PC Musician
Technique : PC Musician
Networking computers is now more
straightforward than it used to be, there's a good choice of connection
protocols, and Macs can get in on the act alongside PCs. The benefits
for musicians can be considerable, as we discover...
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When your PC begins to protest at the number of
plug-ins, soft synths and soft-sampler notes you're attempting to run on
it, there are various ways to proceed. Last month I discussed various
upgrades that would make a single PC more powerful, but it's sometimes
easier to spread the processing load between several computers, so this
month I'm going to concentrate on networking. This may also be a cheaper
option than upgrading, if you've already got a spare PC that can be
pressed into service. After all, many of us have amassed several
computers over the years.
Traditionally, home networks have been employed to
let multiple family users share the same printer or Internet connection,
access shared files, stream media content around the house or play
multi-user games. However, the musician can also benefit from their
distributed processing capability, as well as being able to back up
audio projects to another computer for greater safety, and to share
other devices, such as DVD burners, external hard drives and so on.
Even if you've already got a very powerful PC,
setting up a network will create a resource that can expand with your
requirements: if you need to run more tracks and notes in your scores,
add another PC. And if you have a laptop for live work, but a more
powerful desktop PC in the studio, networking them will let you combine
their processing power during the mixdown phase when you generally need
to run more plug-ins.
If, like many musicians, you're worried about having
your music PC connected to the Internet, a network can also provide a
little more security. One computer can be net-enabled and stuffed to the
gills with firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware utilities, so that you
can deal with emails, visit the SOS forums and download
application updates. Any other computers on the network need only be
active when you're actually making music or want to transfer music
updates across via the network. For even more security, you could use
interchangeable hard-drive caddies on the music PC, so that the one
containing your Windows music partition is never plugged in while the
Internet machine is on-line and exposed to virus attacks.
Yet another advantage of a network is that you can
make it cross-platform, so that, for instance, Mac users could add
PC-only software to their sonic arsenal by having a PC on their network.
The advantages of networking are clear — but how do you actually send
music signals from one PC to another?
The simplest way to musically join two or more
computers is via a MIDI cable. By connecting the MIDI interface outputs
from the master PC running a MIDI + Audio sequencer to a MIDI interface
input on the slave machines, you create a MIDI network and you are
effectively turning the additional machines into stand-alone hardware
synths. If you already have MIDI and audio interfaces on each machine
there may also be no extra hardware to buy or set up (but see 'Audio
Routing & Mixing' box for alternative approaches).
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If you only want to run a few soft synths on your
additional PCs, you may not need a host application for them, either.
For example, most products from Native Instruments are supplied in
stand-alone versions as well as in plug-in form, as is the AAS range (Lounge Lizard, String Studio and Tassman), along with many other manufacturers' ranges, while 'software studios' such as Arturia's Storm, Cakewalk's Project 5 and Propellerhead's Reason all run as stand-alone applications.
There are, however, some situations in which running
a sequencer on each machine and synchronising them via MIDI (running
one as the Master and the others as Slaves) provides advantages. A MIDI
connection would, for instance, allow you to link different sequencer
programs together, either all running on PCs or on a mixture of Macs and
PCs.
However, even if you do need a sequencer for your
additional computers, it needn't necessarily be an expensive flagship
version. Not only are there plenty of entry-level versions that could be
perfectly adequate (see PC Musician April 2005 for more details), but
since the 'remote sequencers' only need to be able to host plug-ins and
soft synths, and require no recording or editing functions, a much
simpler host utility could be pressed into service. There are now plenty
to choose from. As they all differ slightly in their facilities but are
all comparatively small applications, your best bet is to download a
few demo versions to see which one suits you best.
 
To run plug-ins and soft synths on remote PCs, you may only need a comparatively simple host application, such as Xlutop's Chainer, Brainspawn's Forte or Toby Bear's Mini Host, shown here.
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One of the simplest is Xlutop's Chainer (www.xlutop.com),
which allows you to stream up to 10 chains of VST instruments and
plug-ins. The demo version is a tiny 245K download and the full version
costs just $60. Dsound's RT Player Pro (www.dsound1.com)
supports up to 24 VST plug-ins and Instruments and multiple MIDI
inputs, and it includes 13 effects, for around 150 Euros, but doesn't
have a demo version (although M Audio interface owners can download the
simpler OEM RT Player Express version for free.
Spin Audio's Virtual Mixing Console (www.spinaudio.com)
is another host with rather more advanced effects included, allowing up
to 16 VSTis to be treated with the integral four-band parametric EQs in
each of its mixer channels, as well as with other VST effects. A 4.5MB
demo is available and the full version costs just $59. Brainspawn's Forte (www.brainspawn.com)
costs £75, supports up to 32 VST Instruments and associated effect
plug-ins, and was discussed in detail by Marillion's Mark Kelly in our
May 2005 SOS Live supplement. While it's optimised for stage
use, it's ideal as a low-latency host driven from a separate PC, and the
demo is only 3.3MB in size.
Steinberg's V-Stack (www.steinberg.de)
is only available as a 10.4MB download direct from the Steinberg web
site but is discussed in more detail later on, since it also offers
internal synchronisation with other Steinberg applications. Finally,
there are also a few free host applications out there if you look hard
enough, such as the 84K Simple Virtual Host from FXpansion (www.fxpansion.com/skunk/svh14.zip), and (possibly the most popular of all) the donationware Minihost from Toby Bear Productions (www.tobybear.de/p_minihost.html).
MIDI over LAN
If your PCs already have some type of network port,
you may not even need to have a hardware MIDI interface on each one to
run synchronised music applications. MIDI over LAN (www.musiclab.com)
was designed as a simple, robust utility to connect MIDI applications
spread amongst severally locally networked computers. However, it also
allows you to interconnect several MIDI applications on the same
computer, so that you can port MIDI data from one to the other at will.
With a Local Area Network connecting your computers, the MIDI over LAN utility provides a simple and rugged way to send MIDI signals between them, without needing hardware MIDI interfaces.
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In 2004, a major update turned this utility into the rather more ambitious MIDI over LAN CP
(Cross Platform), enabling you to create a MIDI network containing both
Mac and PC machines. MIDI timing accuracy is also claimed to be even
better than in previous versions. It requires Windows 2000 SP4 or XP SP1
and later, or Mac OSX 10.2.4 or later. Now at version 2.2, MIDI over LAN CP
is available in a Standard edition that supports up to 16 'Netport'
MIDI devices (each device acts like a standard MIDI port that provides
up to 16 simultaneous channels, so the maximum total number of MIDI
channels is 256), while the Platinum version supports up to 64 ports,
for up to 1024 MIDI channels. Each MIDI over LAN CP device also
has multi-client driver support for up to four clients, making it
easier (for instance) to run a sequencer output and synth editor
simultaneously to the same destination synth.
Prices start at $129 (about £70) for the most
typical two-computer setup ($169 for the Platinum version), and jump to
$199 ($269) for a bundle for four computers and $299 ($369) for eight. A
1.4MB demo version that runs for 14 days is also available to download.
I had no problems installing and getting the Standard version running.
So that it can be configured to suit your setup, the MIDI In and Out can
be enabled independently for each of the available ports (labelled
Netport1 to Netport16) and the MIDI In can be configured to receive data
from any host PC, or only from a specific IP Address (see 'Technical
Terminology' box). The MIDI Outs must always be set to point to the
recipient PC's IP Address. There's a handy MIDI monitor that displays MIDI over LAN activity, and overall I found that this utility worked faultlessly on my PCs.
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Open Sound Control
OSC (Open Sound Control) is rather different from
most of the other networking options discussed here, because support for
it needs to be implemented in the application itself. It's defined as
an 'open, network-independent protocol developed for communication among
computers, sound synthesisers and other multimedia devices', and lets
you send MIDI data between multiple computers over any Local Area
Network (LAN) or the Internet. Various scenarios are suggested as
possibilities, including Internet-based collaborations between
musicians, co-ordinated synthesis between two or more computers to
increase processing power, and sound installations with dozens of
computers in a single room.
Some PC music applications that support OSC include Plogue's Bidule modular environment (www.plogue.com), and Cycling 74's Max/MSP real-time audio development environment (www.cycling74.com). Anyone interested in Jazz Mutant's amazing Lemur controller (www.jazzmutant.com)
will also discover that it communicates using a LAN interface and the
OSC protocol. However, possibly OSC's biggest commercial supporter is
Native Instruments, whose Intakt, Reaktor and Traktor synths have all got OSC extensions. Support for OSC has been extended in the just-released Reaktor 5,
which has a dedicated OSC Settings window where you activate it, set up
synchronisation and scan for and display other OSC members to whom a
connection has been established.
NI consider OSC to be a sadly overlooked technology
that's far more powerful than MIDI, and other enthusiastic users also
point to improvements over the MIDI spec, such as its much greater
32-bit resolution for altering parameters such as filter frequency in
real time, and the fact that no extra interface is required. If you want
to find out more, Open Sound Control's Home Page is at www.cnmat.berkeley.edu/ OpenSoundControl.
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Steinberg VST System Link
If your MIDI + Audio sequencer is Steinberg's Cubase SX/SL, Cubase VST 5.2 or Nuendo,
you already have the proprietary VST System Link networking functions
built in. To use them, you need an audio interface on each computer,
running ASIO drivers, and with an ADAT, AES/EBU, S/PDIF or TDIF digital
audio connection. The networking signal is then sent between the
machines using one bit of the existing digital audio signal. It makes no
audible difference to audio quality.
Steinberg's V-Stack is another simple host application, with the advantage that it can be linked to Cubase or Nuendo running on another computer, via a simple digital audio cable, for sample-accurate synchronisation.
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If you've already got one of these applications
installed on all the computers in your proposed network there's nothing
else to buy. However, If not, Steinberg's V-Stack is a cheap
way to expand your VST System Link studio. It's a simple host
application that lets you run up to 16 VST Instruments with up to five
VST or DX insert effects and eight send effects per channel, as well as
providing four-band EQ and up to four subgroups in its integral mixer.
It can also be used as a simple stand-alone host to run VST Instruments
in a live setup, and provides layering, transpose and split functions.
Version 1.2 runs on both Mac and PC and you can buy and download it
directly from the Steinberg web site for just 50 Euros. V-Stack certainly provides a familiar interface and I had no problems using it as a stand-alone host.
With System Link, since the digital audio cables
already carry a clock signal there's no need for separate sync, and
linked machines should stay locked together with sample accuracy. One
device should run from its internal clock and therefore be the Master,
providing the clock signal for all the others that are set to external
clock as Slaves. The only exception is when you're using a dedicated
word-clock generator or digital mixing desk, in which case all the audio
interfaces should be set to Slave mode.
Those with multiple copies of Cubase and/or Nuendo and V-Stack
should find System Link an elegant solution, but unfortunately success
is not 100 percent guaranteed. Steinberg have found that the drivers of
some makes and models of audio interface simply don't comply
sufficiently well with the ASIO 2.0 protocol for them to work reliably
with System Link, so a few may suffer from clicks, pops and crackling. I
personally experienced some lockup problems when attempting to link
multiple PCs. It's worth reading the VST System Link Troubleshooting
section of Steinberg's Knowledgebase (http://service. steinberg.net:80/knowledge_pro.nsf) for fault-finding tips.
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Setting Up A Simple Network
In essence, there are two approaches to creating a network, depending on
how many computers you want to link together. The simplest setup is for
two machines, each with RJ45 LAN ports, since they can be directly
linked via a CAT 5 crossover cable that costs about £5. If you want more
machines in your network, you will instead need a stand-alone hardware
hub or switch and CAT 5 'straight through' cables connecting each of
your computers to it. A hub is generally cheaper and easier to set up
than a switch, but since it sends the data received at one of its ports
to all the others, your network may become bogged down when lots of data
is flying around. Switches are generally preferred on networks
containing four or more computers, or when you intend to transfer lots
of data, because they only send incoming data to its intended
destination, resulting in less network congestion.
Another approach if you have two PCs with Firewire
ports is to use these for the network connection, with a standard
Firewire cable between the two. If, on the other hand, the PCs on your
proposed network have wireless (Wi-fi) network support, you don't need
any cables at all, although the much lower bandwidth won't be very
suitable for transferring real-time audio streams.
People's experiences of setting up a network vary
enormously, from those who plug in the appropriate cable to each
computer and find everything works immediately without any further
setup, to those who spend days trying to get things working properly,
often due to some obscure hardware parameter setting. Fortunately,
Windows XP is generally regarded as the easiest Microsoft operating
system to date on which to set up a network, and there are copious
details on creating a home or small office network in the integral Help
and Support Center, and a Network Setup Wizard that you can run by
double-clicking on its icon in Control Panel (you'll need to do this on
each PC destined to be connected to the network).
If you still run into problems, you'll also find
plenty of step-by-step guides on the Internet. For a beginner's guide
try 'How Home Networking Works' on the How Stuff Works web site (http://computer.
howstuffworks.com/ home-network.htm). Those of a more technical bent
may prefer Tweak Town's Windows XP Home Networking Guide (click on the
'Guides' link from the www.tweaktown.com home page).
By the way, if you can't get your new network to
work at all and have followed the advice of some of the web sites that
suggest 'unwanted' Windows services, you may have disabled some that you
now need. One of the best places to find out which services are
required and which are not is the Elder Geek's Service Guide at www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm.
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FX Teleport
System Link will obviously appeal to anyone who
already uses Steinberg software and who has an S/PDIF-equipped interface
in each computer. However, FX Teleport (www.fx-max.com)
is another very clever network-based utility that takes a rather
different approach: it appears to the audio application running on your
main PC as an extra set of plug-ins and soft synths that are, in fact,
being run on remote PCs via a 100Mbps or Gigabit TCP/IP LAN connection.
As with MIDI over LAN, this means that you
don't need MIDI interfaces on each computer, but even better for those
on a budget is the fact that you don't need to run a host application on
the remote PCs either. The installed VST-format plug-ins and
instruments on the remote PCs simply appear to your VST-compatible host
application (Cubase, Nuendo, Sonar and so on)
on the main PC as 'LAN' versions. Best of all, since the remote VST
plug-ins rely on audio send/return streaming via the LAN connection, and
the remote VST instruments return their audio outputs via the the same
means, you don't even need an audio interface on the slave computers.
A single 'FXTeleportSetup.exe' file is supplied that
you run on each PC in your network. During this process, you need to
designate the machine running your DAW host/sequencer as the Master
(Host) computer, and each of the others that will run extra plug-ins as
Slave (Server). Then you start the FX Teleport Server utilities on each Slave PC and run the Install Effects
utility on the Host computer. The latter will scan the VST plug-in
folders on the various slave PCs to find what 'remote' plug-ins and
instruments have been installed there and add these as options inside
the VST plug-in folder of your Host PC with '(LAN)' appended to their
names.
When you first launch one of these new options, a window pops up to inform you that 'Network Latency detection is in progress'. FX Teleport
is calculating the extra delays involved in sending/receiving the audio
signal via the network, so that it can compensate for them
automatically, just like a DSP effects card such as TC's Powercore or
Universal Audio's UAD1. On my PC this latency was 512 samples (11.6ms at
44.1kHz).
There's little to see on the host PC once FX Teleport
has been installed, other than a new FX Teleport folder in your plug-in
and Instrument lists, containing the (LAN) versions of everything
installed in the remote PC VST plug-ins folder, and these small
information windows displaying connection and preset details. Detailed
editing is performed on the remote PC.
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You can choose presets from either Slave or Host
PCs, but more in-depth parameter editing is done on the Slave's screen.
However, the tweaks you make there are remembered at the Host end and
saved with your song, so that the next time you open it the relevant LAN
plug-ins are reloaded on the Slave machines, with their settings
intact. Any automation data relating to the FX Teleport devices
also remains on your main PC, to be saved with your song. This is far
easier to manage than having to save another set of data for each song
on each Slave PC, to remember the plug-ins, instruments and settings
associated with it. The only disadvantage I can think of is that DirectX
plug-ins aren't supported.
Overall, FX Teleport (see screen above)
provides such an elegant approach to distributed processing that I'm not
surprised so many musicians are already using it, especially as its
most popular '1 host + 1 server' configuration costs just $99, and the
'per server' price drops for more complex setups. FX-MAX also have Giga Teleport in their range, which performs similar magic for remote PCs running Tascam's Gigastudio. It fools Gigastudio
into thinking that it's running with an audio interface with GSIF
format, but in fact sends the audio data over a 100Mbps or Gigabit
network connection, like FX Teleport. Offering up to 32 audio outputs at sample rates of up to 192kHz, and as many as 128 MIDI channels when used with Gigastudio 3, it runs on Windows 2000 or XP and can be used on multiple PCs to achieve higher Gigastudio polyphony (subject to network performance).
Of course, given the much greater bandwidth requirements of audio over MIDI data, FX and Giga Teleport will both benefit from a fast Gigabit network. However, even with the 100Mpbs network I was running I experienced very few FX Teleport
problems. I chose to mostly run a few demanding reverb plug-ins and
soft synths on the remote PC, rather than lots of less demanding
plug-ins, so that only a few simultaneous audio streams were active.
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Practical Examples
While researching this feature, I talked to some very different
musicians who have used various types of networks with music
applications. Samplecraze (www.samplecraze.com)
is owned and run by Eddie Bazil (AKA Zukan), a sound designer, sample
developer, programmer and musician who has a network of three computers —
two PCs and a Mac. "One PC is dedicated to the Internet and nothing
else, and the other two are for audio only, for working on different
platforms. The network enables all three to share files and for their
ultimate upload to the net. By working remotely, I minimise the virus
threats considerably. The computers are networked to each other using a
switch as opposed to a standard hub. This way all three can act as both
slaves and masters and can be routed to each other in any combination".
Among their many and varied multimedia activities,
visual artist John Dekron and multimedia artist Markus Schneider
(forming RISC, together with Christian Riekoff) are currently involved
in setting up an audio-visual live performance environment, with NI's Reaktor generating live audio, synchronised using Open Sound Control (see box on page 156) to Cycling 74's Max/MSP graphical environment, which is in turn running ES-X,
a video live-performance program developed by John Dekron and Michael
Brux using Cycling 74's range of Jitter graphic objects for the Max
environment. Overall control of both audio and visual elements will be
using the new Lemur controller by Jazz Mutant. Markus told me that "OSC
is pretty new in our work setup and right now we're not sure how far we
will go with it — it partly depends on the future developments within
the protocol and companies supporting it. For a project on June 11 we
are going to integrate the Lemur. We will mix satellite TV images live
on stage in the Maria Club (www.clubmaria.de) here in Berlin. The TV images will be treated by ES-X and the TV audio will run through Reaktor. We will control image and sound simultaneously using the Lemur." If you'd like to find out more, visit www.risclab.org or www.thisserver.de/john_dekron.php.
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The Global Recording Studio
You don't have to restrict yourself to physically
connecting multiple computers in the same room to network with other
musicians: there are also various ways to collaborate via an Internet or
similar connection using a WAN (Wide Area Network). One of the simplest
is Microsoft's Remote Desktop, which you can use with Windows
NT Server 4, 2000 Server, Server 2003 or XP Professional. Using this,
you can access a Windows-based PC and work with its applications and
files from another computer (even from a Mac if using the Remote Desktop Client for Mac OS X version 10.2.8 or later).
Alternative remote control software includes VNC (Virtual Network Computing), a free download from www.realvnc.com. Like Remote Desktop,
it allows you to view and interact with a remote server computer using a
simple 'viewer' program running on another computer anywhere on the
Internet. However, if you want to be able to send your MIDI and audio
tracks in both directions in a fairly transparent way, you'll need
something a little more sophisticated.
Fancy collaborating on a track with other musicians around the globe? Digital Musician Net
runs as a VST 2 plug-in inside many host applications, transfers audio
and MIDI data in real time, and even lets you see your collaborator via a
two-way video link.
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In 1998, Rocket Network Inc created a way for
musicians to share their files, which was taken up by Steinberg at the
beginning of 1999. A new 'Rocket' button appeared in Cubase VST
that let users post tracks to the Rocket Network Central Server so that
they could be shared, within minutes, with other musicians
collaborating on that project. Logic Audio and Pro Tools
users later got in on the act as well, and the files could be sent in
any format, including WAV, MP3 and MIDI. Rocket Network's Central Server
held the most up-to-date arrangement of each project, which was
downloaded to each musician as they entered a 'session'.
At the time it was hailed as revolutionary, but
before broadband was widely available it could be very slow to update
(sometimes several minutes elapsed before new sessions were received),
so real-time collaboration between musicians wasn't possible. The Cubase and Logic
versions wouldn't talk to each other either. Nevertheless, the Rocket
Network was used in some high-powered projects, such as the 2001
soundtrack for the film Bridget Jones' Diary.
Avid/Digidesign acquired the assets of Rocket
Network Inc in 2003 and subsequently released Digidelivery — a fast,
reliable, and secure way to send any kind of digital file via the
Internet that has been adopted by many professional music developers
around the world. It's particularly useful to Pro Tools users, since they can drag and drop their sessions onto the Digidelivery interface to package and deliver all related files.
Fast-forward to 2005 and Pro Tools owners can now interact in real time with other Pro Tools users, using the clever technology of the Source-Connect Pro Tools plug-in (www.source-elements.com).
Broadcast-quality audio is transmitted between remote locations via
broadband Internet connections, so you can collaborate with other
musicians around the world. However, only Pro Tools users can benefit from this product, and at $1495 not everyone will be able to afford it.
Digital Musician Net
For the rest of us, Digital Musician Net (www.digitalmusician.net)
might be exactly what the doctor ordered. Again, it uses a proprietary
plug-in that needs to be run on each computer, but this time the format
is the rather more universal VST 2.0. Audio or MIDI collaborations are
not only in real time, via a broadband Internet link, but both parties
can also see each other and discuss the performance (just as you can in
the studio through the control-room window) via twin video-conferencing
windows in the plug-in that run at up to 25 frames per second.
Digital Musician Net already runs on both Mac and PC platforms. If used with Cubase SX 3 and Nuendo 3 it offers synchronised audio, MIDI, MTC (MIDI Time Code) and remote control, and synchronised audio on Live, Sonar, Logic 7 (and even Logic 5.5
on the PC). MIDI, remote control and other applications may well be
supported on these and other applications by the time DMN officially
launches in August 2005.
Bit rates of up to 256kbit MP3 can be achieved in
real time and, unlike Rocket Networks, no central server is required.
Audio or MIDI data is sent to and fro directly between collaborators.
Time-stamping and intelligent buffering is used to compensate for
latency or web congestion, and if your particular link means that you
have to resort to a lower bandwidth while recording takes place, you can
transfer the final take later on at CD quality, using the plug-in's
built-in Send File function.
Digital Musician Net is aimed squarely at
musicians and other audio professionals who want to network their
services around the world, and there's already been lots of interest
from individual artists, producers, studios and film composers.
Amazingly, Digital Musician Net's Standard Account is completely free and entitles you to join the DMN
web site community, where you can meet like-minded souls around the
world, advertise your talents and arrange collaborations, the sole
limitation being that the audio bandwidth is limited to 128kbps.
A premium Studio Account, available from just 24
Euros a month, ups the bandwidth to 256kbps, provides email support, an
extended studio home page to allow you to advertise your services around
the world to other professionals, and the ability to set up
sub-accounts (so that a studio can let multiple clients use their
higher-bandwidth link at different times). Digital Musician Net
is poised to launch in August 2005, but it was already extremely stable
when I saw it demonstrated in early April at the Frankfurt Musikmesse,
and I am quite sure that it will prove very successful.
Final Thoughts
As we've seen, music-making need no longer be
confined to a single computer, or even a single location. Whether you
need more processing power, to run several applications simultaneously,
or want to collaborate with other musicians, the key may be creating a
music network.
However, before you make a final decision on whether
or not to install networking capability on your music PC, don't assume
that it will automatically provide you with better performance.
While there are plenty of musicians providing glowing reports of how
liberating their multi-PC setups have proven to be, I've also come
across plenty of others who either never got a network to work reliably
with their particular machines, who experience dropout problems during
audio recording and playback after installing a network interface card,
or who have never managed to completely eradicate audio clicks and pops
or timing problems in a more complex setup.
Fortunately, nearly all the applications and utilities discussed in this feature can be tried out using free demo versions, so you can test the water before committing yourself, and many musicians I know have tried out two or three programs before deciding on which one to go with. Once you've spread your networking wings you may never want to go back to a one-box solution!
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