Connecting a Mac to my Pulsars inside my PC

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Mon May 02, 2005 5:25 pm

A lot of those new Romplers need 2 G of RAM. I am thinking of those 2 Gig pianos that have been coming out lately. Now, since I use Logic for PC I cannot have more than 1 Gig RAM in my machine because Logic recognises more than that as negative RAM.

I would like to know if there is a way to hook up say, a Powerbook(any MAC really) to my Pulsars as if the soundcards were external while using the RAM in it to drive those big apps.

Thanks

Post by **garyb** » Mon May 02, 2005 10:15 pm

sure, how about adat?

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Tue May 03, 2005 9:05 am

I would plug A-DAT in the generic MAC soundboard?

borg · Post by **borg** » Tue May 03, 2005 12:11 pm

the stereo mini jack out on powerbooks are very reliable and coreaudio is real powerful, especially now with Tiger.

the G5 desktops have built in optical SP/DIF (or ADAT, not too sure...).

i'm now enjoying this particular setup: powerbook with RME Multiface, connected to the pulsars via ADAT and midi. this means that in my case the pulsar machine is only used as synth/fx rack/(mixer).
i'm still using the ancient din type connector midi thing, so i don't know how you would pull it off without a midi interface. midi over lan? it's always a bit tricky doing this kind of stuff between mac and pc. OSX and XP seem to get along much better than OS 9 and XP ever did, so it might work.
take a look here for the audio part.
just googled this, but at first sight, it seems only available if you buy their hardware.

edit: it seems with Tiger, you now have 'midi network driver'... haven't upgraded to this new OS though, so i can't tell how it works.

[ This Message was edited by: borg on 2005-05-03 13:22 ]

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Tue May 03, 2005 1:46 pm

So what you're saying is that I could set up a network of computers.

My idea was to use my PC as the external soundcard to, say, a MiniMac or something like that(like a breakout box outside the Mac). Am I clear as to what I'm asking? I'm not sure anymore...

Post by **garyb** » Tue May 03, 2005 4:15 pm

yes, you're clear.
it'll work, but you will need an adat card or something similar.

pseudojazzer · Post by **pseudojazzer** » Wed May 04, 2005 2:14 pm

Please keep this thread updated with your research paul, cos i've been thinking the very same - minimac! They do sound very cheeky.
Just to show my ignorance of macs and their compatibility - would i be able to access all my pc files (word docs, wavs + other programs) as well as using the scope on the pc or would i have to get mac versions of my sequencers to run them? presumably the mac would be "master" and the pc "slave"? i'd imagine that one would run all programs on the mac, with its extra ram, but could i still use my hard drives on my pc to keep all the projects for the programs?
i hope that makes some kinda sense, everyone on this forum is so knowledgeble that i feel like a bit of an idiot when i post in the "tech" section!
sorry, i'm beginning to ramble... i think its the idea of a mini mac thats making me excited. i can just hear Homer saying it now:
"mmmmm... mini mac"

borg · Post by **borg** » Wed May 04, 2005 3:10 pm

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 204#116204
a recent discussion on the ableton live forum regarding the matter. btw ableton live files/projects can easily be shared between mac and pc. i don't know how this works with other sequencers.
anyhow, i think there aren't any problems with more common stuff like MS office. what would a mac guy do with a word doc he received from a pc bloke? bin it? open and read... just like .wav can be read by mac and aif by pc.

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Wed May 04, 2005 4:11 pm

Well, MiniMac is out of the question because of the 1G RAM maximum...

Post by **hubird** » Wed May 04, 2005 6:26 pm

Paul, get a second hand G4, it'sa better choice than the Mini

[ This Message was edited by: hubird on 2005-05-04 19:26 ]

wolf · Post by **wolf** » Thu May 05, 2005 2:54 am

Hi,

I use one of the new PowerBooks, which have S/P-Dif in/out. It is equipped with 2GB Ram. Midi comes in via the MT4.
As borg said, the Built-In audio is very reliable and I can get down to 64 Samples (1,5 ms) without problems.
As software I use Rax and the AU version of the EXSP24 or Ivory (with a firewire drive) for piano playing and Live for clubmusic.
Quite funny browsing the forum, doing mail, etc. at the same time. I'd never do this on a wintel machine

If I go live, I use the analog out, which has now a 24bit converter. Very small setup and very few stuff to carry around.

Network: Tiger has midi over network capabilities, but of course this works only from mac to mac. The same is true for audio, where you have a netreceive and netsend AU, which can be used in any AU capable host. There's some latency, so with a direkt audio connection (analog or digital) it's still better.
There's also an aggregate device now, where you can combine several audio cards (incl. the build in) to one.

All document files from the pc can be opened on the mac, if there's an equivalent of the file creating software on the mac. For the apps you use, you'll need a mac version of course. I can even open the logic 7.1 mac files with the logic 5.5.1 pc version.

Of course, If you want to have a lot of Ram and a hell of performance, get a G5 and stick additional 4GB in it.
The G5 2GHz DP has roughly 5 times more power than my PIV 2GHz - both running logic (can't tell for other apps).
I wouldn't use a miniMac for audio stuff, as it is very limited and doesn't deliver enough power on the long run. It's good for office stuff though ..

cheers
Wolfgang

[ This Message was edited by: wolf on 2005-05-06 10:18 ]

pseudojazzer · Post by **pseudojazzer** » Fri May 06, 2005 8:31 am

I didn't realise that minimac had max 1 gig ram! kinda defeats the object of getting one a little. the compatibility thing is good tho -especially Abelton! sounds like G4 or higher is the only way to go...

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Fri May 06, 2005 1:49 pm

well, the mini is more or less a Powerbook in a different case, and there are not so few musicians using a G4 Powerbook

it's 'price advantage' is almost completely depending on a spare TFT the buyer already owns, according to Apple people with a 'not so cool' type of PeCee are their premier target group.

of course the low entry price brings a lot of media attention, but given the fact you need more memory AND a new screen, the G5 iMac is a much better choice at not even 150 Euro more (for the complete package).
Additional to the more powerful CPU it also supports more and faster memory and looks even better than a fully cabled mini...

Benchmarks in the audio domain give it twice the performance of a mini for certain apps.

cheers, Tom