PCI to PCI Express-is Magma the only game in town?

[Killahurts]

I'm all set to get the new fastest Mac when it comes out to use as my primary DAW. The problem is, in my current system, I have an RME MADI board (PCI) that I interface with a digital console. I want to keep this system the way it is, just replace the computer. I've spoken with RME and they said that they might have a PCIe version of the MADI card at some point, but don't hold my breath.

So really, this is all I've been able to find out there:

http://www.mobilityelectronics.com/e...lot/index.html


At $1400, it's probably close to what a new RME PCIe card would be anyway, so I guess it's the better choice. But is this my only solution?

Damn, I've just been through this kind of thing with Gefen, the only company in the universe that made products that could reliably extend and split DVI feeds into my rooms- $$$

[Killahurts]

Hey thanks for the reponse, and the advice-

When I did my Google search before, I think I probably put "PCI to PCIe conversion" or something, I didn't know that "PCI expansion" was what it was called that I needed.

[True North]

Originally Posted by CareerTech1

do a ebay search for "PCI Expansion"

look for either SBS, Avid, or Magma 7 or 13 slot PCI version

make sure you are not just buying a chassis - make sure you get the whole thing including the host and backplane card plus cable and power etc.

you can find them for around $500 sometimes less for a good condition used one

That is great advice that was given to me on this very site, by whom I can't remember. I went on line and ended up getting a 7 slot expansion chassis for $350

[ToddS]

Magma products work great in my experience... great way to get portable PTHD system with pretty solid performance time and time again-Heard a rumor they are coming out with a chassis for Apogee Symphony into a laptop...anyone else hear that?

[BrianT]

For a longterm solution, you want the GE Fanuc Embedded Systems (formerly SBS) PCIe to PCI-x 7 slot. I have 2 of them. They kill the Magma, of which I also have 2.

The SBS uses a x4 PCIe connect and provides 3 seperate PCI busses in the chassis. Being PCIe based, the PCI slots have nothing to do with the computer's onboard PCI slots, so that any peculiarities of the computer's PCI are a non-issue.

Because of the 3 seperate PCI busses, each of which has the full bandwidth of a 64 bit/ 66MHz PCI bus *at a minimum*, you can segment your audio card, DSP cards and any hard disk/RAID controllers seperately. That's a big deal.

With computers gaining so much CPU power, the bottleneck is moving to the I/O. 7 high performance PCI-X slots on 3 seperate busses gives you a lot of options to add UAD-1, Powercore, RAID controllers, etc without choking the system's audio I/O. I have 2 RME MADI cards in several different setups, and the chokepoint is no longer the CPU. It's now having enough PCI bandwidth.

PCIe does solve the bandwidth problem, but it will still be a while before there is no need for standard PCI slots in an audio machine.

[ekstasis]

http://gearslutz.com/board/showthrea...light=rme+madi

poor guy put his rme madi card in an expansion chassis, when he upgraded his Mac, but found out no driver exists for intel mac : (

-- as of dec. 18 2006

[6strings]

It's a long shot, but I read on a mac rumors site that the next Mac Pro revision might have a PCI-X slot (in addition to PCIe). I'd hold off another few weeks anyway, as at the very least we'll see Apple throw in quad-core processors for sure. (the "octopus" mac?)

[6strings]

Originally Posted by ekstasis

http://gearslutz.com/board/showthrea...light=rme+madi

poor guy put his rme madi card in an expansion chassis, when he upgraded his Mac, but found out no driver exists for intel mac : (

Yeah, I've said it before... your interface is only as good as it's drivers. In this dept., [flame suit on] MOTU kicks ass. Rock solid, consistently first to the table with mac updates.

[Killahurts]

I agree, but MOTU doesn't make a MADI board.

I finally realized RME probably wouldn't put an Intel driver up there for the MADI board, even if they had it. They would rather have me wait, so I can buy a whole new board, when and if it comes out. Duh! Think about it- I already spent $10,000+ upgrading my system to MADI this year, I would have no choice but to spend a thousand or two more on a new board to continue with it, right?

And I would actually be lucky if it didn't take them years to come out with a PCIe MADI card that works in a Mac, for they have absolutely no competition at all in this area.

Understand, this is NOT a slam on RME. It's not their fault they're the only company that makes something, or if they're not ready with a technology change. They make some great products, and my current MADI board works flawlessly in my old computer. Always has.

The great folks at Magma took the expansion chassis back. They were surprised too.

Funny, this new Mac computer is so fast that it finally breaks the barrier for me as a composer/producer. Knowing this was coming, I waited for years to be able to have everything in one box, instruments/samplers, synths, along with audio tracks, plugs, etc., etc., and still maintain a no compromise professional recording environment.

You would think the manufacturers saw it coming too, but they are currently scrambling around like heads with their chickens cut off trying to keep up, only being able to cough up a few limited cheap-ass firewire interfaces and such that are frankly not good enough to plug into my new bitch of a computer. Even if I decided to go ITB at this point, the options are still so limited.