Time Traveller Needs Guidance

Here's where to talk about preamps, cables, microphones, monitors, etc.

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Here's where to talk about preamps, cables, microphones, monitors, etc.
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Dave Bourke
Posts: 784
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Dublin, Ireland

Time Traveller Needs Guidance

Post by Dave Bourke »

Hi friends,

I used to be an active member of the MotU community until 2009 when I contracted undetected and undiagnosed Lyme Disease. I still have DP 7.23 on this dying Mac Pro. But I'm back, raring to go, and I find myself in a strange future.

All my hardware instruments are now museum-worthy, so I have to start all over again, and this time I'll work only in the box. But I'd like to be able to keep my UAD-2 Quad, UAD-1, and PowerCore Firewire if possible because I've invested far too much money in plug-ins to lose it all.

Problem is that the new Mac Pro trashcan doesn't take PCIe cards, so is it possible to rescue them with some sort of external expansion chassis?

Another problem is interfacing. USB/Thunderbolt doesn't seem like it will be a big problem, but even Apple can't make a proper two-way Firewire/Thunderbolt adapter. So would I be better off investing in a rebuilt Mac Pro tower rather than the new model?

That way, I could also use my ancient but sweet 24i. I can't remember whether I'll need an MTP AV if I'm using only software synths, but I wouldn't imagine so. Oh, and can you recommend a decent quality 61-key controller keyboard? And anything else I need for personal in-the-box recording? Lyme does a lot of memory damage, so there's much for me to relearn.

I'll only ever need two audio inputs, two headphone outs, and one stereo audio out for monitors.

Thanks for your time and attention, friends.

Namaste,

David.
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mikehalloran
Posts: 15134
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:08 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Sillie Con Valley

Re: Time Traveller Needs Guidance

Post by mikehalloran »

Dave, sorry to hear of your troubles. I suffered a massive stroke 8 years ago and I know a thing or two about getting back into the game.
Problem is that the new Mac Pro trashcan doesn't take PCIe cards, so is it possible to rescue them with some sort of external expansion chassis?
Unfortunately, no. MOTU would have had to redesign the 424e card for this to happen. It's an Apple firmware issue that cannot be solved any other way. In addition, those expansion chassis solutions are so pricy that a new interface is less expensive even if you were to reproduce the functionality of the 24i. There are many choices currently available nowadays, some of which include MIDI.

Your MTP AV will work if the firmware is 2.0.1. It's hard coded and the upgrade chips are no longer available from MOTU since 2012. Change the CR2032 battery if you've not done so in the last few years. If not v. 2.0.1, they're not very expensive on eBay.

DP 7.24 cannot be installed over Sierra; it can work on Sierra if installed over El Capitán and the OS upgraded. You will need access to a USB CD drive for authorization. I would take a good look at DP 9 — the download is fully functional for 30 days.

Many old apps, like DP 7.24 can work if Migration Assistant or Time Machine is used to pull all applications and files over from your old Mac. You still need a CD drive to authorise from your CD (not an issue with DP 9).

Use Migration Assistant or Time Machine Restore to bring your DP files over (same with MS Office, Adobe and many other file types). If that's not possible, zip them before copying over to your new Mac. Doing so will save a big headache later.

Since your new Mac is not a portable, disable App Nap globally—its only purpose is to conserve battery life in portables. DP and many other plugs and can misbehave with it on.

Disable App Nap System Wide in Mac OS X
Copy the following command and paste into Terminal.app then hit <Enter> or <Return> key. Type your Admin password when prompted then <Enter> or <Return>

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAppSleepDisabled -bool YES

Reboot or close and restart applications
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
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