The unofficial PTLE bottom-feeder thread!

[M.Brane]

Well I went ahead, and installed 6.4 on my mostly stock 400mhz Sawtooth G4 with 10.3.9. Why? because I'm an idiot like that.

It's slow, but definately useable. I think with a nice dually processor upgrade, and a better video card it will do just fine for my audio-only requirements. Good thing I've got some overtime checks on the way. Who knows I may even be able to pick up a nice DA pretty cheap soon. G4 prices are dropping rapidly with the move to Intel.

Opened up one of my 16 audio track 5.1.1 sessions no problem other than losing a few delay plugs. Re-did those, and got the dreaded CPU horsepower error. Nixed my reverb aux track, and all was well again. Will have to wait to try out a serious tracking session, but I can't see that being a huge problem with my drive setup. I can always boot back into 9 if I have to.

The specifics:

G4 400 AGP
768MB
40, and 100GB drives on the internal bus
2 80GB drives on a Tempo Trio card
ATI 128 Pro
Digi 001
OS 10.3.9/9.2.2
QT 6.5.2
iTunes 4.0.1
PTLE 6.4

I boot from one of the 80GB drives on the Trio, and record onto the 100GB on the internal bus. The 40GB on the intrnal bus is a backup boot drive, and the other 80GB on the Trio is a backup for the 100GB. It looks kinda funny when you look at the drive sizes alone, but I do it that way due to the speed of the drives, and their ages. Better storage is in the planning stages as budget permits.

I encourage all who follow the bottom-feeder path to post their experiences, and/or comments on this thread.

[M.Brane]

Finally got my Gigadesigns dual 1.6.

I could go on about the install (simple, and painless), and the performance boost (it rocks) but I'm too busy working on a project right now.

Oh yeah I upped my RAM since the previous post too. Now at 1.62GB. I also discovered that my Mac is a Gigabit Ethernet model not a Sawtooth.

[john fitzgerald]

sounds like a nice pick me up.

at what OS did Pro Tools start utilizing two processors?

[M.Brane]

6.4 doesn't take full advantage of duals, but you can set the CPU usage to 99% instead of 85%. PT is not the main reason I bought the dual. The OS, and a lot of other apps do take full advantage.

I'm not a benchmark fan, but the session I was just working on was running smooth, and fast with 15 audio tracks, 3 aux, and quite a few plug-ins with low buffer settings. The CPU meter never even went to half.

[M.Brane]

I took my Gigabit completely apart to do some airflow mods, and replace the fans. I also added another exhaust fan to it to. You can check it out here if you wanna see some pics.

I ran into some problems with booting from 9 after re-assembly, and ended up taking it back to stock CPU, and drive config to get it going again.

I decided while I had it stripped down anyway I'd try an Initio Miles2UW SCSI card, and a couple of Seagate Cheetahs I picked up cheap recently in place of the Sonnet Tempo Trio, and WD ATA drives I was using before since I know the Trio card is a jack-of-all-trades i.e. it does 3 things, but none of them well.


Booting from one Cheetah, and running the session from the other:


Record: 18 simultanious tracks no problem.

Playback: 32 audio tracks, 4 aux, and a master fader. EQII, and CompII on each track, and a D-verb on each aux. CPU useage around 75%, PCI at 50%, Disk activity at 25%.

Needless to say I'm pretty impressed. I think this will work just fine for me.

[pnilla]

I guess I will try to post this here, since I am probably the biggest bottom feeder here. I have gotten a few and un-welcoming adn vague replies on here. Saw this post and thought I could get some help here.

Help upgrading from OS9.2.2 (PT LE 5.2.1) to OS X Tiger

I feel like people see "OS9.2.2" and automatically disregard my posts. This is why I almost never use boards like these.

ANY HELP?!?!?!?!
PLEASE? With candy on top?

Help a bottom feeder out!

[M.Brane]

I replied in your original thread since it seemed better to keep things in context.

I wouldn't read too much into some of those replies. People have bad days, and the new Digi site is severely lacking in navigation IMHO. Maybe I just got too used to the old site, but it sure was a lot easier to find stuff without having to load all that Flash crap.

Definately keep us posted on your Cube. That's gonna be sweet if it all works.

I should add that after testing the SCSI setup, and comparing it to the Trio the difference in CPU load (about 10%) was not worth the additional noise, and heat from the Cheetahs IMHO. I went back to the Trio/ATA drive setup, and put the SCSI setup back in my Beige G3.

[mindnoise]

Hi M.Brane,

I use a Fujitsu MAP (10K) drive with a ATTO UL3D OEM U160 card.
the drive nearly gets warm and the noise is nearly non existent.

Seagate SCSI drive are SERVERFARM drives in the first place so they dont care about heat or noise.
Had one once and sold it becaue of the noise. Seagate sucks.

The Fujitsu performance is awesome.

just a few bottomfeeder thoughts

regs

[mindnoise]

HI pnilla,

sorry about your other thread but I don´t see quite your point.

DIGIsupport answered your question to full extent.

But on the other hand I see your point with the ´unprofessional´ use of smilies and words,
esp. from members who might know better.

But People here can get unfriendly if your post a thread which clearly
shows people did not do their homework.
Mostly this thread will be ´forgivingly ignored´ but not always.
Usually, on other boards your get nothing but sarcasm.

The only prob with the new digisite is that you NEED to be logged in with your DIGI account
to get your information and downloads.

just some thoughts

regs

PS: anyway I´ve added this thread to my fav list, I think we can get o lot of fun in here

[M.Brane]

Hi M.Brane,

I use a Fujitsu MAP (10K) drive with a ATTO UL3D OEM U160 card.
the drive nearly gets warm and the noise is nearly non existent.

Seagate SCSI drive are SERVERFARM drives in the first place so they dont care about heat or noise.
Had one once and sold it becaue of the noise. Seagate sucks.

The Fujitsu performance is awesome.

just a few bottomfeeder thoughts

The Cheetahs I was using are 68pin LVD 320 10K. They aren't hot by any stretch, but are noticeably warmer than the ATA. They are also a little louder at idle, and the head noise is much louder. My G4 is quiet enough now with the case/fan mods that the drives are the loudest thing in the case.

Another thing that happened with the Miles was the pitiful write speeds in Panther. Almost 50% less than in 9. Don't know if that's just a Miles thing, but I noticed that write speeds overall (even on the internal ATA) are slower in Panther than 9. No biggie since the Miles/Cheetahs kick ass in the Beige G3/466/768 with a 3dfx 5500 in 9. Unreal Tournament rocks on that box.

Eventually I'm going to go with a SATA setup primarily for the skinny cabling. It gets a bit crowded in a G4 with traditional ribbons.