Powercore and UAD1 card users - are you worried about Mac PCI slots?

[Jules]

Will your cards fit in the new generation Mac's?

Do you care?

[baikonour]

I've got a pci g5 and it works great with the UAD1, the only issue is with PCIX g5's...also pcix is probably bound to fail as a standard as the new PC are using the pciE protocol.
I'm confident that that pci as still some life left and i'm going to buy a 2nd UAD this month.

[ArcCirDude]

As Macs and Pc's become faster by using multicore technology, the need for external powered plugins will not be necessary anymore. The main reason PCI effects took off was due to the lack of native processing speed. I see the possibility of both TC Electronic and UA going native.

[DrDeltaM]

Originally Posted by baikonour

I've got a pci g5 and it works great with the UAD1, the only issue is with PCIX g5's...also pcix is probably bound to fail as a standard as the new PC are using the pciE protocol.
I'm confident that that pci as still some life left and i'm going to buy a 2nd UAD this month.

Actually, PCI-X usually isn't a problem. Most audio cards and DSP cards are compatible with it.
I remember Apple being bashed for having used PCI-X in their first G5 (now more then 2 years ago) as it was an interim format. In the end, it wasn't a bad choice I guess, cuz the market wasn't ready for PCI Express yet.
It seems they think now it is ready for PCI Express, and I'm sure new versions of lotsa cards will follow. PCI Express is also the planned format for PC's, so no worries

It IS a fact tho that you can 'throw away' your old cards, if you get a new computer with only PCI-Express. It's one of the reasons I prefer full native over native + DSP-card. And as CPU power keeps increasing, and as there are coming more and more cool native plugins, the future looks bright to me

[ResonantFilter]

I'm buying a PoCo Unplugged now. Sticking it in my nice old clockwork 466 G4. So much DSP now (3 cards) I really couldn't give a monkey's arse how fast the new Macs are. Mine does what I need it to do, so why upgrade...?

[I Lurk]

I decided to buy the last dual 2.7 at my mac center, they cut me a good price.

Now I guess we'll all have to wait and see the evolution.

What worries me is that UAD seems very sluggy about taking decisions. They don't like ethernet, they don't like firewire, they are not sure about PCIe.

Contrary to other DSP manufacturers, they adapted an old graphic card to host their line of Plugins. Not a bad idea at the time, but this design is getting old and has cause numerous problems with new G5 chipset and AMD dual core processors with Nforce4 mobos.

TC seems more over the top of things right now with their hardware.

I hope they'll do something about it as I would hate to get rid of some of their pluggins wich remains ahead of anything I have tried in the digital realm.

[gainreduction]

I heard a rumour that Digidesign's take on this is that they are developing an ethernet - to - PCI converter chassis. Throw your HD core and accel cards into the chassis (probably looks like a regular PCI expansion chassis) and connect the thing to your computer via ethernet.

Ethernet will probably be around for a long time so this seems like a rumour that could be true.

[henryrobinett]

Originally Posted by ArcCirDude

As Macs and Pc's become faster by using multicore technology, the need for external powered plugins will not be necessary anymore. The main reason PCI effects took off was due to the lack of native processing speed. I see the possibility of both TC Electronic and UA going native.

That's if you figure the main reason for the manufactuerers porting their plugins to DSP cards is due to lack of CPU power. I think more to the point of these cards is protections from theft. I think the cards will be around and I doubt that either company will go native.

That being said I bought a 2.7 Dual G5 the day it came out. It wasn't my desire to be on the cutting edge or to have the latest and the greatest, but to do my work as effeciently as I can for the next foreseeable future. I have 2 UAD cards and love them. I rely on them. I have no plans to get a Dual core machine any time soon.

[Geert van den Berg]

Originally Posted by Jules

Will your cards fit in the new generation Mac's?

Do you care?

Powercore and UAD won't fit. But on the UAD forums James Cigler from UAD has posted links to expansion systems which could be the solution, though they are pricey... but you don't have to throw away your old cards...

http://www.mobl.com/expansion/produc...lot/index.html
http://www.sbs.com/products/774/

Originally Posted by ArcCirDude

As Macs and Pc's become faster by using multicore technology, the need for external powered plugins will not be necessary anymore. The main reason PCI effects took off was due to the lack of native processing speed. I see the possibility of both TC Electronic and UA going native.

TC Electronic has had native products, the Native bundle and Spark... both are discontinued... Like HenryRobinett said manufacturers want to protect their apps and plugs, it's not just about power...

[ArcCirDude]

Originally Posted by GvdB

Powercore and UAD won't fit. But on the UAD forums James Cigler from UAD has posted links to expansion systems which could be the solution, though they are pricey... but you don't have to throw away your old cards...

http://www.mobl.com/expansion/produc...lot/index.html
http://www.sbs.com/products/774/



TC Electronic has had native products, the Native bundle and Spark... both are discontinued... Like HenryRobinett said manufacturers want to protect their apps and plugs, it's not just about power...

There are less expensive forms of effective copy protection than a PCI card.... Ilok for example. Anyway, I think that firewire is a better alternative than PCI cards. I own a UAD-1, Powercore PCI and Powercore Firewire. Which one of these investments won't be affected by the change of format? In any case, I think it's about time for an upgrade for both the UAD- 1 and Powercore. These cards are what, 4 years old now? They were designed to help give a 400mhz G3 a little kick in the butt. I want better, faster, and less latency! But that's why I sum OTB and use hardware on a lot of my tracks......

[I Lurk]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

That's if you figure the main reason for the manufactuerers porting their plugins to DSP cards is due to lack of CPU power. I think more to the point of these cards is protections from theft. I think the cards will be around and I doubt that either company will go native.

That being said I bought a 2.7 Dual G5 the day it came out. It wasn't my desire to be on the cutting edge or to have the latest and the greatest, but to do my work as effeciently as I can for the next foreseeable future. I have 2 UAD cards and love them. I rely on them. I have no plans to get a Dual core machine any time soon.

Any problem with two UAD and the DUAL 2.7 ?

I have the same config coming this WE, so I'd like to know

thanx

[explorer]

Sorry if this is hijacking the thread a bit - it relates to the new G5 PCI slots at least!

A friend of mine has ordered a new dual core 2ghz G5 but has a MOTU 2408mk2 PCI soundcard. Any ideas what he should get as a cheap audio interface? I was thinking perhaps a usb or firwire interface that he can link the 2408 to, but for not much more he might even be able to get a whole new set of convertors etc? He needs at least 8ins and 2outs but there doesn't seem much choice at the cheaper end and I'm thinking the cheap covertors might be worse than the MOTU?

Thanks!

[abit]

2 NUBUS! Lexicon Nuverb Cards/888/16
sitting in the same grandma Quadra810($50)
for about .. more then 10 years I think.
Works great as an outboard effect.(lex300)


The drawback is - if some day it'll die on me-
no support on these from DIGI.