silvercn
Most likely I would only have two channels - acoustic guitar and vocal - I can see where any slight amount of signal delay/ latency could foul things up for live play. I know it would be much easier to use some fx boxes for guit/vocal, but in the meant time just wondering if this is even an option.. Sounds more trouble than worth messing with. !
Nah it's actually a breeze and is no trouble at all. I have live rehearsals with my band here in my studio using Sonar as our sound source. With two tracks, you will be fine. I can run two tracks with insane plugins using a Realtek with ASIO4ALL drivers and a stock Dell Inspiron.
Now that said, *some* effects can really draw CPU and when you set your buffers down to 64, you may get some stuttering or even a stopped audio engine. But that will depend on:
1. How good your computer is...RAM, CPU, soundcard options etc.
2. How many plugins you use
3. What plugins they are
I can't see you going too crazy with two tracks. I'd stay away from plugins in stand-alone mode. I've only had good results that way when I just need one plugin. For multiple plugs, I'd use Sonar and just set up a template.
Example.....
Guitar on track one: What do you need on the guitar? Reverb....delay, chorus? You can either put them directly on the track if need be or create 3 buses and insert the effects on the buses and then create sends on the guitar track for each effect.
Track two Vocals: Do the same thing using the same effects you already inserted. OR...create a few more buses and put in the effects you'd want on your vocals. You should be able to do this without a problem and in real time. Again though, it depends on how many effects you want to use and which ones they are. If you do experience any latency you can always try to enable the PDC button, which is "plugin delay compensation". Sometimes it works great for stuff like this.
Just for your head (if I was at my other computer I'd show you a template) this is what we practice through and how many tracks.
1. Vocals with a compressor, verb and delay on the track. All Sonitus plugs
2. My back up vocal: reverb and compressor
3. Bassist back ups: Same as above
4. Guitar in stereo: No effects used due to using a Fractal Audio Axe Fx pre-amp
5. Bass: No effects due to using a bass POD pre-amp
6. V-Drums midi
7. Superior Drummer (this is really inserted as a synth with individual outs below, not inserted on a track. I just wanted it to be known it was being used.
8. Kick: Drumagog Sonitus EQ
9. Snare: Drumagog, Sonitus eq, Transient Designer
10: Hats: low passed Sonitus eq
11. Tom 1: left alone
12. Tom 2: left alone
13 Tom 3: left alone
14. Tom 4: left alone
15. Tom 5: left alone
16. OH Stereo: left alone
17: Room Stereo: left alone
Buses:
Master bus left alone
Drum bus: Sonitus Compressor, light verb
Gated verb: Used on snare only
As you can see, though this is nothing elaborate, I am able to use this template religiously with my ASIO buffers set at 64. Now if I decide to change drum modules, I may get some flack so I'd have to increase buffers to 128. Sometimes a drummer will notice this believe it or not, so it's best to choose modules as well as VST effects that have a very small footprint. Notice I use mostly Sonitus stuff because it doesn't over-burden CPU use.
I can't see you using all that stuff for two tracks...lol...so you should be fine and in no danger at all. Heck, a drum module alone can sometimes ramp up CPU cycles. If you're not using anything extensive, you'll be in great shape. If you need help creating the template, let me know.
-Danny