Skip to content

TheLazyGeekGuy/DIY-Waves-Soundgrid-Server

BranchesTags

Folders and files

NameName
Last commit message
Last commit date

Latest commit

 

History

52 Commits

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE

 
 

README.md

README.md

 
 

Repository files navigation

DIY Waves Soundgrid Server

This page is a compilation on what you'll find on Groupdiy GearSpace thanks to krabbencutter or facebook thanks to Kalfelz Wusik William.

No source code will be provided.

SUBMIT A NEW CONFIGURATION HERE

SoundGrid Certification Courses

Please consider learning more about SoundGrid technologie

  • SoundGrid 101: Introduction to SoundGrid : basics of Waves SoundGrid systems for real-time audio processing and networking.
  • SoundGrid 201: In-Depth Training : in depth about Waves SoundGrid systems for real-time audio processing and networking.
  • SoundGrid 301: Advanced Training : how to operate a Waves SoundGrid system more effectively, including troubleshooting basics.

And also buying more delicious Waves Plugins

Configurations

Configurations requirements

Componant
CPU Intel CPU only - i5 or i7 6th gen mininimum recommanded
RAM 4Go
Network Intel or Some Realtek - 1 Ethernet Port only
Drive USB Flash Drive1

NOT WORKING :

  • Non Intel CPU based configuration
  • Non Intel or Some Realtek based NIC card

Waves

DISCLAIMER
About waves configuration 

All waves configuration tag price don't reflect only gear but also come with :
  - professional support, 
  - Sturdy all-metal casing, 
  - Free 1-year warranty, 
  - Neutrik etherCon SoundGrid port connector for some units 
  - and more important all love from waves.

> Official configurations 2022

Official / DIY MotherBoard / Config Name CPU Form Factor H-Reverb Test 2 Price / ratio 3
Official NA QBI2145A4 Celeron J4125 ---- NA $849 /
Official Gigabyte mITX-4125A-WV5 Celeron J4125 ---- NA $1299 /
Official Gigabyte GA-IMB410N6 i3 10300 ---- NA $1799 /
Official Gigabyte GA-IMB410N7 i7 10700 ---- NA $2399 /
Official Gigabyte GA-IMB410N8 i7 10700 ---- NA $2449 /
Official Gigabyte W480M9 i9 10900K ---- NA $3499 /
Official Gigabyte W480M10 i9 10900K ---- NA $3999 /

> Legacy official configurations < 2022

Official / DIY MotherBoard / Config Name CPU Form Factor H-Reverb Test 2 Price / ratio 3
Official Polywell J4105AEL211 Celeron J4105 ---- <6 (11034840) $849 / 141
Official Portwell Nano-6000C12 i5 6200u ---- 6 (11034840) $1299 / 216
Official Gigabyte GA-B150N-GSM 13 i5 ---- 12 (11034840) $1799 / 149
Official Gigabyte GA-H81N 14 i5 4590K ---- 14 (11034840) $2449 / 178
Official Gigabyte GA-B360N-GSM v1.0 1516 i7 9700 ---- 14 (11034840) $2399 / 171

DIY configurations

Towers

Official / DIY MotherBoard / Config Name CPU Form Factor H-Reverb Test 2 Price € / ratio 3
DIY Acer N4660G i7 8700 ---- ---- ----
DIY ASRock H110M DVS i5 7400 ---- ---- ----
DIY ASRock H510M17 i7 11700K ITX ---- ----
DIY ASUS B85 Plus I5 4570 S ITX ---- ----
DIY Asus P79 i7 3930x ---- ---- ----
DIY Asus Z87-K C2 i7 4770 ---- 11 ----
DIY Asus H81M-K motherboard i7 4771 ---- 14 ----
DIY Dell T5500 i7 4771 ---- ---- ----
DIY Dell PowerEdge T20 Xeon E3 1225 v3 ---- 11 300 (2015)
DIY Dell Optiplex 7060 ---- ---- ---- ----
DIY Dell Optiplex 3050 Micro i5 7500T ---- ---- ----
DIY Gigabyte B365 ---- ---- ---- ----
DIY Gigabyte B365M DS3H i7 9700K ---- ---- ----
DIY Gigabyte B365M WIFI-Y1-R i7 9700 ---- ---- ----
DIY Gigabyte GA-H81M-S2PH i5 4570 ---- ---- ----
DIY Gigabyte GA-H110TN i7 6700 ---- ---- ----
DIY Gigabyte GA-H510M S2 V2 i9 11900 ---- 20 800 (2022) / 40
DIY Gigabyte GA-B360N GSM / WiFi i7 8700K ---- ---- ----
DIY Gigabyte b365m ds3h i7 9700k ---- ---- ----
DIY Gigabyte b365m ds3h i7 9700 ---- ---- ----
DIY Gigabyte IMB410TN i7 8700 ---- ---- ----
DIY Gigabyte H410M S2H (r8169 NIC) i5 10400 ---- ---- ----
DIY Gigabyte H270N i7 7700K ---- ---- ----
DIY Gigabyte Z370P D3 i5 9600k ---- ---- ----
DIY HP Z240 workstation i7 6700 ---- ---- ----

Rack server

Official / DIY MotherBoard / Config Name CPU Form Factor H-Reverb Test 2 Price € / ratio 3
DIY DELL R210 II Xeon 1230 V2 ---- ---- ----

Mini / SFF / USFF Towers

Official / DIY MotherBoard / Config Name CPU Form Factor H-Reverb Test 2 Price € / ratio 3
DIY HP Elitedesk 600 G3 i7 6700 SFF 20 (11034440) 150 (2022) / 7.5
DIY HP Elitedesk 600 G3 i7 7700 SFF 22 (11034440) 160 (2022) / 7.27
DIY HP Elitedesk 800 G1 i7 4790 SFF ---- ----
DIY HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini i5 7700 USFF ---- ----
DIY HP Elitedesk 800 G5 i5 9500T ---- ---- ----
DIY HP Elitedesk G2 i5 6500T ---- 8 ----
DIY HP Z220 (C216 chipset) i7 3770 SFF 12 (12.8.0.320) ----
DIY Lenovo M93P tiny i5 4570T USFF ---- ----
DIY Lenovo thinkcentre M900-tiny i5 6500T ---- ---- ----

Bad ideas

- Virtualisation (Vmware ESXI or other virtualisation solution) : run but will also keep failing as the server need REALTIME usage, spend more time doing music geeks !
- Laptop server : Laptops are not designed to be servers. Soundgrid will definitely work but in the long run you will definitely have overheating/cooling issues as the server running the computer at fullspeed, it will make your computer die sooner ...

WIP

- HP Elitedesk 400 G7 i5 10500 : NIC Intel® I219LM recognition failed

Failed to work and will never be ...

Official / DIY MotherBoard / Config Name CPU Form Factor H-Reverb Test 2 Price € / ratio 3
DIY Apple Mac Mini * ---- ---- ----
DIY MSI B450M Mortar Max Ryzen 3 1200 ---- ---- ----
DIY MSI 790FX-GD70 Phenom II X4 965 ---- ---- ----
DIY Lenovo Thinkstation P340 ---- ---- ----
DIY MSI B450M Mortar Max Ryzen 3 1200 ---- ---- ----

NIC : compatible additional NIC Card Intel/Realtek

- Intel I210-T1 Ethernet Server Adapter - PCIe 2.1 lowprofil - around 60€
- Intel EXPI9402PT 
- Intel Chipsets 000 series, I219V seem to work fine. Intel PCIe LAN card can work.
- Realtek 8111x should work (Success with 8111H and 8111B and R8169) :

FAQ

How do i check the CPU ?

I always take my 2013 CPU i7 4770as reference. It always had decent results on reverb test creamware pulsar saturation on PCI Bus before with the same result : around 10/11 reverbs.

When i need to check the "brut power" of a CPU for reference, i google "i7 4770 vs The other one cpuboss" and check rapidely on some site like CPU Boss for benchmarck comparison or passmark comparison website.

I check to have at least the same as the i7 4770 (or almost equivalent : i5 8500T, i7 4790

Avoid Celeron, Intel I3 or too old CPU (before 2013), and be carefull with the reference : i6500 is NOT the same as i6500T (or K, S, T, U ....)

Which motherboard ?

For a long time as reference (on planetz : creamware user) : ASUS or GIGABYTE where the most reliable choice for a music computer.

How do i mesure performance of my setup ? (H-Reverb Test)

One of the mesure of setup performance (and does not reflect the whole CPU capabilities - see "CPU Performance vs. Real-Time Performance in Digital Audio Workstations (DAW)" for full explanation), is to test the worst case scenario for plugins use : reverbs. Reverbs are often the most commun and worst for system resources. This is why this is a commun reference.( see 2005 Masterverb thread)

A simple test you can do, as waves does :

Test Version

   Result : <Waves Version><Case><Frequency Rate><Latency>

Exemple : H-reverb 20 (11034840) will refer to a studio rack test on Waves V11 @ 48Khz under a latency of 40

Test Case

Case Main Soft Sub soft Comments
01 eMotion LV1 latency optimized mode
02 SuperRack SoundGrid
03 StudioRack SoundGrid Studio SoundGrid mode

Source : Waves Plugins latency

Test Itself

Case 3 StudioRack + SoundGrid Studio

  1. create an audio track on your DAW, insert random wav on it
  2. set studiorack plugin insert on this track, select H - Reverb plug in
  3. play, if it's :
  • DOES NOT poping or other interference, duplicate and repeat until it does
  • DOES popin, your reach your max, count your track number : and this his the end of the test

Reducing noise & temperature

CPU

Try to change the thermal paste of your CPU with someting like Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut - Conductive, High Performance Thermal Paste - Extensive for air Cooling Systems, Water Cooling, for All heatsinks CPU and GPU (7,8 Gram / 3 ml) Amazon US FR and Isopropanol 99,9% Alkohol - Amazon US FR It will reduce your CPU temperature of few degrees.

Create a Soundgrid Server V11 USB stick (Windows)

Here's a simple set of instructions how to create a Soundgrid Server V11 USB stick on Windows in about 5 minutes

- install SoundGrid Studio (or another Soundgrid application of your choice) on your System
- Download Rufus https://rufus.ie/
- insert an empty USB stick
- open Rufus and toggle "Show advanced drive properties" (below the "Partition scheme"-Dropdown). 
  You don't need to click anything here, instead click on the "Boot selection"-Dropdown
- select "Syslinux 6.04" from the "Boot selection"-Dropdown
- hit START. You'll get some warning dialogs, as well as some dialogs where you need to allow Rufus to download syslinux.
- download and install 7-Zip https://7-zip.org/
- navigate to C:\ProgramData\Waves Audio\SoundGrid Firmware\SGS
- open the .wfi file with 7-zip
- extract the content to your USB stick
- eject the USB stick and put it in your server

Source krabbencutter

Wave Server CLI : AG_NSServer

Some command :

  AG_NSServer -help

Result

  AG_NSServer -i eth0 -m sgnf AG_NSServer -i eth0 -m sgnf -o ./wsgnf -d

NIC Issue : I boot up but my server is not recognised

Here is the symptom :

Result

or

   case controller -c no_lan
   can't open led serial device: /dev/case_controller ! case controller failed!

Resolution : add additional nic card

Soundgrid Studio : Safe Mode

Hold SHIFT-F until the "FW" on your soundgrid server lights up and click that 'FW'.

Bypass the ethnert HUB

With a NIC Card with multiple outputs, If you don't need more than one server and too long distance (ie a studio)... you can bypass the usage of the ethernet hub ... Worked with HP NC360T (low profile) between HP400G7 and direct cable to HP600G3SFF (SG Server) without any hub.

It should work with a backup server but you need to test it.

Footnotes

  1. Dont connect any other drive than the flash drive. During firmware update, it could blank your whole drive ... Exemple : Kingston DataTraveler DTSE9G2 32GB Memory Stick ↩

  2. check FAQ : "How do i mesure performance of my setup ? (H-Reverb Test)" ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. ratio is (price list) / (H-reverb test result) = cost per H-reverb - lower is better ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. SoundGrid Proton Server 2022 Specification ↩

  5. Proton Duo 2022 Specification ↩

  6. SoundGrid Server One-C 2022 Specification ↩

  7. SoundGrid Extreme Server-C 2022 Specification ↩

  8. SoundGrid Extreme Server 2022 Specification ↩

  9. Titan SoundGrid Server Specification ↩

  10. Titan-R SoundGrid Server Specification ↩

  11. Proton Server Specification ↩

  12. Mobile Server ↩

  13. Server One-C Specification ↩

  14. Extreme Server Specification ↩

  15. Impact Server C X9 Specification ↩

  16. Extreme Server-C : Specification ↩

  17. Intel Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter (supported nic) ↩

About

All compatible servers for building your own DIY Waves Soundgrid Server

Topics

waves diy vst soundgrid waves-soundgrid-server

Resources

Readme
Activity

Stars

90 stars

Watchers

15 watching

Forks

7 forks
Report repository