is there an audio interface, internal and/or external that could take some or even most of the load off the PC CPU and deal with most of the audio processing.

Is there any competition for the Universal Audio cards at all? Anybody here has a Universal Audio card?

 

I think TC ELECTRONICS has one. The Powercore thing. I don´t have any. Too expensive. Although I hear they are worth it. At least UAD and TC.

 

mmm, looks like the cheapest models are around 600-700 bucks. the uad ones that is.
you can get alot of pc for that!

 

Unless your trying to track 48 tracks at once your pc's processor should be fine

 

T.C. have discontinued the Powercore line. Great time to pick up a bargain on e-bay!!! Cheers-Someonelikeyou.

 

AVID makes some soundcards that handles some DSP processing, but let's not go there because >Pro Tools.

I'm guessing the general problem is that your effects use up too much CPU amirite? That's a problem that can be tackled.

Some VSTs offer options for decreasing CPU usage. Meldaproduction offers different supersampling options, Izotope Ozone has Analogue/Digital modes, Nugen Monofilter has LQ/HQ modes.

You can try sending your tracks through buses, or freezing your tracks (at the expense of using more HD)

You can also try switching DAWs or OSes, because different DAWs are programmed differently.

Really, the only times i've had lag is with using a declicker or playing 80 WAV tracks at once (because there is so much HD activity)

 

Thanks all for the replies so far.

 

You have already mentioned UAD. Besides, there are TC's PowerCore and SSL's Duende series and some Apogee stuff for Mac.
Maybe you can also take the E-MU cards (like 1212m and 1616m) into account, since they have an own DSP with some (VST) plug-ins, too.

All of these DSPs are not CPUs though.

 

Thanks olaf for the EMU heads up
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct05/articles/emu1616m.htm
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun04/articles/emu.htm

 

If you're running out of power from VST's, wouldn't it be cheaper to upgrade your RAM?
Unless you're on an older box (like me), and already maxed out.
Then (from what I've seen) it wouldn't cost much more to buy/build a PC that can handle what you're working on, than to buy a separate processor.

 

If you are on Mac and want the best:



http://mhsecure.com/metric_halo/products/hardware/uln-8.html#tab=0

but is really expensive......

For a midreange price,for both mac a pc:



http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_fireface_800.php

All dsp

 

This is not true *no*

here the discontinued products from TC Electronics:

http://www.tcelectronic.com/discontinued.asp

Here Powercore products :



http://www.tcelectronic.com/powercorefamily.asp

*yes* *yes* *yes*

 

http://www.tcelectronic.com/powercoreunplugged.asp
top of right sidebar

You'll be the lucky one that spent his money on it and then gets booted like this.
Corporate strategy is more important of course.

 

Those EMU cards go for around 150-200 $, you don't even get a decent HD for that.

I get your point but I'm in no position to consider that - a new PC - at the moment.

Actually my old ASRock box, 2 GB maxed out, is still doing fairly well, would be nice to have some headroom and better quality audio... eventually.

 

Btw, I totally forgot the Focusrite Liquid Mix, another "budget" option. The smaller Liquid Mix 16 gives you 16 channels of compression and EQ (yes, only compression and EQ, but still!).