VEP or a new Mac?

A lot depends on how you work. If you need to interact with the plugin instruments a lot through the GUI, you're going to find it a bit tedious with a dual-machine setup. VEP is easy to set up but you need to use VNC/Screen Sharing to alter plugin parameters. If you have a regular template you can run in the remote and mainly use automation to control how it plays without making many other changes on the fly, VEP works great and generally is fairly easy to set up. I have no idea how it plays with Sibelius but the VSL site has a guide to getting it to work with Logic, which takes a bit of finagling but it's not too bad.

I think VEP has a trial so you can get a feel of how it's going to work. You could instead/also try Audiogridder, which is free, to see how you get on. Back in the day there was Logic Node but that didn't last more than a couple of versions.

There is also the issue of distributing licences between machines if you've got stuff that is tied to a single iLok (though iLok Cloud can make that a little easier). And you will want to use Ethernet for interconnection if at all possible. In general, a single machine is easier but is the more costly option – and as you have plenty of processor juice in the laptop the dual rig may be better in the shorter term.

Another consideration is VE Pro only gives you one license for one machine now (as of VePro7) where they used to give you two for a remote computer like your setting up. So you’d have to buy a second license for a second machine. Personally I got a better machine so I don’t need a slave. With a Mac Studio Ultra I’m considering ditching VePro all together (but it does make vi‘s work more efficiently).

But my real reason for moving to a new computer was CPU not ram. If you use a lot of fx plugins or you like to mix in more than stereo then you’re probably gonna need more CPU than either of your computers have at some point. Surround reverbs esp take a lot of processing. My i7 3.5GHz six core Mac Pro just kept running out of CPU. Having 128GB of Ram didn’t help at all.

X-Bassist said:

Another consideration is VE Pro only gives you one license for one machine now (as of VePro7) where they used to give you two for a remote computer like your setting up. So you’d have to buy a second license for a second machine.

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It used to be 3 licenses in VEPro 6, but since VEPro 7 it's one license but the price has changed to reflect that as well.

*edit: Corrections

X-Bassist said:

Another consideration is VE Pro only gives you one license for one machine now (as of VePro7) where they used to give you two for a remote computer like your setting up. So you’d have to buy a second license for a second machine. Personally I got a better machine so I don’t need a slave. With a Mac Studio Ultra I’m considering ditching VePro all together (but it does make vi‘s work more efficiently).

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Isn’t this only true if you are using VEP to serve instruments on multiple machines? But you can use VEP on a remote computer and still run it through your DAW on another computer with only one license. I never bought VEP but that’s what I understood when I looked into the option.

jbuhler said:

Isn’t this only true if you are using VEP to serve instruments on multiple machines? But you can use VEP on a remote computer and still run it through your DAW on another computer with only one license. I never bought VEP but that’s what I understood when I looked into the option.

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You only need licenses on the machines hosting instruments through VEP.

Thanks for the valuable information guys!
So how many licenses do I need in my case? I assume one in case all plugins (or the heavy plugins) are on the Mac mini?

Joe K said:

Thanks for the valuable information guys!
So how many licenses do I need in my case? I assume one in case all plugins (or the heavy plugins) are on the Mac mini?

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Yes, that's correct: as soon as your master machine is meant to run only VEP plugin (and not the "Server") locally, you're good to go with a single license for the actual server machine.

Joe K said:

an older Mac mini 2018, six-core i7 with 32GB of RAM.
The processor of the latter is becoming old and having many glitches when working with even very few tracks in Logic.

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That doesn't seem normal: I have one of those machines (albeit with 64Gb) and it still handles pretty large arrangements nicely. Maybe you have a bad plugin or drive somewhere or should try updating the system? (Mine runs well on Ventura.)

SupremeFist said:

That doesn't seem normal: I have one of those machines (albeit with 64Gb) and it still handles pretty large arrangements nicely. Maybe you have a bad plugin or drive somewhere or should try updating the system? (Mine runs well on Ventura.)

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That’s what I was thinking too. My (now retired) 2013 MB Pro could handle more than what the OP mentioned.

@Joe K what libraries are you running, and are they hosted on external SSD’s?

mac mini = VEP server
m2 mac = DAW
1 license
you’ll be good for awhile.
network thru a good switch - no wifi

SupremeFist said:

That doesn't seem normal: I have one of those machines (albeit with 64Gb) and it still handles pretty large arrangements nicely. Maybe you have a bad plugin or drive somewhere or should try updating the system? (Mine runs well on Ventura.)

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I should consider a fresh install of everything. thanks for the advice!

Karmand said:

network thru a good switch

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As far as we're talking two Macs, this could be considered as a simple, dirt-cheap solution to observe the 10 GBit/s connection.

gamma-ut said:

VEP is easy to set up but you need to use VNC/Screen Sharing to alter plugin parameters.

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Not always necessary. When I had the slave setup, I had a monitor, mouse and keyboard hooked up to the slave machine at all times.

I would certainly consider slaving that Mini, but I'd wait for VSL's summer sale to buy VEP. In the meantime, I think a Mac with 32GB of Ram and at least a 1TB hard drive is the road to the least headaches. Used or refurbished M1 Studios would be a place to cut some corners.