to Quad or not to Quad?

Billyrock · Post by **Billyrock** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 8:28 pm

i had planned to make the leap from my old dual 500 G4 to a G5 by the end of the year when these apple rascals brought out these monster quads. the PCI 424 compatibilty question is my main sticking point now - why is MOTU not saying anything about card compatibility? i was told at the apple store that if a i order any other G5 configuration it will also ship with PCI express which still leaves me with a 424 quandry. i have read the other quad threads and remain confused about what to do. soliciting advice here. i am a composer/performer and would love to have the extra processing power for VI's, plugins, and a general sense of well being. i have been squirlling away some ducats for end of the year purchase and would like to add this to my studio before some unforseen expense steals away my excess. sorry for the long winded post - please reply.
thank you

motu mk III, pci 4242, Dp3.11
g4 Dual 500 (sonnet upgrade from single 400), os 9.2.2
rosetta 200 (considering firewire card)
assorted outboard synths including Fairlight III
lots of ideas

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 8:42 pm

You are in a popular boat.

I am totally set to receive a quad (they say 3 more weeks) I am in hope that Motu will have a PCIe card by then or I will take a chance that my existing 424 card will work in a Magma Chassis.

Challenges and Faith in MOTU

I think they will come throuhg. Might be a PCI 624 Card with 6 Ports

That would be nice 144 inputs and outputs (like we really need em??????)

Jaysplace101 · Post by **Jaysplace101** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 2:13 pm

UAD-1 is my problem with an upgrade. Somebody mentioned a Texas insttruments PCI - PCIe adapter, but it didn't get much discussion here. It was ultra cheap, and I couldn't figure out if it would work or not with the new G5s.

I would DEFINITELY buy a quad if somebody had a solution. Aren't the magma PCI-E chassis like 2k?

j

Timeline · Post by **Timeline** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 3:38 pm

Better wait...

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 5:26 pm

Oh, boy! The 424 again. I went through quite a hassle when I bought a new 2408 mk3 core that said on the box "G5 Ready". It was actually not G5 ready, and it cost me extra to update it. In the aftermath of the 324-424 struggle so many had to deal with (remembering all the long discussions on the old Unicornation BB) PCIe and the limited information about it are indeed worrisome.

Making hardware updgrades is just not as easy as it once was. It took me a while to get everything switched over when USB was adapted. Peripherals were still pretty expensive back then. I got a new 2408 mk2 core for my G4. By the time I got a G5, the mk2 card fried, so I got an mk3 core with a PCI card that wouldn't work.

That was about than a year ago. I just can't start all over so soon, myself.

Jeroleen · Post by **Jeroleen** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 12:36 am

Hey Frodo, long time.

I think I'll wait a bit on the quad. Nice but not needed yet and certainly not so desperately needed that I am willing to be the guinea pig like I was with the original G5s.

Right now I am interested in instruments. I have come to the conclusion that software instruments just don't get it for me. All the soft synths in the world are not worth some of the nice analogue instruments being offered lately.

Also need to upgrade my piano and will be seeking to add one of those new hammonds to the rig.

I have learned someting important about myself. I love keyboards, instruments, playing music, learning new music etc. I am not so fond of the recording process. Don't get me wrong, the things that can be done now are exciting and learning about recording and learning some engineering skills has been wonderful, I just need a break from the endless equipment, computer, software and hardware for recording adventures.

Its time to chill and wait.

Jeroleen · Post by **Jeroleen** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 11:30 pm

In my opinion the quads came out to boost sales in the period between the intel announcement and shipping. Yeah its looks great but I already have a dual processor that serves me well.

I noticed in another thread where someone had recently gotten a quad and claims that because he can now load more instances of software he is more creative. I wish it were that simple. To me, that is what the sales hype wants us to believe so we run out and buy each new device as if we are on a quest for some sort of creative nirvana.

I am not trying to poke fun or disparage the person who made the statement but, I do think it is important to distinquish between creativity and compliing, or building or any other word for the process of creating something from nothing.

I know I am on a tangent but...Musicians need to take special care nowadays. Creating music is very personal. Evalueating it is very subjective. These and other factors make music and uniquely and extremely competitive field.

The manufacturers take fll advantage of this by insinuating that you cannot compete and be as creative as others without their latest offering. Look at some of the keyboard ads from comapnies such as Roland, Korg and Yamaha.

Lately the pro audio manufacturers have picked up on this technique and the computer manufacturers as well.

To me (and this is only my opinion) this is what creates the illusion to some that because they have purchased the altest gear they are more creative.

In making the statement, the writer did not say why he thought he was more creative. All that is evident s that he is making more of what he made before at the same time. More tracks, more soft synths, more convolution reverbs running at the same time doe not, a priori, equal more creative.

Remember CAVEAT EMPTOR and you will be okay.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 3:57 am

Yes, I agree. There is a difference between being more *creative* and being more *productive*. Not having read the original post, I think I may understand what he/she meant.

If being able to load more plugins or virutal instruments at once saves several steps, bravo. Whether a more powerful system enables one to acutally write *better* music is entirely subjective. However, it could be that having a less worrisome setup allows one to spend less time in geeksville and more time pushing the creative envelope. It is a fair question if taken literally.

As for the Quads, I've decided that I've bought my last PPC (2.5 Dual). The current PPC Quads will fade quickly-- I agree that it was a filler model with a patina of excitement. With a full whack of slot interfaces like we've never seen, it will be a very attractive computer for those who simply cannot wait for the ealy Intels to fully debug. I was concerned that since I bought my G5 2.5 just last year that support for the PPCs would soon suffer in the same manner that OS 9 support did. Yet, having a robust machine now will buy time to observe just where Apple is going with all the changes it's made recently. It's taken a while to get OS X up to speed and for software manufacturers to prove enduring support. At least OS X is on a roll.

I'm watching for any more changes to PCI compatibility, the future of FW, the reasons for USB 2 being favored in some instances, whether there will be a USB 3, and other peripheral evolutions which deeply impact the feasibility of jumping into a new system. I do appreciate Apple's concept of Universal Support Mode for native PPC and Intel use, but it will also be nice to get a sense for how long Universal Mode will be supported.

It's been talked about much before, but I can't deny that I'm curious-- even excited-- about seeing what it will mean for Macs going over the 3 Ghz mark. This is not so much to compare Macs to Windows-based systems, but to see just what kinds of improvements and benefits the Intels will have on the Mac. I am also curious to know if Apple's price points will come down at all.

I could be wrong, but aren't Intel's Pentiums topping out at around 3.8 Ghz? I'm not up on my PC knowledge, so please forgive me if I'm totally off. We've seen Macs go from 2.0 to 2.7 rather quickly. Just as a matter of spectator sport, I wonder where it goes from there...? and how quickly...?