I run nearly the same setup as you, but with Protools HD instead of Logic, and using MidiOverLAN.

@Another User said:

Am I right that I can't set up multiple instances of VI on the slave and have them receive on separate channels? If so, this ruins my hardware plan.

You have plogue Bidule, so itøs easy to setup as many instances of VI as your MacMini can run. Connect the output of each VI instance in PB to the inputs on the Profire and voila, you can now route each VI to it's own ADAT channel in the Profire and and over into the MOTU. As for recieving MIDI, using MOL it's easy to assign each VI it's own midi port and midi channel. Opening the Profires Midi-input as a Midi-device in PB will give u access to the incomming midi signals, and I suggest you try out using the Midi-Splitter under the MIDI tab in the PB palette to be able to hook each VI instance up with the Profire single input. You should then be able to use Midi Channels from Logic to access each VI instance on the slave.

As for mix-downs, you can't do an offline bounce in Logic, as the VIs on your slave are not hosted within Logic. But with multiple ADAT feeds into Logic from the slave you could just do one realtime bounce in Logic, which shouldn't be too hard to suffer through. We do this in Protools all the time. [;)]

As for setting up Logic I can't help you, but there are several Logic freaks residing here I believe...? [:D]

Good luck.

MOL is great, but you don't need to run out and buy it if you have two MIDI interfaces.

The first step is to go into Audio MIDI Setup (Ultilities folder; shift/command U in the Finder) on your main machine and set up the Mac Mini as a MIDI device. I assume you understand this part of it, or you wouldn't have MIDI getting into your G5.

Go into the Logic Environment to create a multiinstrument; set its Port to the Midex output going to your slave, and set its Cha to All (all MIDI channels). I'd recommend using the MIDI Instruments layer for convenience, but it can be on any layer.

Then go into Audio MIDI Setup on your slave and set up the G5 as an input going into your M-Audio MIDI port. If it doesn't see the M-Audio port, there must be a driver to download.

@Peter Brown said:

If I was to spend £150 on MIDIoverLAN (grr - why so pricey?), how would I set up Logic/the G5/the Mini/Bidule to talk effectively?
What's the difference between standard and pro versions?

Pretty sure this is moot after Nick's explaination of how to get your computers talking using the hardware interface, but I've just done what you're talking about except I am using MIDIoverLAN because I don't have a MIDI interface for my Mac.

Firstly, the standard version for 2 computers (that costs $129=£66 not £150!) will send/receive 16 ports of midi between the 2 machines (that's 16 channels per port).
The platinum version will send/receive 64 ports.

...and after all that you'd still need to follow Nick's instructions concerning sending external MIDI from Logic...

Regards,

Martin

You can also use "ipMIDI" - works nicely for me so far between a Mac Pro and PC's. Should work Mac to Mac as well then[:)] It's cheaper than MOL.

I haven't done it, but why not use the Mac's own built in MIDI Network software which is part of Audio MIDI Setup? It only works with the Macs but if you have a G5 and and Intel Mini it should (theoretically) work. The price is $0 as well. Does anyone have experience with this?

I'm in the same situation and I have the same setup as you and today I bought MoL. I didn't get the OSX Midi Network to work properly. Sometime it connects and sometime it refuses to connect. And every time you restart your computer you have to push connect again.
So when I tried the MoL demo, all went very smooth and it runs perfectly now. I bought the standard version ($129), which has 16 ports and I believe the Platinum version can assign 64 ports. 1024 midichannels [:P]

Good luck with it!

I also tried the free Apple MIDI LAN solution and found it to be quite hit and miss. MOL works fine everytime - although check out the bug on computer name filtering. With Plogue and standard MOL - I bought a 4 PC/MAC licence - you can have 16 ports split over 4 devices (or more with a better licence) with 16 channels per device.

And as I have yet to have 16 VIs open on a single mac mini that should probably suffice.

Best

Tim

Thanks to all of you for your replies - I've just returned from a week working away, and this is where I'm at:

1. Logic Environment: Multi-instrument - port - no MIDEX listed. Driver is a as current as Steinberg have made (1.00b5 - 2003 discontinued), so I'm not sure where to go from there.

2. Have downloaded and will install 14-day trial of MoL, and try and set up a multi-instrument for it in Logic. Prob best to buy 4-machine license now, and upgrade at later date. If it's stable, then I guess it's cheaper than dozens of interfaces...

Nick, the MIDI into the Mac is from a USB-powered Keyboard. I've not used the MIDEX since Cubase SX 3 and an external GigaPC. The AMS utility is almost the same as the old OS9 OMS from Opcode, but hasn't ever needed setting up in the same detail, other than for my own peace of mind.
Looks like I may be ditching the MIDEX...

thanks again - I'll be back with more queries, I'm sure.
Peter

thanks to you all - MoL is fantastic - I'll be buying before the trial is up...

current state of play:

I have MIDI going from the G5 to the Mac Mini.
I have several instance of Vienna running on the Mini quite efficiently.
I have audio coming back to the G5 for recording.

All controlled from my little keyboard, and also through Logic.

hoorah!!

I guess the problem I had was that the MIDEX8 isn't supported by Logic - probably a hangover from the eMagic days.

now to write something.

PB

@stevesong said:

I haven't done it, but why not use the Mac's own built in MIDI Network software which is part of Audio MIDI Setup? It only works with the Macs but if you have a G5 and and Intel Mini it should (theoretically) work. The price is $0 as well. Does anyone have experience with this?

I've been using the built in MIDI network with OS X (i think you have to have tiger). It seems to work fine. Having to re-establish the connection everytime you start up is a wee bit annoying.

I open a track in Cubase and set the midi out to "Session 1" (the default name for the slave computer). On the slave i use the midi splitter in bidule to send midi data over several channels.