MacPro-- 8 Internal SATAs?

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 5:15 am

Sounds interesting for those needing a tad more storage space in a tidy package.

(freon cooling kit not included!!

)

seriously, this could come in handy...

http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/11/27 ... lsrc=mwrss

solar · Post by **solar** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:07 pm

Yes!!!!! Thank you for seeing that - Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I knew Maxconnect made a 9 HD kit for the G5's was looking into it for mine, but I have a 2.66 Mac Pro being delivered on Thursday and was wondering how I would use the other 2 ports. (forgot to check Maxconnect) I ended up buying one of these http://www.cwol.com/serial-ata/sata-int ... dapter.htm I also bought a one port adapter because I knew I could fit one HD under the Optical drive but was waiting for it to get here to find out if I could fit maybe 2. I never even thought of side by side. This Christmas is going to be great at least for myself ':D', my wife on the other hand will probably think differently as I will be in solitude trying to get everything set up. PCIe 424 being delivered on Thursday, DM-4800 on order (supposed to be at Sam Ash this week), Komplete 4 finally arrived and I got Massive for Free. And almost all my apps are UB. Heaven.

'

On a related side note the new Mac Pro has 4 PCIe slots but actually has 5 port holes/covers (don't know if that is the right wording) They made it double wide for the Video card I guess. Well that's where I got the idea to get a Internal to External port adapter and use that extra space. Still not sure if it will work, but I did read somewher where someone said you could do it although they were using a different adapter from a different manufacturer.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:36 pm

Hey Solar!

Man, I'm on the fence about a number of things that must be done concurrently-- lest compatibility become an issue. I'm always combing Macworld for the latest reports. Just added a 5 disc eSATA II RAID and am still pondering my next gen HD set up once I get an Intel. Glad the article came in handy for you.

I like the idea of adding 8 internals which will help keep at least one PCIe slot open. (Yes, at least one of the slots if a double-wide). If it works well, it's a lot cleaner than wiring in lots of external peripherals, and it's easier to maintain than a RAID HD system.

You also say you've got a DM4800 on order. That's next on my list (had quite a long thread going in the DP forum a couple of months ago), so I'll be lurking your posts to see how it's working for you. Some have talked about Tascam's control surface drivers acting funny, but some seem pleased enough. The idea of having a control surface with a DP layer is something you just don't find everywhere. It's just the right size with a reasonable amount of built-in ports, plus some thoughtful expansion cards to boot.

I'm really seeing lots of things starting to make sense with the Intels-- and third-party manufacturers are finally moving forward with products and support that are needed but not offered by Apple.

Once apps go 64-bit, it will be a whole new day for Mac computing.

solar · Post by **solar** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:16 pm

Yeah I think I commented on that thread regarding the HD RAID setup. I here you on the internal HD's, I ended up buying a G5 Jam and a G5 Jive for my current set up. Everything seemed to work great. I only got up to 5 Drives though. This time around I will probably also go out side the box. I am hoping to use all raptors for streaming samples and booting and not sure if that will be too much heat for inside the Mac Pro. No one seems to have done a review and I haven't found anyone who has tested it yet. I never did it with my G5 because it wasn't recommended, so I only used 2 raptors one for all my samples and one for booting and the other 3 were maxtors. I wish sonnet would make an external 8 port for the PCIe, of course with all the multi-port hoopla they probably won't. I am still leaning toward indie drives on separate ports.

I do have a DM 4800 on order it was supposed to be in yesterday (need to call and check into it) As soon as I heard it was out I sold my 3200, I really want the extra i/o and card expansion capabilities. And when I saw the FAT channel, that did it for me. Plus now all the faders coincide with the meters on the meter bridge (pet peeve of mine, but it was really wierd on the 3200 most people just lived with it but I hated it)
The DP/MIDI layer is really cool, I just played around with it as I still don't do much ITB mixing. But of course I set it up so I could see how it worked and it was great. You can even open up inserts and a few other things from the board, not just fader control. Alot more than I expected.

I think my next big purchase will be Symphony, but I am still debating between 2 symphony cards for 64 channels, or 1 424 for up to 96 (not that I would ever use that many but I do already have 2 MK3's) decisions, decisions, decisions.

It does feel as though things are coming together, I bucked intel at first but if in the end it gets me where I need to be so be it. Even down to possibly being able to throw in some clovertown processors "off the rack" at a reasonable price in the near future. so cool.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:26 pm

solar--

Your wish list is near identical to mine. There is an Apogee-Mac seminar next week, but I'll be out of town. An engineer friend of mine is about to switch over to the Symphony setup using an AD16x-- just what I wanted. Apogee says the clock on the AD16x is better than the clock on the Rosetta 800. (Hmm- I wanted the 800 myself...)

Thanks for the good word again on the DM 4800, too. Man, I can't wait to get set up with my coveted surround mixing config.

What nearfield monitors are you using?

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 1:04 pm

Why does one need the Symphony card? The AD16x also takes a firewire card... wouldn't that do the trick? I like the fact the AD16x has the heart of Big Ben ticking away under the hood.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 1:23 pm

HCMarkus wrote:Why does one need the Symphony card? The AD16x also takes a firewire card... wouldn't that do the trick? I like the fact the AD16x has the heart of Big Ben ticking away under the hood.

Firewire has sort of become a double four-letter word, at least on some systems that have been experiencing fw log jam recently. I've just dumped about $1500 into a whole new HD RAID system just to free up the single FW bus on my G5 for this reason. It was just that big of a problem. It may be less an issue on Intels, but I know that I've assumed too much about FW-- too many peripherals competing for attention.

For example, Duende is firwire only-- but if there is anything else plugged into any other FW port, only one device will be recognized. HD performance boost with eSATA II was worth making the change in my case.

Of course, one could get an FW host, but then we're back to PCI slots anyway. I'd rather just get the Symphony card in that case, but at least there are options for users with different needs where FW is advantageous for them.

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 4:58 pm

Yeah Frodo... in my case, the ONLY thing I hang off of the Firewire bus is my Audio I/O. I like the AD16x. Enough inputs to run a full tracking session. Great clock and converters. I may consider it down the road,but would be hard pressed to justify the expense if I go with a digital mixer like the Tascam.

How's the eSATA RAID working for you? Hopefully, you are enjoying improved performance for your VI's.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 11:07 pm

HCMarkus wrote:Yeah Frodo... in my case, the ONLY thing I hang off of the Firewire bus is my Audio I/O. I like the AD16x. Enough inputs to run a full tracking session. Great clock and converters. I may consider it down the road,but would be hard pressed to justify the expense if I go with a digital mixer like the Tascam.

How's the eSATA RAID working for you? Hopefully, you are enjoying improved performance for your VI's.

Keep talking Apogee and Tascam, and I'll follow you home like a stray beagle!!

The RAID so far seems okay, although I've yet to put it to any real tests-- have been working with Finale on my laptop mostly. I'll probably try a few stress tests in the next couple of days-- but I'm back on the road this weekend. I really need to find out if my track counts improve at all...

That Apogee is something to consider. If cost is a factor, I'd consider passing on the DM-3200 or 4800 and go with a control surface just for the conversion and clock of the AD16x... but you know me-- dream big-- buy big-- spend the rest of your life in debtor's prison!

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:56 am

I guess this is one of those situations in which it would really pay off to find a dealer where one can sit down and have a serious listening session comparing the two products side by side... or find a dealer who would ship me both and let me send back the one I don't want!

The routing, control and convenience of digital mixers make them so compelling. But the sound is the ultimate consideration, isn't it?

By the way, how are the acoustics in prison? Perhaps it would be better to simply go insane... those institutions have padded walls!

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:46 am

HCMarkus wrote:By the way, how are the acoustics in prison? Perhaps it would be better to simply go insane... those institutions have padded walls!

LOL!! Some rooms are indeed "acoustically treated" while other rooms have a nice natural "reverb". Isolation from residual noise can be a problem, but getting great environment ambience samples has been wonderful!!

Oh, man-- that we could have it all. Apogee with a killer mixer/control surface!

As mentioned in the other thread on the topic, the notion of taking advantage of an Apogee converter with clean digital pass-thru of the signal from the converter into DP makes the combo quite attractive. Hmm-- what to do first!!

Edit-- I actually answered this post several days ago, but couldn't get logged on for some reason. How nice it is to be able to copy a message into TextEdit for later posting!

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 6:40 pm

But, you know, part of me harks back to the hassles involved in my old dual 01V setup when I start thinking "mixer", and I compare my current ITB setup and the total recall that is so complete and easy... Maybe my future mixer will be that new Frontier Designs fader, "coming January" and I'll just go for a really great sounding front end!

http://www.frontierdesign.com/Products/AlphaTrack

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 10:20 pm

There is such a beauty in simplicity that plays against the users' need for greater complexity. Could I do it all with the Frontier Design solution? Heck-- it's worth considering when the options start at $3k and go up to $5k, $12k and $18k for various other controller solutions.

Do the results reflect the price points? In this case they actually may not. Ease of use vs price becomes the determining factor. The FD fader suddenly becomes a powerful threat to larger control surface solutions. This raises the question as to whether any other costlier control surface solutions are worth the cost of whatever convenience they might offer.

For all the arguments against ITB, it seems that ITB is the most financially effective approach these days. Not everyone needs analog side-processing/summing....

Hey-- with Apogee as part of the front end it remains to be seen what production or post-production processes would impact negatively on a project.

We've come such a long way to have arrived at the arguments of Apogee or no, large control surface or small... the quality of audio we're dealing with is at a high enough level that how we control this audio seems to be more a matter of convenience and cost, unless I've missed something.......................

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:53 pm

Frodo wrote:We've come such a long way to have arrived at the arguments of Apogee or no, large control surface or small... the quality of audio we're dealing with is at a high enough level that how we control this audio seems to be more a matter of convenience and cost, unless I've missed something.......................

The Third C: Coolness!

Yah, Mr. Frodo. People would have KILLED for today's bare-boned DAW only a few years ago. Hope you are having fun in your travels. I am surviving my travails.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:49 am

HCMarkus wrote:
Frodo wrote:We've come such a long way to have arrived at the arguments of Apogee or no, large control surface or small... the quality of audio we're dealing with is at a high enough level that how we control this audio seems to be more a matter of convenience and cost, unless I've missed something.......................
The Third C: Coolness!

Yah, Mr. Frodo. People would have KILLED for today's bare-boned DAW only a few years ago. Hope you are having fun in your travels. I am surviving my travails.

Coolness is always a given!

Keep on surviving-- the alternative is unthinkable (just ask the Moneky Man!).

Onward,
Upward,
Homeward (soon)...