Mac G5 Transition Questions, hardware configuration Options

[algofrag1]

wondering if anyone has any suggestions/experience with setting up a G5 for audio. I am currently on a Mac beige G3/G4 upgraded with a Delta 66 sound card for audio, and a serial connected Motu Micro Express for Midi. Motu has announced a PCI card upgrade for the G5 on the Delta 66 so no problem forseen there, but im wondering how im going to get away with using my micro express with this system as it is serial bus and the new G5's have no serial connections. The serial on my G3/G4 upgraded is connected throught its modem port. My wish is to somehow link the 2 systems(G4 to G5) for midi synchronization. One idea would be 2 get a small inexpensive midi app for the G5 and try synching the 2 through the Micro Express, however the only inexpensive solutions there are USB options and my fear is that USB would be too unstable for such a task. Ideally i would like to be able to use the second serial connector on the Micro Express to connect the G5, but as i said earlier there is no
serial connector on the G5. Is there a serial PCI card that is compatible with the G5 though? Any yhoughts on this subject would be greatly appreciated....thx.

[cpotter82]

I don't have any experience specifically with the gear you mentioned, but I have recently upgraded to a G5 from my G4. Upon upgrading I faced all these compatibility issues... my DIGI 001 interface would no longer work so I went with Digidesign's hardware exchange program to get a 002 rack version. of course no one told me it still wouldn't be compatible until they released a software update (due out this friday I believe). Also, the G5 uses a new storage protocol (serial ATA) so none of the drives from my old G4 can be transferred. Same thing goes for my PCI SCSI controller, since the G5 uses a faster PCI bus called PCI-X which is physically incompatible with just about everything, though updated hardware products are now starting to pop up. So... my advice for you would be to wait a month or 2 before getting a G5, and then go ahead and splurge on a new interface - it'll be worth it to see the improvement in performance over your current system. As for the micro express... I would keep that for extra I/O on your G3 and get yourself a MTP A/V from MOTU. This will take care of all your MIDI needs and allow you to sync anything and everything in your setup to any of a number of sync protocols... I recommend SMPTE for its stability, but the MTP A/V will translate between protocols so you can use more than one at the same time. Good Luck!

[algofrag1]

Thx C, but as far as i can tell the MTP A/V has serial or parralell connections and im still unsure how thats gonna connect to the G5. You dont have to have the new PCI-X 3.3 volt cards on the G5's, you can have it built with the more compatible slots but i sure wanna take advantage of the coming advances, hardware and software always follows the technology curve, albeit slowy sometimes. How did you see the MTP A/V fitting into the G5?...Thx

[cpotter82]

According to MOTU's website, the MTP A/V connects with USB as well as serial ports.

[cyril]

You can plug your serial midi on the G5 Stealth port (availlable soon)

[algofrag1]

At this point ive begun to consider the VST system link for this setup, using cubase SX on the G5 and slaving the G3... new consideration for me as this VST sytem link is new to me...anyone have experience linking computers using this? Sounds to good to be true...

[cyril]

you have 2 solution :
you install twice your apps on the different computers
or you transform the second computer into a sampler using software like Kontak 1.5 (Mac) gigasampler (PC)
you will need 2 midi interfaces and 2 audio interfaces.
I am also considering to make my setup look like this with my 2x2ghz G5's and my 2x533 G4's
It will depends how many EXS24 or QLSO instruments I will be able to run on the G5 2x2ghz
If you want to discuss directly : blanc.cyril@wanadoo.fr