DP 5 - no G4 laptop support?

musicpants · Post by **musicpants** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 5:08 pm

My DP 5 just arrived today and before opening the box i happend to check out the system requirements in small print on the bottom of the package. The second line reads:

"A dual-processor G4 or faster with at least 1GB or RAM is required for audio recording"

My heart dropped. Could MOTU really have failed to mention this important detail on their website? More importantly, are all G4 Powerbooks truly unable to run DP 5?

Hope I am wrong.

lord funk · Post by **lord funk** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 5:25 pm

I highly, highly doubt it. Someone on another board was running it on an old Sawtooth 450MHz G4, and he said it performed better than DP4.

Install it and find out?

emulatorloo · Post by **emulatorloo** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:18 pm

musicpants wrote:Hope I am wrong.

I am pretty sure I read a thread pre-DP5 release here where someone posted their reply from MOTU tech support re DP5 requirements -- and it was basically same as 4.6.1. I don't have it bookmarked I bet if you search the threads you will find it.

sstillwell · Post by **sstillwell** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:35 pm

Difference between minimum REQUIRED and minimum RECOMMENDED.

Betcha the RECOMMENDED is dual G4 or better.

Scott

musicpants · Post by **musicpants** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 11:21 pm

above, i quoted the DP 5 box directly in my original post. it says "REQUIRED" and is listed under "System Requirements" - hence my surprise and my reluctance to install, in case i have to return. if anyone has actually installed and succesfully recorded tracks with DP 5 on a G4 powerbook, please share your experiance.

Tritonemusic · Post by **Tritonemusic** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 12:43 am

I checked out Google and here are specs from three different websites. They don't say the same thing, though.

http://www.audiomidi.com/Digital-Performer-5-P7926.aspx

System Requirements
••• Power Macintosh G3 or G4 computer running MacOS X version 10.2 or higher (Tiger Compatible)
••• A minimum of 128MB of RAM is required for MIDI sequencing
••• 256MB is required for audio recording
••• 512MB or more is recommended
••• Optimized for multiple processor G4s

http://www.midiworkshop.com/digital_audio.html#DP5

System Requirements Macintosh:
Macintosh Power Macintosh 500mhz (minimum)
OSX 10.3.7 or higher
512 MB (minimum)
Optimized for multiple processor G4's

http://www.zzounds.com/item--MTUDPERFMAC

System Requirements
OS 10.3.7 or higher

17 in. monitor or larger

Recommended: Dual G4 1ghz or higher with at least 1GB RAM

Minimum: G4 500 power mac with 512MB RAM

musicpants · Post by **musicpants** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 10:03 am

You are right, those are more or less the system requirements for running the software. However, what is so strange is that Motu added a second line that differenciated using the software, from recording with the software.

Here are the entire contents of the System Requirements straight from the DP 5 box. Notice the differenciation from running the software and recording with it.

-----------------
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Power Mac G4 or G5 computer with 512MB or RAM running Mac OS X version 10.3 or higher.

A dual-processor G4 or faster with at least 1GB of RAM is required for audio recording.

Optimized for multi-processor G4 or G5 Power Mac computers.
---------------------

The fact that "recording requirements" were separate from the "basic requirements" gave me the "What the heck? reaction. I think if MOTU goes out of their way to include that sentence they should explain themselves a bit more publicly and clarify such confusing statements. For instance, posting this info on their website - an absolutley basic thing to do for any software product.

panda · Post by **panda** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 10:10 am

well, i agree it is sorta weird.
my thought would be this (i don't have DP 5 btw yet)
since you can mix and edit with a your buffer set to higher level. it tax's the proccessor less. where maybe they are ass-uming that when people record they set the buffer a lot tighter, for less lag.. and in that case. your gonna need more power.. specially!! if your getting into multitracks of 24/88+
but yeah, they should be more clear.. but, its not like MOTU has a track record of being the most user friendly company.. (beyond a product we obviously all like)

panda

cuttime · Post by **cuttime** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:24 pm

OK- Now has anyone actually been running DP5 on a PB? I have been running 4.61 on a PB 1.67 with 2 gigs of RAM with perfectly good results (not what I'd call "Blazing", but perfectly acceptable). I set my buffers almost as high as I can set them, as latency is not an issue with me. I suspect that DP5 will perform similarly since other forum members have reported no dramatic changes in CPU usage. I think the VI's will be the deciding factor.

richardein · Post by **richardein** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 3:28 am

Interesting. Just installed dp5 on my powerbook g4 1.67. Haven't tried to record yet, but will later this morning.

borjam · Post by **borjam** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 4:56 am

Curious. I decided to go DP after recording a live concert (14 tracks) with a MOTU 896HD and an iBook G3 (yes, g-three).

I use to record with a Traveler a maximum of 8 tracks in my 12 in Powerbook G4/867 MHz, and it works perfectly. Will try with DP5 this week. Perhaps the metering bridge will be an issue...

boonier · Post by **boonier** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 5:18 am

I seriously doubt that Motu would shoot themselves in the foot, particularly as they\ve been touting the new portable audio interfaces designed for recording 'in the field'. Alienating a sizable portion of their market is definately not a good business strategy.

As to the system requirements upping the ante everytime a new version is released, I dont actually believe that is neccessarily true. Most new features like VIs are modular chunks of code that only get called when they are actaully needed. Stuff like track folders and input monitoring are probably 'active' all the time, so might tax a little more CPU overhead. However, by the sounds of it the new pre-rendering goes some way towards reclaiming the lost power, so it swings on roundabouts.

Ok,call me a conspirasist but software companies will up the stakes all the time because they want us to keep buying new computers, as do Apple. Fundamentally there's nothing that different from what DAWs do today that they werent actually able to do 6 years ago. That said, I would like a new computer, though it would probably be a G5 rather than wait for Mac-intels. I just cant be arsed with constant updating of software and incompatabilities. I would rather just write music.

SO i hope that DP5 runs nicely on a PBook cuz I'm a bit scuppered otherwise!

RCory · Post by **RCory** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 8:51 am

Heya peeps,

I just installed DP5 on my TIBook 1gig running Tiger... Everything's fine... Freeze, VI, MIDIKeys, ect ect... (but at the moment I'm using internal sound)

breathe everyone...

C

David Polich · Post by **David Polich** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 11:27 am

It would be nice if MOTU would chime in and confirm about Powerbooks and DP5.

RCory · Post by **RCory** » Sun Apr 23, 2006 1:13 pm

Could be nice, but as I said, it's working here.

MOTUnation.com

DP 5 - no G4 laptop support?

DP 5 - no G4 laptop support?

Re: DP 5 - no G4 laptop support?

G4?