Retrieving Data from Old Digital Performer Projects

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mikehalloran
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Re: Retrieving Data from Old Digital Performer Projects

Post by mikehalloran »

bayswater wrote:
mikehalloran wrote:Today on another forum I heard about Sheepshaver.
You need an install disk for the versions of the OS you want to run, and you need an image of the Apple ROM which "may be hard to find", as they say in the manual.
Or you need to look at Macintosh Garden
http://macintoshgarden.org/guides

They have quite a few images for older Mac OS, also.

I'm pretty certain that I have CD or DVD images for every OS since 8.0.

Since Opcode MusicShop can open my DMCS files in OS 9, I am not feeling the need to emulate my Mac+ but its nice to know that I could if I really wanted to.
DP 11.31; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
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bayswater
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Re: Retrieving Data from Old Digital Performer Projects

Post by bayswater »

Yes, both of the links for ROMs at Macintosh Gardens lead to at least one active ROM version image.
2018 Mini i7 32G 10.14.6, DP 11.3, Mixbus 9, Logic 10.5, Scarlett 18i8
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mikehalloran
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Re: Retrieving Data from Old Digital Performer Projects

Post by mikehalloran »

bayswater wrote:Yes, both of the links for ROMs at Macintosh Gardens lead to at least one active ROM version image.
5 including the New World ROM needed to emulate 8.6 - 9.04 in Sheepshaver. Anyway, we're way OT.

The G4 running DP 6 or even 7.01 should do what is needed. Once you have recovered and converted the audio to .wav, you need to zip (Archive) the project folders before moving them to your Windows PC.

I do not recommend DP 7.1 or later as I had many problems opening old files that were created on other Macs. DP 5, 6 and 7.01 had no problems with those files, many created in DP 2.7.1 and 3.x.

To solve the problems, I borrowed a 7.01 CD and downloaded the 7.12 updater to diagnose the issue and fix my projects -- I got 7.24 when I purchased. 7.24 kept crashing, 7.01 opened them easily. DP 7.12 displayed 'access denied' errors but didn't crash. This allowed me to fix all my project folders. Except for plugin issues, all open in DP 8.

If I never open my Win machine again, I'm ok so I will never test theses in DP 8 for Windows.
Last edited by mikehalloran on Fri Feb 13, 2015 8:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
DP 11.31; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.4, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3 6/10/12; 2012 MBPs Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
Qucifer
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Joined: Fri Sep 01, 2006 5:49 pm
Primary DAW OS: Windows

Re: Retrieving Data from Old Digital Performer Projects

Post by Qucifer »

dixiechicken wrote: Yes then I understand but that does not have anything to do with AppleTalk
AppleTalk is just network protcol - for transporting data.

Once your old projects were zipped into an archive with the data and resource fork in it. I should not matter which network protocol is used to transport that archive.

You dont need AppleTalk for getting the resourcr fork back intact.
Unless I'm missing something else here? (entirely possible of course :D )
Not trying to beat a horse here or anything--just want to make sure this is clear in case anyone runs into this in the future, and this thread is somehow useful.

I understand and agree with you that AppleTalk or the AFP protocol should have nothing to do with getting this data back. But in this case, there's a reason why they're necessary.

Back when I was working with these projects, I had been storing them on a Linux file server that was running netatalk (http://netatalk.sourceforge.net/). I ended up archiving the Linux representation of that data (from the Linux filesystem), not the Macintosh representation. My storage workflow at the time was Linux-based, so I just let my normal storage system store those files from the Linux disk. At the time, the tools I had available for dealing with large data sets were far more advanced on Linux than what I had available on OS 9.

Unfortunately, the way that netatalk stores the forked files is not something that a Mac would recognize directly. The format stored in my archive is in a form that netatalk understands (File, .AppleDouble/File)--so I need to install netatalk again, and make that data available through AFP file sharing. Netatalk will understand the data format and present it to the Mac correctly. AFP (over IP) is only required because that's the only way to access a netatalk file share.

There are possibly ways to convert the netatalk storage format into something the Mac would understand natively, without putting the files back onto a netatalk share. I've found a few perl scripts and such that do various format conversions on netatalk .AppleDouble files--but I suspect the quickest way to get this solved is to just put Humpty back the way he was.

If I had it to do over again, I would have just made StuffIt archives of my projects and stuck them on my file server. Had I done that, I wouldn't have to go through the exercise of getting netatalk working again--I could just uncompress those archives and open them in DP.
dixiechicken wrote:Any ways the best of luck solving your problem - let us know how it goes
Cheers: Dixiechicken!
I absolutely will! I feel like I have a pretty solid plan for unrolling the Linux/netatalk mess. It's quite possible I run into other issues once that's sorted out--I'll definitely let you guys know how it goes. I very much appreciate all of the help you guys are offering.

I'll write up a post-mortem at the end of the thread once this is successfully handled, if you guys think that would be helpful at all?
Qucifer
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Joined: Fri Sep 01, 2006 5:49 pm
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Re: Retrieving Data from Old Digital Performer Projects

Post by Qucifer »

Success!!!

I was able to get the old PowerBook G4 on the network with access to the old projects through the netatalk server. Got DP 6 installed and the projects opened up just fine! Everything worked perfectly.

The G4 only has 512 megabytes of RAM in it, so I went ahead and ordered a full gigabyte from OWC. It was REALLY sluggish (probably lots of swapping).

Once I get the RAM upgraded, I'll be able to start exporting all of the individual bits out of my projects. I bet you guys have a lot of good advice here...

My naive approach would be to remove all of the plugins from the mixer and set all the faders to unity gain, panning to center. Then I'd solo each audio track and bounce the project to disk, in either stereo or mono depending on the track. That would get me a bounced audio file for each audio part in the project. I'd be able to take these audio files and import them into a new project in another workstation, just like working with stems.

I'd use a similar approach for MIDI--exporting those pieces to standard MIDI files.

Is there a slicker/easier way to do this? The important things are that I want every media item to start at '0' time, and I want the least amount of math done to the audio as is possible.
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