Duende, sounds great, but REALLY SUCKS, I MEAN - REALLY SUCKS

barryjohns · 27th December 2006, 01:36 AM

I have given this piece of gear every possible chance I can. I have configured/reconfigured everything you can imagine. Call SSL Tech Support, you'll get a call back in a day or two and when they do talk to you you'll get canned responses. Question them, and you'll get a lot of attitude. I am a Tech Savvy guy and very patient. This unit has pushed me beyond the brink. If you have any other firewire devices, forget the Duende. If you have UAD, forget the Duende.

When it works, it sounds great, unfortunately for them, and me it rarely works. I know there are some users out there that are not experiencing the problems I am, but there are tons that are experiencing the same type issues as me. $1600.00 for a plugin, man that thing had better smoke, right out of the box. They obviously did not do their homework on this unit. By the time they get it right, you'll be able to run a million Waves SSL Eq's on your Mac, because by then, we will all be running 100 core duo Intel processors. Waves SSL and 10 years of WUP and your still cheaper than the Duende.

I hate the fact that this thing does not work.

guitoffee · 27th December 2006, 02:29 AM

I have duende and 4 UAD cards and it works great. I notice they like each other better when you pull the UAD cards out of the MAC and into an expansion chasis. I am also using a RME fireface 800; the trick for me was the Drive issue. I was using FW drives and switched over to eSATA {pci} I am now getting better performance out my drives. If you look on the SSL's Mixbuss forum they have a posting on working setups. I am totally stoked with my setup, my mixes are sounding the best they have ever have....

larrygates · 27th December 2006, 02:31 AM

That's almost like having a Digidesign system.

Quite involved.

SATA externals are great, but liquid mix, Duende, & other firewire devices you say hog the bandwidth too much.

barryjohns · 27th December 2006, 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by larrygates

That's almost like having a Digidesign system.

Quite involved.

SATA externals are great, but liquid mix, Duende, & other firewire devices you say hog the bandwidth too much.

Spending 1300 bucks for an expanion chasis isn't practical for me. I do belive that it's all about bandwidth and exclusivity wiht the duende.

Jake68 · 27th December 2006, 03:15 AM

Barry what is your machines and what else is in it ?

Osumosan · 27th December 2006, 03:34 AM

I've read about problems with Duende and a lot of them seem to be fixed by installing a firewire PCI card dedicated to it. I think that's much less expensive than an external chassis. If you're out of PCI slots --- let us know what you're getting rid of! ;-)

The Beatsmith · 27th December 2006, 03:39 AM

I have a duende and also a ff800 and a maxtor one touch FW HD, and it works flawlessly on my dualcore g5

Also works perfectly on my powerbook

I am running logic pro 7.2.3

True North · 27th December 2006, 03:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barryjohns

Spending 1300 bucks for an expanion chasis isn't practical for me. I do belive that it's all about bandwidth and exclusivity wiht the duende.

I got mine on Ebay for $300, seriously. One of the best investments I have ever made. Someone on this forum told me to check on ebay, I was patient and I did just that - sure enough one came up.

barryjohns · 27th December 2006, 04:53 AM

I have a G5DP 2.0. I have a PCI Firewire card, even bought another one, thinking there may be something wrong with mine. I have a RME FF800, which was first connected via FF800 so I changed that back to FF400 to see if that was an issue. I now run my FF800 as the front end to an Maudio Lightbridge to Protools Mpowered, which is also FW. Have 2 UAD Cards. When the Duende is by itself, then the issues are greatly minimized. As soon as UAD is put in, goes haywire.

Started clocking to Lightpipe, then went to SPDIF, and then to Wordclock. Nothing helped the Duende.

Disconnected my FF400 external hard drive, that didn't help either, but it sure hurt when it was plugged in.

The unit is fairly stable with Logic Pro, which I also have, worked terrible in DP5.11, which I also have. I mainly use Protools, and had intermittent issues in Protools when it was the only thing being used, when UAD’s were used, down she goes, snap, crackle, pop.

When I search the various forums trying to find solutions, I find so many other people having similar issues. I also have a Liquid Mix that I had to take out of the mix completely.

Well any, just got back from Guitar Center, returned the sucker for store credit.

statikcat · 27th December 2006, 05:37 AM

In what way does a PCI based UAD card interfere with a firewire device? That seems kind of odd.

barryjohns · 27th December 2006, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by statikcat

In what way does a PCI based UAD card interfere with a firewire device? That seems kind of odd.

I don't know if its due to one being PCI and the other being firewire or not. What I do know, is the two do not play well together for whatever reason.

Dr.Wu · 27th December 2006, 10:10 AM

isnt it that in certain G5s pci and firewire are handled by the same chip just with different priorities?
i know that i had all kinds of issues when i tried to run 2 firefaces plus 2 firewireharddrives from the same G5.
just didnt work without dropouts and shit.
RME was blaming Apple for a poor implementation of the whole firewire buss design.

warhead · 27th December 2006, 01:26 PM

Have you tried higher / different latency settings when you get snap, crackle pop?

War

barryjohns · 27th December 2006, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by warhead

Have you tried higher / different latency settings when you get snap, crackle pop?

War

Yes, everything. I really do think it's just an issue with UAD and Duende on my specific mac model. Those seem to be common denominators. The firewire card should have corrected that though.

I returned the unit last nigh and purchased Waves SSL bundle.

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27th December 2006, 01:36 AM	#1
barryjohns Lives for gear Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 2,366	Duende, sounds great, but REALLY SUCKS, I MEAN - REALLY SUCKS I have given this piece of gear every possible chance I can. I have configured/reconfigured everything you can imagine. Call SSL Tech Support, you'll get a call back in a day or two and when they do talk to you you'll get canned responses. Question them, and you'll get a lot of attitude. I am a Tech Savvy guy and very patient. This unit has pushed me beyond the brink. If you have any other firewire devices, forget the Duende. If you have UAD, forget the Duende. When it works, it sounds great, unfortunately for them, and me it rarely works. I know there are some users out there that are not experiencing the problems I am, but there are tons that are experiencing the same type issues as me. $1600.00 for a plugin, man that thing had better smoke, right out of the box. They obviously did not do their homework on this unit. By the time they get it right, you'll be able to run a million Waves SSL Eq's on your Mac, because by then, we will all be running 100 core duo Intel processors. Waves SSL and 10 years of WUP and your still cheaper than the Duende. I hate the fact that this thing does not work.

27th December 2006, 03:34 AM	#6
Osumosan Gear Head Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 56	Firewire I've read about problems with Duende and a lot of them seem to be fixed by installing a firewire PCI card dedicated to it. I think that's much less expensive than an external chassis. If you're out of PCI slots --- let us know what you're getting rid of! ;-)

27th December 2006, 04:53 AM	#9
barryjohns Lives for gear Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 2,366	I have a G5DP 2.0. I have a PCI Firewire card, even bought another one, thinking there may be something wrong with mine. I have a RME FF800, which was first connected via FF800 so I changed that back to FF400 to see if that was an issue. I now run my FF800 as the front end to an Maudio Lightbridge to Protools Mpowered, which is also FW. Have 2 UAD Cards. When the Duende is by itself, then the issues are greatly minimized. As soon as UAD is put in, goes haywire. Started clocking to Lightpipe, then went to SPDIF, and then to Wordclock. Nothing helped the Duende. Disconnected my FF400 external hard drive, that didn't help either, but it sure hurt when it was plugged in. The unit is fairly stable with Logic Pro, which I also have, worked terrible in DP5.11, which I also have. I mainly use Protools, and had intermittent issues in Protools when it was the only thing being used, when UAD’s were used, down she goes, snap, crackle, pop. When I search the various forums trying to find solutions, I find so many other people having similar issues. I also have a Liquid Mix that I had to take out of the mix completely. Well any, just got back from Guitar Center, returned the sucker for store credit. __________________ My hope is we will be able to debate our passion, vice argue a subjective point. Oh, if you ever want to talk about Jesus, PM me

27th December 2006, 01:26 PM	#13
warhead Jai guru deva om Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: South Carolina Posts: 8,328	Have you tried higher / different latency settings when you get snap, crackle pop? War __________________ Warren Dent Email: warren (at) frontendaudio (dot) com Front End Audio Sells Gear Tuesday Testers: Hear the Gear Shootouts Product Videos on YouTube: Overviews of Gear

27th December 2006, 02:29 AM	#2
guitoffee Gear nut Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 86	I have duende and 4 UAD cards and it works great. I notice they like each other better when you pull the UAD cards out of the MAC and into an expansion chasis. I am also using a RME fireface 800; the trick for me was the Drive issue. I was using FW drives and switched over to eSATA {pci} I am now getting better performance out my drives. If you look on the SSL's Mixbuss forum they have a posting on working setups. I am totally stoked with my setup, my mixes are sounding the best they have ever have....

27th December 2006, 02:31 AM	#3
larrygates Gear maniac Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Middletown, Oh Posts: 213	That's almost like having a Digidesign system. Quite involved. SATA externals are great, but liquid mix, Duende, & other firewire devices you say hog the bandwidth too much.

27th December 2006, 03:15 AM	#5
Jake68 Gear interested Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 14	Barry what is your machines and what else is in it ?

27th December 2006, 03:39 AM	#7
The Beatsmith Lives for gear Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: UK Posts: 839	I have a duende and also a ff800 and a maxtor one touch FW HD, and it works flawlessly on my dualcore g5 Also works perfectly on my powerbook I am running logic pro 7.2.3

27th December 2006, 05:37 AM	#10
statikcat Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: USA - Indiana Posts: 774	In what way does a PCI based UAD card interfere with a firewire device? That seems kind of odd.

27th December 2006, 10:10 AM	#12
Dr.Wu Lives for gear Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 594	isnt it that in certain G5s pci and firewire are handled by the same chip just with different priorities? i know that i had all kinds of issues when i tried to run 2 firefaces plus 2 firewireharddrives from the same G5. just didnt work without dropouts and shit. RME was blaming Apple for a poor implementation of the whole firewire buss design.

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