I have a 16 universe dongle but am curious if a Mac Mini could run all 8,000 channels reliably. Right now we are running 2 full universes and it works fine but I want to use the biggest profile on all fixtures which would bump our output up to 8 (fairly full) universes. I attached a picture of the specs of the mac mini.
Before I go and readdress all fixtures and run new cabling, does anyone know if the mac mini will be powerful enough? I’d be running through 2 DMXKing enode4pro
Thanks!
Daniel
Your question is a difficult one as there a million variables that affect processing and performance.
For example:
Type of fixtures (for example lots of pixels and individual fixtures)
The way you program
The way you playback and use the console
The types and sorts of FX in use.
The same patch, on the same machine but programmed in different uses can be drastically different.
There is only one way to find out - try it.
The Vista statistics page will give you a good indication of application and DMX processing in frame rates.
Don’t forget that Vista distributes processing across all available cores automatically. If you need more processing power now and again, just network in another computer in tracking backup mode.
I would suggest that your spec will be OK with 8 universes for singe element moving lights, but like I said, give it a go!
In my experience it depends on what kind of show you are running, if it is very fx heavy and full of pixel mapping it will take allot more processing, simply having more channels is not as much of a big deal it’s what you will do with them programming wise that will determine the stress on your machine
A solution could be to network a tracking back machine into your setup , Vista shares the processing with backup machines!
If you add a Vista statistics dockable window to your layout it will show how your universes are spread out across your playback nodes including the ones on your tracking backup
Great to know, thanks!
-Do I need a separate dongle for tracking backup computer?
-I’m thinking If I patch all fixtures over 8 universes but I only plug in 1 universe to physical fixtures and I run as many fx as I can over all fixtures, I will be able to see if the computer can handle it. Would that be a good way to test?
Ideally you should have a separate dongle in your backup machine.
Distributed processing will still happen without it though.
Yes that would be a reasonable way. The Vista stats should give you some clues even without real fixtures connected.
Jack
