MOTUnation.com

I got the new Mac Pro 2019, not the $52,000 variety, but under $10K.
It is overkill for me, but I wanted PCI slots. Apple seems to have gone the complete opposite direction of expandability after the 2013 Tube. I wish there were a "Mac Prosumer" with half the PCI slots but a decent CPU and GPU. But I'm sure down the road I will be filling it with PCI M.2 drive cards or DSP cards.
I was surprised how well everything works with Catalina 10.15.2. I haven't done much with DP for six months and just imported my Tube files over with the Migration Assistant and everything worked. I loaded a couple old projects and there were no problems other than having to authorize a few plug-ins. Even stuff like Amplitube 3 that I haven't updated for a few years works. I'm sure I'll run into glitches, but so far it is promising.
I still need a new audio interface. I have my 2408mk3 and PCI-424 in an old PC that I use occasionally, since it wouldn't work with the Tube. I kept meaning to get something with Thunderbolt audio for the Tube but just kept using my old FW400 Traveller.
I don't know if these legacy devices are going to be officially supported, but the Traveler appears to work OK with with a bunch of adapters. TB3>TB2>FW800>FW400. It isn't very pretty, but it'll do until I can decide which new interface to get.
I did try the PCI-424 in a PCI slot just to see if the Mac would start up, but it locked up, which is what Apple said would happen with old cards, drivers or not.
I did put an Nvidia card in it for Windows 10 BootCamp and the card worked fine with Windows, but didn't cause any sleep problems or other noticeable effects on the Mac side. I don't need fancy graphics on the Mac side, but with the Nvidia card it is better than my gaming/VR PC from a few years ago.

https://flic.kr/p/2i2SG5b

Thanks for the report! Good news.

We'll see if MOTU updates the 424 drivers to 64 bit. I sorta' doubt it, but stronger things have happened.

I replaced my 828mkII with an 828es; it has been solid, sounds great, and offers a very nice compliment of I/O. Runs nicely via USB, but would be even better via Thunderbolt. You could use up to two of your 2408s as analog I/O expander modules (via litepipe) for the 828es (or any other intereface providing ADAT I/O) if you wished.

So I'm still confused about this. Is there a way to install non-Apple additional storage?

Phil

Phil O wrote:So I'm still confused about this. Is there a way to install non-Apple additional storage?
Phil

Yeah. I don't know if any old cards like the Sonnet Tempo for 2.5" SSDs work in the new Mac, but there are new PCI cards that house M.2 drives.

https://www.sonnettech.com/product/m2-4 ... -card.html

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc-accelsior-4m2

thanatopsis wrote:

Phil O wrote:So I'm still confused about this. Is there a way to install non-Apple additional storage?
Phil

Yeah. I don't know if any old cards like the Sonnet Tempo for 2.5" SSDs work in the new Mac, but there are new PCI cards that house M.2 drives.

https://www.sonnettech.com/product/m2-4 ... -card.html

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc-accelsior-4m2

As long as you don’t attempt to set them up as RAID 0 and use them as boot drives. Catalina doesn’t support this (neither did HS or Mojave).

Having more than one OS in the system disables your ability to access the Repair Partition. If you must have multiple OS on the system (Testing etc.), get a Samsung X5 and plug it into one of the TB3 ports. That way, if you need the Repair Partition, you can unplug the X5 and you can boot with the Command r keys down which takes you there.

Phil O wrote:So I'm still confused about this. Is there a way to install non-Apple additional storage?

Phil

https://www.promise.com/Products/Pegasus/R4i-J2i

I wonder how much of the J2i's $400 cost is allocated to the single 8TB drive it ships with. I'm pretty sure lower-priced competition will emerge shortly.

HCMarkus wrote: https://www.promise.com/Products/Pegasus/R4i-J2i

I wonder how much of the J2i's $400 cost is allocated to the single 8TB drive it ships with. I'm pretty sure lower-priced competition will emerge shortly.

$400 is better than what I was thinking, especially if there is room for another drive. When I heard about the Pegasus stuff I didn't even bother looking for a price. USB 3 is good enough for my non-SSD drives for now, but that module or another 3rd-party option might be useful in the future.

Thank you.

You mentioned your PCI-424 card.

Not a 424e? I'd love to know if the "e" card works in the nMP, or would that be slave to the same driver as the 424? Hmm...

A heads-up from MOTU would be timely-and-cool...

I wonder if my old FW cards would work... probably not.

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:I wonder if my old FW cards would work... probably not.

That’s a good question. I would think that if they have TI chips and would work in a current PC, they might.

FireWire 800 speed is about on par with USB 2. USB 3 smokes it.

I think I still have a working 9GB SCSI 2 drive from my G3 but have never hooked it up to the card in my G4.

monkey man wrote:You mentioned your PCI-424 card.

Not a 424e? I'd love to know if the "e" card works in the nMP, or would that be slave to the same driver as the 424? Hmm...

A heads-up from MOTU would be timely-and-cool...

The 424 and 424x cannot fit. Only the 424e can be inserted into the slot.

The 424e firmware prevented it from working in TB expansion chassis. Only a UAD card with upgradable firmware was able to make the transition — UAD has since made others.

mikehalloran wrote: The 424 and 424x cannot fit. Only the 424e can be inserted into the slot.

The 424e firmware prevented it from working in TB expansion chassis. Only a UAD card with upgradable firmware was able to make the transition — UAD has since made others.

Yeah, it is the PCIe-424 I have, which was still in my old Mac Pro 3,1. I think it is the PCI-424 I have in my old PC with my Korg Oasys card. I think I traded in the x to get the e cheaper.
Anyway, the new Mac Pro would not boot to macOS or Windows with the 424 in it, so it might be one of those 32-bit cards that Apple says locks it up.

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:I wonder if my old FW cards would work... probably not.

I haven't tried that yet. I have an old FW/USB2 card and just USB2 I was thinking about trying. I think they are PCIe. I don't really need FW anymore except for my old Traveler, but there is so much space in the Mac Pro right now it would be nice to have more USB ports without having another hub dangling off of it. I still have my Kensington trackball, iLok, controller keyboard, phone cable, and stuff like the QuNeo pad. I'd like to keep the USB3 ports for my 3.5" backup drives.

Thanks guys.

So the 424e fits, but theoretically won't work. Bummer!