New laptop: ideal spec?

I have a dual sore 2.0GHz intel T5750 processor. I have found that this is sufficient to run pianoteq at a good latency (384 samples at 32000 Hz internal sample rate and 96000 Hz host sample rate). There is no noticeable difference to audio quality between running the internal sample rate at 32000Hz or 48000Hz! Therefore, you will have ample room for pianoteq to evolve if you get a machine with, for example, an intel core i5 processor. I personally would buy a computer with an AMD processor. Intel always seem to be that much better! My wife has an intel core i5 computer, but i've never loaded  it with pianoteq! If you like, I could do so and let you know the results?

Chris

Sigasa, you must have hurt your laptop real bad, that it is dual sore???

sorry... couldn't resist

I did resist

Yes please, all help welcome. I presume you meant you would NOT buy AMD.

Are you saying 2.1 GHz duo is insufficient as that's what I originally quoted I was looking at?

2ghz dual will be fine, my old laptop is AMD 1.5 dual and never had any problems at all, I just did a quick test on my desktop, set it to my personal huge power saving mode which underclocks CPU to 1273mhz dual core and was able to smash all keys with pedal at 128 polyphony with 55% CPU usage, this is at 44100 320 sample latency.

35-38% at 2064mhz dual just for your info.

CPU

Intel Core i5 CPU M 430 @ 2.27GHz

(Pianoteq) Performance index 48

Audio load less than 25%

Multicore rendering enabled

SAMPLE RATE

Internal 32000Hz

Host       96000Hz

Buffer     192 Samples (2.0ms)

POLYPHONY

256 (MAX)

E-MU XMidi 1x1

ASIO E-MU 0202 USB

Will post mp3 of test which caused no glitches or cutouts!

Computer not yet streamlined for audio! Yet results speak for themselves.

EDIT: heres the mp3 of the successful test
http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/uploads.p...20test.mp3

Thanks for all the replies - plenty to work on. I too have an optional Echo Indigo sound card that needs a 54mm cardbus slot as does my Firewire card that I use for a  different hobby - video editing.

Cardbus slots, especially 54mm, seem to be becoming a thing of the past - HP have the best choice of models with those, some even with dedicated firewire.

So it's a balancing act as usual but many of the models with i5 CPUs may be a bit pricey.

On with the search...

True enough but I rarely use without power so not my top priority. Thanks anyway.

- Sony Vaio 13"3 / core i5 M540 @ 2.53 Ghz / 6 Go DDR3 Ram / 128 Go SSD
running win 7 64 (soon will run XP 64 SP3)
- Hosted in Live 8 with soft VST plugin chain (preamp / EQ / Reverb) and with no other midi vst track and no audio tracks running, just PTQ
- Soundcard : Presonus Firebox or RME Fireface UC : 256 samples (< 4 ms)
- Midi keyboard is Roland RD700GX with Medium keyboard response

For a live instrumental playing (with harp, guitar and voices) sometimes using very long sustained notes with heavy polyphony

Everything is stable and fine.

Using the Sound Recording Section, it's very hard to tweak the phase microphones  configuration : at first the result truly depends on your monitoring set quality (for me headphones are not the best to do this). The sound of your piano can radically change even with a subtle different mic placement changing. But this section is definitely amazing for those who like tweaking and testing the sound at millimeters.

Depending on soundcard settings / performance, the ability to support full polyphony play works from 128 to 256 simultaneous notes.

I think that things depend on:

- not just your processor computer performance
- but also the performance of your soundcard
- how you tweak the Design Section of PTQ : if you set a too longer impedance / string length / sympathetic resonance then your CPU will be dramatically in charge, particularly if you have a heavy foot pedal sustain use

Nice system! I'm getting performance index of 45 on the core i3 350 dell studio 14 with Echo Indigo djx expresscard.   The echo indigo has *just* enough output for good volume on my Senn 580's, though I have to crank everything up to max and put the Pianoteq volume on +8 db.

Still playing around with the power settings--I'm using 96khz with 128 sample buffer.  One thing new in Windows 7(to me) is the cpu throttling.  Default minimum CPU setting for the high performance mode is 5%--so the clock will throttle up and down, and so far I get the best performance with 50% minimum clock. I get a performance index of 36 with that setting.

Update:

I bought the AKG K240 MKII headphones, and after burning them in for a few days, I tried them with my setup.  The Echo Indigo doesn't drive them any louder than the Senn HD580! About the same volume.

So looks like it's headphone amp time. My choice:
http://headphonesamplifier.com/little-d...erpre-amp/

Getting a little off-topic here, but my subjective impression of the AKG K240 vs the Senn HD580:

The K240 sounds clear with good base extension.
But the HD580 is definitely in a different league: Warmer, more detailed, and more musical sound.  The C3 and M3 really sound authentic and beautiful on the Senns.  To my ears, the AKG just can't capture the timbre of the instruments with as much detail or realism.

IMO, the K1 suffers a little bit with the Senns for some reason.

I have the volume close to max, but I think my Echo Indigo + HD580s are loud enough. Look after your ears!

Ah, my Indigo is the PCMCIA one, so maybe it is louder. I have the card close to max, and Pianoteq at 0db. At this level, other sources such as heavily compressed peak-level audio can make me leap out of my chair!