can i run 001 on a portable mac?

[linelites]

I AM ABOUT TO BUY A 001 AND HAVE A PC BUT AM CONSIDERING SO MUCH ADVICE TO GO WITH A MAC. CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF THEY HAVE RUN 001 ON A MAGTOP G3, AND WHAT ACCESSORIES ARE NEEDED? IF YOU DON'T RECOMMEND PORTABLE, CAN YOU GIVE THIS NEOPHYTE ADVICE ON A GOOD MAC CONFIGURATION? THANK YOU.

[carty]

howdy...
there are four of us here using Digi001 systems on Mac Powerbooks. we're all using G3/500 "Pismo's," and hooking them up to the PCI card using Magma 2 slot expansion systems. i use Pyro FireWire external drive as well (with a Maxtor 7200/IDE installed). all in all... it works.
if you have more specific questions, let me know.
thanks,
carty www.pleasantstitch.com

[DJ Burt]

I definitely know that Bjork runs Tools on her laptop which must obviously be able to withstand some serious editing. I think it may only be a Powermix setup though.

There's a wicked article on this very Digidesign site.... may have some answers. Check Users>Spotlight and find the Bjork garb.

Dj

[carson]

Hey Carty,

Isn't the Magma noisy? Compared to the Pismo how noisy? Compared to a G4? Since you can't just put he Magma in the next room that worries me.

Thanx

[linelites]

HELLO CARTY, I AM LOOKING INTO YOUR SET UP. QUESTION: IS THE ABOVE CORRECT, DOES THE MAGMA MAKE NOISE OR IS HE REFERING TO THE MAXTOR? CAN I BYPASS NEED FOR MAXTOR WITH ENOUGH MEMORY (20gig) ON BOARD? IS A 256 A MUST HAVE? AND WHAT CD BURNER IS GOOD?
THANKS. JEREMY

[digi-guy]

Magma is an expansion chasis for pci cards. I think he is talking about a hard drive.

[carty]

hello...
the Magma (the PCI expansion system for the Digi001 card) is certainly louder than the Powerbook... but the Powerbook (if kept well cooled) is quite quiet. the noise of the Magma comes from the fan of course... and it really isn't that bad... i believe they have a 6' cord option for the system, in which case you could isolate the Magma in a seperate case, minimizing that impact.

the Pyro also has a bit of fan noise... but "bit" is the key word. the Maxtor hard drive inside is nearly silent. the Pryo/Maxtor is used mainly for session storage, sample storage and recording. the Powerbook's internal HD (12gig) is easily filled and tends to limit recording (at least i've found that to be a problem). i've had to set up the preferences in PTLE so that it only assigns 5 minutes per track when recording to the internal HD. it's also convenient to be able to carry just the Pryo/Maxtor HD from here to the studio to transfer a session.

as far as memory goes... I'm using 384 (128/256), and i know two others are using 640. if you plan to use any soft synths/samplers (Unity / Reaktor, etc) i would recommend the 640. i was amazed how tight the memory became if i tried to fire anything more than PTLE up.

i would only recommend portable if you need it. if you don't have to be travelling with it (either live performance or remote recording), i (personally) would invest in a multi-processor G4 - in the hopes that software will evolve there as well. i know that's a whole seperate thread of gripes for folks...

my two cents,
carty http://www.mp3.com/pleasantstitch

[patchboy]

Hey Carty-

I have a 500 powerbook, and the chassis, which I put a lightpipe i/o card into, and I run softsynths and samplers off of it into PT on my G4. And I have the Pyro box. I tried putting PT on the powerbook, just to see how it would perform (G3 500 vs G4 350), and there was a slight improvement in such things as plugin count, etc. But only when I put my SCSI card in the Magma, and used my 9gig Cheetah. When working off of the Pyro drive (with a WD 20 Gig ATA in it), screen redraws were very slow, and overall performance dropped, to the point that I got "disk too slow" errors. Are you seeing similar results? Or is there something I am missing that is slowing my Firewire down?

[Joseph Grimm]

what about running pro-tools le on a laptop without the 001? basically using my g4 to record tracks, then giving copies of the le software to my bandmates so we could all cut and paste, manipulate the recorded stuff -- basically all do remix stuff to the basic, already-recorded tracks? Or does the card in the PCI slot act as like a dongle or something?

xo,
Joe

[Joseph Grimm]

what about running pro-tools le on a laptop without the 001? basically using my g4 to record tracks, then giving copies of the le software to my bandmates so we could all cut and paste, manipulate the recorded stuff -- basically all do remix stuff to the basic, already-recorded tracks? Or does the card in the PCI slot act as like a dongle or something?

xo,
Joe