Best set up for DP and Ivory Grand II Pianos

[advancedspectrum]

This is my current set up. I have DP 7.2.

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1vJ2 ... sp=sharing

Synthogy recommends a dedicated hard drive for Ivory. My current Mac Pro is at capacity. I was planning on a Mac Mini perhaps to add to my rig and run Ivory on it. I would record Ivory on a DP install on the Mac Mini. When satisfied, I would bounce the audio and file transfer to my production Mac so I can add more instruments. What type of MIDI interface would I need for this set up? I want to have the MacPro and Mac Mini on simultaneously and I want my have my keyboards connected such that I can choose which computer I want to send MIDI data to.

Here is what I am thinking I want:
https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1WQo ... sp=sharing

Any advice from the pros would be appreciated.

Thanks
Sajjad

[Shooshie]

Nice idea, but probably unnecessary. So, you've got four drives in the Mac Pro, and all are near capacity? You need the speed of an SATA drive, so there are a couple of choices you might consider.

1) add another drive inside the Mac Pro. Most people do not know that you can add a hard drive or two in the Optical Drive Bay. If you are not using two DVD drives, then the other bay is free, and will hold another SATA drive. Later Mac Pros have the connections you need right up there in the bay, including data and electric cables for SATA. Earlier ones had two extra SATA connections on the motherboard. By running a cable from that board and into the optical bay, you could connect an extra drive. If you want to go that route, I may have instructions somewhere on my drive. Or, you may find them on the net.

2) offload some static data from your drives and onto an external Firewire drive. There are some My Passport drives by Western Digital that run off the Firewire bus, and need no power supply. I've got four 2TB My Passport drives plugged in series to the same port, with no apparent disadvantages. They are not fast drives, but they're not slow, either. Firewire 800 is a moderately speedy interface. You can use one or more of those drives for data you currently have sitting on an internal SATA drive. If you make room for about 200GB of empty space on one of those internal drives, it should handle Ivory without any problem.

Before choosing a drive, consider this: Ivory needs unfettered access to the drive when it's running. It can take the occasional intrusion, but you don't want to stream several instruments at once from the Ivory drive. So, try to arrange your streaming libraries such that they are balanced across the available drives, not occupying either the System drive or the DP project drive. That should leave two drives, internally, or three if you add a fifth internal. The Ivory drive can hold terabytes of data that's not being used when Ivory is streaming. Just be sure there is some free space on the drive, and that Ivory occupies a contiguous section of the drive. If you're not sure how to do that, make some free space on the drive, then copy the drive to another drive. During the copy, it will make everything contiguous. You can then either use the other drive, or copy it back. Once done, you'll have contiguous free space for an Ivory install.

Lotsa work, but worth it in the end, and you don't always have to be bouncing projects back and forth between computers.

Shooshie

[advancedspectrum]

Thank you so much for your reply Shooshie!!! I had no idea that this was even possible. I am definitely going to research the optical bay drive upgrade to hold additional storage.

[mhschmieder]

It especially works well with SSD's as they can dangle with no harm or unreliability. Not sure if Ivory itself benefits from an SSD vs. system stuff (which does for sure). I haven't used Ivory II much; some disappointments all around, but I aim to at some point soon. I do remember it having slightly different specifics than other large sample-based products regarding streaming vs. memory vs. other factors that influence where it's installed.

As for the initial recommendation from the vendor, I think they simply mean it's best not to put it on the system drive. I highly doubt it matters if other stuff (e.g. other libraries) are on the same drive as Ivory.

[Shooshie]

Thank you so much for your reply Shooshie!!! I had no idea that this was even possible. I am definitely going to research the optical bay drive upgrade to hold additional storage.

If you do, you can get some brackets from Fry's (or order some online) that allow you to secure the drive to the optical drive bay. I think a normal SATA drive is 3.5 inches, so it would be a 3.5 to 5.25 inch hard drive mounting bracket. If you are installing a 2.5 inch drive, there are brackets for those, too.

The fun part is finding out that you don't have to install a cable to the motherboard. If you have a fairly late-model MacPro, the cables are already there. Just slide out the optical drive bay, disconnect the cables, and install your drive into the sliding bay. Then connect the cables to their respective drives (the optical drive is still on top) and slide the bay back into its place. There are guides to align it.

If it's an older MacPro (say, 2007 or 2008), you have to find the SATA ports on the motherboard. They're near the fan area, labeled ODD_SATA (optical disk drive). Then you have to wrench a cable into one of them and run that cable up behind the bay and out where it can reach the drive. It's doable, but tricky. You need a flat SATA cable with the slimmest connectors available. An L-shaped connector on one end might be beneficial, but I don't remember for sure if I used one on my old MacPro. The fan housing can get in the way, so you have to carefully lift it up to slide the plug onto the motherboard connector. Takes patience and determination!

Anyway, let me know if you have questions. I can find those instructions if need be. (and an old post here in the forum)

Shooshie