Mixbus vs 32C for overall sys load and plugin hosting..

[DumboAudio]

Hi

Just hoping to get some POVs from experienced users who have used both Mixbus and 32C. I can assume the workload for the system will be less running an instance of MB vs 32C, how about the hosting of plugins? The plugs I'm curious about are guitar amp sims, like Amplitube, Bias FX2, Guitar Rig, etc.

I have an older version of MB (v3) and a current version of 32C (v9). Haven't really played around with 32C hosting the amp sims yet, so its not like I'm having an issue yet. 

I was just positing the idea before I get into the using of it, if going back to a lighter weight app like MB for hosting the amp sims (which can be weighty on the system..) might be more efficient when using those plugs, and then I could import to 32C after printing those tracks. Updating my MB is a pretty minimal cost, wondering if doing so would have value in this way.

I'm using a windows 10 gaming laptop, from ~2021 (32GB ram, EVO 8, etc) so still plenty of power there for my low track-count recordings.

Thanks for any insights.

DA

[jeff_sloan]

As long as you are running a decent amount of buffers, I don't think you will have any issues.
If you are trying to run them live, while tracking, and using as low a buffer count as you can, this is where you will see the workload start to spike.
The newest versions of 32C, with all the new compressor, gate, and saturation built into each channel, and reserving resources no matter if they are "on" or "off", makes it more of a resource hog over your MB3 for sure.

Of course you could always do the trial version and see how it does for you.
But you say you already have current version of 32C (V9).
Do you mean the trial version? Because you say updating is a minimal cost...

[johndev]

Another option might be using Ardour for recording. Mixbus/32C are Ardour with some extra things (EQ, compressors, Mixbusses, tape drives) and different mixer UI. So Ardour is Mixbus/32C without those things which you might not need at all while recording and would only be using up DSP.

However you were planning on importing to 32C from Mixbus could also be done from Ardour, probably in exactly the same way. You can even directly open Ardour sessions in MB/32C (not vice versa though) although I haven't done this a lot myself, and not for a while, so I don't know if everything works perfectly.

Ardour too has a trial version. It would be worth a look I reckon.

[johne53]

Another thing to consider is that MB (v3) was 32-bit only - so if your 32C is 64-bit it wouldn't work with your existing plugins anyway (unless you can upgrade them...)

[BSchmitty]

Hi

Just hoping to get some POVs from experienced users who have used both Mixbus and 32C. I can assume the workload for the system will be less running an instance of MB vs 32C, how about the hosting of plugins? The plugs I'm curious about are guitar amp sims, like Amplitube, Bias FX2, Guitar Rig, etc.

I have an older version of MB (v3) and a current version of 32C (v9). Haven't really played around with 32C hosting the amp sims yet, so its not like I'm having an issue yet. 

I was just positing the idea before I get into the using of it, if going back to a lighter weight app like MB for hosting the amp sims (which can be weighty on the system..) might be more efficient when using those plugs, and then I could import to 32C after printing those tracks. Updating my MB is a pretty minimal cost, wondering if doing so would have value in this way.

I'm using a windows 10 gaming laptop, from ~2021 (32GB ram, EVO 8, etc) so still plenty of power there for my low track-count recordings.

Thanks for any insights.

DA

I have a laptop 2014 intel i7.  It can handle an instance of amplitube , the most resource hungry amp sim ever made, just fine at 44 or 48khz. At 96khz, I can at least do one track and freeze. Guitar Rig 6 and Bias FX2 are more efficient and allowed more tracks.  My latency was 11 ms with 512 buffers @44khz.

[DumboAudio]

@BSchmitty, thanks for that info, that's kind of what I'm looking for.

I'm going to try to dig in a bit this week and take a look at 32C (v9) hosting these 3 amp sims. Objective would be simply to have a multitracking tool driven primarily by the ampsim plug. So latency is big deal for feel (sub 10ms minimum.)

Sorry if I wasn't clear on the upgrade path thing.. My idea was to upgrade my MB (v3) to current version as a light(er)-weight plug host for the amp sims, clearing the way for more system resources as needed by the plug. That is a reasonably inexpensive upgrade..

I hadn't thought of using naked Ardour app, but may give that a try if time allows.

Thanks for your replies!

DA

[BSchmitty]

@BSchmitty, thanks for that info, that's kind of what I'm looking for.

I'm going to try to dig in a bit this week and take a look at 32C (v9) hosting these 3 amp sims. Objective would be simply to have a multitracking tool driven primarily by the ampsim plug. So latency is big deal for feel (sub 10ms minimum.)

Sorry if I wasn't clear on the upgrade path thing.. My idea was to upgrade my MB (v3) to current version as a light(er)-weight plug host for the amp sims, clearing the way for more system resources as needed by the plug. That is a reasonably inexpensive upgrade..

I hadn't thought of using naked Ardour app, but may give that a try if time allows.

Thanks for your replies!

DA

I would go for the Ardour instead.  It also allows 'Wet Recording', to help save on CPU usage,  as described here : 

https://discourse.ardour.org/t/how-do-yo...ord/104845

There are also I/O plugin slots available in Ardour, not in Mixbus.
https://manual.ardour.org/recording/io-plugins/


There are also small features in Ardour that Mixbus does not have.  More CUE slots is one of them. Freeze is another feature in Ardour not in Mixbus.

You can also route the dry signal to a separate simultaneous recording track for re-amping later if needed with the DI when using wet recording.   Wet recording is not available in Mixbus for various DSP reasons. 

When I moved projects from Mixbus7 to Mixbus832C, the EQ settings did not carry over, likely because of the different EQ types between the versions.  The compressor settings may not have carried as well, I don't recall.