Issues with Magma Chassis and PT 7.1?

[rtcstudio]

I had a post a few weeks back about having massive problems, 8-10 crashes a day, etc. I had posted about 192 I/O versions, clocking issues using a Big Ben, in a 24 channel output session.

I got lots of suggestions, thanks to everyone who posted. I was able to limp through the remainder of my mix and make the mastering. Then I looked at my production assistant and said "I'm going to Texas for a week, please fix this and hang the cost".

He and his compadres did a lot of testing. As a reminder, I was getting lots of spinning beach ball type freezes, "Timeout while accessing audio hardware", "Plugin could not....an error occured while attempting a connection", and some "unexpectedly quit" messages. I had to Force Quit at least 8 times a day. After running Disk Warrior and Tech Tools Pro, reinstalling Pro Tools about 3 times, and the OS as many times, I was never able to correct all the problems.

My assistant bought a new primary internal drive for my G5/dual 2.0 with 3 Gig RAM. He ripped the system down and started from scratch. He checked/updated if necessary all my plugin versions, and did fresh installs of Mac OS 10.4.3 and Pro Tools 7, taking it up to 7.1cs3. He swapped cards with his own systems (I'm HD4 Accel). After 4 days of trying different configurations and lots of brutal testing he came up with a stable multi output system with both my 192 interfaces and clocking with the Big Ben.

I'm working on a rock solid system with ONE major difference: I am not using the Magma 64 bit Chassis. Whenever it was in the system I/my assistant would get spinning beach balls whenever we would reassign outputs (especially outputs above 16), copy/move plugins/sends or move tracks in the mix window.

As long as the cards are in the computer, I have had absolutely no crashes.

Are there other people out there experiencing problems with Magma 64 bit 7 slot chassis in a Pro Tools 7.1x/Mac OS 10.4.x system? I'm going to call Magma as well. Perhaps I have a host card that has gone bad, or something in the chassis itself is intermittent.

[Roulette Records]

Have you always had problems with this Magma Chassis ? or no, only once you went to 7 ?
Well, I thought it would be good to know about others situations using the same gear. So you can judge what it really may be.
Honestly MAYBE it is the host card, because check this out:

I have and am currently running with NO PROBLEMS, actually absolutely flawless, a Pro Tools 7.1cs4 HD4 Accel set up. It is all on a PowerMac G5 dual 2.5 (4.5Gb ram) OS 10.4.4 and a Magma 64bit 33mhz 7 Slot expansion chassis, you DO have the 33mhz one right ? it is the only one supported. ( I did get the high end expensive option cables that connect the chassis to the computer, NOT the standard ones, I don't know if that would make a difference or not, but I am going over everything here.). I do have Apogee 16 X's though as interfaces and they have the Big Ben built in them, so like I said, we are the same pretty much here , but I seriously doubt interfaces are the culprit here anyway.

My drives are ALL internal SCSI Cheetahs (10,000rpm)(4 of them) which are all in the Magma chassis with that extra mounting kit option. I don't know if the drives may be the issue or not either. What drives were you using and in what configuration ? I also changed out my computers SATA main OS drive with a 10,000 Rpm Western Digital Rapture, So all my drives INCLUDING the OS drive operate under the same speed. (I once heard this gives better performance). One thing I do know for sure, I noticed the computer acting better and faster with every application period once I did that.

So yeah, no problems here, honestly as a matter of fact I noticed a smoother, faster, reaction with sessions in general once I upgraded to 7. So this is odd, because you and I are running basically the same set up. The reason I try to tell you everything I got is to maybe see where we differ, then go from there with the possibilities.

I recently just had a 56 track 96k session with ALOT of plug ins, and everything ran smoothly. I also just recently had a 192k session with about 20 tracks, and a decent amount of plugs on it as well, all went completely smooth.

So bottom line is I KNOW IT CAN WORK, I use it and do it. So something has went out in the chassis, or maybe you could optimize your set up a hair, but it seemed fine to me.

Let me know how it comes along, and you really SHOULD call Magma, and let me know what they say.

Hope I can help in some way,

[rtcstudio]

Sounds like I do need to call Magma and ask a few questions. I know I have the correct chassis (64 bit, 33 mhz), I ordered direct from Magma and they know I'm using Pro Tools. I did not know there were 2 different kinds of interface cables, so I'll check that out. Actually the first chassis they sent me did not work at all, but they fed exed me another and it was smooth sailing for months until I went to 2 192 interfaces and started a 24 output mix.

The only difference I see in our systems is that I'm using external firewire drives for my sessions. But I've done this for years with no problems, and there's no problems right now, with the cards all in the computer. So maybe I just need to see if Magma will trade out cards/chassis to help me track down the problem.

My session is at 44.1, so less stress there.

Thanks for the post

[Roulette Records]

Well, man, now that I think about it more, we already have narrowed it down. Between everything you said earlier, and what I know works, and what we know doesn't work with you it obviously is one of two things.

Either the interfaces (because you said thats once it started, AND I am not using them interfaces).
Or the chassis itself (card, or cable, something).

BUT what really makes me wanna eliminate the chassis as the problem now is the SIMPLE fact that it has already worked and HAS BEEN working fine, UNTIL you introduced the 192's into the picture.

Just for kicks, have you tried running the system with the chassis and EVERYTHING else EXCEPT the 192 interfaces and try some other compatible interfaces ? If not, please try it. Maybe borrow some other interfaces to see. Or maybe rent some if you have to.

Where do you stay at ? If close to the Bay Area, I will run over my 16 X's to see if it work fine with those.

Well, let me know --

[Andre Knecht]

[…] I'm working on a rock solid system with ONE major difference: I am not using the Magma 64 bit Chassis. […] Are there other people out there experiencing problems with Magma 64 bit 7 slot chassis in a Pro Tools 7.1x/Mac OS 10.4.x system? I'm going to call Magma as well. […]

So many variables!

Some (admittedly substantial) details are different between our respective rigs—I choose to remain on 6.9 for the time being. Nonetheless, some of the troubleshooting you and your assistant performed compels me to offer my personal experience with expansion chassis—again.

I ran into major problems when I introduced a Magma 64-bit chassis to my otherwise flawless system. After trying to rectify the situation with Magma, I returned the blasted box to my dealer and purchased the Digidesign-branded equivalent instead. Lo and behold… rock-stable system again (and ever since).

In both cases, the cables accompanying the chassis were the higher-grade ones, in standard length.

Something’s not right “chez Magma.” Their in-house tech “guru” was confused (at best), and the company’s abilities/willingness to work with me to rectify the situation left a lot to be desired. If it weren’t for the fact that all this took place in a professional environment, with clients expecting actual work to be done, I’d label the whole thing as being ironic (seeing as the Digi box is made by the “Magman”). However, with money and reputation on the line, I put my foot down and moved on. It rates among the best gear decisions I ever made.

[Lee Blaske]

Sounds like I do need to call Magma and ask a few questions. I know I have the correct chassis (64 bit, 33 mhz), I ordered direct from Magma and they know I'm using Pro Tools. I did not know there were 2 different kinds of interface cables, so I'll check that out. Actually the first chassis they sent me did not work at all, but they fed exed me another and it was smooth sailing for months until I went to 2 192 interfaces and started a 24 output mix.

Do you have an earlier version of the Magma 64 bit chassis or the later, revised version? I have the earlier version, and it has some issues with PT that I can mostly work around. Unfortunately, there's no way to get the earlier version upgraded to the latest specs other than replacing ALL the circuit boards (and there's no deal on that). I have not been very happy with Magma service.

BTW, I bought and tried the different cables, and the Hi-Fi cables made absolutely no difference.

Lee Blaske

[Lee Blaske]

Something’s not right “chez Magma.” Their in-house tech “guru” was confused (at best), and the company’s abilities/willingness to work with me to rectify the situation left a lot to be desired.

I had that same experience. Was the tech you talked to named Ariel? My impression was that he was far too anxious to throw in the towel.

Lee Blaske

[Andre Knecht]

Hi Lee!

Yes, Ariel was his name*. I knew something (er, make that “a few things”) wasn’t right when each troubleshooting suggestion he would offer was flying in the face of well established Digidesign guidelines (card order, etc). I remember having to remind him repeatedly that I was a PT TDM user.

* For all I know, it still is.

[Jeff Ulmer]

I too was not impressed with the level of service from Magma after upgrading my chassis. It didn't work, and despite saying that I did not need a new cable when I bought the upgrade, this was deemed the only (unproven) solution in the end, but it would cost another $300, which included a $75 bench charge for the warranty inspection (after already spending $1800 on the chassis to start with, another $600 for the upgrade, and $100 in shipping for warranty service) if I wanted a working system. I decided to kibosh the whole idea and have been running smoothly with fewer cards in the CPU ever since, figuring I could probably buy a whole rig for the same price off eBay if I really needed a chassis.

Oh well, it makes a nice noisy drive case.

[rtcstudio]

Thanks for all the replies guys!

Roulette -

I don't think it's the interfaces because of two things: 1. The original 192 interface has worked fine for as long as I've had my HD system. No problems at all, even when running 16 outputs (I have the extra D/A card installed). And this system worked fine with the Magma 64 bit 33 Mhz 7 slot expansion chassis when I decided to get an extra HD Accel process card, bringing my system up to one HD Core card and 4 HD Accel process cards. REPEAT - The whole system worked fine: Mac G5/dual 2.0, 3 Gig RAM, Mac OS 10.4.x, Pro Tools 7.0. (Note: That's PT 7.0, and only one 192 interface WITH the Magma).

2. The system works totally stable now with BOTH 192 interfaces as long as all the cards are in the G5, and I'm not using the Magma Chassis. This is using all 24 outputs. I'm now at Mac OS 10.4.3, Pro Tools 7.1cs4. So this makes me suspect the Magma, especially after reading all the other guys posts. Perhaps for some reason, the more PCI intensive communication necessary for all 24 channels in a huge session reveals an intermittent flaw in either the Host card, or the Chassis itself. Because whenever we add the Magma back in, the problems reappear. So it seems like that is the likely problem, the Magma.

I live in Nashville, but thanks for the offer to try out your interfaces! But I'm pretty sure the interfaces are okay, after having worked THREE days with both interfaces and the cards inside the G5. No crashes at all. Very solid.