G4 sawtooth compatibility update

[haze]

I'm a current pc user, but I am looking
into purchasing a G4 400 and loading it
with 256mb ram (no intention of scsi at this time, and apparently not needed according to several posts to this site). Even though have
a have a decent pc, it gets used for all kinds of stuff, and I feel the need to purchase what basically amounts to
a music-recording dedicated monster.

If needed I will add a preamp/channelstrip
and an apogee rosetta later.

My question (sorry it took so long) is
what is the latest word on compatiblity
concerning the sawtooth mothers? Are
we days, weeks or months away? I'm patient
when it comes to these sorts of things,
i'd much rather wait and let the front
line troops take a beating while the 'bugs'
are worked out before entering into the
fray. Also, what about OS 9?

Thankyou, for your time and suggestions.
This truly is a great forum.

haze

[Lyndon Smith]

I can relate to your situation. Our studio has 5 pcs & I've been running Windows DAWs for years.

2 weeks ago I took the plunge into the Mac World with a 400 G4 Yikes motherboard 256 MB RAM. This system rocks - half of my rack gear is for sale, as are my old ADATs. The Mackie 32 x 8 is largely just for show now (Clients still like a "big board"....!).

I can only imagine with the Sawtooth system the performance would be even better. This is one "front line" I do not mind being on! By the way, the Mac OS is 8.6.

The latency thing is not a huge issue with the 4 settings, especially if you route the armed tracks output to an unused location and recorded track(s) monitor input throught the board.

As mentioned in a previous post, the salesman (experienced in ProTools) said the plug-in performance we're getting is equivalent to a Mix system. Of course, track count is limited to 24 (plus the layers within tracks if in non-destructive loop mode). I wouldn't mind confirmation from other users or Digi on this. If you don't want to spend the extra $1000 on a Sawtooth 400 G4 - jump in - the water's fine! (unless you need a timecode ruler for post) Cheers!

[zavijah]

Yeah, I'm _very_ interested in knowing about Sawtooth compatibility. I was lucky and got a G4/450 before the price increase. Macintouch today reported:

"The current Digi001/Pro Tools LE configuration works on G3s and 'Yikes' G4s, but requires some tweaks to work in the newer 'Sawtooth' G4s based on the revised G4 motherboard architecture, according to the Digidesign spokesman."

Which "tweaks" exactly are those?

If I do empty my college-student wallet for a 001, it would be partly to get D-Verb for free, which I understand is only part of the package until Dec. 31. But of course if the thing won't work on my machine until Rev 2 in February, or whatever, then there's a problem. What's the word, Digi guys?

(By the way, OS 9 is actually the latest OS--it's running on my system now. And I expect I'll be re-installing 8.6 before all's said and done.... :} Also, I'm skeptical of the salesman's claims you mentioned, Lyndon, unless he merely meant that a single plug-in's performance is equivalent to that plug's performance in a Mix system. I don't actually know how many DSP Farms are in the PT setup I use, but I could not possibly imagine a host-based system running that many verbs and compressors...I'd be very happy to be wrong, of course

Oh, one other thing: The fellow running the Digi001 demo in Redwood City (CA) said that 001/PT LE isn't currently designed to use the G4's Altivec instructions. In a Harmony Central article, at http://www.harmony-central.com/Newp/...4-Support.html , it's stated that "full G4 support is expected at or soon after the release of Pro Tools v5.0 in mid-November." Dunno how helpful that is....

<grin>
Eric