Issues With M-audio Delta And G5 1.8 Dp?, Relates to PCI (-X) bus noise Options

[dougzilla]

Hi,

First post, appreciate any advice.

I've just purchased a 1.8 GHz dual processor G5 Power Mac, upgrading from an aging and slow 500MHz G4. I have used an M-audio Delta-44 4in/4out PCI interface for 2 years on that machine, no problems. I can't use it on the G5 because the old PCI card has 5V signalling while the new architecuture uses 3.3 V, regardless of whether the bus is PCI or PCI-X. M-Audio offers a swap-out for their latest Delta-44 card which it claims is PCI and PCI-X compatible for $50.

I called M-Audio today to order the new card and they told me there are issues (digital hash, crackles, etc.) using it in the 1.8 DP G5's and that they don't want to swap for my old card. They claim that they have been working directly with Apple for "months" and that the problem lies with them. They said to call Apple, which I did.

When I eventually got an Apple product specialist for the DP 1.8's on the phone, he says Apple knows nothing about this issue, but there were some issues in 1st gen 1.8 DP G5's (ones with 8 memory slots on the mother board). He knows of no such issues now. He says go back to M-Audio and work with them.

So this is a classic case of manufacturers pointing fingers at one another.

QUESTION: DOES ANYONE IN THE GROUP HAVE EXPERIENCE USING M-AUDIO PCI-X CARDS in G5 1.8 DP MACHINES? DO THEY WORK OR SHOULD I BE LOOKING FOR ANOTHER INTERFACE? I NEED ONLY 4IN/4OUT LINE LEVEL BALANCED FROM MY ANALOG MIXER, GOOD AD/DA CONVERTER WITH 24/96 CAPABILITY AND LOW LATENCY. WILL BE USING LOGIC EXPRESS 7 SOFTWARE.

TIA,
Doug(zilla)

[dougzilla]

For Editbrain--Checked the 'whining' situation last night on the G5, set up as you described--nothing to report. I note that that OS 10.3 in the columns view gives a Preview of the selected audio file that is playable, but I don't know what software is behind that, although I would suspect QuickTime. Since I don't have anything in the system right now but the internal audio processor/core-audio, I can't say if having an M-Audio Delta-XX card changes anything.

For PhilTrueman--Interesting that the M-Audio 1010 works for you. The problem that the Delta series suffers from, according to M-Audio, is unique to currently shipping versions of the 1.8 GHz Dual Processor G5 (those which have only 4 DIMM slots on the motherboard). Is your machine that model, or an earlier version which had 8 DIMM slots?

The noise issue M-Audio says is there in the DP1.8 machines is DIGITAL, not RFI or groundloop or anything of similar nature.

Doug(zilla)