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Old 12-11-2002, 11:12 AM
Divot Divot is offline
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Default Mix Farm vs. DSP Farm

Hi all,

from digging through old strings I came across some info but I was wondering what the difference is between the 2,
From what I got you can't connect a DSP Farm Cards to certain interfaces? Do they have the same amount of horsepower as a Mix Farm? Do they work with Plug-ins? I would guess there is some major reason seeing the price diference.

Thanks,
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Old 12-11-2002, 05:51 PM
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ekuehnl ekuehnl is offline
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Default Re: Mix Farm vs. DSP Farm

Older PCI DSP farms can host one 8 channel interface including 888|24. They can run most plugins (but there are many that are mix only). They only have 4 Motorola chips (whereas Mix Farms have 6), and the chips are quite a bit less powerful than Mix chips. If it's a DSP Farm I it is not compatible with any machine after the beige G3. DSP Farm II is compatible with every mac including G4. You can tell by looking at the PCI Matchmaker chip on the card. Here's the compato info:

http://www.digidesign.com/compato/pt3g4agp.html

Check the bottom of the page.

Anyway, they are typically a very good deal on the used market and can help to round out a Mix system nicely. Just make sure the plugins you want to run aren't Mix only.

Good luck!
-Eric
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Old 12-12-2002, 07:20 AM
Divot Divot is offline
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Default Re: Mix Farm vs. DSP Farm

Does that mean that adding the DSP Farm will make my system slower due to the chips being slower? Or when I use the dsp on the card I will notice it to be slower?

Thanks,
Divot
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Old 12-12-2002, 11:26 AM
derF derF is offline
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Default Re: Mix Farm vs. DSP Farm

I had a Mix Plus system which started to strain under the pressure. I bought a couple of DSP Farm cards cheaply and was shocked how much more power I'd got from such a little amount of money (less than half a s/h Mix Farm!!!!!!!) 2 dsp farms = 1 mix farm according to digi. I'd say it's slightly more. Remember no chip sharing. 2 dsp has 8 chips, 1 mix has 6 chips = more plugin types on dsp.

The only plugin I've found that doesn't run on the dsp farm card (you get an "out of memory" error) is EchoFarm. Other than that, fine!! (Strongly advise at least a Mix Plus system first to really benefit from all Pro Tools' glory.)

IT DOESN'T SLOWDOWN YOUR COMPUTER!!!!

You can only run one 888 (I don't bother as I mix in PT and only need 16 ins via ADAT24 Bridge)

Check serial numbers. FG is good (DSP FARM II) I think some FF are good depending on the numbers. All info is in support on digi site.

Not sure if dsp farms are still supported in PT6, but hey, I've just got a system together that I happy with. Make the most of others selling cheap to upgrade to the lastest thing.

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Old 12-12-2002, 11:47 AM
tld tld is offline
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Default Re: Mix Farm vs. DSP Farm

The only real catch with the DSP farms is that some plugins require the mix chips. However, if you use a lot of DSP hungry plugins that will run on the DSP farms, that frees up the mix chips for plugins that need them.

In my case, adding a DSP farm to my mix plus was a HUGE improvment for cheap.

Tom
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Old 12-13-2002, 10:47 AM
Still No SSL Yet Still No SSL Yet is offline
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Default Re: Mix Farm vs. DSP Farm

Is there a comprehensive list of plugins that run on a DSP farm? From my understanding though a dsp farm has 4 plugs and the mix has 6, only three of the Mix chips will run most reverbs, while all 4 of the DSP farm's cards are this type.

Will the DSP FARM RUN
Reverb one?
Lexiverb?
TC chorus/masterx/ master tools?
Waves Delays?
Waves mechanics stuff??
Digi DPP-1?
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Old 12-13-2002, 10:49 AM
Still No SSL Yet Still No SSL Yet is offline
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Default Re: Mix Farm vs. DSP Farm

What about the DUY stuff? What type of chip does it run on? will the DUY run on the less powerful chips on a mix card?

Anyone know where there's a list of this type of information?

Where is that Administrator from Digi when you need him? I know he's around somewhere?

Help Please!
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