a new sound card on his HP desktop because there was way too much latency using the built in one. I had an MAudio 24/96 laying around from my PC days that fixed the problem.
Thanks
stongej2002I have an alesis dm10 studio kit. All i use is a laptop running windows 7. I have ASIO4all installed which is a free midi audio driver. I also have edrum midi mapper which is free for remapping midi notes. Then i run SD and ez drummer in toontracks SOLO which is also free. Thats it.
danvI know this is an old topic by now, but I’m replying for those with the same question.
I’m using Superior 2.0 by the way.
You don’t need any fancy equipment.
I use a USB Terratec Phase 26 as a (external) sound card. It’s USB 1.0 – sounds old&slow, but it’s not: I cannot hear any latency even if I try really, really hard. Don’t forget that ‘old’ hardware using USB 1.0 is still faster than the really old MIDI interface. And it’s audio – we’re not streaming hi-def video here.
My PC: AMD 1800MHz (an Athlon 2200+) single core CPU, 160GB hard drive (more than enough), 1.5GB RAM. And the latter is the ONLY point of attention: have enough ram. For a nice kit, you need about (when using xp, 32bit) 700 MB’s of RAM for the samples alone (add to that the resources your OS needs, about 140MB in my case). But still, what is 1.5GB’s of RAM these days?
For triggering I use an Alesis Trigger IO.
So: almost any relatively modern PC will do. Just get a decent (I’m talking the year 2000 decent), ASIO supporting sound card. Add any trigger->midi interface, and you’re done.
One thing I must add here…the PC i just described is used ONLY to play drums. So it has Windows XP, ASIO drivers, Toontrack’s awesome stuff, and that is it! It’s not even connected to the internet and thus doesn’t have any virus scanners or firewalls running. Just strip it down to the minimum. Therefore I really don’t recommend using a fancy new laptop – you’ll be using the thing for other stuff as well, and before you know it you’ll have a dancing paperclip on the screen while you’re in the middle of an awesome drum rally (yes, drum rally, you know), making soap bubble sounds while winking at you. Make your PC a drum machine. You press the power button, it boots and loads Superior, and you play drums. Nut’n fancy.
VOLiTiANIt’s not even connected to the internet and thus doesn’t have any virus scanners or firewalls running. Just strip it down to the minimum.
Good point couldn’t agree more!
Regards
D.
www.myspace.com/VOLiTiAN www.soundclick.com/VOLiTiAN www.reverbnation.com/VOLiTiAN www.soundcloud.com/VOLiTiAN
Derek FramptonHello all! not to bump a topic but this seems to be on the right track…I hope you’re still watching these forums, danv… I’m not exactly new to this, but I’m no pro either, I’m intermediate when it comes to the drumming thing. although I’ve built pc’s for almost 20 years, and hate macs. my problem is I’m using a simple machine but 3 times the hardware power you mentioned, with 64-bit Vista. but I have 8 GIG of ram and a dual core 3.2GHZ cpu.
To cut to the chase, I’m having latency issues. I use an alesis trigger I/o with some alesis brand pads, mixed in with Roland and a few others. IE A complete e-kit. I’m using USB direct from the I/O for the same reasons you touched on, MIDI is slower..so I couldn’t justify purchasing a mini midi cable VS just using a $5 USB cable etc. Previously with the same setup I used an older mac, a 2001 15″ iMac and it worked great ’till I wanted to play music with it or something else while playing drums, hence my decision to go with a PC that’s powerful enough to eat that mac and 20 others like it:) So…I have two problems worked up into one. Maybe you can shed some light or insight, or if not you someone can. I’d definitely appreciate it.
I’m using the On-board HD audio by Realtek. it’s the same codec used in THOUSANDS of motherboards etc. and it’s 7.1 I’m sure full duplex. what troubles me is with the amount of processing power, and ram and SATA2 HDD access, there shouldn’t be any latency at all. Maybe this onboard sound, as sophisticated as it is. isn’t powerful enough or I’m missing something. here’s a few technical details:
1. I MUST use the ASIO dll driver with it’s offline EXE properties program. If I use just the soundcard (onboard) the latency is massive. at least a 1-2 second delay for each pad hit. even using the ASIO though I still get a small bit of latency. JUST ENOUGH to notice it with each strike of the pad and the sounds lag just a bit, and sometimes don’t play correctly. now I tell you, no antivirus, no internet connection after authorization etc. the machine even using Vista has all drivers and everything clean with no issues, no bloatware as it’s an OEM install, etc. so not only am I having minor latency issues, mixed with miss-hits or miss-fires of the audio files for some reason I think it’s latency related, I have one more problem to go with it.
EVEN IF I DID get the ASIO configuration working with no latency and playing each sound perfectly, I’m not able to use say Media player, itunes, or anything else on that pc as the ASIO program Takes 100% complete control of the Audio codec)card( onboard and will not play ANY other audio from any other source on the computer. now I’m sure you might say . well yeah just use an external source. well if I’d have known this was gonna be an issue, I’d have bought a $400 macbook pro from 2006 and been fine with that. however I haven’t, and I have a very capable machine of both speed and holding as many sound libraries as I can imagine. I really don’t want to change my configuration if I do not have to. I’ve already done that once from mac to pc. ok enough rambling. now that you have the background data, does anyone have any clue where I should start? I mean I DID try to mess around with the samples settings and other associative settings in the ASIO control panel but nothing seemed to change anything. any insight is definitely appreciated. thanks!
p.s. I’m using both EZDrummer and Superior 2.x.. allthough it doesn’t matter which VPT software I use, I have the same problem for both.
MS…
DerekFrampton.com
stephenpaulharperRunning Vista64, you’re lucky anything works at all LOL.
Seriously, the only advice I could give would be to lower the audio buffer in ASIO4ALL, and it appears you’ve already done that.
Good luck.
Steve
Windows 10, REAPER, ADK edrums, Mimic Pro and DDTi TMIs
Derek FramptonI can appreciate that most people have issues with Vista, however I’ve had a completely different experience since I started using it in 2005. I’ve been building machines so long I attribute it to that I guess…I’ve never had problems with Vista, Ever. HOWEVER, maybe I should go to a 32 bit version, maybe of 7? or just go to the Win XP 32 bit version? do you think that would help? because yes, I have done just about everything I can think of, as well as what you suggested and a few other things…I’m at a loss. Thanks for replying!
…Derek…
DerekFrampton.com
stephenpaulharperNah, I doubt Vista is the problem. A RealTek soundcard is still a RealTek soundcard, A4A or not. What’s the lowest buffer you can get?
Steve
Windows 10, REAPER, ADK edrums, Mimic Pro and DDTi TMIs
doumdoum2I’m using the On-board HD audio by Realtek. it’s the same codec used in THOUSANDS of motherboards etc. and it’s 7.1 I’m sure full duplex. what troubles me is with the amount of processing power, and ram and SATA2 HDD access, there shouldn’t be any latency at all. Maybe this onboard sound, as sophisticated as it is. isn’t powerful enough or I’m missing something. here’s a few technical details:
1. I MUST use the ASIO dll driver with it’s offline EXE properties program. If I use just the soundcard (onboard) the latency is massive. at least a 1-2 second delay for each pad hit. even using the ASIO though I still get a small bit of latency. JUST ENOUGH to notice it with each strike of the pad and the sounds lag just a bit, and sometimes don’t play correctly. now I tell you, no antivirus, no internet connection after authorization etc. the machine even using Vista has all drivers and everything clean with no issues, no bloatware as it’s an OEM install, etc. so not only am I having minor latency issues, mixed with miss-hits or miss-fires of the audio files for some reason I think it’s latency related, I have one more problem to go with it.
The problem with onboard audio, they are general purpose audio devices not natively supporting ASIO and not aimed at musical real-time live performance. Sometimes ASIO4ALL will help but there are other issues. For example if I use my laptop onboard sound on a very loud pro sound system and I use the laptop power supply, I will get a loud “hum”.
My opinion is if you want to use pro music/audio softwares for real-time purpose and use your computer as a soundbank in real-time, get a pro/semi-pro sound device that support ASIO natively. There are USB devices that are quite affordable.
Derek FramptonIf it helps, and thanks to everyone else for this insightful stuff. You’d be surprised how many peeps don’t quite “GET” this. 🙂 Happy New Year!
…Seal…
DerekFrampton.com
Please log in to read and reply to this topic.
No products in the cart.
Get all the latest on new releases,
updates and offers directly to your inbox.
Note: By clicking the 'I WANT IN' button, you will not be creating a Toontrack user account. You will only sign up to get our newsletters, offers and promotions to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time from a link at the bottom of each email. If you want to learn more about our privacy policy, please find detailed information here.
