I just ordered my new G5, so sweet....and I want to buy the Event Electronics EZbus, if anyone has any serious beef with this piece of equipment please let me know. I want to record using the ADAT lightpipe I/O, and all of this is really not that important so what I really want to know is, what's the most affordable way to get lightpipe into my new G5? I mean specifically what is a good soundcard with lightpipe I/O or firewire interface or magic spell, etc... Any pertinent/related info will help. I guess I can live without the control surface features of the EZbus if anyone has any good mixer/lightpipe interface setups in mind. Thanks everyone!

"If you can talk you can sing, if you can walk you can dance..."

Hi choirvandal,

Firstly, please when you post a question only do so in one category (not 4). As this is a question mainly about audio interfaces this forum (Audio, MIDI, DSP cards and interfaces) would be the correct one.

Now in regards to your question.
I have a G5 on order too. Not sure if there will be any compatibility issues with the new G5's with any existing audio hardware such as PCI-X slots etc....I'm assuming there won't be though you may want to wait until some reports from users/manufacturers before buying.
If you only need ADAT lightpipe inputs why not go for a card such as RME hdsp9632
http://www.rme-audio.de/english/hdsp/hdsp9632.htm

I use RME hardware and am very happy with it.

What software do you intend to use with your G5? Logic, Cubase, Performer etc.....
You may want to look at a dedicated control surface (e.g. Logic Control or Mackie Control) instead of the EZbus.

There have bee serious problems with the EZBus interface and Digital performer 4 on Mac OS X.
Check out the threads at - http:/www.unicornation.com/ - a while back. I would NOT recommend that particular kombination.

Personally I would consider a firewire interface for a bit more ambitious audio work.
( say Motu 828 MK-II ) Congrats to your G5 b.t.w. Good luck!

Cheers: Dixiechicken

hi,

I've got an ezbus and yeah in DP4.0 there were problem, they're all resolved in 4.01 though.. no problems at all. . (4.1 here we come!) My only beef with it is the lack of a MIDIcontrol profile editor for OSX (although there is an OSX profile loader) I've got to build profiles in VPC (only windows software), not a big deal. The mixer is great, imho a real advantage over the rack mount firewire interfaces, but note that if you're going to be using lightpipe as returns from the mac, you'll be switching 'mixes' (like a routing template) to do playback vs. input. To my knowledge most of the motu interfaces are able to use more simul I/O then the ezbus even though the ezbus has about as many ports/plugs.. (note keeping with it's mixer roots, it's also nice to have the analog plugs handy and not buried behind a rack, also the signal processing is definately useable, if hard to remember it's in place unless saved as mix templates ) As to the lightpipe card, i'm unable to afford one at this time, but i'd look at one as a completely seperate interface (as it is) and weigh its pros/cons independently.. the rme's look to be the best bet though from my observations. One concern is the ability to use the USB 2tk and the lightpipe at the same time will require you to get a CoreAudio driven card so you cna take advantage of DP4's (if using DP) multiple coreaudio device functions..

As far as it's suitability for 'serious' work it's fine as any other multi interface below $0.9k i've seen, i like the preamp's sound more then my Mackie vlz's. (albeit the lowend of pro, but a common benchmark none the less) and the outs are very strong (>+4db) and clear

anyway, hope this helps.. .

-fugu

Hi , I'm finally prepering to jump my studio to the 21st and going OSX.
I'll have to replace my Sonorous and am looking into something more Mac freindly.
I was cosidering RME as well..
The ADI-96 pro looks good as it might stand next to my TC gold channel and help with the A/D as well. or the HDSP9632 , since I do need alightpipe out to my digital desk as well.
However, after getting hurt with the sonorous (its a PC card that works with Mac as well) I'm a little worry about buying from a company that is obiously aiming at the PC market.
Their website doesn't say one word about coreaudio drivers.

So how safe is it. I am working in Logic and hope to work wih OSX real soon.

If not, what other ideas? My dealer suggest the Edirol DA2496

MrD.

The core audio drivers for RME work fine for audio. They were quite fast in developing stable drivers for audio however they have been very slow with development of MIDI drivers for OS X.
I can definitely recommend the HDSP 9632.

Drivers are available here
http://www.rme-audio.de/english/download/drivers.htm

I just receive new hdsp9632 card and no driver avalaible for osx, on cd or web link, I send e-mail to rme
asking when will it be avalaible, waiting answer !!

Is it not the same as the hdsp 9652 i.e. http://www.rme-audio.de/download/hdsp_11.tar
I'm using the Digiface and PCI card which I was told had the same drivers as the hdsp 9632.

No MIDI support though as I mentioned before.

The answer from RME :
Hello,

an update of our HDSP driver for OSX is under way, this will also
support the HDSP 9632.

Please have a few weeks' patience, the driver will come definitely.

Regards,

Daniel Fuchs
RME

You could also lobby Event for getting OSX driver for the EZ8 card. I have finished this driver 6 months ago but it was shelved due to apparent lack of requests.

The EZ8 works really great, especialy with the EZBus!