M5 on a standalone computer

mcrein · Post by **mcrein** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:55 am

am looking for a little advice.
i am running DP 4.61 with Mach 5, Atmosphere, and a few other virtual synths with MK2 828 interface. just purchased a G5 quad 2.5 which will become my main working machine. (do a lot of video/soundtrack/audio) my present machine is a G4 1.25 with 3 internal 10,000 seagate SCSI drives.

i would like to know the feasability of turning the G4 into a dedicated softsynth/sampler player.

any ideas on setting up Mach 5 and the other softsynths on the G4 and how to connect that to the G5 for max throughput? (firewire/ethernet...)

any help/ideas would be appreciated.

BradLyons · Post by **BradLyons** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:03 am

I'm not totally awake right now so I can't remember if MachFive works stand-alone yet, or if that is in V2....hmmmm is V2 out? Okay, I really do know this stuff I'm just NOT AWAKE RIGHT NOW!

HOWEVER I understand what you're trying to do and when that is ready, it won't be a problem. Although I'm running ProToolsHD on a Sweetwater Creation Station Rack PC, it's the same concept. I have a secondary PC running GigaStudio outside of my ProTools machine (I'm running MachFive on my main computer). Since you have an 828mkII, which has a single lightpipe I/O on it, you'll want to add some sort of interface on your G4 to send the audio outputs into your main system. IMHO, another 828 would be overkill here--so I would recommend the Frontier Designs WAVECENTER PCI card. This is a single ADAT I/O with a MIDI interface built-in for about $300. HOWEVER if you only have 8-channels, this is a limitation. I'm feeding 24-digital channels from my Giga Machine to my ProTools machine, this is KEY because every one of my instruments has its own input to its own track, levels, etc.

Your new computer will be such a gigantic leap in processing that I would see if you can do everything you want to on that machine first, although having this faster G5 will give you more processing for your Reverb, Compressor, etc plugins which should take priority when you are mixing. With that said, what you're trying to do absolutely will work (again I think it requires V2 in MachFive) as long as you spend a little more. BUT it's very cool to have secondary computers for your sounds, I love having the two machines connected!

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:19 am

BradLyons wrote: BUT it's very cool to have secondary computers for your sounds, I love having the two machines connected!

I have a 1.4 gHz G4 sitting idle since I got my G5. If you're awake now

what are the greatest advantages to having 2 machines running side by side? (If you don't mind my asking?) The G5 can handle whatever I throw at it, so I haven't explored using dual machines, but I won't dump the G4 and could put it into service if there is a distinct advantage or some extended functions I haven't considered.

TIA!

MM

BradLyons · Post by **BradLyons** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 9:32 am

Well, every computer has a certain amount of processing power to it. Heck, even my ProToolsHD system has a limit before you add more processing. If you never run out of power, you're fine. But with today's plugins such as Altiverb, Absynth, etc that eat up so much bandwidth..that can take away additional processing pretty fast. Having other computers is like having other sound modules, you need more access at times.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 12:08 pm

Thanks Brad, that's whatI thought. I think we spoken on the phone in regard to Sweetwater sales. Always nice to hear from you!

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 1:03 pm

Isn't there someone way to send the audio back to the host computer over Ethernet? Isn't it a program called Wormhole or something? And I think Tiger can send MIDI over Ethernet too? I might try and rig something up and see if I can run Mach Five on my old G4... although it's in the same room and the damn G4 is loud... but I could put it in another room and run a ethernet cable down the hall. My G5 and G4 is gigabit ethernet too, so might run pretty fast!

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 2:58 pm

Ah yes, the G4 is plenty loud without anything coming from any speakers! How soon we forget! The G5 (Dual 2.0) is whisper quiet.

mcrein · Post by **mcrein** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 5:21 pm

thanks for the replies. sorry i haven't gotten back sooner. travelling. so does anyone know if it is feasible to connect the 2 computers (G4 & G5 quad) with ethernet or even firewire?

on my G4 if i had 2 instances of mach 5 and 2 instances of spectrasonics atmosphere open at the same time (in DP 4.61) and i dared to open say altiverb, kaboom! want to avoid such things happening.
M

mcrein · Post by **mcrein** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 5:23 pm

brad
what do you mean by spending a little more?

BradLyons · Post by **BradLyons** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 5:45 pm

getting the ADAT optical card for the computer.....