New iMac Pro or 2013 Mac Pro

What about RAID 0 Glyph Atom RAID SSD 1TB USB-C - Ok?

Thanks

Or is there some VEPro magic that I'm missing? 

Try the demo and see if it makes a difference (may or may not). From personal experience, it efficiently distributes the core loads when hosting VI's in VEPro on a single machine. Plus, everything remains loaded between projects. A good quality audio interface is also a huge asset.

VE Pro distributes the load on multi-timbral instances better than any DAW, including Logic. Period.

I was told by a music store that the Vienna Symphonic Library Vienna Ensemble Pro 6 basically used to coordinate VSTi/AU plug-ins?

What about RAID 0 Glyph Atom RAID SSD 1TB USB-C - Ok?

Thanks

As of now, USB-C can carry thunderbolt or USB3.0 (3.1) protocols.  It will probably be fine, but thunderbolt is better. But again, single drive means better random I/O, from which samples may benefit.

FYI  I changed my iMac from 2TB Fusion Drive to a 512GB SSD.

 

Downgraded Radeon Pro 580 with 8GB video memory to Radeon Pro 575 with 4GB video memory since I don't do video.

Edited October 24, 2017 by taffy

I was told by a music store that the Vienna Symphonic Library Vienna Ensemble Pro 6 basically used to coordinate VSTi/AU plug-ins?

It's used to host your VI's. As Jay mentioned, it distributes the load on multi-timbral instances more efficiently. In addition, it allows you to host VI's on a separate machine (slave), thus taking VI load completely off your main machine. For example, my master is a 2013 MacBook Pro, and most of the VI's are hosted (via VEPro) on a Windows slave. I can run huge templates without ever having to worry about RAM, as the slave is where most of the "grunt work" takes place. It's a brilliant piece of software that IMO, is an essential component of any DAW based composer.

The slave method idea sounds good but I checked with a music store but they said I would need a MOTU 112D 112x112...which is around $1,500.  I'm also going to try the Reaper method and the external Glyph Atom RAID SSD 1TB.

 

Thanks!

Why would you need that MOTU?? VEPro is over ethernet.

 

My two cents: I don't think anyone knows what your primary use of the system is, so it might make sense to gather some more info from reputable sources before diving into the server PC realm. VI-Control.net has tons of relevant threads.

 

The iMac is a great front-end machine for any type of music making, which is why myself and others recommended it so strongly.

 

So, what are you trying to run with this setup anyway? What are your needs? How is the current setup not meeting those needs?

VEPro ?  Well, I guess it would be worth trying, if all y'all are so pleased with it. But, to be honest, as The Donald would say, one of the great things about both Logic and Reaper is the absence of dongles or other protection gimmicks. I'd really really prefer not to go back there, for so many reasons.  

 

If someone has a working  PC with a working DAW, or for that matter another mac with a working DAW, trying the  Slave Machine method isn't very complicated and can be learned and explored "as you go". It's just a matter of connecting the two machines with Gigabit Ethernet and learning how to set up Network MIDI. Then you define a Network MIDI port between the two machines, send MIDI from a track in Logic, and pick it up in the DAW on the slave machine, to trigger VIs there with no load on Logic. The audio can be sent back to Logic in several ways, including a cable to carry SPDIF into Logic's audio interface. 

 

But it's like all of this stuff,  simple is best. Like @Monkeymonkey35 says, figure out what you need first, and unless/until you need extensions, why bother? 

All you need with a single slave is a simple Ethernet cable, just computer to computer....that is it; you don't even need a soundcard or interface other than what you already have on the Mac. That music store guy has no clue how this works.