Any TDM hardware users able to run 11 as CoreAudio/ASIO?

[relaxo]

Originally Posted by Logichead

Fortunately, there are workarounds that are significantly less expensive than trading in your HD cards. I am considering picking up a Native HD card on EBay, keeping my HD rig for the heavy lifting until PT11 is professionally viable.

Are you suggesting running two Accel PCIe cards and an HD Native PCIe card at the same time in the same Mac Pro and then swapping your Digilink cable between the two types cards running to each room's Avid HD IO interface? Is that possible? Avid? If so, I would go for that as an interim solution and would be extremely happy given the Apogee Symphony IO + Avid HD IO and the associated additional patchbay/wiring alternative.

[Logichead]

Actually, I am running an HD5Accel via a Magma chassis. I started with my HD2Accel PCIx (from my G5 rig) and started adding cards. The last 2 I got for $350 each. I also have a UAD Quad PCIe and a Quad Satellite.

So, I have a slot left in my MacPro. I haven't tried it yet, but I recall seeing on the DUC that someone had tried this and that it was no problem. Worth a shot, esp as I have been seeing HD Native cards go for as low as $1k.

Best...H

[John_Toolbox]

Originally Posted by Logichead

Actually, I am running an HD5Accel via a Magma chassis. I started with my HD2Accel PCIx (from my G5 rig) and started adding cards. The last 2 I got for $350 each. I also have a UAD Quad PCIe and a Quad Satellite.

So, I have a slot left in my MacPro. I haven't tried it yet, but I recall seeing on the DUC that someone had tried this and that it was no problem. Worth a shot, esp as I have been seeing HD Native cards go for as low as $1k.

Best...H

Interesting. Do you remember if this was this with a PCIe TDM card, or with a PCIx in a chassis?

[Logichead]

I don't remember, but the easy thing about the chassis is that you can restart with the chassis turned off. ProTools will have no option but the Native card.

The only question is when using PT10, can the user switch between HD Native and TDM. I bet it will work.

Best...H

[John_Toolbox]

I think another caveat is going to be thunderbolt mac pro(when it becomes available), imac, etc, users. If I remember right, I read on here somewhere that in order for a thunderbolt to PCIe chassis to work, the PCIe card in it needs to have "thunderbolt aware" firmware and/or drivers. I don't think that TDM cards have this. So the only way this would work is if you have a PCIe mac pro.

Ultimately, I think the way I used to do it with my MiX system (2 separate computers, connected via Lightpipe, AES, etc.) is probably the most elegant way of doing it.

[HearInc]

I've got a Hackintosh with Thunderbolt, and my PCIx HD3 Accel running in a Magma chassis... I wonder if I can just get a HD Native Thunderbolt, upgrade my PT10HD to PT11HD and be golden for the transition... still gonna be a couple grand out for the upgrade and the HD Native, but sheesh, that's a lot cheaper than buying a HD Native + Interface bundle. And, I'm also ready to move to the new MacPro if/when that becomes necessary.

Interesting thought...

[kelco83]

Just remember, TB2 on the new mac pro that is yet to be released is only 2 channels of the 20 that make up pci-e's bandwidth.

As far as holding avid's feet to the coals to force hardware to work, its never a good idea. They couldn't get it stable enough to be a good option. No sense in giving people false hope. If they pour man years into developing drivers that MAY work, they would probably need the entire user base to pay for a new protools release to continue being solvent.
You know these developers aren't working for karma, this is their livelihood.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by kelco83

Just remember, TB2 on the new mac pro that is yet to be released is only 2 channels of the 20 that make up pci-e's bandwidth.

20? You are referring to old generations of Intel chips.

There are up to 16 PCIe lanes per card slot and recent Core i7 and Xeon E5 (as in the new Mac Pro) are IO bandwidth monsters with 40 PCIe 3 lanes per chip. A few more PCIe 2 lanes through the IO chip. Absolute gobsmacking IO performance is possible on those systems... but it helps to have the PCIe slots available to use.... sigh.

Darryl

[kelco83]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

20? You are referring to old generations of Intel chips.

There are up to 16 PCIe lanes per card slot and recent Core i7 and Xeon E5 (as in the new Mac Pro) are IO bandwidth monsters with 40 PCIe 3 lanes per chip. A few more PCIe 2 lanes through the IO chip. Absolute gobsmacking IO performance is possible on those systems... but it helps to have the PCIe slots available to use.... sigh.

Darryl

Yes pardon me, the TB2 divides up pcie into 20 channels, of which, one device can use 2. Each channel is capable of transfer rates of 10 G/bit per second.

[Eric Lambert]

Originally Posted by Dominique Brethes

It does sound like a commercial decision rather than a technical one

Of course it is, regardless of what the engineers tell you. Avid saw this issue coming over a year ago and no doubt they have internal documents written to help Avid employees explain to their customers why they've "had" to take this course and remove TDM from the equation. It will include smart marketing phrases like, "in order to better serve our customer's needs," and, "to further the expand upon the products required by busy professionals." Those benefits could be included in ProTools 11 AND in addition we could have support for TDM. It's possible. But it would mean fewer sales (think: forced retirement of currently-owned hardware/software) for Avid in the short term. Long term??? We'll see.

Avid's stock continues to fall and I must admit that I get satisfaction seeing that. Some analysts have predicted that they'll be flirting with bankruptcy in 2 years. Hopefully, eventually, someone with the power to make real decisions will turn the car around and stop this greedy approach which they started a few years back. If you were a ProTools 9 user and wanted to go to 10 you'd have to pay $1,000 after only about a year of ownership of 9, then another $600 a year or so later for 11. Meanwhile your plugins, cards, controllers, and other hardware became obsolete.

Look at their stock since buying Digidesign 9 years ago. See the trend? On the left side of the graph you could replace "price" with "interest in their customers."

Please, Avid, many people are fans of your products (me among them) -- put the focus back on your customers, and quality control, before the ship develops a hole too large to patch.