Jim Roseberry

If you're talking low latency audio performance, DP is the worst performing of all the major DAW apps. Some cool features (especially for composers)... but terrible performance.

Terrible name... (What were they thinking?) While I have no doubt about the benefits, it's hard to bump an industry standard plugin format. Bitwig and U-he are the only "major" software/plugin vendors currently onboard. Bigger companies are going to be reluctant to make a change. Unless the entire industry adopts "CLAP" (that just sounds wrong), it's over before it's begun.

Makes my lungs hurt just looking at that guitar. ?

Quantum is a great audio interface. It literally set the bar for ultra low round-trip latency performance. Antelope drivers (with current generation hardware) have been rock-solid. My audio interface also functions as a mixer/patch-bay... so the extra DSP/routing comes in handy. I have keyboards plugged-in, Helix and Quad Cortex guitar processors, etc. Antelope has a way of making certain things more complicated than need be. The name Orion Studio Synergy Core says a lot... ? Once you understand patching/routing, the interfaces really aren't hard to operate. Back on-topic to the 88m: I'd expect those preamps to sound good... for onboard preamps. If you're expecting them to sound like a 1073, Portico-II, or Shelford preamp... you're going to be disappointed. The transformer from those preamps wouldn't fit in the 88m's chassis. Even with 500 series preamps, Neve has mentioned preamp design (by comparison to their full-size counterparts) has compromises to keep size/cost down. Whether that matters... is up to each individual. To my ears, the transformer is a big part of the Neve sound.

I'm not looking to argue, but you do realize that there are vastly MORE machines that don't have a USB-C port, right? Any machine made in the last decade has USB-3 type A. That's why... when you buy a Focusrite Scarlet, it comes with a USB-C to USB-2 type A cable. ? I've got a new MBP here (16" display, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD). The latest series has three Thunderbolt ports (via USB-C), HDMI, and back to dedicated magnetic power-port. You can get a nice "mini-hub" that takes one of the USB-C ports and provides four USB-3 ports. The MBP is here to support VE Pro users (not used for any heavy-lifting as I have both 5950x and 12900ks based workstations).

FWIW, I used a RME UFX+ for a couple years. I used it connected via Thunderbolt. Round-trip latency via Thunderbolt wasn't particularly great (just above 4ms total round-trip latency). Connected via USB-3, round-trip latency was just a tiny bit higher. Presonus Quantum can achieve 1ms total round-trip latency @ 96k using a 32-sample ASIO buffer size. Fireface UFX+ can't come anywhere close to that. The driver won't let you use small ASIO buffer sizes if you're running at higher sample-rates. ie: If you're running at 96k, you can't use a 32-sample ASIO buffer size. If you're wanting a Thunderbolt audio interface that offers round-trip latency on par with the Presonus Quantum... along with onboard DSP for processing/routing, I'd steer you toward the Antelope interfaces. I'm currently running an Orion Studio Synergy Core... which replaced both my RME Fireface UFX+ and Presonus Quantum (it has the best features of both).

Why? USB-C carries more power... but it's still a compromise when you're talking 48v phantom power (for bus-powered audio interfaces). Every audio interface that has a USB-C port (read the manual) is actually a USB-2 device. Thus, there's no performance advantage when connected via USB-C (vs a type-A USB-2 port). Two channels of I/O is nowhere near saturating the bandwidth of USB-2. There's currently no USB-3 audio interface that out-performs the best USB-2 audio interfaces. Ironically, most USB-3 audio interfaces have higher round-trip latency.

FWIW, Every audio interface (that I'm aware of) that has USB-C port... is actually a USB-2 audio interface. The USB-C port is a slight advantage for bus-powered devices (carries more power)... but it would offer no performance advantage. If 88m were a Thunderbolt audio interface, that could allow lower round-trip latency. I'm not a fan of any bus-powered audio interface. There's always a design compromise when dealing with 48v phantom power.

Sad one for sure. The newly released Prophet 10 (and Prophet 5) are outstanding. Dave Smith somewhat recently collaborated with Tom Oberheim to release the Sequential OB6. Shame to see him pass... when there's somewhat of a renaissance with analog synths.

Sounds great! Reminds me of Mark Tremonti singing Frank Sinatra (he sounds amazing doing it - who would have known).

Working with video footage (especially 4k) is a whole lot more demanding than multi-track audio. Realtime video processing (chroma-key, particle effects, etc) can bring even the fastest machine to its knees. A couple years back, I did a one-minute 3D Animation with Cinema 4D (1920 x 1080). It was a scene of a simulated studio control room. With a 9900k, the render took over 24 hours.

I don't play any video games. I spend all day every day working with computers. I like my down-time away from them.

It's not just about running 400 tracks. It's about being able to effectively work at super small ASIO buffer sizes. Some newer audio interfaces (Antelope, Presonus Quantum, etc) allow round-trip latency as low as sub 1ms. ie: Playing thru guitar processing plugins (in realtime) at 1-2ms total round-trip latency are now possible/practical (while running a project). You can't do that with an older/slower machine. May not seem like a big deal, but that makes the playing experience similar to playing thru an Axe-FX, Helix, Quad Cortex, etc. Developers will always find a way to use faster CPUs. Things we take for granted today (Melodyne, etc) weren't possible back in Cakewalk Pro Audio 6.0 days. I could run 48+ tracks back then... but software based reverb/etc was primitive (Cakewalk's reverb was mono). Quality of plugins has increased dramatically. BTW, You don't have to be a world-class chef or food-critic to enjoy a great steak or glass of wine. PRS guitars are wonderful instruments... whether you're a world-class player... or just a hobbyist. There's SE (import), S2 (US with some import hardware), Core (USA), Wood Library, and Private Stock

Hi Steve, You can typically push the 2600k to 4.5GHz. If you're already running it there, you can't push it any further (with rock-solid stability). Clock-speed will certainly help with low-latency audio performance.

There's a reason why we don't offer the 10900k and 10900ks in a rack case. ? I had one of the first Pong games that allowed up to 4 players. Nothing like what the kids have today. (obviously)

Water Cooling can be extremely quiet... IF... you pick the right cooler. The key is getting one with pump noise ~10dB. I've got both 12900ks and 5950x based DAWs. For maximum performance, you can't run either one without water-cooling. (Same is true with the 10980xe) Well... you can... but it'll thermal-throttle under heavy loads (rendering video), which kind of defeats the purpose. ? On YouTube, you'll see some folks running ThreadRipper (280w TDP) with a NH-U14S cooler. It runs... but nowhere near full potential. With 280w TDP, there is no building a "quiet" machine. To add insult to injury, the motherboard chipsets are active cooled (small fan). For these reasons... and poor ultra low latency performance, I won't build ThreadRipper based DAWs for myself or clients. With Ryzen 5k series, AMD finally got their ultra low latency performance together. Ultra low latency performance wise, Intel's 11th Generation 11900k was actually a step backward (vs the 10900k). Ryzen 5950x bests the 10900k and 11900k (both single-core and multi-core performance). The 12900k then leap-frogged the 5950x (both single-core and multi-core performance). The latest 12900ks is basically a 12900k that can clock up to 5.5GHz (vs 5.2GHz for the 12900k). If you're pushing the limits of ultra low latency performance, the 12900ks is currently the best performer. Working at say 1ms total round-trip latency is not something that lends itself to being heavily multi-threaded. Clock-speed is the single most important factor. With the 12900ks, you've got highest clock-speed available... and 16 cores (best of both worlds).

Raptor Lake is supposed to use significantly less voltage. That should drop CPU temps... or allow significant clock-speed increase. One thing about current 16+ core AMD and Intel CPUs: Temp fluctuations can be fairly dramatic (AMD even more so). If you leave stock settings, fans will frequently ramp up/down (lots of noise). You can get a Ryzen 5k system to be quiet... but it involves more extreme tweaking. Lower voltage (lower temps) should help keep noise from escalating (even with higher clock-speed).

For Ryzen 7k, AMD is touting 15% single-thread increase. Intel Alder Lake i9-10900ks (5.5GHz) currently bests the 5950x by roughly that margin. Ryzen 7k is supposed to compete with Intel's (yet to be released) Raptor Lake. Though it's early (with few actual benchmarks), Raptor Lake is supposed to achieve ~10% increase. If all this holds true, Intel will hold a slight performance advantage. The more things change... the more they stay the same ?

Virtually all USB audio interfaces that connect via USB-C port are actually USB-2 devices. There's no performance advantage connecting via USB-C. A USB-C port doesn't mean that a machine has Thunderbolt. If you don't specifically see the lightning-bolt icon next to the port, it's USB-C (USB only). If you see the lightning-bolt icon, the port is Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4.

SSUPD Meshlicious For 12th Gen i9, you can't use anything smaller.

Yes. Closed-loop (no maintenance).

If you're after maximum performance, you can get a mini-ITX case that's ~9.5" x 6.5" x 14" that'll allow cooling for the 12900ks (16 cores, 5.5GHz max turbo). That's the fastest machine you can currently build for running virtual-instruments.

Most newer USB audio/MIDI devices don't have issues with USB3 and USB3.2 (gen2).

Build a Faraday cage? ? I've got a Bogner Helios amp that picks up a small/local radio station. There's a fix, but it affects the tone of the amp.

FWIW, These are the types of noise I've experienced that are directly from a machine. Acoustic "in-the-room" noises - not heard thru speakers: vibration, fan, coil-whine (power-supply) EMI from the machine - picked-up by guitar in close proximity (especially single-coil pickups). Often heard as "digital hash" (noise when moving mouse/etc) In cases of hum, buzz, and other "electrical" type noise heard thru speakers... it's always been a ground issue (or poor-quality/defective cable). In all my years working with DAWs, the machine itself has never been the source of electrical noise. I have seen USB cables cause noises (usually higher-pitch than typical hum/buzz). In these scenarios, swapping out the cable resolves the issue. Ground-loop issues are the single most common source of electrical noise. Powering the entire studio from a single outlet can help... but doesn't always eliminate ground-loops. Using balanced cable throughout certainly helps. If unbalanced cables are used... and there's a ground-loop, you're going to hear it. If the source can be pinned down, sometimes a direct-box (or pair of direct-boxes) can be used to safely lift the ground. Other times, hum-exterminators (Morely, etc) are the only safe solution. Years back, Alesis wall-warts were notorious for inducing hum/buzz into nearby cables. Keeping audio cables routed away from electrical cables and AC adapters helps. This can be difficult (especially with larger setups). Using my office-studio as an example: I've got probably close to 30 electrical items. Everything is powered from a single outlet. I'm using balanced cables for every audio connection. My setup doesn't suffer from any noise/hum/buzz etc. I recently got a Neural DSP Quad Cortex. The Quad Cortex is known to have an ungrounded power-supply. If I connect it to my audio interface with unbalanced cables, I hear an unpleasant buzz/hum. Using balanced cables, the buzz/hum is gone. I've since replaced the original power-supply with a ClOKS DC-7. I know you know all of this, Jack. ? If someone is just getting into a more elaborate gear setup, the more gear involved... the greater the odds for electrical noise.