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  #1  
Old 12-01-2024, 04:34 PM
SonikStrike SonikStrike is offline
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Default What are the Best PCIe to Thurderbolt Chassis for Pro Tools today?

Hi Guys,

What is Best PCIe to Thurderbolt Chassis for Pro Tools HDX today?

Mac Mini M1 2021

I heard not so good things about the Avid ones and that some are noisy.

and can I use another PCIe cards Devices together with Pro Tools HDX in the same expansion Chassis?


I found OWC, Sonnet, Avid....what are the recommended today? and which ones are quiet and stable?

Thanks

Last edited by SonikStrike; 12-01-2024 at 05:16 PM.
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  #2  
Old 12-01-2024, 04:48 PM
Darryl Ramm Darryl Ramm is online now
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Default Re: What are the Best PCIe to Thurderbolt Chassis for Pro Tools today?

snip

Quote:
Originally Posted by SonikStrike View Post
and can I use another PCIe cards Devices together with Pro Tools HDX in the same expansion Chassis?
You cannot use PCIe SSD cards in the same chassis.
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  #3  
Old 12-02-2024, 01:57 AM
XJENSEN XJENSEN is offline
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Default Re: What are the Best PCIe to Thurderbolt Chassis for Pro Tools today?

I'm using a Sonnet Technologies Echo III Rackmount TB3, PCIe, 3 Slots ECHO-3R-TB3, filled with:

Everything connected via a standard USB4 cable (no need for TB spec) to my Mac mini M4.

Setup is rock-solid. Only problem is you lose some of the possible NMVe drives' bandwidth because you need to switch the whole Sonnet chassis to a slower HDX-compatible mode (due to AVID not following proper PCIe specs when designing their HDX card).

Best regards,
Mr. Jensen
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Old 12-02-2024, 08:16 AM
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creativecontrol creativecontrol is offline
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Default Re: What are the Best PCIe to Thurderbolt Chassis for Pro Tools today?

I would always recommend scanning the list of devices which we have tested and
blessed ->
https://avidtech.my.salesforce-sites...-Compatibility


best,


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  #5  
Old 12-05-2024, 08:26 AM
pl007 pl007 is offline
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Default Re: What are the Best PCIe to Thurderbolt Chassis for Pro Tools today?

Jeff,

What does " - " mean in table - not tested or not working? For example TB2 chassis and TB4 computer.

Best,

Piotr
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  #6  
Old 12-05-2024, 08:52 AM
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creativecontrol creativecontrol is offline
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Default Re: What are the Best PCIe to Thurderbolt Chassis for Pro Tools today?

Untested. For example, I have a M1 Mini in use daily with a Sonnet Echo Express III with the appropriate Apple adapter and it works fine.

best,


Jeff
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  #7  
Old 12-06-2024, 07:39 PM
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dr sound dr sound is offline
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Default Re: What are the Best PCIe to Thurderbolt Chassis for Pro Tools today?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm View Post
snip
You cannot use PCIe SSD cards in the same chassis.
Darryl,
We have M-1 Mac Studios with a Sonnett XMac Studio
https://www.sonnettech.com/product/x.../overview.html
with 2 HDXCards and an OWC PCIe Card:
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc-accelsior-1a

They operate flawlessly.
We use the 2TB OWC PCIe card for the PT sessions and back up.
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  #8  
Old 12-06-2024, 08:13 PM
Darryl Ramm Darryl Ramm is online now
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Default Re: What are the Best PCIe to Thurderbolt Chassis for Pro Tools today?

Quote:
Originally Posted by dr sound View Post
Darryl,
We have M-1 Mac Studios with a Sonnett XMac Studio
https://www.sonnettech.com/product/x.../overview.html
with 2 HDXCards and an OWC PCIe Card:
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc-accelsior-1a

They operate flawlessly.
We use the 2TB OWC PCIe card for the PT sessions and back up.
I would be careful recommending any PCIe SSD sharing a chassis with HDN/HDX cards. Maybe you are lucky, maybe you don't drive the I/O as fast as other users, or maybe Avid has fixed the problem, I have not heard of a fix, but that does not mean anything. I'll look though my old messages and contact the folks who first reported this to Sonnet and see if they every heard of a fix. Sonnet have known about the problem starting a few years ago, and I believe Sonnet let Avid know in good detail about that problem. I can't recall ever hearing of it making it to a bug number, but again that does not mean much.
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  #9  
Old 12-06-2024, 09:30 PM
Dizaineris Dizaineris is offline
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Default Re: What are the Best PCIe to Thurderbolt Chassis for Pro Tools today?

This setup works great for us at the studio here.

Sonnet Technologies Echo III Rackmount TB3, PCIe, 3 Slots ECHO-3R-TB3,

AVID HDX card
Blackmagic Intensity Pro 4K
OWC Accelsior 4M2 filled with 4 Samsung EVO 990 PRO NVMe SSDs.

M2 Mac Studio

We run very large atmos sessions.
Tons of verbs, eqs, comps, limiters, etc.

As I know Marti does.

My 2cents
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  #10  
Old 12-06-2024, 10:04 PM
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dr sound dr sound is offline
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Default Re: What are the Best PCIe to Thurderbolt Chassis for Pro Tools today?

First, My Machines are a combination of M1 studios and M2 Studios.
Yes, I run Dolby Atmos sessions with huge track counts .
I have 5 systems at "The Dub Stage"
All of the systems are in the Sonnett chassis.
The "A" system is an HDX 2 with a OWC 2tb Accelsior PCIe card
in the 3rd slot and is used for Dialog/ ADR/ Group and Music.
All in Atmos.
The "B" Machine is an HDX 2 and an OWC 2 tb Accelsior PCie Card .
It is used for SFX, Sound Design, BG's, and Foley .
All in Atmos.
The "Stem Recorder is an HDX 3.
The "Video Machine" is an HDX 1. The second slot is an Aja Kona 4 PCIe card.
The 3rd slot is an OWC 2tb Accelsior card.
The RMU machine is running the Dolby Renderer .
All the Machines are running PT Natively. The reason for the 2 HDX cards in the A and B machines are for Madi outputs .
I have 64 out on each of the machines going into a DAD AX32 and then into my Stem recorder.
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