VK-2 Viking CPU Stress Clarification

[Rason]

Helou
Ï just jumped from Reason 8 to 10 and considering the generous discount on it I still have some money left and the discount on Viking 2 is so tempting. I have their polymodular, I really dig Blamsoft fatness everything, but I have only seen some downgrading comments on VK-2, mostly related to the CPU hunger. I am trialing it atm and I must say, that it doesnt seem to be more cpu heavy than letssay Antidote. I understand that most of the comments Ive read were made on the original release and I know Blamsoft must have optimized it and they added the CPU switch. So now when I load up random average preset and duplicate the instrument 10x and have them all play single note I get 1 (1!) DSP bar with the lowest setting and 2 bars with the highest one. Am I missing something? If it is this "hungry" I am getting it right away, because it is not hungry at all. I dont plan using it for more than just couple or so instances monophonically withing one song anyway. I have i5 3-3.4 GHZ+16GB RAM and saving money for new proc. I am kinda shocked, because every comment I read, including Hydlide, stated that 2 of them will kill even i7. Could you guyz please urgently advise, there is not much time left and I would really want to buy it unless I am missing something and I wont have time to
start whole new project with it now. Thank you.

[moneykube]

Helou
Ï just jumped from Reason 8 to 10 and considering the generous discount on it I still have some money left and the discount on Viking 2 is so tempting. I have their polymodular, I really dig Blamsoft fatness everything, but I have only seen some downgrading comments on VK-2, mostly related to the CPU hunger. I am trialing it atm and I must say, that it doesnt seem to be more cpu heavy than letssay Antidote. I understand that most of the comments Ive read were made on the original release and I know Blamsoft must have optimized it and they added the CPU switch. So now when I load up random average preset and duplicate the instrument 10x and have them all play single note I get 1 (1!) DSP bar with the lowest setting and 2 bars with the highest one. Am I missing something? If it is this "hungry" I am getting it right away, because it is not hungry at all. I dont plan using it for more than just couple or so instances monophonically withing one song anyway. I have i5 3-3.4 GHZ+16GB RAM and saving money for new proc. I am kinda shocked, because every comment I read, including Hydlide, stated that 2 of them will kill even i7. Could you guyz please urgently advise, there is not much time left and I would really want to buy it unless I am missing something and I wont have time to
start whole new project with it now. Thank you.

interesting... where is this switch? I have one vk2 kill reason... zero... expanse as well... it says too slow and rack function disappears... no sound... have to delete and start over
gots to remember to save when I add those racks

[Rason]

It is on the back panel, right in the middle. But even with the highest setting it does not seem to be soo bad.

[EdGrip]

It is CPU hungry, more so than Antidote.
But if you've tried it and found it's no problem, that's all there is too it. It's surprisingly usable even on my laptop. Just buy it, for goodness sake!

If you flip all the quality switches (2 on the front, 1 on the back, I think) to max (or select something from the High Quality preset folder) and play some poly chords, that's when your CPU will know true fear. Your DSP bars should start to climb; don't worry, this is a pretty extreme use case. In practice you can keep the switches on medium or low until it's time to start mastering your track.

[EdGrip]

it says too slow and rack function disappears... no sound... have to delete and start over
gots to remember to save when I add those racks

When you push it too far and get the Computer Too Slow message, you need to click OK and then press STOP on the transport. Then you can use the rack again.
Unless you've managed to get VK-2 to crash Reason, in which case email Blamsoft!

[FLVZ]

Helou
Ï just jumped from Reason 8 to 10 and considering the generous discount on it I still have some money left and the discount on Viking 2 is so tempting. I have their polymodular, I really dig Blamsoft fatness everything, but I have only seen some downgrading comments on VK-2, mostly related to the CPU hunger. I am trialing it atm and I must say, that it doesnt seem to be more cpu heavy than letssay Antidote. I understand that most of the comments Ive read were made on the original release and I know Blamsoft must have optimized it and they added the CPU switch. So now when I load up random average preset and duplicate the instrument 10x and have them all play single note I get 1 (1!) DSP bar with the lowest setting and 2 bars with the highest one. Am I missing something? If it is this "hungry" I am getting it right away, because it is not hungry at all. I dont plan using it for more than just couple or so instances monophonically withing one song anyway. I have i5 3-3.4 GHZ+16GB RAM and saving money for new proc. I am kinda shocked, because every comment I read, including Hydlide, stated that 2 of them will kill even i7. Could you guyz please urgently advise, there is not much time left and I would really want to buy it unless I am missing something and I wont have time to
start whole new project with it now. Thank you.

I must agree, 1 instance of Monopoly with total voices at 128 and unison set to 16 brings my Macbook pro to its knees If I'm playing more than 3 notes. Vk2 on the other hand, unison density 4 & 6 voice polyphony with 6 notes playing is about 3 bars dsp, but then again if I switch to HQ it would probably max out the dsp. And this is on a 2.7ghz i7, my main workstation is an i5 @ 4.3ghz and that can take about 10 VK2s in HQ mode so I've always wondered what machines everyone else is using because both of mine are now 6 years old and not really slowing down.

[moneykube]

it says too slow and rack function disappears... no sound... have to delete and start over
gots to remember to save when I add those racks

When you push it too far and get the Computer Too Slow message, you need to click OK and then press STOP on the transport. Then you can use the rack again.
Unless you've managed to get VK-2 to crash Reason, in which case email Blamsoft!

thank-you... it was driving me bonkers

[Rason]

I bought it. It is too good to be left there for 29. Thanks.

[scratchnsnifff]

I bought it. It is too good to be left there for 29. Thanks.

You’ll h fun with it, I rarely use it but that’s because I don’t really go for the types of sounds it excels at. I love expanse, but I’m wanting to use vk2 more often lately with all the posts on Reason talk about it. What I love about vk2 is it’s effects, I really wish blamsoft would make either a set of effects or release the effect section of vk2 as a unit it self. Also the CV possibilities are crazy with VK2 it’s how any RE should be

[jayhosking]

Seems like VK-2's demands are quite variable. I've found it to be pretty CPU hungry when playing polyphonic with a lot of modulation wired in, but that's just anecdotal. The low-CPU setting seems to mitigate a lot of the issue, but it's still annoying to load up an instance of VK-2 mid-production and have it cause the audio to crackle or stop altogether. And yes, there are workarounds, like increasing the buffer size and such, but it's not what I want to be thinking about when I'm in the middle of making music. I understand the trade-offs involved in making something like eXpanse or VK-2, but sometimes I don't think the benefits outweigh the costs. So often I'll reach for Europa or Legend (respectively) first, even though I love Blamsoft's stuff. For $30, though, VK-2 is a no-brainer.

[devilfish]

No problems here. Everything with the Synth is working fine.