Do i have enough practical horsepower?

[FrankHS]

I want to get either Ozone 9 standard ($79 cyber monday) or maybe Ozone Advanced ($199.) I poked around discussion groups to see if my 2014 laptop (Toshiba Satellite C55, Core i3 and 8G Ram, supposedly okay according "minimum requirements") would be practical, and found someone saying this concerning Ozone 9 suite in 2020:
<<My track plays at around 40-50% CPU usage. Adding Ozone on the master (without any preset selected), causes a CPU meltdown for me at 130%. Using Ozone is completely off the cards for me...>>

Of course I dont know how big this person's projects were, but his computer was twice mine in CPU. Someone here probly knows if I'm making mistake. Going to pair with Reaper 6. (Just for solo guitar. No prior experience with mastering programs, only with iffy recordings using Zoon H4n.)
Thanks!

[sdelsolray]

Most Ozone modules (in both Standard and Advanced) are CPU hogs.

[runamuck]

If you're using Ozone as a mastering tool you could export the finished, mixed project and then import it into Ozone as a plugin on your master buss in a new project..

You're computer will undoubtedly handle that.

[shufflebeat]

If all else fails you could spend your money on knowing how to achieve your outcome with your existing software:

Ian Shepherd's mastering site.

No dongles either.

[MikeBmusic]

Originally Posted by FrankHS

I want to get either Ozone 9 standard ($79 cyber monday) or maybe Ozone Advanced ($199.) I poked around discussion groups to see if my 2014 laptop (Toshiba Satellite C55, Core i3 and 8G Ram, supposedly okay according "minimum requirements") would be practical, and found someone saying this concerning Ozone 9 suite in 2020:
<<My track plays at around 40-50% CPU usage. Adding Ozone on the master (without any preset selected), causes a CPU meltdown for me at 130%. Using Ozone is completely off the cards for me...>>

Of course I dont know how big this person's projects were, but his computer was twice mine in CPU. Someone here probly knows if I'm making mistake. Going to pair with Reaper 6. (Just for solo guitar. No prior experience with mastering programs, only with iffy recordings using Zoon H4n.)
Thanks!

Playing of tracks using 40-50% of CPU is very concerning, possibly that person was using a lot of VSTis or many instances of reverb. There are ways around that (besides rendering the mix to a stereo 'master').

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by FrankHS

I want to get either Ozone 9 standard ($79 cyber monday) or maybe Ozone Advanced ($199.) I poked around discussion groups to see if my 2014 laptop (Toshiba Satellite C55, Core i3 and 8G Ram, supposedly okay according "minimum requirements") would be practical, and found someone saying this concerning Ozone 9 suite in 2020:
<<My track plays at around 40-50% CPU usage. Adding Ozone on the master (without any preset selected), causes a CPU meltdown for me at 130%. Using Ozone is completely off the cards for me...>>

Of course I dont know how big this person's projects were, but his computer was twice mine in CPU. Someone here probly knows if I'm making mistake. Going to pair with Reaper 6. (Just for solo guitar. No prior experience with mastering programs, only with iffy recordings using Zoon H4n.)
Thanks!

Honestly I am not familiar with either Ozone or a machine running an i3 and 8 GB RAM.....So with that in mind ... I would think that machine probably adequate if marginal .....

In any case , I would not put much stock in some random internet persons review without knowing all the exact specifics of their situation.

What DAW, track count, how many plugins, what specific plugins , how many virtual instruments , what virtual instruments , His machine what OS etc.


I think the more important questions is ,,what CPU usage does one of your typical current sessions show ?

In general Reaper itself is very light on CPU so you have that going for you.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by FrankHS

I want to get either Ozone 9 standard ($79 cyber monday) or maybe Ozone Advanced ($199.) I poked around discussion groups to see if my 2014 laptop (Toshiba Satellite C55, Core i3 and 8G Ram, supposedly okay according "minimum requirements") would be practical, and found someone saying this concerning Ozone 9 suite in 2020:
<<My track plays at around 40-50% CPU usage. Adding Ozone on the master (without any preset selected), causes a CPU meltdown for me at 130%. Using Ozone is completely off the cards for me...>>

Of course I dont know how big this person's projects were, but his computer was twice mine in CPU. Someone here probly knows if I'm making mistake. Going to pair with Reaper 6. (Just for solo guitar. No prior experience with mastering programs, only with iffy recordings using Zoon H4n.)
Thanks!

I can't say for sure what the overall CPU power of your computer is, though I'll roughly guess. CPU "nameplates" like "i3" vary in power over time and even within the range of chips sold in one particular year, but I'm estimating based on the 2014 vintage of your computer and that it's a laptop it might not be very powerful in the modern scheme of things.

I run Ozone and lot of other Izotope plugins within Adobe Audition on a similar vintage Intel i7 system. As I explain above that my CPU was branded 'i7" many years ago doesn't tell you how powerful it is in a modern context, but it's enough info to know that it likely has "more horsepower" than yours, but also less than many others in use today. I have a different workflow that many here. I too record solo acoustic guitar with voice (not a demanding need for computer recording) and I do some recordings using a fair number of virtual instruments and a modestly high number of tracks, but I do that on another, much newer and more powerful computer and then bring the tracks over to my old i7 computer mixing/mastering system for final work.

I like Ozone. It's has a lot of useful tools for me, so I use it frequently. I have not run out of horsepower on my old i7 using Ozone and many other plugins when mixing and mastering.

I can't guarantee anything in your situation. I have Ozone 9 Advanced, which adds some modules to Standard, but I believe either can be used in different ways. One is to add onto a track or bus to add real time effects that you'd hear in your headphones or monitors as you play or mix. Another is to be used a final "mastering" tool to shape EQ, compression, and perceived loudness on a track that is otherwise complete.

You may be fine with the second usage. There's a standalone Ozone application where you can simply open the final mix's file and to those final "mastering" tweaks. Even if you run out of "horsepower" and starts to glitch while you are listening to the impact of the Ozone effects it might complete applying them. Obviously this would be awkward, but not a "fatal" error as your file should still be fine.

Similarly you could add one or more effects to a single track in Reaper while playing or mixing. If you're doing simple acoustic guitar and vocal this is not usually required. I like a little "vanity reverb" sometimes when I'm doing vocals and I'll sometime run a software limiter thinking it'll help prevent a loud digital over, but recording dry and adding things like compression, EQ, etc afterward is no big issue for acoustic guitar/vocal. If one applies effects afterward, it's like the mastering deal above. If you have a rare situation where you run out of horsepower and the playback glitches, it may be a survivable annoyance. If CPU power runs out when you're recording, because you've overloaded things with effects, you'll most likely have a ruined take.

I believe Ozone has trial versions that can be converted to the real thing simply by purchasing. If the current sale price is something that's considerable for you, testing the trial version with your computer would be one way to see.

[TBman]

I run Reaper with Ozone 8 (9? maybe) as a plug in. It takes a while to load, but after that its fine. I do just a single track with 3 plug ins on the main track and 2-3 on the reverb bus.

My system is 9-10 years old I think.

HP Amd A4-3400, 64 bit
4 GB memory
2.7 Ghz

I'm getting a new PC in January of 22 and I'm looking at this one:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-desk...?skuId=6477682

[FrankHS]

Thanks everyone, especially for the contigency workarounds!