Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

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Shooshie
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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by Shooshie »

dosuna11 wrote:When you figure out a cabling combination that is soft on the eyes please post as I have been consumed with cable madness :boohoo: for way too long. :surrender:

I had to design and build a studio desk to accommodate that.

(Click pictures for a larger version)
1. This shows the wooden channels that contain the cables and direct them down under the desk. Each is hinged with a latch. The 7 pictures in this series compilation show the doors open to varying degrees, or closed. See the larger version to make sense of it.
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2. This is where they all come out, under the desk. Some follow a plastic "hose" to the control console. Most plug into various power strips mounted in the open frame of the desk. These pictures were taken 12 years ago. There are 3 times that many cables now.
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3. This is the control console, which rolls out in a "drawer" beneath the keyboard. It also holds a trackball or trackpad on a turntable, all retract into the desk when not in use. The 7 switches you see under the Kurzweil and above the trackball can turn on two groups of rack gear, audio interfaces, near-field monitors, various lights, and the Kurzweil, which itself rolls in and out, with the desk folding down over it to cover it completely when not in use.
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4. Console and trackball platform retracted. Keyboard retracted. Drawers retracted.
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Not for everyone, but this desk has served me very, very well over the past 12 years. It took over a year to design, and several months to build.

Shooshie
|l| OS X 10.12.6 |l| DP 10.0 |l| 2.4 GHz 12-Core MacPro Mid-2012 |l| 40GB RAM |l| Mach5.3 |l| Waves 9.x |l| Altiverb |l| Ivory 2 New York Steinway |l| Wallander WIVI 2.30 Winds, Brass, Saxes |l| Garritan Aria |l| VSL 5.3.1 and VSL Pro 2.3.1 |l| Yamaha WX-5 MIDI Wind Controller |l| Roland FC-300 |l|
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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by mikehalloran »

MIDI Life Crisis wrote: I was also told just swapping out my HD is not an easy option. Huh? .
OWC has a how-to video and has announced 1T and 2T replacements shipping soon. It's not a 2 minute procedure but it is possible.
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dosuna11
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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by dosuna11 »

Hey Shooshie that desk design is very cool. Very creative and my eyes don't hurt.
iMac 2.7Ghz quadcore i5 16 gig RAM DP 7.24 OS 10.6.8, iMac G5 2.1GHz 2.5 gig Ram DP 5.13 OS 10.4.11 MOTU 828 MK2, East West Platinum Plus, Miroslav Philharmonic, Komplete 5, Kontakt 2 Garritan Big Band, Mr Sax T, The Trumpet, DrumCore, Trilogy and Trillian, Ivory, MachFive, Ethno Instrument, Reason 4, SampleTank 2 Sampletron, Samplemoog, Melodyne Editor, Nomad plugins, Vintage Warmer, Ozone 4, Amplitube Jimi, Xgear and AmpegSVX.
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MIDI Life Crisis
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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

I was having graphics problems in DVD player and iTunes on the new Mac pro. Apple Discussions lists numerous folks with graphic cards being replaced or the whole machine being replaced. The vendor wanted to replace the Mac as well.

I called Applecare first and I'm glad I did. I was on for 2 hours. We deleted all sorts of stuff I did't know was in there. Mostly obsolete launch agents, all caches, etc. Still severe stuttering in iTunes. Logging into a new act solved it, but there was still something afoot. It ended up bing my iTunes library. Once we changed libraries, even in my regular account on the Mac, the stuttering was gone. Open my iTunes library and the stuttering returned. Then reverting back to my library a second time and the stuttering stopped. Apparently something in iTunes was causing the problem. Whew!

Back on my lowly quad core that is blowing my 8 core out of the water. My VIs are on a USB3 dock and scream to life. Eventually I'll move all to SSDs but things are working fine and I have some serious deadlines to meet this week, so hopefully no more SNAFUs.

The only caveat is after deleting a bunch of launch agents and daemons is that I had to restore the iLok software (probably a launch agent). Quickeys was working poorly (again) and I had to reinstall QK to get the launch daemon (or agent) back and that seems to have also solved the QKs problems for now. I'll go ahead in get Keyboard Maestro ($36) anyway. It's clear Quickeys is finally on it's way out the door. Bummer! :deadhorse:
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dosuna11
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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by dosuna11 »

I feel your sting.
iMac 2.7Ghz quadcore i5 16 gig RAM DP 7.24 OS 10.6.8, iMac G5 2.1GHz 2.5 gig Ram DP 5.13 OS 10.4.11 MOTU 828 MK2, East West Platinum Plus, Miroslav Philharmonic, Komplete 5, Kontakt 2 Garritan Big Band, Mr Sax T, The Trumpet, DrumCore, Trilogy and Trillian, Ivory, MachFive, Ethno Instrument, Reason 4, SampleTank 2 Sampletron, Samplemoog, Melodyne Editor, Nomad plugins, Vintage Warmer, Ozone 4, Amplitube Jimi, Xgear and AmpegSVX.
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frankf
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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by frankf »

Mike, When I moved from QK to KM several years ago there was certainly some pain recreating some macros. It was well worth it. Smooth sailing ever since.
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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

Yeah, just bought it. Instant instead of waiting a second to see if it will work and no more fretting about QKs going under.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqiblXFlZuk
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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by James Steele »

Honestly, the easiest way to take that is buy a bag of cable zip ties at Fry's or another electronics store and start zip, zip, zipping the cables connected to devices you don't anticipate moving. If you DO need to take something out, just cut the cable ties off... they're so cheap... and re-tie them later.
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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

My cables are tied. I have several hundred zip ties and bongo ties. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.


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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by James Steele »

Gotcha... should've scrolled back through the thread before I posted. :)
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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

Thing is, the wires can't really be "bundled" as I normally would. The desk is more spread out and it would create an impossible mess to figure out if I had to move anything (as I often do).
O time, thou must untangle this, not I.
It is too hard a knot for me to untie! ~ Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
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Shooshie
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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by Shooshie »

frankf wrote:Mike, When I moved from QK to KM several years ago there was certainly some pain recreating some macros. It was well worth it. Smooth sailing ever since.
Recreating the macros is painful, because it takes time, but changing from one to the other is painful because I've spent 27 years using QuicKeys, and I understand it. I just hate learning a new piece of software that I can't even be sure is going to be here next year.

But if QK is on its way out, it's time to close the gap and get Keyboard Maestro. By the time I can't use QK anymore, I could have all my shortcuts replaced in the other one, providing it does all the things that QK can do.

Shooshie
|l| OS X 10.12.6 |l| DP 10.0 |l| 2.4 GHz 12-Core MacPro Mid-2012 |l| 40GB RAM |l| Mach5.3 |l| Waves 9.x |l| Altiverb |l| Ivory 2 New York Steinway |l| Wallander WIVI 2.30 Winds, Brass, Saxes |l| Garritan Aria |l| VSL 5.3.1 and VSL Pro 2.3.1 |l| Yamaha WX-5 MIDI Wind Controller |l| Roland FC-300 |l|
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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

It may be able to do all those things but elegant it's interface is not.


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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by mikehalloran »

For wires that are spaced apart under a flat surface, you can get long strips of Velcro. I don't trust the double-stick tape so I use a staple gun to attach one half under a desk. Lay your cables across and use the other side to hold them in place.
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Re: Transitioning to a Mac Pro Trash Can (one perspective)

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

Thanks Mike.
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