Help needed with 'dinosaur' of a TDM system

[Phil Buckle]

Probably has nothing to do with it but it's worth noting that some computers would not see any hardware on first start. Sometimes not even on the second. The third is usually ok. Just one of those things that happened for a period of time.
It still happens to me on a G5PPC every day. I usually have to start twice no matter what order I start the hardware and computer.
Just keep that in mind when you are trouble shooting.

[FajitaTone]

Disk I/O card is definately a PTIII system. No Workee with PT v4 and up. You need a Mix card.

[jeffro]

Right, a Disk I/O is the main card in a Pro Tools III system, and 5.0.1 as the last version of Pro Tools that ran on it.

The Disk I/O should be in the lowest slot, and you need an interface and hard drive connected to it, etc.

Check out http://archive.digidesign.com/compato/pt3/

[springthing]

Originally Posted by FajitaTone

Disk I/O card is definately a PTIII system. No Workee with PT v4 and up. You need a Mix card.

OK thanks Ray. But do I have sufficient hardware to run PT 6.4.1 TDM on a PowerMac G4, with just 2 x Farm Cards PCI, and 888 and 882 audio interface?

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by springthing

OK thanks Ray. But do I have sufficient hardware to run PT 6.4.1 TDM on a PowerMac G4, with just 2 x Farm Cards PCI, and 888 and 882 audio interface?

As he stated you need a MIX card.

[jeffro]

Originally Posted by springthing

OK thanks Ray. But do I have sufficient hardware to run PT 6.4.1 TDM on a PowerMac G4, with just 2 x Farm Cards PCI, and 888 and 882 audio interface?

DSP Farms wouldn't do it on their own. You need an 'engine' card like the Disk I/O (PTIII) or MIX Core.

See the pre-HD system info at archive.digidesign.com/compato

Pro Tools|24 MIX
Pro Tools 6.4.1 is the last release that supports MIX hardware.

• Pro Tools 6.4.1 for Mac OS X 10.3
• Pro Tools 6.4.1 for Windows XP
• Pro Tools 6.1 for Mac OS X 10.2
• Pro Tools 6.1 for Windows XP
• Pro Tools 5.3.1 for Windows XP/2000
• Pro Tools 5.1.3 for Mac OS 9

Pro Tools|24

• Pro Tools 6.1 for Mac OS X
• Pro Tools 6.1 for Windows XP
• Pro Tools 5.3.1 for Windows XP/2000
• Pro Tools 5.1.3 for Mac OS 9

Pro Tools III PCI

• Pro Tools 5.0.1 for Pro Tools III PCI (Mac OS Only)

[Philthy]

Originally Posted by sunburst79

As he stated you need a MIX card.

A core card.

[sunburst79]

Originally Posted by Philthy

A core card.

I beleive I stated thart in post #3

[John_Toolbox]

Originally Posted by springthing

Hi,

I'm a longtime user of Pro Tools on PCs mostly (even as far back as Session 8!), but only the USB hardware (Mbox/M-Audio) at home, or TDM systems already up and running in proper studios.

I recently had the opportunity to pick up a bargain on an old, but complete TDM system, which includes 888 and 882 Audio Interfaces, 2 x DSP Farm PCI cards, and a Disk I/O PCI card (and all the cabling).

It also came with a PowerMac G3 however this wasn't working. After reading on these forums that this TDM system also works on a PowerMac G4 with OSX 10.3, I picked one up on eBay for $20! Another Bargain!

I own Pro Tools 9, but I've read this old hardware doesn't support anything past 6.4.1, so I purchased this via the Avid Store. It's installed fine.....

However.....

With all the PCI cards installed, the PT software installed, and the 888 interface only connected to one of the cards, I get the dreaded 'Unable to locate digidesign hardware' error message.... I also tried connecting to the other PCI cards with no luck.

Am I missing a stage in the process of setting this system up? I've inserted the PCI cards, installed Pro Tools 6.4.1 software, hooked up the 888 interface and turned it on, and fired up Pro Tools.

Is it that simple, or am I missing a step along the way???

Any help and advice would be appreciated..

Mike

Your problem is that disk i/o core cards are only supported up to Pro Tools 5.0.1, which runs on OS9. If you can find a copy, this is a very stable system, but it's also very limited because it's only 16 bit, and only supports 16 voices per disk i/o card(you can have up to 3 total). Also, no RTAS plugins, only TDM, and there is no way to run ilok authorized plugins with it.

What you need is either a d24 core card or a Mix core card if you want to run 6.4.1. You might want to contact the DUC user Pred80R, he has a pile of older stuff he's trying to get rid of, including a d24 card and a PCI expansion chassis, among other things.

[John_Toolbox]

Also, since you're using a G4 you need to check the AMCC chips on the disk i/o and DSP farms and make sure they are all say rev QC or rev QE. The rev Q chips are not G4 compatible.