Carbon and Mac Pro 5,1 compatibility

[JayRay]

I still don't get it is this interface compatible with Mac Pro 5,1?
As we know, there is thunderbolt card now available for these Mac Pros via Gigabyte.
Or is it possible to connect to Mac Pro also with just ethernet cable?
I can't find the real answer.

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by JayRay

I still don't get it is this interface compatible with Mac Pro 5,1?
As we know, there is thunderbolt card now available for these Mac Pros via Gigabyte.
Or is it possible to connect to Mac Pro also with just ethernet cable?
I can't find the real answer.

Well the real answer depends on exactly what (you) mean by "compatible" do you mean "compatible" as in listed
as "Supported" by Avid then No it must be 6.1 and up
here are the supported computers listed by Avid
https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/articles/compatibility/Carbon-Requirements#computers

OR Do you mean compatible as in "can it possibly work unsupported" Answer is Maybe ?

First
You need to list your entire exact system details before you're going to get much of any kind of accurate answer

In general
Carbon is only qualified on Catalina 10.15.7 and PT 2020.11 and later
So depending what year your 5.1 you may need to upgrade to a metal capable Graphics card and again depending on specific 5.1 you may have to use an unsupported 3 rd party patch app to even run Catalina

If your 5'1 has a Gigibyte capable ethernet port it should (theoretically) work

[Kyle Splittgerber]

Hi JayRay,

Carbon is not supported with Mac Pro 5,1 as it doesn't support AVB. Only Macs with Thunderbolt support AVB. I can't speak to whether the Thunderbolt PCIe card will support an AVB connection. Even if it does, and you can install 10.15.7, run a supported graphics card, etc, I wouldn't recommend it. We've done zero testing on Mac Pro 5,1 and that won't change in the future. You're better off waiting to purchase Carbon when you can use it with a qualified Mac. See list here.

Hope that helps.

[K Roche]

Well there ya go I stand corrected , I forgot about AVB. thanks Kyle

[LukeHoward]

Yeah, I wouldn't expect much luck with AVB on a MacPro5,1. I tried an Intel I210 card in mine (which works for networking and appears from the symbol table to support AVB), but avbutil reports it as unsupported when attempting to enable virtual-audio.

This is on Mojave, it might be different on Catalina, but that's unsupported on a MacPro5,1...

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by LukeHoward

Yeah, I wouldn't expect much luck with AVB on a MacPro5,1. I tried an Intel I210 card in mine (which works for networking and appears from the symbol table to support AVB), but avbutil reports it as unsupported when attempting to enable virtual-audio.

This is on Mojave, it might be different on Catalina, but that's unsupported on a MacPro5,1...

Which is why (because my previous system was HDN Omni on a Mid 2010 Mac pro) and I was trying to decide on a new Computer and or Mac Pro or iMac with TB 3 HDN box The when Carbon was announced I decided to go for it and the new iMac listed in my sig line

[martthie_08]

sorry to hijack, has anyone had success with Carbon on older (mid 2013) Macbook Air with Catalina?
this would only be for location/live recording, mixing is done on a desktop with HDX..

[dominicperry]

Originally Posted by martthie_08

sorry to hijack, has anyone had success with Carbon on older (mid 2013) Macbook Air with Catalina?
this would only be for location/live recording, mixing is done on a desktop with HDX..

Officially (Apple) - any Mac with a TB port supports AVB. But I strongly suspect that a 2013 MBA isn't going to cut it with both PT and the overhead of running an AVB interface, which seems to put quite a bit of pressure on the CPU, even without an audio passing.

The minimum MBPro Avid spec to support the Carbon is:
Late 2016 Retina 15" MacBookPro13,3 Quad-Core i7 'Skylake' 2.9 GHz

The minimum MBAir Avid spec is:
2020 MacBook Air 10,1 8-Core M1 'Silicon' 3.2 GHz / 7-Core GPU with 16GB Memory

https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/ar...ements#adaptor

[martthie_08]

thanks for your reply!
yes I've seen the minimum specs..
this is just for using ProTools as a tape machine, no plugins whatsoever.
I was able to do this 15 years ago on a 400MHz Powerbook G4 recording 24 tracks :)

[dominicperry]

Originally Posted by martthie_08

thanks for your reply!
yes I've seen the minimum specs..
this is just for using ProTools as a tape machine, no plugins whatsoever.
I was able to do this 15 years ago on a 400MHz Powerbook G4 recording 24 tracks :)

I've got a 2011 MBA that I can try - let me get back to you. It may not run a late enough version of MacOS..........