Pro Tools Mix with PPC G5 (PCI) any ideas how?

gsilbers · 23rd October 2006, 08:53 PM

I have a G5 dual 2.5 PCI and i want to get those second hand mixplus systems that everyone is just giving away for cheap but i remember there is a reason you cant use a mixplus on a G5 , but dont rememeber the reason though.

someone mention an expansion chasis to make it work but... would that really work?

anyone using a mixcore and farm cards with a G5 Power PC>?

gsilbers · 23rd October 2006, 10:27 PM

damn, nobody knows?

everyone jumping in the HD bandwagon eh

twbrzkdm007 · 24th October 2006, 01:15 AM

Sorry if this sounds silly but why don't you get one of those cheap G4 computers that everybody is giving away and run your Mix system on it? You could probably get a very decent G4 for $100-200 off Craigslist or somewhere.

LexFactory · 24th October 2006, 06:38 AM

The Mix Plus system can only run on Pro Tools 6.2.2 or older I believe, which requires Mac OSX 10.3.2 or older. Not sure if the G5 you have can run such an old version of the OS. The last G5s can't run anything older than Mac OSX 10.4, hence no Mix Plus systems.

Frankly if budget if your concern, don't waste time with a Mix Plus system. Just get a Digi 002 rack and the DV Toolkit or Music Production Toolkit and run Pro Tools LE.

minister · 24th October 2006, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LexFactory

The Mix Plus system can only run on Pro Tools 6.2.2 or older I believe, which requires Mac OSX 10.3.2 or older. Not sure if the G5 you have can run such an old version of the OS. The last G5s can't run anything older than Mac OSX 10.4, hence no Mix Plus systems.

this is not true.....

the last MIX software was 6.4.1 and you could run it on OS 10.3.9

the reason MIX cards don't work in G5's is becasue of the voltage of the cards.

gsilbers · 27th October 2006, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by minister

this is not true.....

the last MIX software was 6.4.1 and you could run it on OS 10.3.9

the reason MIX cards don't work in G5's is becasue of the voltage of the cards.

is that soooo..? interesting.

so what about using an expanson chassis? same deal?

now remember the whole OS thing. but yes i could use panther 10.39 in my G5 and use PT 6. so i could go back in time and make it work.

also, i did think of getting an old g4 but the thing is that im trying to have only one computer and i use a lot logic pro. so i prefer to keep the G5 only.

but yeah. a $1200 mix plus system and a $300 g4, sounds interesting.

thanks for the replys. hope to see someone with a mix system on a G5

toolz · 27th October 2006, 11:42 PM

Mix Cores and Mix Farms are the correct voltage for PCI G5's. D24 core and DSP Farms are not.

This was Digi's excuse to pull support for G5 PCI mix.. a commercial decision. and nothing more.

6.4.1 is the final version for mix, but still has quite a few bugs!!

Yogeek · 31st October 2006, 09:01 PM

I was using a Mix cube system with my 2x1,8 GHz G5. It works perfectly. Just make sure your G5 is PCI and not PCI-X.

best

toolz · 31st October 2006, 09:12 PM

That's great news it will work with a dual 1.8 G5 PCI. I really wanna buy a used G5 :-)

What other models are PCI only?? or was it just the 1.6 single and 1.8 dual? I'm thinking the dual 2.0 had the PCI-X

Yogeek · 31st October 2006, 10:17 PM

Well each low end G5 was PCI.
That includes Mono 1,6
Bi 1,8 (rev B)
and maybe Bi 2 (rev C) but i'm not sure about this one.

Cosmonauta · 31st October 2006, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toolz

Mix Cores and Mix Farms are the correct voltage for PCI G5's. D24 core and DSP Farms are not.

Can you confirm that? Did you saw with your own eyes a G5 running a mix system?

I'm searching for this answer for years.
This would be big news for me since they teold me that the pci voltage is no the only issue, but the compatibility with the processor as well.

gsilbers · 31st October 2006, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yogeek

I was using a Mix cube system with my 2x1,8 GHz G5. It works perfectly. Just make sure your G5 is PCI and not PCI-X.

best

DAMN DAMN DAMN! MY G5 IS PCI-X!

but someone in another forum mentioned an expansion chassis. does those come in PCI to PCI X? to hold the cards and just use the old PT 6 software?

Yogeek · 31st October 2006, 11:02 PM

From MY eyes, i saw MY mix cube running on MY G5 Bi 1,8.
It works best with os X.3.5 and PT 6.4.1 CS2 as far as i remember.
I'v been recording & mixing 3 albums with this and never been ashamed with unstable system in front of customers. (this is pretty powerful as you cas have loads of htdm plugs running on a G5)
To tell you the truth, I sold it planning to upgrade to mac pro and going native.
But now i relly feel like keeping my G5 buying a core and an adat brige, just to aswer Yes when ppl ask for a PT... And offering them a real native & powerful solution instead.

Yogeek · 1st November 2006, 05:32 PM

Well I just checked and it is PT 6.4.1 CS4 That was running fine on my G5.
the one that gives you +12dB Headroom.
Best

Gm7Cadd9 · 1st November 2006, 10:57 PM

you guys are sure you don't mean: PCI-X vs PCI-E?

very confusing,

PCI-X = PCI Extended

PCI-E = PCI Express

Early G5s were PCI-X, later ones were PCI-E

Yogeek · 2nd November 2006, 03:15 AM

For each revision there were three G5 availaible: low end middle and high end (they were named fast, faster and fastest AFAIR)
The low end was PCI (the funny part is that was really annoying me not to have best pci port ... who said geek?) and the 2 other were PCI-X
Finally, when last G5 revision came they get rid of PCI-X and used PCI-e. Thhis is why i'm not sure the low end version of the last revision has PCI.
But i'm positive here: My G5 Bi 1,8 (low end of the second revision) is PCI Just like the mono 1,6 was...

Yogeek · 2nd November 2006, 03:31 AM

Taken from apple Service Manual:

All the G5 specs including PCI bus type.
Find yours and smile (or cry!)

graftmusic · 16th November 2006, 04:51 PM

the bottleneck aside from PCI and PCI-express is going to be the OS.
The highest version for MIX++ systems is 6.4.1 (cs whatever) and it will ONLY RUN ON PANTHER. therefore the question is also. which models of these G5's can run panther?

a fellow gearlsut just showed me this
http://www.gigadesigns.com/index.asp...PROD&ProdID=29

to turn my G4 800 into a dual 1.8... which is likley the highest I could run on a G5 anyways.

Alécio Costa · 17th November 2006, 04:30 AM

Edu, will we be able to find some spare G5s for our old G4s?
Very good idea.

foldback · 17th November 2006, 04:46 AM

Before you spin out on accelerators for Mac you better check Digi compatibility for them and carefully figure out exactly how much money you think you're saving. You may find that Digi hardware goes spaz on a hopped up Mac. As I remember there were some stock Apple dual processor G4 that ran about 1.5Ghz and I think these machines are selling on ebay for around a grand. A real Apple model would be your best bet compared to any third-party replacement processor boards.

Years ago when there were Apple clones I got scorched royally trying to hop up Radius Apple clones to do video editing. The video card company blamed the raid company who blamed Apple who blamed the software company..... $14,000 dollars spent and my video editor would not work for the first six months while I made millions of phone calls trying to figure out why. I finally figured it out, it was the drivers for the video card, who'da thunk. Same crap with hopping up computers for audio. Do you want to spend your time recording or trouble shooting? Best of luck to you.

Cosmonauta · 17th November 2006, 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alécio Costa

Edu, will we be able to find some spare G5s for our old G4s?
Very good idea.

Hi Alécio. I saw some G5 1.6 models selling at modest prices on Mercado livre (our brazilian e-bay). But it's 3 PCI slots only... So I would have to buy a Magma Chassi.
I don;t think this upgrade would improve my current set up, a lot (a 1.25 G4)

mahasandi · 17th November 2006, 04:30 PM

I run a giga designs dual 1.4ghz upgrade card with pt 6.4.1 MIX+

Its pretty stable .No worse from the g4 450 i was using before.
It crashes from time to time but nothing unusual(oy vey the variables)

.I've had intermitent crashes even when i was on pt 3 on a 9500!

That said it runs fine with this upgrade card.
I run sessions and they work!

however this g5 thing sounds cool.

so get a pci g5 that can run panther .

Alécio Costa · 18th November 2006, 02:32 PM

Yes, Edu. Your machine is pretty fine.
However, looking at the G5 specification JPEG, the G5 dual (early 2005) and the G5 dual (June 2004) would be great machines, if they can run at least 10.3.4.
Let us continue our search via email.
:)

logicll · 19th November 2006, 11:15 PM

i am loolking to buy 6.4.1 CS4 ...I have a mix system I want to use with osx...?? any body know how to get it../??

lang_dave · 27th November 2006, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by logicll

I am looking to buy 6.4.1 cs4...any body know how to get it...?

You can download it from one of the links on this page:

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?...00&itemid=4956

dave

ddageek · 27th November 2006, 03:43 PM

ok a G5 is sexyier than a g4 but, unless you want to run a ton of RTAS why bother?
a dual FW800 gives you 4 pci slots thats one extra farm card internal drive bays and is supposed to work with this new dual 1.8 daughter card (I agree with the above caution about prossesor upgrades in general but mix has been upgrade friendly in general)
The thing about TDM is that the computing power has no effect on DSP its all in the cards.
I would rather have a g4 400 an expansion chassie Full of DSP than spend the money on a G5 so I could run tons of RTAS.
The only really good thing about this is giveing the finger to digi who said it couldn't be done! and I would rather someone would come up with a stable way of running mix on os10.4 so we could try some of those SSL plugins!

lang_dave · 27th November 2006, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddageek

ok a G5 is sexyier than a g4 but, unless you want to run a ton of RTAS why bother?

Using RTAS wherever possible increases the overall DSP of the system by allowing you to use TDM only where necessary, thereby getting more mileage out of your Digi hardware.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddageek

The thing about TDM is that the computing power has no effect on DSP its all in the cards.

RTAS is DSP, it's just not Digi hardware based DSP. It still increases the overall DSP of the sytem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddageek

I would rather someone would come up with a stable way of running mix on os10.4

That is going to be much more difficult than finding compatible G5s to use. I don't expect we'll see it.

digidesigner · 1st October 2007, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yogeek

Well I just checked and it is PT 6.4.1 CS4 That was running fine on my G5.
the one that gives you +12dB Headroom.
Best

bringing it up... has anyone else besides Yogeek had any luck running their MIX systems with early G5's?

digidesigner · 13th May 2008, 10:23 PM

Up again.. I'v decided to try this myself... but how to install OSX 10.3.9 on to computer that came with 10.4 from Apple (dual 2.0 PCI G5??

lozion · 13th May 2008, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by digidesigner

Up again.. I'v decided to try this myself... but how to install OSX 10.3.9 on to computer that came with 10.4 from Apple (dual 2.0 PCI G5??

wipe it clean & re-install, lemme know how it works...

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23rd October 2006, 08:53 PM	#1
gsilbers Lives for gear Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,365	Pro Tools Mix with PPC G5 (PCI) any ideas how? I have a G5 dual 2.5 PCI and i want to get those second hand mixplus systems that everyone is just giving away for cheap but i remember there is a reason you cant use a mixplus on a G5 , but dont rememeber the reason though. someone mention an expansion chasis to make it work but... would that really work? anyone using a mixcore and farm cards with a G5 Power PC>?

24th October 2006, 06:38 AM	#4
LexFactory Gear interested Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 23	The Mix Plus system can only run on Pro Tools 6.2.2 or older I believe, which requires Mac OSX 10.3.2 or older. Not sure if the G5 you have can run such an old version of the OS. The last G5s can't run anything older than Mac OSX 10.4, hence no Mix Plus systems. Frankly if budget if your concern, don't waste time with a Mix Plus system. Just get a Digi 002 rack and the DV Toolkit or Music Production Toolkit and run Pro Tools LE. __________________ Alexey Mohr Mixer/Engineer, The Lex Factory http://www.thelexfactory.com

16th November 2006, 04:51 PM	#18
graftmusic Gear interested Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 2	bottle neck the bottleneck aside from PCI and PCI-express is going to be the OS. The highest version for MIX++ systems is 6.4.1 (cs whatever) and it will ONLY RUN ON PANTHER. therefore the question is also. which models of these G5's can run panther? a fellow gearlsut just showed me this http://www.gigadesigns.com/index.asp...PROD&ProdID=29 to turn my G4 800 into a dual 1.8... which is likley the highest I could run on a G5 anyways. __________________ -derek http://www.myspace.com/graftmusic

17th November 2006, 04:30 AM	#19
Alécio Costa Lives for gear Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Brazil, Florianópolis/SC Posts: 1,264	Edu, will we be able to find some spare G5s for our old G4s? Very good idea. __________________ Alécio Costa Studio Music Production/Mastering http://www.aleciocosta.com Listen to my album at: http://www.audiostreet.net/artist.aspx?artistid=38915

23rd October 2006, 10:27 PM	#2
gsilbers Lives for gear Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,365	damn, nobody knows? everyone jumping in the HD bandwagon eh

24th October 2006, 01:15 AM	#3
twbrzkdm007 Gear Head Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 60	Sorry if this sounds silly but why don't you get one of those cheap G4 computers that everybody is giving away and run your Mix system on it? You could probably get a very decent G4 for $100-200 off Craigslist or somewhere.

27th October 2006, 11:42 PM	#7
toolz Gear nut Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Bristol UK Posts: 118	Mix Cores and Mix Farms are the correct voltage for PCI G5's. D24 core and DSP Farms are not. This was Digi's excuse to pull support for G5 PCI mix.. a commercial decision. and nothing more. 6.4.1 is the final version for mix, but still has quite a few bugs!!

31st October 2006, 09:01 PM	#8
Yogeek Gear Head Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 40	I was using a Mix cube system with my 2x1,8 GHz G5. It works perfectly. Just make sure your G5 is PCI and not PCI-X. best

31st October 2006, 09:12 PM	#9
toolz Gear nut Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Bristol UK Posts: 118	That's great news it will work with a dual 1.8 G5 PCI. I really wanna buy a used G5 :-) What other models are PCI only?? or was it just the 1.6 single and 1.8 dual? I'm thinking the dual 2.0 had the PCI-X

31st October 2006, 10:17 PM	#10
Yogeek Gear Head Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 40	Well each low end G5 was PCI. That includes Mono 1,6 Bi 1,8 (rev B) and maybe Bi 2 (rev C) but i'm not sure about this one.

31st October 2006, 11:02 PM	#13
Yogeek Gear Head Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 40	From MY eyes, i saw MY mix cube running on MY G5 Bi 1,8. It works best with os X.3.5 and PT 6.4.1 CS2 as far as i remember. I'v been recording & mixing 3 albums with this and never been ashamed with unstable system in front of customers. (this is pretty powerful as you cas have loads of htdm plugs running on a G5) To tell you the truth, I sold it planning to upgrade to mac pro and going native. But now i relly feel like keeping my G5 buying a core and an adat brige, just to aswer Yes when ppl ask for a PT... And offering them a real native & powerful solution instead.

1st November 2006, 05:32 PM	#14
Yogeek Gear Head Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 40	Well I just checked and it is PT 6.4.1 CS4 That was running fine on my G5. the one that gives you +12dB Headroom. Best

1st November 2006, 10:57 PM	#15
Gm7Cadd9 Gear Head Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Valley Village, CA Posts: 45	you guys are sure you don't mean: PCI-X vs PCI-E? very confusing, PCI-X = PCI Extended PCI-E = PCI Express Early G5s were PCI-X, later ones were PCI-E

2nd November 2006, 03:15 AM	#16
Yogeek Gear Head Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 40	For each revision there were three G5 availaible: low end middle and high end (they were named fast, faster and fastest AFAIR) The low end was PCI (the funny part is that was really annoying me not to have best pci port ... who said geek?) and the 2 other were PCI-X Finally, when last G5 revision came they get rid of PCI-X and used PCI-e. Thhis is why i'm not sure the low end version of the last revision has PCI. But i'm positive here: My G5 Bi 1,8 (low end of the second revision) is PCI Just like the mono 1,6 was...

2nd November 2006, 03:31 AM	#17
Yogeek Gear Head Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 40	Taken from apple Service Manual: All the G5 specs including PCI bus type. Find yours and smile (or cry!)

17th November 2006, 04:46 AM	#20
foldback Lives for gear Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: St. Louis Posts: 682	Before you spin out on accelerators for Mac you better check Digi compatibility for them and carefully figure out exactly how much money you think you're saving. You may find that Digi hardware goes spaz on a hopped up Mac. As I remember there were some stock Apple dual processor G4 that ran about 1.5Ghz and I think these machines are selling on ebay for around a grand. A real Apple model would be your best bet compared to any third-party replacement processor boards. Years ago when there were Apple clones I got scorched royally trying to hop up Radius Apple clones to do video editing. The video card company blamed the raid company who blamed Apple who blamed the software company..... $14,000 dollars spent and my video editor would not work for the first six months while I made millions of phone calls trying to figure out why. I finally figured it out, it was the drivers for the video card, who'da thunk. Same crap with hopping up computers for audio. Do you want to spend your time recording or trouble shooting? Best of luck to you.

17th November 2006, 04:30 PM	#22
mahasandi Lives for gear Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 681	I run a giga designs dual 1.4ghz upgrade card with pt 6.4.1 MIX+ Its pretty stable .No worse from the g4 450 i was using before. It crashes from time to time but nothing unusual(oy vey the variables) .I've had intermitent crashes even when i was on pt 3 on a 9500! That said it runs fine with this upgrade card. I run sessions and they work! however this g5 thing sounds cool. so get a pci g5 that can run panther .

18th November 2006, 02:32 PM	#23
Alécio Costa Lives for gear Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Brazil, Florianópolis/SC Posts: 1,264	Yes, Edu. Your machine is pretty fine. However, looking at the G5 specification JPEG, the G5 dual (early 2005) and the G5 dual (June 2004) would be great machines, if they can run at least 10.3.4. Let us continue our search via email. :) __________________ Alécio Costa Studio Music Production/Mastering http://www.aleciocosta.com Listen to my album at: http://www.audiostreet.net/artist.aspx?artistid=38915 Last edited by Alécio Costa; 18th November 2006 at 02:32 PM.. Reason: mistype

19th November 2006, 11:15 PM	#24
logicll Gear addict Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: California....?? Posts: 463	i am loolking to buy 6.4.1 CS4 ...I have a mix system I want to use with osx...?? any body know how to get it../?? __________________ "an then, an then, an then, an then?"

27th November 2006, 03:43 PM	#26
ddageek Lives for gear Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: galveston ? Dallas Probably Homeless Posts: 727	at what gain? ok a G5 is sexyier than a g4 but, unless you want to run a ton of RTAS why bother? a dual FW800 gives you 4 pci slots thats one extra farm card internal drive bays and is supposed to work with this new dual 1.8 daughter card (I agree with the above caution about prossesor upgrades in general but mix has been upgrade friendly in general) The thing about TDM is that the computing power has no effect on DSP its all in the cards. I would rather have a g4 400 an expansion chassie Full of DSP than spend the money on a G5 so I could run tons of RTAS. The only really good thing about this is giveing the finger to digi who said it couldn't be done! and I would rather someone would come up with a stable way of running mix on os10.4 so we could try some of those SSL plugins! __________________ I have had worse days, but hey I've been on fire! I feel like I should make the pissed smiley my Avitar Eric Nelson

13th May 2008, 10:23 PM	#29
digidesigner Gear nut Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 80	Up again.. I'v decided to try this myself... but how to install OSX 10.3.9 on to computer that came with 10.4 from Apple (dual 2.0 PCI G5?? __________________ studio band