Laptop + Desktop = ?

neon glow

New member
I'm kinda confused on that topic.

This is my desktop (only relevant parts):
AMD AthlonXP 1900+
512 DDR PC2100
40+80GB 7200RPM HHDs
Delta 1010lt Sound Card
Casio WK-1600 Keyboard + Midi Controller

Laptop (gonna be)
Pentium M 1.8Ghz
1Gb DDR 333Mhz
60Gb 7200RPM HDD
M-Audio FireWire Audiophile Sound Card
M-Audio Oxygen 8 Midi Controller

I use big VSTi/DXi banks. Is it possible to somehow untilize laptop memory with PC or vice versa? Somehow to synchronise computers so that i could use power of both comps when creating single project in Sonar 3, etc? It would be great to make it digital, so that no quality is lost, and no need to reconnect millions of wires. I thought maybe it's possible through S/PDIF, but then how?
 
Apart from connecting them with a crossover cable so you can back up your project audio files, I can't really see any other benefit.

If you've got Sonar on both, maybe you could record on the desktop (assuming you're going to use more than 2 analog inputs), then copy the project to the laptop for mixing & general grunt work
 
Not sure but this might be a job for "grid computing". Remember when SETI was using other peoples' computers to perform tasks and subtasks? I believe IBM is pursuing this technology. Try an internet search on it - who knows?
 
In computer video rendering you can use a network to render video frames (3D Studio type stuff). I wonder if you can do something similar with any of the audio progs
 
If you use nuendo you can use 2 computers for realtime softsynths and alot of other stuff. I have seen it in studios I worked in, but havent really messed with it myself. Talk to nuendo users, theyll tell you abou tit.

H2H
 
Thanks for those suggestions. Actually the task is simpler. You know, that banks require much RAM. You know that if you got too little ram, and trying to play a 512mb bank, everything's starting to lag and skip. Also, real time effects need CPU power, and if there're too many of them, many problems occur. So, I would somehow want to connect two computers, in order to use 1GB RAM of laptop to load banks, play them through laptop, but have them mixed on a track in my main PC, at least as regular audio buses. And apply effects to this track either on laptop, or on desktop, no difference. But now i will also be able to split the real time effects: some on Desktop, some on laptop. I can imagine how to do it the inconvenient way, but there must be some specific support for this kind of thing. Like, what about that ReWire technology? How does it work? Maybe that's what I need?
 
wow. Seems like pretty much what i'm talking about. Thanks. And it works through LAN. What, it means I don't need the external sound card for laptop anymore?
 
neon glow said:
wow. Seems like pretty much what i'm talking about. Thanks. And it works through LAN. What, it means I don't need the external sound card for laptop anymore?

Say, if you're gonna go that route would you mind posting back some of your experiences?
 
neon glow said:
wow. Seems like pretty much what i'm talking about. Thanks. And it works through LAN. What, it means I don't need the external sound card for laptop anymore?

Right .... You don't need the soundcard for the laptop. You would use the laptop as a slave to host the some of the effects or virtual instruments via LAN. If you have Firewire on both machines you can get better results from the higher bandwidth. This is easy to do with XP .... just connect a Firewire cable from one machine to the next and use the connection wizard to establish the link.
I don't use any virtual instruments, but I've had good success teleporting some of the CPU intensive effects.
 
Just as I promised, here's my experience with the solution Polaris suggested.

I have Steinberg The Grand, which is 512mb piano. So, I installed the host part of the FX teleport on my PC, and the slave part on laptop. Of course I also installed The Grand on the laptop. I had to use VST Adapter for this thing to work with Sonar, as for any VSTi. So, once i started Sonar and inserted the synth that was named The Grand (LAN), the name of the synth appeared on the screen of my laptop, in the list of the server window. Everything went smooth, and there was no obvious latency. There was hardly noticable latency, but it's constant, and fx teleport shows the precise number, so that you can set the correct offset. Though, if i played too fast, using different ends of my keyboard, a few times i heard little noises, as if laptop wasn't fast enough to serve so many samples. But it has nothing to do with the ethernet connection, I'm sure. It's just the way The Grand is made. It's quiet buggy, and resource management is poor. So, I say, FX teleport does its task very nicely, and it's a great solution for sharing power between multiple computers.
 
crankz1 said:
Check out Synergy and you can control both machines with one mouse and keyboard.
Oh and ...... it's free! :D

Pretty much the same as VNC, which is also free, or even better Remote Desktop in XP Pro.

RD is ideal, because it runs lower level in the system and is therefore faster.
 
VNC and Remote Desktop allow you to control other machine via a window. Synergy uses the other machine or machines (can be configured for multiple machines) monitors. Once you move your mouse pointer off the screen of one machine, it re-appears on the the monitor of the next machine.
I've used RealVNC and Remote Desktop ... Synergy by far gets my vote, as it allows for greater screen real estate by utilizing multiple monitors.
 
crankz1 said:
VNC and Remote Desktop allow you to control other machine via a window. Synergy uses the other machine or machines (can be configured for multiple machines) monitors. Once you move your mouse pointer off the screen of one machine, it re-appears on the the monitor of the next machine.
I've used RealVNC and Remote Desktop ... Synergy by far gets my vote, as it allows for greater screen real estate by utilizing multiple monitors.

Oh, I see. I don't really get the use of that then. Why not buy a $45 Radeon and do the same thing through hardware?
 
Well ... for me it is because the two machines that I use Synergy on both have a dual monitor setup thus allowing me to use four screens for my work. :cool:
I enjoy all the space to spread the work out on. YMMV
 
Why not buy a $45 Radeon and do the same thing through hardware?

This is different. Radeon will allow you to use multiple monitors, but what if you have multiple computers with their own video cards and monitors? That's where Synergy comes handy with its LAN solution.
 
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