Rackmounting a G4

[goth gloom]

I just put my G4 onto a shelf in a 19" rack
I have seen many G4's turned on their side and rackmounted using special rack ears.
My question is: Is there any special thing you need to do to either the hardware inside or the software configuration.
I didn't know if the rackmount kits had special setup instructions or not and I don't want to do anything that will cause any damage to my G4.
Does anybody know?

[bruceup]

I've had my G4 466mhz machine rack mounted on it's side for 4 months now, it works great. There is a kit available for around $200 called a 'G-Rack' that does this really well:
http://www.marathoncomputer.com/grac.html

Also, having sufficient airflow to the G4 is important, and laying it on a shelf will restrict it somewhat.

[Lucky]

If you got the money you cant beat the Marathon PowerRack. It takes about a half hour to switch over but I was able to use the DVD- RAM from my 450 and the DVD-R from my 733 in the same box. The thing is awsum. Holds 3 internal drives and has additional access for 1 3-1/2" and 2 5-1/4" drives. Has excellent ventilation and the drives are even shock mounted. If you are serious about rack mounting check out Marathon. I even took it to a gig in a 6 space rack (with the 001 and a Digimax) and recorded some songs while I used Pro Tools to mix the show complete with 2 monitor sends. It worked really well and impressed the $&!^ out of everyone.

[ July 29, 2001: Message edited by: Lucky ]

[Sugarite]

Lucky: Yeah, I bet ProTool's high latency (that makes it completely impractical to use as a live mixing solution) was most impressive.

Kind of like how I've got my Digi001 on my Honda Gullwing motorcycle for a 17 descrete channel surround sound system, the 18th channel is used to emit a 32kHz squealch out the horn to scare bugs away so I could use an open-faced helmet. The chicks just love it!

Anyone else got any bullsh|t stories to share?

[Lucky]

Latency depends on where you monitor from. There is very little latency at 128. Latency usually isn't a problem unless you are recording, and we weren't. Get a life. I didn't say it was perfect but it does work. Why not bitch about how hard it is to do a live mix using a mouse, it is.

[ July 29, 2001: Message edited by: Lucky ]

[Sugarite]

Well if you're talking about a very basic mix it would work I guess, I just don't see why it would be impressive at that point. The vocals and drums in particular would have to be bone dry.

I suppose I could apologize... nah [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[goth gloom]

The shelf I have it on is a very sturdy one
and it has an open back so the fan is not restricted at all. It's also sitting on some foam padding so as not to damage the case, so as long as the left side doesn't get hot or anything I think it should be OK. I just added a new rack unit to my studio and I don't have any plans to take it on the road...yet, when I do I will probably make the G Rack investment.
Thanks for the help
GG [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[macmidi]

Sound travels at about 1100 ft./sec. That's just a little
over 1 ft./msec for those of us who are mathematically challenged.

When Bob Moog was engaged in a debate in the '80's about
MIDI's serial transmission (which disallows any simultaneous notes),
he countered that the highest reasonable delay
a MIDI programmer would hear would be 30 msec, about the same
as playing across a (large) stage from somebody.

Well, I think we all know that 30 msec on a given note
(or part!) can make all the difference with respect to
the "groove."

To this day, I still can't reconcile how I can
be across the stage from my amp or from the drummer
and not have the distance factor work against me,
but yet I can put the 001 into "low latency mode" and still
be frustrated.

By the way, I cut tracks using the mixer to monitor.
I do NOT monitor "through" the Mac.

[Lucky]

We have an old SPX90 in our stage rack, used it for vocals as an insert. The drums were dry. The impressive part was not the sound as much as the look. It was not something we plan on doing every gig but it was interesting to play with.