Would a Core i3 3.6GHz be enough for VSL VSTs?

nwu

I'm currently looking for a Mac mini to serve as a headless VST machine. I am favoring intel over m1 only because I know the many VSTs are not M1 optimized yet and I've read other people's experiences who had some trouble and issues with their m1's vs their old Intels. I've also already tried the Garritan with my m1 MacBook Air and I had a bunch of cracks and pops; it is unplayable atm. Also since I am brand new to the world of VSTs, I really just want a plug-and-play, trouble free first experience, so a used intel machine it is.

I am looking at this used 2018 Mac mini: https://www.ebay.com/itm/125329308385?hash=item1d2e357ae1:g:vQgAAOSw\~0dii1CR

In case, the link doesn't open up for others. It is a 2018 Mac mini i3 3.6 GHz, quad core, 16 GB RAM, 500 SSD. It is a really good deal b/c others with that spec are $600+

I already bought the Garritan CFX. I was told that Garritan is pretty light on CPU, so I have no doubt the i3 would be fine for the Garritan b/c I've read others have successfully run Garritan on much older machines. But I also want to leave room in the future for the Synchron VSLs (probably the 280VC). I've been told the VSL VSTs are much more resource intensive.

I feel like the single core performance of 3.6 GHz should be enough (?), I guess the only limiting thing of the i3 is that it is quad core. Do the VSL (in particular 280VC) really take advantage of multi cores where 4 is not enough or do you think the 2018 i3 3.6GHz quad core should suffice?

Thanks!

jdg78

nwu

I have a late 2015 fusion-drive iMac with a 3.2GHz quad core intel i5, and it has no problem running the VSL Synchron pianos. I have no cracks, pops or latency issues, and the samples load reasonably fast from an external SSD drive.

The only thing I can see potentially being an issue with your proposed machine is the fact that it is an i3 as opposed to i5. I've read that the i3 chips are a bit slower than the i5, and VSL recommends an i5-based system as the minimum requirement for Macs.

https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Synchron_Package/Synchron_Pianos_Bundle#!System_Requirements

I don't know how much impact this would make in real-world use, but it's probably worth doing a bit more research into if you can.

nwu

@jdg78

How hot and loud does the machine run? I am having my doubts, b/c what I appreciate about the m1's is that they are silent and cool. VSL I read runs on m1 okay, but Garritan I am not so sure based on my own m1 air experience although I was using an external SSD to house the library files when I was trying it out, so maybe that's why.

jdg78

nwu

It's doesn't run hot or noticeably loud really. But I'm sure the M1 machines are even quieter.

Re: the Garritan, did you see their updated instructions for operating on M1 machines?:

https://makemusic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500003504881

It seems they plan on eventually updating the CFX to run natively on M1, but in the meantime they recommend running it on their ARIA player, or else via Apple Rosetta.

Personally, if I were buying a new Mac for VSTs I'd probably opt for an M1 machine, unless you have a large library of older VSTs that are unlikely to ever be updated.

I imagine that most of the larger, more reputable VST developers will eventually update their software to run on M1 if they haven't already. And over the long-term it will probably perform better and be more future-proof, especially for newer, larger libraries.

CyberGene

jdg78 thanks for that link, I didn’t know they already had a universal binary for Aria Player 😲 That’s fantastic news, I’ll try it tomorrow.

Although on the other hand it confirms running the CFX through the Aria Player instead of through its own standalone player has limitations but they don’t say what exactly. Explains also why I find the Rosetta 2 performance of the CFX through Aria to be better than Rosetta 2 stand-alone.

But they also promise a stand-alone universal binary which would be fantastic!

nwu

@jdg78

Thank you for providing that link. I just read this line: "Although we do not have a timeline to share yet, there are plans to update the CFX players for Apple silicon compatibility in the future."

So that sounds like great news b/c I thought Garritan were pretty much defunct on doing any further developments on it now.

I think I would be okay getting the m1 then. B/c I was looking through all the ebay listings and many of them are pretty expensive even for an old 2018 intel and I already know how powerful m1 is based on my own experiences with my MacBook Air m1, so it just feels bad buying an older CPU.

@CyberGene I read an old post of yours on pianoworldforum regarding optimal settings using Garritan on a m1 Mac. You noted Garritan must be run through Aria player. I don't know what this Aria player. Are you saying I can't use the default app program for Garritan. I have to install this Aria player software instead. But how do you run Garritan inside of another software? Is this a very complex process to do or relatively straightforward?

Also how is your m1 Mac mini doing with the VSL pianos?

CyberGene

nwu Garritan CFX is a sampled piano and so you need a program called sample player to load the samples and be able to play them through MIDI. Luckily Garritan provides a standalone app that already does that and is what people will use and won’t care about what is what. However, when you install Garritan CFX you also get another application called Aria Player which is a generic sample player for their sampled instruments (not just CFX) and you can use it alternatively to load the CFX samples. It looks slightly different than the standalone app. Also, in the standalone app you have convolution based reverbs whereas in the Aria Player you have algorithmic reverbs. If there are any other differences and limitations I don’t know.

Garritan provide a universal binary (Apple Silicon native) build of the Aria Player but not for the standalone app. This means that on an Apple Silicon computer the standalone app will work through a Rosetta 2 translation which hampers the performance. I’ve found it’s just OK but it would be much better if there was a native standalone app. For instance the UVI app that comes with Modern U piano is a universal binary and it has a terrific performance, you just can’t make it pop/click. Well, the good news is the Aria Player is now a universal binary, so you can have that same great performance with CFX but I have to test it. But maybe there are some limitations? For instance, no release samples or something? I really don’t know…

CyberGene

I think I remember it might have been Gombessa who discovered that something was missing when CFX is played in the Aria Player compared to the standalone app. But I can’t remember what it was, I think it was somehow related to the release samples but what… No release samples? Or no change of the volume of the release… You’ll have to ask him 🙂 He doesn’t come here anymore and I don’t participate on PW anymore.

nwu

@CyberGene

Thank you, that was a really clear and thorough explanation of the Aria vs standalone app. I'll try the Aria player then.