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  4. Rigging a 2nd MAC G5 without having to buy anything...

  • Rigging a 2nd MAC G5 without having to buy anything...

    S
    S
    Rigging a 2nd MAC G5 without having to buy anything......tutorial

    I will outline how to use a 2nd G5 for more memory, and pipe it into the main G5 without the need for a midi-inteface, or audio interface.

    1) You will need: 1 ethernet cross-over cable ( or an ethernet hub and 2 cables)

    2)You will need: 2 fiber-optic cables (out to in / in to out between the G5s.

    3) Open Audio Midi Setup on the Main G5 and create an "aggregate device". In it the first device is your main Audio i/o....the 2nd device select "Built-In"

    4) Open Audio Midi-Setup and under "Midi", select "Network".....establish an ethernet MidiConnection between the 2 G5's

    5) On the 2nd G5 open "System Preferences"...Click on "Sound" ....set both in and out to "Digital"

    6) On the Main G5 open "Logic Audio" or your DAW of choice......In the Audio Driver's Page set the driver to "Aggregate Device".......create an AUX Input the last inputs available will be the Digital LightPipes we set up earlier)....

    7) In environment create a multi-instrument and set it's midiport to "session1" (this is the ethernet midi connection). Now IF you have a midi-loop happening in Logic, simply create a transformer object.......now from "Physical Input" take a cable from "Session1" to that transormer object.....double click transformer object and set it to "Filter Matching Events"....now take a cable from transormer object to "Sequencer Input".

    that is it [;)] works flawlessly and is a really elegant solution.

    Now on 2nd G5, use Bidule Plogue to setup another 24 VI's

    What I have happening is


    G5 1: All Violins / Violas (this computer runs Logic7)
    G5 2: All Celli / Basses (this computer runs Bidule Plogue

    I know this sounds complex, but it really isn't, takes about an hour to set up.

    SvK
  • G
    G
    Wow! very impressive and clever too!
  • cmC
    VSL Team
    cmC
    thanks for sharing this information, although ...
    regarding point 2) i'd strictly recommend to use a switch (and if possible a gigabit switch) instead of a hub (also known as repeater), the latter has significant less performance (half duplex and 100 Mbit only).
    this does not apply if using a crossover cable of course.
    christian
    and remember: only a CRAY can run an endless loop in just three seconds.
  • G
    G
    Hello Svonkampen,

    This sounds good. I will try it.
    How much memory do you have in your G5's?

    Greetings,

    Gerard
  • S
    S
    Gerard:

    G51 - 7 Gig
    G52 - 4 Gig

    Christian:

    i use a crossover-cable at home. Thanx for filling me in on switches though, I need to learn that stuff.

    SvK
  • D
    D
    Thanks for that. I hope to do it soon.
  • M
    M
    Very interesting suggestion!
    You obviously have to sub-mix all your parts on G5 #2 as you only have stereo transfer to G5 #1 - is this correct?

    Regards - Colin
  • S
    S
    musos.....

    All celli and basses from the 2nd G5 pipe back to 1 AUX Stem on Main G5

    That isn't a big deal though.....even though I would prefer a stereo stem for for basses and another for celli.

    SvK
  • J
    J
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    How's the latency with this setup?

    @svonkampen said:

    Rigging a 2nd MAC G5 without having to buy anything.....


    ...except for maybe that second G5! [:D]
  • S
    S
    No latency if you use a cross-over cable ...None....it's digital lite-pipe..

    perfect

    SvK
  • J
    J
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    @svonkampen said:

    No latency if you use a cross-over cable ...None....it's digital lite-pipe..

    perfect

    SvK


    Dude-- do you have any idea how incredibly simple this is? There are so many people tossing wads of cash at hardware and software to get this done-- and in some cases to disappointing results. It really makes me wonder why this method isn't more popular or discovered sooner.

    Thanks, SvK. Your generosity of info is greatly appreciated!
  • S
    S
    JWL,

    my pleasure.

    SvK
  • J
    J
    O.K. A dumb question ("Oh no!", I can hear you all say... :lol[:)]

    I have a G4 PowerMac (1.25 Dual) at present. If I were to purchase (and that's a BIG if) another G5 would I be able to make use of this at all? And would it have to be a PowerMac or would an iMac or something similar be acceptable?
  • J
    J
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    @jamriding said:

    O.K. A dumb question ("Oh no!", I can hear you all say... :lol[:)]

    I have a G4 PowerMac (1.25 Dual) at present. If I were to purchase (and that's a BIG if) another G5 would I be able to make use of this at all? And would it have to be a PowerMac or would an iMac or something similar be acceptable?


    I suspect that it probably has more to do with running the same OS on both units than anything else. Does your G4 have optical I/O's? That would be another consideration. SvK might have a clearer answer for you...

    I'm not sure the iMac would work, but again I'm not sure if any iMac has dual optical I/O's. My suspicion would be it would have to be at least a pair of G5 towers running Tiger- unless I'm mistaken.
  • S
    S
    You need optical outs, on the computers.

    BTW,

    If you are in the market for another computer, I would wait for the new Mac Intel Towers....(novemberish)

    Maya recently sent me the stress test results of a MacBookPro, and they are insane...imagine how crazy the new Mac Towers will be.....

    BTW here is the comparison...it is unbelievable. Note that the MacBookPro has a much higher polyphony count then the G5 QUAD!!!! wow.


    Processor: 2 GHz Intel Core Duo (Mac Book Pro)
    Ram: 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM
    OS 10.4.6
    Data storage: Firewire 400
    Host application: Logic 7.2
    Plugin: 1.0.5beta (INTEL)
    Soundcard: built in Audio

    Latency at 512 Samples (12ms) / 1.3 GB Ram usage)
    Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 32 (CPU load activity monitor 95%)
    Maximum Samples loaded: ca.13.000
    Maximum polyphony: 580 stereo voices

    Processor: G5 PPC 4 x 2,5 GHz (Quad)
    Ram: 4,5 GB
    OS 10.4.5
    Data storage: Firewire 400
    Host application: Logic 7.2
    Plugin: VI v.1.0.5.2
    Soundcard: Digidesign HW (002)

    Latency at 512 Samples (12 ms) RAM usage 2.54 GB
    Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 34 (CPU 95%)
    Maximum Samples loaded: 24.530
    Maximum polyphony: 476 stereo voices / (CPU 35 % Harddisk limit exceeded)
  • J
    J
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    @svonkampen said:

    You need optical outs, on the computers.

    BTW, ...



    Thanks for the answer: plenty of things to ponder...
  • G
    G
    svonkampen,

    Just a question as silly as it may sound but how long have you been working with this particular installation? I'm asking because sometimes things are too good to be true, and in the long run we end up with complicated situations and who knows if that could harm your computer. But maybe I'm completely out to left field, I just like to be cautious with these things.
  • S
    S
    Guy,

    3 12 hour days

    yould be investing in (2 optical cables, and a cross-over cable) 20 bucks maybe [;)]

    SvK

    ps: Also this sytem isn't some crazy-hack job......Aggregate Device and Network MIDI are embedded into Tiger OSX!

    There is no crazy shareware stuff needed..

    It just works.

    SvK
  • G
    G
    But my point was, is there ANY chances of this set up harming your computer? Just inquiring... [:)]
  • S
    S
    Guy,

    no...no chance of harming your computer ...

    SvK......