PC and MAC daw sync

[mrmizuno1]

I am currently running a WIndows 2000 based system with an AMD Athalon 1.4 Ghz processor with Cubase SX and i have also just purchased a new PowerMac G5. What i want to do is to sync both of the computers together either through VST System link(Stienberg) or using ethernet, or any other means possible and use both DAWs in sync with eachother so i can have lets say Cubase running strictly on my PC and have my MAC to the the VST number crunching for Reaktor, Waves, and wahtever other VST that i am using. I know it can be done i just need to know how? ANy feedback is much abliged.

[dawboxpro]

Do you have the CD-Rom that comes with SX on the lagit version?

Got Acrobat?

The manaul tells you what you need to know.

Also this forum has the answer for you with room to spare.
http://forum.cubase.net/cgi-bin/cubase.net/Ultimate.cgi

How does VST System Link work?

VST System Link uses a single bit of the audio stream as a carrier for transport and synchronization information, plus (optionally) other bits of the audio stream for MIDI information. Several computers can be linked in a daisy chain configuration, each one passing on the accumulated information to the next via standard digital audio cables.

How do I hook up my MIDI?

Easy. VST System Link can also carry literally hundreds of MIDI channels down the same single channel of a digital audio cable. Once you hook up your keyboard to the computer system via a standard MIDI interface you’ll never need to use MIDI cables again. Any computer in a VST System Link network can be accessed from any other, so one keyboard can play any VST Instrument loaded on to any of the other computers on the network. Don’t have enough power to run 8 synths on this computer? Then run some of them on another machine and access them just as if you had a hardware synth rack in your studio. And on top of that, VST MIDI doesn’t suffer from the same timing and bandwidth problems of traditional MIDI – VST MIDI has sample accurate timing!

What can I do with VST System Link?

Anything you can do on one computer, only doubled! (Or tripled or quadrupled or whatever, depending on how many computers you’ve got). Since any audio stream can be sent to any machine, you can configure audio routing and processing in an almost infinite number of ways. Yes, this does mean you can run audio tracks on one computer, run virtual instruments on a second computer, do virtual effects processing on another computer, and mix it on a fourth computer! All you have to do is link their ASIO soundcards with the appropriate digital audio cables.

Is VST System Link cross-platform? Cross-application? Can I use it on a laptop?

Yes! It’s no problem to network both Windows and Macintosh machines easily with VST System Link. The VST engine doesn’t care which OS it’s running, it just sends data via the cross-platform ASIO protocol. And it´s also cross-application - both Nuendo and Cubase can be networked seamlessly together as one system. If your laptop has some kind of digital I/O (for example the new Nuendo Audiolink 96 interfaces) you can also network it transparently with your desktop computer. So for example someone using a Titanium PowerBook for field recording can bring the machine into the studio, link it with the Windows machine there, and start working immediately without needing to wait to transfer files or burn a CD ROM. The two systems will automatically co-exist as one.

What are the applications of this technology?

The great thing about VST System Link is that it gets rid of all limitations of computer based recording. Now we can truly achieve unlimited numbers of simultaneous tracks, enormous amounts of virtual effects, and incredible polyphony on virtual instruments. Not to mention get around the “one person in front of the keyboard at a time” syndrome – now several people can work on the same project at the same time, each in front of his own computer.
Here are some sample configurations:

1. Post- Production
In this scenario, several engineers and producers can work on different areas of the same project. For example, one workstation can be configured to do sound effects, another can be doing dialogue editing, and another can be working on background music. Each machine can stream its output to the master mixing console, all the streams being time locked by VST System Link’s sync protocol. Or they can all stream to yet another computer for virtual mixdown. Of course yet another machine can be used to run digital video in perfect synchronization too, with a lockup time of only a few milliseconds!

2. Music Recording
Here one workstation can be the virtual tape machine, while another is dedicated to just running virtual instruments. This allows the keyboard player to layer up huge synth sounds and samples on his own computer without affecting the tracking engineer’s ability to record lots of audio tracks quickly; yet still have all the data from both of them locked together instantly, and without having to run mounds of audio cables around the studio – all you need is one digital audio cable to handle it all.

3. Music Mixing
This setup has one machine as the virtual mixer, one as an effects rack, and another is running virtual instruments. The mixer station handles audio playback with lots of EQ and dynamics processing; virtual instruments are running on a second machine; then both audio and virtual synth tracks run together to the third computer for adding reverbs, flangers, etc. For huge mixes with lots of audio tracks, tracks can be split across computers to give a pseudo RAID effect. Note that in this scenario there is no latency in mixing the virtual instruments, nor is there any timing fluctuation (both of which can be major headaches if locking computers together with MIDI); and the full 32 Bit resolution of the virtual synths and the effects outputs is passed directly to the mixing computer.

4. Project Studio
How many times have you bought a new computer and wondered what to do with the old one? Now it just becomes another processor in your system. Use it as a dedicated keyboard rack full of virtual synths, or load up HALion and use it as a powerful sampler, or add that new surround reverb effects processor without having to worry about it hogging your main machine’s processor. An old computer can be invisibly hooked into a project system with very little effort and cost, and give great results in whatever capacity you need. Or rack mount a bunch of machines for the ultimate in tracks and effects capability!
www.dawbox.com (http://www.dawbox.com)

Good luck with that and let me know how it works out via e-mail.



[This message has been edited by dawboxpro (edited 09-04-2003).]

[bubba freaktree]

system link is hit or miss sometimes. although if you get it working it's a huge bonus. linking that with mac/pc may add to conflicts.

a simple idea is to have one computer chase midi time code coming off the other computer.

that format is competely universal. you should have no mac/pc conflicts. you can even get a freakin' analog tape machine into the game with the right gadgets that way. you can even automate an SSL console that way (i do that all the time with my 72 input 9000j http://www.audioforums.com/forums/smile.gif )



[This message has been edited by bubba freaktree (edited 09-05-2003).]

[mrmizuno1]

Is there any other way to do it beside VST system link?

[nakedjackson]

What kind of digital cable do you need to connect two computers? I have an aardvark q10 that has spdif. Can i link two computers together with spdif? Also, do both computers need to have their own version of cubase with their own dongles? Can one PC have SX running and another have the VST synth rack running on a mac and have cubase running on my pc, and have it connected via spdif?