CUDA is just this season's external DSP box. Given the continually - and increasingly - rapid  increases in cheap native power, it's a concept that no longer makes any sense.

External processing power boxes are a blind alley, made out of solid chunks of imminent obsolescence. Ask anyone who dropped two grand on a Duende and plugs. Smart developers are not wasting their time on these things. I mean, even ProTools is finally moving away from this paradigm.

I don't generally have much of an opinion on what Cakewalk spend their resources on, it's not my business and largely not even a concern. But I'd be both surprised and disappointed if it was something like CUDA.

Why is there so much emotion over these topics of Sonar?



I listed some of my feature Wish lists which involve the removal of staff view AND the addition of finale.  

Sonar +(merge)  Finale = A wonderful DAW and a wonderful Staff application. 

Why the emotion over that suggestion?
 

John T


CUDA is just this season's external DSP box. Given the continually - and increasingly - rapid  increases in cheap native power, it's a concept that no longer makes any sense.

External processing power boxes are a blind alley, made out of solid chunks of imminent obsolescence. Ask anyone who dropped two grand on a Duende and plugs. Smart developers are not wasting their time on these things. I mean, even ProTools is finally moving away from this paradigm.

I don't generally have much of an opinion on what Cakewalk spend their resources on, it's not my business and largely not even a concern. But I'd be both surprised and disappointed if it was something like CUDA.

Absolutely - surprised and disappointed would be exactly right.


Undertow mentioned Merging's Masscore, which bypasses much of Windows.  It's very impressive, but ironically the performance of their Native system with a modern fast processor (Native doesn't use Masscore and is reliant on Windows) is so impressive that it does for a huge range of applications on its own.  I mix over 140 tracks on a native with real times fades all over the place (all 32 bit as well) and it's fine.  With Masscore of course you can push far more.  But I must admit I think the days of external DSP cards are over.

Masscore is actually kind of interesting, but ultimately fails the same test. Moore's law tends to outpace bespoke solutions. Perhaps not in raw power terms, but widespread adoption is where the processing power gains are in practical terms.

John T


Masscore is actually kind of interesting, but ultimately fails the same test. Moore's law tends to outpace bespoke solutions. Perhaps not in raw power terms, but widespread adoption is where the processing power gains are in practical terms.

Excellently put.

gtgarner

John T


Masscore is actually kind of interesting, but ultimately fails the same test. Moore's law tends to outpace bespoke solutions. Perhaps not in raw power terms, but widespread adoption is where the processing power gains are in practical terms.

Excellently stated.

John T


CUDA is just this season's external DSP box. Given the continually - and increasingly - rapid  increases in cheap native power, it's a concept that no longer makes any sense.

External processing power boxes are a blind alley, made out of solid chunks of imminent obsolescence. Ask anyone who dropped two grand on a Duende and plugs. Smart developers are not wasting their time on these things. I mean, even ProTools is finally moving away from this paradigm.

I like UA's plugs. I think they are great - as far as their plugs are concerned.  The LA-2A is supurb.

Yeah, they're excellent. But the external box paradigm is dying. The aforementioned Duende is in beta right now as a set of native plugs, and I bet UA won't be far behind.

The flaw is obvious, I think. If I'm going to spend money on processing power, I can either spend it on processing power that I can use for anything, or I can spend it on processing power I can use for one specific set of things. Unless the price to performance ratio of the latter is absolutely mind-boggling, the former will always be a sounder choice.

John T


The flaw is obvious, I think. If I'm going to spend money on processing power, I can either spend it on processing power that I can use for anything, or I can spend it on processing power I can use for one specific set of things. Unless the price to performance ratio of the latter is absolutely mind-boggling, the former will always be a sounder choice.

I like the "processing power I can use for one specific set of things".  Performance seems to be much better when the objective is focused.  IMO
 
I've had my share of sessions encountering the BSOD in the middle of recording because of my multi-tasking PC.  I've resorted to turning  EVERYTHING off of my SONAR PC. No Virus Scan, no Internet, No screensaver...nothing.  
 
I don't mind paying for performance even if it's more expensive.