Having just got my shiny new X32 console, I am in the process of setting up for two musicals this summer.
I have a 2010 MacBook Pro 13" (2.4GHz Core 2 Duo with 4GB RAM and a conventional 250GB hard drive) and my hope is to do all the following in parallel:
(1) Run multi-track recording software (either Reaper or my allegedly-imminent free copy of Tracktor) to capture all 32 primary channels on the X32 over USB (not Firewire, although I could do that instead)
(2) Playing at least 4 (perhaps 6) channels of SFX out of Qlab (2 from the headphones to X32 channels, 4 back over USB to X32 Aux 1-4 set to "Card 1-4")
(3) Run some custom code written in Python to listen for OSC cues from the same Qlab and translate them to low-level OSC to the X32 over wired Ethernet
(4) Run some OTHER custom code written in Python to listen for MIDI DAW-control CCs from the X32 and convert them to OSC to pass over WiFi to a Mac Mini and thence over MIDI to my trusty old Yamaha 01V in the band
My concern is that this is too much for the computer, although in initial tests, recording 32 tracks (48K 24bit) with Reaper only used 25% CPU, and the disk bandwidth is only about ~4.5MB/s which should be nothing for an internal SATA drive which reports about 30MB/s read or write with Blackmagic Disk Speed Test.
As I am only recording *to* the computer, I have cranked up the buffer size (several tens of ms latency) which I assumed would make it more reliable?
As one additional layer of complexity, I plan to try to make Qlab spit out some kind of MIDI message on the live cue triggers and record those alongside the audio as a MIDI track in Reaper/Tracktor, and then, in post, somehow play that MIDI track back into Qlab to recreate the audio for the 4 additional Qlab outputs, given that I cannot record them live (not coming into X32 main channels) with the assumption that any latency in this process would be constant (so I could just slide the fresh SFX audio to match that heard on the ambient mics which WILL come into X32 channels and be recorded as audio).
Am I mad? Will this be too much for the machine? I'd hate to commit to it, and then get glitches which spoil the recording, or (worse) mess up the live shows.
I can maybe get hold of a second computer and multi-channel audio output, and run Qlab on that with analog audio to X32 Aux 1-4, but I'd like to avoid it.
Plenty of time for testing. Just thought I'd ask here for a reality check.
I have a 2010 MacBook Pro 13" (2.4GHz Core 2 Duo with 4GB RAM and a conventional 250GB hard drive) and my hope is to do all the following in parallel:
(1) Run multi-track recording software (either Reaper or my allegedly-imminent free copy of Tracktor) to capture all 32 primary channels on the X32 over USB (not Firewire, although I could do that instead)
(2) Playing at least 4 (perhaps 6) channels of SFX out of Qlab (2 from the headphones to X32 channels, 4 back over USB to X32 Aux 1-4 set to "Card 1-4")
(3) Run some custom code written in Python to listen for OSC cues from the same Qlab and translate them to low-level OSC to the X32 over wired Ethernet
(4) Run some OTHER custom code written in Python to listen for MIDI DAW-control CCs from the X32 and convert them to OSC to pass over WiFi to a Mac Mini and thence over MIDI to my trusty old Yamaha 01V in the band
My concern is that this is too much for the computer, although in initial tests, recording 32 tracks (48K 24bit) with Reaper only used 25% CPU, and the disk bandwidth is only about ~4.5MB/s which should be nothing for an internal SATA drive which reports about 30MB/s read or write with Blackmagic Disk Speed Test.
As I am only recording *to* the computer, I have cranked up the buffer size (several tens of ms latency) which I assumed would make it more reliable?
As one additional layer of complexity, I plan to try to make Qlab spit out some kind of MIDI message on the live cue triggers and record those alongside the audio as a MIDI track in Reaper/Tracktor, and then, in post, somehow play that MIDI track back into Qlab to recreate the audio for the 4 additional Qlab outputs, given that I cannot record them live (not coming into X32 main channels) with the assumption that any latency in this process would be constant (so I could just slide the fresh SFX audio to match that heard on the ambient mics which WILL come into X32 channels and be recorded as audio).
Am I mad? Will this be too much for the machine? I'd hate to commit to it, and then get glitches which spoil the recording, or (worse) mess up the live shows.
I can maybe get hold of a second computer and multi-channel audio output, and run Qlab on that with analog audio to X32 Aux 1-4, but I'd like to avoid it.
Plenty of time for testing. Just thought I'd ask here for a reality check.
