• Registered: 2016-08-11
  • Posts: 2

Topic: What does HDSP do?

One of my biggest bottlenecks in music production is performance. I write a lot of orchestral music and I would like to be able to mix and master without having to render things out all the time. Naturally this brought me to HDSP and it seems like it's what I'm looking for but I'm not sure.

If I understand correctly, I can use these cards to accelerate the performance of my DAW? Ideally keeping a low latency so I can continue to perform and record things at a low latency. However, I contacted support to clarify this and I got a confusing response.

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Hello,

this card will only work with an external device, http://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/multiface_2.php

Alternatives would be HDSPe AIO or Babyface Pro.
No RME device will process plugins or the like in any way, though.
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So if it doesn't process plugins what does it do? How does it improve performance? Does it even improve performance? Am I barking up the wrong tree?

  • vinark
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2009-06-05
  • Posts: 2,772

Re: What does HDSP do?

On lesser audio cards, the asio driver uses the cpu. On hdsp not. In real life, from experience, this means that you can use your cpu more fully before audio braking up. On my system that meant an increase of 30% of plugs when going from my older also PCI interface to my hdsp.
This means that if your heaviest loaded project is not 100% on the cpu,  there is a good chance that an hdsp interface can play it at low latency. But if your cpu is fully loaded in taskmanager it will not help and you will need a better computer or a slave system.

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
BFpro fs, 2X HDSP9652 ADI-8AE, 2X HDSP9632

3 Reply by tom74 (edited by tom74 2016-08-11 11:19:46)

  • tom74
  • tom74
  • AD/DA expert
  • Offline
  • From: Vienna
  • Registered: 2009-11-02
  • Posts: 42

Re: What does HDSP do?

The RME products are not an accelerator card such like UAD, they are prof. soundcards.
Some have built-in DSP power, some not. You can´t "offload" processing/DSP calculation to the RME-cards. 

The quality of the HW, driver, latency and features is awesome!

If you want a smooth and fast system, RME is the way to go!

Multiface, Digiface, Raydat
  • From: Germany
  • Registered: 2007-04-10
  • Posts: 9,768

Re: What does HDSP do?

The DSP on these cards runs Totalmix - it is not meant to "improve performance" for plugins or the like.


Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

RME Support's Website

  • Registered: 2016-08-11
  • Posts: 2

Re: What does HDSP do?

Ah I see, thanks for the information. I don't think this is what I'm looking for, guess I should just save for a better PC. I wish there was a graphics card equivalent for DAW work. One that can accelerate all plugins and allow a more stable workflow. The only product that seems to do this is UAD but its only for UAD plugins which is kind of a bummer.