Media drives track count.
- David Jacques
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Benchmark settings
Windows Drive Partition :GPT
Windows format Block size : 64k (for Pyramix audio only) - Default 128k (for audio and video) -Â RAID level Block size: 64k
Windows Drive Indexing and compression turned offÂPyramix Playback buffer set Level 3 (default)
Record Block size to 64k (default)For high track count, Merging highly recommends to record in "single media" (all tracks in 1 single file) and not in "one file per track", especially for DXD and DSD.
One file per track is more demanding than single media.Real-time sampling rate conversion :Â DSD256 or DSD128 (DSDIFF) in a DXD project requires a lot of resources, therefore the number of I/Os may need to be reduced in such a mismatched format Record scenario (e.g. DSD256 in a DXD project)
For better performance disable the Waveform Generation while recording (Pyramix Settings > Playback/Record > Waveform to None or Generate AFTER recording)
DSD files are recorded in SDM D (default)
The benchmark is performed while recording over existing material, therefore the drive is tested while reading the existing material and reading / writing the recorded files.
Drives
All drives are :
NVMe SSD M.2 (PCIe 4.0) Western Digital Black SN850x or Samsung 980
SATA SSD models : SSD Samsung 870 MZ serie or Crucial MX serie (SATA III)
SATA HDD models : Western Digital RE serie or RED PRO serie. (7200RPM - 128MB cache) (SATA III)Do not use Green or Eco drives.
RAID hardware : Intel RAID (on board) or HighPoint RocketRAID 2720SGL
Notes
When more than 70% full, a HDD performances quickly decreases. Â A SSD is not subject to that issue.
HDD performances decreases depending on its fragmentation, it should be defragmented on a regular basis to sustain performance over time.On the opposite, SSD should never be defragmented.
RAID arrays in "Initialize", "Degraded" and "Verify" state have their performances reduced.
RAID Array types:
RAID 0: min 2 - max 4 drives (striping - good performance - no redundancy)Â Â
RAID 1: min 2 - max 4 drives (mirroring- low performance - redundancy)
RAID 10: min 4 drives (striping and mirroring- good performance - redundancy)
RAID 5: min 3 - recommended 4 drives (striping with parity - low performance - redundancy)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAIDÂ
http://www.raid-calculator.com/raid-types-reference.aspx
Maximum number of tracks table
"One file per track" track count displayed under brackets.Â
One file per track is more demanding than single media, and not recommended when doing large track count.
PCM
NVMe SSD | SATA SSD | SATA HDD | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
single | RAID1 | single | RAID0 | RAID1 | RAID10 | single | RAID0 | RAID1 | RAID10 | |
1Fs | 384(384) | 384(384) | 256(256) | 384(384) | 256(256) | 384(384) | 128(96) | 192(128) | 128(96) | 192(128) |
2Fs | 192(192) | 192(192) | 128(128) | 192(192) | 128(128) | 192(192) | 64(48) | 96(64) | 64(48) | 96(64) |
4Fs | 96(96) | 96(96) | 64(64) | 96(96) | 64(64) | 96(96) | 32(24) | 56(32) | 32(24) | 56(32) |
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DSD
No Sampling rate conversion involved, files are recorded in their native formats; DXD files in DXD project and DSD 64/128/256 files in DSD64/128/256 project respectively.
"One file per track" track count displayed under brackets. Â
One file per track is more demanding than single media, and not recommended when doing large track count.
DSF and WSD formats have limited track count (6 channels), therefore Merging recommends to record in DSDIFF or MTFF.
 | NVMe SSD | SATA SSD | SATA HDD | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | single | RAID1 | single | RAID0 | RAID1 | RAID10 | single | RAID0 | RAID1 | RAID10 |
DXD | 64(64) | 64(56) | 48(48) | 64(64) | 32(32) | 64(64) | 16(16) | 32(24) | 16(12) | 32(24) |
DSD64 | 64(64) | 64(56) | 48(48) | 64(64) | 32(32) | 56(48) | 16(16) | 32(24) | 16(12) | 32(24) |
DSD128 | 64(64) | 64(56) | 48(48) | 64(64) | 32(32) | 56(48) | 16(12) | 32(24) | 16(12) | 32(24) |
DSD256 | 64(64) | 64(56) | 48(48) | 64(64) | 32(32) | 56(48) | 16(12) | 32(24) | 16(12) | 32(24) |
DSD in DXD project specific
DSD256 or DSD128 (DSDIFF) in a DXD project requires a lot of resources therefore the number of I/Os may need to be reduced in such a mismatched format Record scenario.Â
Recording DXD using the Merging devices A to D converters is very intensive in CPU processing with AD in DSD mode.
In such a scenario MassCore SMP license is mandatory for high track counts.
The processing needs to be balanced between Windows and MassCore CPUs (For example with a 8 Core CPU, 4 Cores for Windows and 4 for MassCore).
Windows OS must be properly configured as per Merging specifications and recommendations.Â
Benchmarks were performed with Intel i7-13700K CPU (Performances Cores only), 32GB DDR5 RAM, WD Black SN850X NVMe M.2 SSD, NON HyperThreaded mode with 4 cores to MassCore and 4 cores to Windows repartition.
HyperThreading can be enabled, but makes the system load less stable at high track count.
MassCore must be set to Low latency mode, with MassCore SMP key (Extended) for such track counts.
For better performance when recording, disable the Waveform Generation while recording (Pyramix Settings > Playback/Record > Waveform to None or Generate AFTER recording).
For editing, please be aware that edits such as Crossfades requires twice the processing resources, so track count may be reduced (or convert your medias to DXD during the editing work, and relink to the DSD256 medias for the final processing).
Project DXD | Project DSD64 | Project DSD128 | Project DSD256 | |||||
MEDIA | Playback * | Record | Playback * | Record | Playback * | Record | Playback * | Record |
DXD | 64 Tracks | 64 inputs | ||||||
DSD64 | 64 Tracks | 64 inputs | 64 Tracks | 64 inputs | ||||
DSD128 | 56 Tracks*** | 56 inputs | 64 Tracks | 64 inputs | ||||
DSD256 | 48 Tracks*** | 48 inputs** | 64 Tracks | 64 inputs | ||||
*Projects have no tracks limitation, the specified playback track value is based on the tracks containing media.
**Requires optimal configuration (TurnKey) with MassCore SMP key (Extended).Â
*** Playback track count without edits (such as crossfades). When editing with crossfades, performance can reduce significantly and stalls may occur.Â
We recommend not crossfading between the same media source, and if the performance cannot be sustained, to convert your medias to DXD during the editing work, and relink to the DSD256 medias for the final processing.