What working Config. are You running?

[simnimbus]

Let's see what working computer config.'s are out there and if there was anything you had to do to get it to work. If you have a working Digi 001 setup please take the time to answer these questions. Thanks.

What hardware:

CPU and Speed Overclocked? what speed?
Motherboard Maker and type?
How much RAM and what brand and speed?
Hard Drive Size, speed and maker? How many?
Video card type?
Sound card?
Other cards?
OS?
Did Digi 001 work the first time?
What was the first problem if any?
Did you have to do anything special to get your config working?
Are you using you computer for anything other than Pro Tools and what?
Do you have any other "pro sound" equipment hooked up to your computer?

Hopefully we will all benefit from the answers to these questions.

[This message has been edited by simnimbus (edited December 01, 2000).]

[B Frank]

In my quest for a sound card I have come across some rather high and
dry reviews regarding the Digi 001. What can you tell about your
experiences? I have read some reviews from a few Magazines but a review
is not like an 'experience'. My curiosity is:
how the hardware/software combo holds up on a PC
the style/type of RTAS 'plug-ins' used ( what kind of effects),
Pc power consumption
and most of all what are some of the things that will be the most
limiting in the near or distant future.

Abit BE6-Rev 2
Coppermine P III 600 MHz
256 MB ram SDRAM ECC PC100 8NS
2 Hard Drives 15.2 GB DMA ATA/66 Ultra EIDE 7200rpm IBM
CDRW 8X4X32X SCSI INT Yamaha
VOODOO-3 2000 16MB AGP
CD ROM
This is what my system looks like.

[flashbak]

Well I for one have found the Digi 001 PCI card unfriendly to overclocking. I have the Abit BE6-II v1.2 motherboard and it's the only card PCI card that won't overclock in my system. I'm running a PIII 650Mhz/100 stock CPU. If I even try to raise the FSB (front side bus) speed to 104 the Digi PCI card has a problem and yes I have made sure the PCI clock/CPU FSB clock is set to 1/4 in the bios. For instance when launching PTLE and it starts loading DAE I'll receive an error message (DAE was unable to communicate with the audio hardware -6001). If I revert back to a FSB of 100 everything is fine again. It looks to me since the card is compatible with both the Mac & Windows platforms that it's bus speed is somewhat compromised to assure compatibility on both platforms. Normally I'd have my FSB pushed up to 125 which is about 814Mhz (if I recall) but since purchasing the 001 I've had to bring it back down to the stock speed of (100Mhz). flashbak

[martin_uk]

Intel P3 733 not overclocked.
Asus CUSL2 Motherboard
512MB 133Mhz RAM- don't know the brand.
2* 9 GB IBM SCSI, 1 4GB HP SCSI, 2* 18GB IBM IDE (10,000 rpm)
3Dfx Voodoo3 16MB, Creative TNT2 Ultra 16MB
Creamware Pulsar 1
Initio SCSI Adaptor and lots of cooling fans!
Win98SE
Digi001 worked straight away
First problem was getting to hear my external synths. I didn't realise you had to create an AUX input- that'll teach me to read the manual!
I've posted the other steps I took here: http://www.digidesign.com/ubb/Forum34/HTML/000252.html
I'm running Pro Tools alongside the Pulsar environment (for its synths) and Logic Audio Platinum (for MIDI)
I have an Emagic Unitor8Mk2 MIDI interface, 2* Fostex VC 8 analogue to ADAT converters (for my external gear) and a Yamaha A3000 sampler attached via SCSI.

[greenroom]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">quote:<HR>Originally posted by simnimbus:
Let's see what working computer config.'s are out there and if there was anything you had to do to get it to work. If you have a working Digi 001 setup please take the time to answer these questions. Thanks.

What hardware:

CPU and Speed Overclocked? what speed?
Motherboard Maker and type?
How much RAM and what brand and speed?
Hard Drive Size, speed and maker? How many?
Video card type?
Sound card?
Other cards?
OS?
Did Digi 001 work the first time?
What was the first problem if any?
Did you have to do anything special to get your config working?
Are you using you computer for anything other than Pro Tools and what?
Do you have any other "pro sound" equipment hooked up to your computer?

Hopefully we will all benefit from the answers to these questions.

[This message has been edited by simnimbus (edited December 01, 2000).]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

PIII700 overclocked to 933 (retail heatsink and fan)
Gigabyte bx2000+ with latest bios
192 MB no-name 100 SDRAM
5400 15 GB Maxtor system
7200 15 GB Maxtor Audio
7200 30 GB Seagate Barracuda Audio
Win98SE
HP9100i CD Writer
Digi 001
ATI 8MB AGP video card

Disabled serial and parallel ports
Disabled USB

No crashes, no glitches, full 24 track songs with 2-3 D-Verbs, 7-8 Compressors and assorted eqs

Runs very stable - 8 hour mixing and recording sessions - no problem

Not being difficult but this is a proprietary solution for recording. The compatibility documents are very clear and have been out for a long time. I think a lot of the frustration has been because many of us had PCs that we wanted to shoehorn the Digi 001 into and they simply were not compatible - trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. I built this PC myself using components from my old PC - screen/case/PSU etc but slung in the gear which is known to work.
I guess if you decide you want to use PTLE exclusively (as I do) you go for a bare-bones machine that works. If you want to use other Audio programmes and soft synths etc you have to go for a hybrid and accept there may be compatibility problems. In a sense the DIGI 001 is not suitable for music which requires soft synths etc - if you need that then VST or Logic seem the answer and you can tailor your hardware to those solutions.

Phil

[Canteenboy]

Greenroom-
it's very nice to read a success story on this site. I agree with you that the Digi recommendations are VERY clear. Still I read posts of someone wondering why their Athlon isn't working properly.
It's been mentioned a few times before, but I'd like your input...have you had any experience with the Abit RAID boards? Do you think a RAID configured hard drive setup is a solid alternative to a SCSI drive? Thanks for you input...

[flashbak]

Phil,
Let me understand this. Your pushing your FSB speed with the 001 PCI card and have no problem overclocking the P3 700 to 933 with it in the system? What's your FSB speed? As I stated previously I can't push my FSB at all with the 001 PCI in my system. Yet every other card in my system will work on the upped PCI bus speed except for the 001 card. Once I start pushing the FSB up from the stock 100Mhz speed the 001 hardware isn't detected by the system and the ProTools LE bombs out during the launching process at the DAE phase. flashbak

[greenroom]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Canteenboy:
Greenroom-
it's very nice to read a success story on this site. I agree with you that the Digi recommendations are VERY clear. Still I read posts of someone wondering why their Athlon isn't working properly.
It's been mentioned a few times before, but I'd like your input...have you had any experience with the Abit RAID boards? Do you think a RAID configured hard drive setup is a solid alternative to a SCSI drive? Thanks for you input...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Sorry man but i've taken a pragmatic approach because I wanted to get my bands album done with the minimal fuss and to produce the best music we could with the setup we could afford. I don't understand the whole raid thing. I don't seem to get any problems streaming 24 mono 16 bit/44khz tracks back off either disc along with plugins etc. One reason I got the Gigabyte board was because it has a Promise UDMA66 controller which (having had major problems with the Highpoint controller on an ABIT BE6) was known to be up to the job. I'm not bothered about more HD speed and don't subscribe to the SCSI conspiracy. Basically you can read the stats about streaming tracks and maybe SCSI is better but I just don't care - I got my album done and we are off recording more stuff.

Pay your money and take your choice

Phil

[greenroom]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">quote:<HR>Originally posted by flashbak:
Phil,
Let me understand this. Your pushing your FSB speed with the 001 PCI card and have no problem overclocking the P3 700 to 933 with it in the system? What's your FSB speed? As I stated previously I can't push my FSB at all with the 001 PCI in my system. Yet every other card in my system will work on the upped PCI bus speed except for the 001 card. Once I start pushing the FSB up from the stock 100Mhz speed the 001 hardware isn't detected by the system and the ProTools LE bombs out during the launching process at the DAE phase. flashbak<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Flashbak

I'm no rocket scientist but as far as I'm aware the FSB is 133. I don't know or understand how it works. I have noticed that Gigabyte boards are very rarely mentioned on this Forum. Elsewhere they seem to be regarded as either very solid or a piece of **** . Having said that most boards seem to suffer from the same fate and the '**** ' factor is when they don't do more than what it says on the box and the 'solid' factor is when they do!

My system works well - i'm not being smug or gloating - just posting a reply to the thread - maybe reduce some of the tears for potential users.

phil

[sactojj]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">quote:<HR>Originally posted by flashbak:
Phil,
Let me understand this. Your pushing your FSB speed with the 001 PCI card and have no problem overclocking the P3 700 to 933 with it in the system? What's your FSB speed? As I stated previously I can't push my FSB at all with the 001 PCI in my system. Yet every other card in my system will work on the upped PCI bus speed except for the 001 card. Once I start pushing the FSB up from the stock 100Mhz speed the 001 hardware isn't detected by the system and the ProTools LE bombs out during the launching process at the DAE phase. flashbak<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well,
From reading your info here, it sounds like you need to OC to 133, not the incriments in between. The Digi001 seems very picky about this so try kicking it all the way up. Just make sure your cooling is sufficient.

Good Luck,

jj