Then there's a strange problem with my PCI-424 card. It just "disappears." The computer will not recognize that it's there. Until last night I had to physicall remove it from the PCIe slot, then swap it to an empty slot and install. Last night I learned that I can UN-install the MOTU Audio drivers, then repair disk privileges, then RE-install the same drivers. Then the PCI-424 card comes back without having to get on the floor and swap the card out of a slot. Whew! I've done the card-swap thing about 5 times since getting my Mac Pro on February 14. Now I can at least just do it with software installs. Much easier.
If anyone knows of a reset routine for 2408mkII, and/or 1296, and/or the PCI 424 card in general, please let me know.
I've also noticed other strange things. QuicKeys is open all the time. Periodically it just quits working. No explanation. Quit and reboot, and it's fine. Just never saw that before the Xeon tower. Once it starts happening, other crazy things happen. Scanner software won't open or stay open. Other software does likewise. Rebooting the computer does the trick.
Back to the Waves problem; my L3 Multi-Maximizer (for which I paid dearly) has yet to work in any DAW or other audio software on this computer. Very disappointing. Of course, Waves doesn't officially support DP, but I'm talking about Soundtrack, too, and others I can't remember at the moment.
So far, DP is stable on this machine. No problems there. I keep my fingers crossed. But once in a while it "forgets" my bundles for a particular file or chunk. And here's what's weird about that: all the meters will be blazing, showing audio activity throughout the routing chain. Just no audio. I have to rebuild the bundles when that happens. I don't know if that's a DP thing, a 5.11 thing, a Core Audio thing, or an Intel Mac thing. It doesn't happen often. But I don't enjoy it when it does. At least I know now to quit wasting time troubleshooting, and to go ahead and rebuild the bundles and reassign the tracks.
Also, since buying the Mac Pro Tower, it's been raining more often here, and the dog tracks in mud. I don't remember that happening so often with the G4 dual.
I'm not about to take this computer back. I'm not even complaining. I'm just letting people know that for all the justifiably wonderful reviews we've given these heavenly new machines, they DO have their quirks. Usually nothing that restarting the computer won't fix. And they are rare. Well... the PCI card thing was happening about once a week. (Word to the wise: save your PCI Audio Interface configuration so you can reload it easily. I rename all my tracks, and it's bloody hell having to redo all that after replacing everything.)
All things considered, I still rank this computer #1 in my long succession of Macs. My other favorites were the Pismo Powerbook (2000), the Quadra 660AV (1993), and the original 128K Mac (1984). This one is exciting, reliable, and a speed-demon. Runs like a Mac, though!
Shooshie
