DFD, Streaming, Second Hard Drives and SSDs.

I don't mind the 4GB Win XP (32 Bit) limitation so long as we can stream from disk. Like Pro-Tools or any other audio program, would you recommend moving the K3 library and all of your sounds to a second hard drive (I have 3)?

Is anyone using SSD Drives for Kontakt? Since it's like RAM anyway, I'm a little curious to know the performance. What are some storage alternative you all are using in contrast to standard HDDs?

Thanks.

 

The RAM limitation will be gone in the upcoming version of Kontakt.

As far as moving the library to another disk, it all depends on your usage. You will get better performances from disks with faster seek times, so everything depends on the specs of each of your drives. You'll also get better performance if the samples are on a different drive than your project (since Pro Tools will be pulling session audio from a drive and needs it quickly). However, it'll still work on the first drive, so everything depends on your particular usage.

I haven't heard of anyone trying the SSD drives for Kontakt streaming yet, but I'm curious. The most important factor would be its seek time, so assuming that is low, it should work well for streaming. I assume it has enough sustained throughput.

 

http://www.native-instruments.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62468

 

Im planning on getting an SSD for my next machine. I will let you know how it goes if this thread is still around! (will be a few months yet)!

 

Speaking of SSD. Are any of the Vista/Kontakt users utilizing "ready boost" along with a 16GB Lexar ExpressCard SSD? If so, how is that working? Does it really effectively add 16 GB of RAM to your system?

Marc

 

Here's something of interest>>

http://www.kanguru.com/eflash.html

E-Sata/USB flash ram stick

E-SATA @ 75mb sec. with 0 seek time
(no read/write heads skittering across
harddrive platters).
16GB $84
32GB $119
64GB TBA Jan 09

Maybe santa will bring me one

Right now I can report that I have tried an ATP toughdrive 4gb USB Flash Drive with Kontakt3, and it works (as well as I can tell), as good as my 74GB Raptor for streaming. Barely any disk meter activity even with 200+ voices going at once!
tkmh

 

tkmh, that's fascinating. I assume you used it via eSATA?

They are, of course, very pricey when compared to traditional drives. However, if the seek times really are extremely low, then power users may be interested in this, especially when it gets to the capacity that it could hold an entire large orchestra (e.g. 120GB). It would be worth a few hundred dollars never to have to worry about disk speed access again!

The site doesn't seem to mention seek time. You say "0" (meaning 0ms) which seems physically impossible, but I'm not sure where you got that information.

Very interesting -- and definitely worth keeping an eye on in the future once the capacities get larger.

 

I am using a USB stick not the Kanguru E-Sata>>

DD, I thinkyou misunderstood my post a little bit.
I'm using an ATP Toughdrive USB Stick:

http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rid=163864

It's a very fast USB stick, it does about 30MB sec.
continuous, USB 2.0 spec is 33MB sec. Seek time is
3 nanosseconds (basically 0)!
I also tried it in Emulator X and it streamed like a champ in
that app also, (and that app has crappy streaming!)


By contrast i have an OCZ 2GB stick that is a complete dog
in Kontakt, the disk meter redlines pretty quickly with that
stick.

Anyway I think that E-Sata stick could be way better
even, than the ATP!
My 2.5 cents...

 

Hi tkmh. You are using Vista? With the "Readyboost" feature in Vista, I am starting to wonder if I should buy vista and a 16GB Lexar ExpressCard SSD to stream samples from.

Marc

 

Hi LFO,

No, I'm on XP 32bit. Desktop
3.0 ghz dual core Intel
Asrock 775156G Mobo 2GB Ram
Several hard drives.

I'm also contemplating 16+GB Sata flash in the near future.
I'd like to see more competition and reviews on these things
before I pop more $$'s.

 

Any progress in this area guys?