MAgma PE6R4 and Pro Tools 9 HD

[xpansionx]

Originally Posted by dr sound

Love you Wilson !

I have the previous generation 2.26 8 Core Mac Pro (2 of them)
I have 2 HD6 Acell PCI systems in a Magma PE-6R4I (2 of them )
connected with a single cable from the chassis to the PCI host card on each Mac.
The chassis and systems ROCK!
Call me if you have any other questions.

Would you be able to give the rev of the Pro Tools cards that you are using?
You can send picture of the Pro Tools card showing the rev.

Go to this link as a reference guide on where to look for the FAB Rev and Asst Rev
http://magma.nfpondemand.com/MRcgi/M...CTID=2&MR=6117

[NewdestinyX]

I want to also add my assent to what someone else recently said -- The Magma boxes will never STOP working. They are simply a PCI slot OUTSIDE the box. If they 'turn on' and haven't broken on a component level - they will 'always' work with ProTools. That's the real beauty of the Magma products. It's like we never ask if an electric extension chord is gonna work when we plug a lamp into IT before the wall socket. It's the same thing with Magma Boxes -- think 'electric extension chord'.

[Barry Johns]

Why have I read that some Magma boxes only worked through PT 8.something. There was an HD2 PCI that came with a Magma box selling for 2k, but the seller said it would not work with anything beyond 8.1 or something like that. This is why it was priced so low.

What was that likely about?

[DJ Insomaniac]

Originally Posted by Barry Johns

Why have I read that some Magma boxes only worked through PT 8.something. There was an HD2 PCI that came with a Magma box selling for 2k, but the seller said it would not work with anything beyond 8.1 or something like that. This is why it was priced so low.

What was that likely about?

Could it have been that it was an older Magma that couldn't use a PCI-e host card? We had to scrap our PCI7RX when we got rid of our G5 and went MacPro because that unit doesn't support a PCI-e HBA. We ended up with a PE6R4 ourselves, but still sit at v. 8.1.

[NewdestinyX]

Originally Posted by Barry Johns

Why have I read that some Magma boxes only worked through PT 8.something. There was an HD2 PCI that came with a Magma box selling for 2k, but the seller said it would not work with anything beyond 8.1 or something like that. This is why it was priced so low.

What was that likely about?

As I've said many times here -- think of a MAGMA chassis as an 'electrical extension cord'. Is there any LAMP in America that won't received electricity from the wall socket IF an extension cord is in between the wall and the lamp? Of course not. As long as a card works in a PCIx or PCIe slot in a desktop computer - it will ALWAYS and FOREVER work in a corresponding - PCIx or PCIe Magma chassis box. The Magma Chassis are simply extension cords from your desktop to your PCI cards. No software version could ever avert their usefulness. Now we all know Digi is very selective about 'qualifying' pieces of gear. But we all ALSO know that simply means they haven't tested a piece of gear if they haven't qualified it. For a while it wasn't in their best financial interest to qualify MAGMA chassis since they had their own PCI extender box out that went 'belly up' because it just didn't work well. And now I'm pretty sure AVID just is 'disinterested' in MAGMA since Thunderbolt is out and will replace PCI all together in the next couple of years for interfaces.

But the same MAGMA Chassis PCIe 2 slot box I bought 4 years ago works today with ProTools 9HD in a 12 Core MacPro AND in my son's i7 MacBookPro with Magma's PCExpress34 card hanging off it -- without a hiccup. (before I sold my HD that is... LOL!!).. They will WORK forever, gang.. via any software that still allows for communication between a PCI slot and a piece of hardware.

any Magma Box = electrical extension cord [of sorts]

[bashville]

Originally Posted by NewdestinyX

No latency of any kind here in with any HD cards from Avid or MOTU or UAD cards. Electricity travels the speed of light, gentlemen (if zero capacitance wire existed) -- but please let's not start talking added latency with the 1 meter lo capacitance cable they provide. Capacitance of the wire is a variable in this equation but as I talked to the engineers at Magma it would only start to affect timing over 5 meters or more. I ordered their 3 meter cable for hookup in another room and it added zero latency.

Now I can only speak for the 1space PCIe chassis and my 2space PCIx chassis. Zero added latency with Magma box.

This contradicts what I understand about the "RTAS plugs following TDM plugs" issue being worse when using a chassis, or using RTAS plugs on an auxiliary channel. That's the kind of latency you can see in the delay read-out. But no, there's no delay increase with input-to-output straight-through recording.

And I have to chime in with those users experiencing no problems with their older Magma chassis. I've got the last version of the 4-slot (with the Pericom chip) still working fine on my quad-core Harpertown, running four old PCI cards with the PCI-e host card in the MacPro. And since I don't have drives in the chassis, I found a quiet fan that does the trick in the box that adds no appreciable noise to my environment.

I'm looking forward to seeing if this works in a Thunderbolt adapter on a laptop or Mac Mini!

[groovebrother]

i've been working with the pe6r4 (original) since 2008 from pt7 to pt10 without issues so far.
The only issue i had was when i switched 2 process for a core & accel card but the mac would not start.
I learned later that rev E & K where not compatibles with earlier rev.