MacMusic.org  |  PcMusic.org  |  440Software  |  440Forums.com  |  440Tv  |  Zicos.com  |  AudioLexic.org
Loading... visiteurs connectés
3 Pages V   1 2 3 >  
Reply to this topicStart new topic
> External Hard Drives, Do I really need Glyph?
Tim
posté ven. 28 juin 2002, 00:49
Message #1


Newbie


Groupe : Members
Messages : 4
Inscrit : 23 juin 02
Lieu : Cleveland
Membre no 5,200




I'm getting a Powerbook and will be running ProTools LE and Absynth...at least for now. Some guys at a music store I am working with are making me think that I need a Glyph drive for my external hard drive. Now, I do know that i want an external drive, because i don't want to tax the Powerbook drive with the audio I record and playback. But, the Glyph drives are so expensive. I just looked at a Mac Warehouse Catelog and saw 7200 RPM, 80gig firewire drives for a little over $200. Won't this suffice. The 80gig Glyph Companion drive is $500.

Anybody using drives from LaCie, Que, etc? Any problems or rumored problems?

Thanks,
Tim.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
discostu131
posté ven. 28 juin 2002, 18:41
Message #2


Newbie


Groupe : Members
Messages : 5
Inscrit : 27 juin 02
Membre no 5,297




First off, im no expert, and i dont really know what ur talking about. Im assuming that Glyph (spelling?) is a brand? well i dont see any reason why you would need to get a certain brand drive for audio, as long as it is a reputable name, and it is fast enough (at least 72,000 rpm), then i would say it should work fine
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
lepetitmartien
posté sam. 29 juin 2002, 03:11
Message #3


Moderator In Chief (MIC)
Icône de groupe

Groupe : Editors
Messages : 15,189
Inscrit : 23 déc. 01
Lieu : Paris - FR
Membre no 2,758




Hum…

Do you really want to put a foot on the ladder of the 'digi said and wants some cash' stairway to the seven golden cards obsolete in 2 years…

The premium price you pay is to have the right to put a dirve in an enclosure like the digi. Is it worth ? BTW, the drive inside has the same MTBF as the others on the market, so wink.gif

Take a good IDE drive, like discostu131 (and some find my avatar long and hard wink.gif said, maybe in firewire, or if you want with his own IDE card and go!

Premium for nothing but a label on a box is SLAVERY.


--------------------
Our Classifeds • Nos petites annoncesTerms Of Service / Conditions d'UtilisationForum Rules / Règles des ForumsMacMusic.Org & SETI@Home
BOING BUMM TSCHAK PENG! Are you musician enough to write in our Wiki?
BOING BUMM TSCHAK ZZZZZZZZZZZOING! Êtes-vous assez musicien pour écrire dans le Wiki?
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
damann
posté mer. 3 juil. 2002, 02:54
Message #4


Advanced Member
*****

Groupe : Members
Messages : 393
Inscrit : 11 juin 02
Lieu : London - UK
Membre no 5,044




oh yes,
a hard drive is a hard drive, a marketing concept is...
digidesign are masters of the illusion. wink.gif
usb is, er, usb unfortunately. laugh.gif
digidesign ultimately want you to step onto the megabuck ladder, it's just not necassary. blink.gif
also, i use absynth and protools has to be the worst choice of software for support of this excellent MIDI INTENSIVE MEMORY HOG! angry.gif


--------------------
one for all and all for one...
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Stuartpa
posté dim. 22 sept. 2002, 22:37
Message #5


Rookie
*

Groupe : Members
Messages : 27
Inscrit : 02 sept. 02
Lieu : Flag Pond - US
Membre no 7,326




No doubt about it at all, you can put the exact same drive that Glyph uses in a box with a Power supply and get almost the same performace that you would get from a Glyph.

Glyph do tune their HDs so that they run at max performance for audio work but there are tons of drives out there that will do the job with no problem. Besides if you really want to get into it there are some utilities Like Hard Disk toolkit and others that will also let you tune your drives up this is mostly for SCSI drives (Be careful here as you can also detune a drive real fast)

Having said that use Glyphs ( I am getting old and lazy) but right next to them on the same SCSI bus I also have a couple of Older Drive Kits that I have dragged along with me through several system upgrades and they still work just fine.

You are going to make your CPU work pretty hard no matter what drives you use and getting something because Digi says is ususally just a real good way to spend money you could other wise save.

La Cie make really good drive systems and have been around for years so you might want to give them a call and see what they recommend.

You can also make up a drive yourself if you have the time it is not at all a difficult proposition and you will save some money, but at least a drive from La Cie will be warrantied and you will get support for what you bought.

The 80 G Firewire drive you are looking at will probably work fine as long as you do not try to start laying down 32 tracks all at the same time.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
rickenbacker
posté lun. 23 sept. 2002, 14:35
Message #6


Maniac Member
******

Groupe : Members
Messages : 645
Inscrit : 17 mai 02
Lieu : Broughton
Membre no 4,705




It's not true that every hard disk is exactly the same. A LaCie drive costing $200 will NOT give the same performance as a Glyph costing $500. Believe it or not, the extra money is actually going somewhere!

It's going into build quality, innovative construction techniques, optimisation for audio, 100% reliability in performance and perhaps the best after-sales service around - 24-hour replacement for defective drives, for instance. If your LaCie drive goes down, how long are you left without one?

No, I don't work for Glyph. I don't even own a Glyph drive. I just think it's misleading to suggest that all hard drives are the same just because the tech spec figures are kind of similar.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Synthetic
posté lun. 23 sept. 2002, 16:51
Message #7


Maniac Member
******

Groupe : Members
Messages : 821
Inscrit : 25 juin 01
Lieu : Springfield - US
Membre no 1,082




Stuartpa has a good point. Glyph "tunes" their drives so they work more effeciently for multimedia production. Also, Glyph has great support. If ANYTHING happens to your drive within the first year... just contact them or your retailer for a return and they ship you a new drive within 24 hours. That is part of the reason they cost more. I have a glyph drive (project x) 30gig that I use with my Digi001 and love it. Never had a bit of trouble with and fast tranfers.

Not all drives are built the same either. You should really seek the best performance when dealing with audio and that means looking at throughput rates and seek times. I do not recommend IDE simply for the way it handles incoming data (doesn't manage data effeciently enough for good performance especially with multitrack high bit rate use). It is possible to use just the standard ATA or IDE drives that come with laptops and desktops internally but you may experience some "hicups" in the recording when it gets too intense for it.

Audio drives should either be some form of SCSI or firewire for best performance and at least 7200 RPM with 10000 RPM being the ideal drive. Also, the bigger the drive... the more time it takes to read data and to find data so you want to get it as fast as possible.

So yes, any drive "will work" but, if you want reliability, performance and good support... you will most likely have to pay for it by spending more for your drive than just grabbing the most bytes for the buck.

I do know someone who created a 100gig wide SCSI raid system using cheaper drives that were bought seperately and then housed into a raid system for less than I paid for my Glyph 30Gig but I also know he was fuming mad when he lost a drive with important data on it too. So you never know. wink.gif


--------------------
----------------------------------------
<span style='font-size:18pt;line-height:100%'>Synthetic Tone</span>
Click above for totally original electronic music, art, & photos.
Click below to become an active member of the MacMusic.org site..

<span style='font-size:15pt;line-height:100%'>Become An Active Member</span>

G4 550mhz Tibook & Brand Spankin New Dual G5 2Ghz Power Mac with Tiger.
So long old OS9 apps :(
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
damann
posté lun. 23 sept. 2002, 17:10
Message #8


Advanced Member
*****

Groupe : Members
Messages : 393
Inscrit : 11 juin 02
Lieu : London - UK
Membre no 5,044




QUOTE (Tim @ Jun 27 2002, 23:49)
But, the Glyph drives are so expensive.  I just looked at a Mac Warehouse Catelog and saw 7200 RPM, 80gig firewire drives for a little over 0.  Won't this suffice.  The 80gig Glyph Companion drive is 0.

Anybody using drives from LaCie, Que, etc?  Any problems or rumored problems?

Thanks,
Tim.

back to the point, NO you do not need to use a glyph. wink.gif
sorry rickenbacker, i'm not trying to p*$$ you off here, but the extra cash glyph demand is not warranted. we ARE talking ide drives here! sad.gif
these drives, although fast, are nowhere near as reliable as scsi drives, can only be expected to live for a couple of years, and an extra internal drive will definitely out perform a firewire drive every time AND save loads of cash. wink.gif
synthetic, i'm not trying to p*$$ you off either, but a firewire drive IS an ide drive, it can only work as fast as the firewire to ide bus inside it will allow!
ultimately, my advice would have to be, buy a seagate barracuda and fit it internally... cool.gif


--------------------
one for all and all for one...
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Synthetic
posté lun. 23 sept. 2002, 19:48
Message #9


Maniac Member
******

Groupe : Members
Messages : 821
Inscrit : 25 juin 01
Lieu : Springfield - US
Membre no 1,082




hmm... never new firewire drives were actually ide... i do know that the older platforms that firewire was introduced on need to use a PCI card with newer firewire protocol that is supposed to alleviate some of the negative aspects of firewire for audio and video work but never really consider it was ide drives.

I still think unless I bought an ultra scsi pci card and drive that the glyph drive was good investment. After spending $150-$200 for ultra scsi card and then $150-$300 for drive... the price is almost the same as the glyph.

by the way... i don't get p*$$ off unless you were send a virus to my mac or call it a wimp... then I would have to kick some a$$... otherwise, its all good wink.gif one person can't know everything thus the usefulness of the forums where the debates begin and either a lesson is taught, given or criticized sometimes for newbies and sometimes for old dogs biggrin.gif


--------------------
----------------------------------------
<span style='font-size:18pt;line-height:100%'>Synthetic Tone</span>
Click above for totally original electronic music, art, & photos.
Click below to become an active member of the MacMusic.org site..

<span style='font-size:15pt;line-height:100%'>Become An Active Member</span>

G4 550mhz Tibook & Brand Spankin New Dual G5 2Ghz Power Mac with Tiger.
So long old OS9 apps :(
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
damann
posté mar. 24 sept. 2002, 01:34
Message #10


Advanced Member
*****

Groupe : Members
Messages : 393
Inscrit : 11 juin 02
Lieu : London - UK
Membre no 5,044




hi synthetic,
please look into this (i'm sure you will), inside every firewire drive is a humble ide device and a buffer that allows the firewire to access it, as always (almost) i'm just trying to politely guide public knowledge in a useful direction! rolleyes.gif
i'd love to be wrong here, but don't think so.
i love your input into these forums and consider you a "model citizen" around here. peace, good luck, and hopefully i'll communicate with you soon. biggrin.gif
it's all good...


--------------------
one for all and all for one...
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
rickenbacker
posté mar. 24 sept. 2002, 16:18
Message #11


Maniac Member
******

Groupe : Members
Messages : 645
Inscrit : 17 mai 02
Lieu : Broughton
Membre no 4,705




I don't get p*$$ed off with replies either (unless it gets nasty): this is a forum, after all, and a forum means debate; debate means a difference of opinion and that's what we're here for. As Synthetic says, it's all good. biggrin.gif

BUT...

I still don't think the Glyph is such bad value - for rock-solid performance and the peace of mind of their warranty, it's a fair price. For someone like me on a laptop, their Companion drive looks ideal for dedicating to my music, which is why I plan to buy one when I get the cash together - unless you've got any other suggestions?
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Presto
posté mar. 24 sept. 2002, 19:26
Message #12


Maniac Member
******

Groupe : Members
Messages : 799
Inscrit : 24 mars 02
Lieu : Entre-Deux-Mers - FR
Membre no 3,984




Aha! I use an Mbox too. I didn't realise they'd made a nice quiet portable drive for us to stick in our little shoulderbag with all the rest.

Found the glyph page: http://www.glyphtech.com/FRAMESET-AUDIO-pr...s-companion.htm

However, I live in France and I can't find it on the French web. Not on the UK web either. Hum! I mustn't be searching right.

Still, on the Gyph site they give a tel n° in the UK for European enquiries.

It looks great for roaming Mbox users - ah! I've just found the price for the 80Gb on zzounds.com: 500$ - hum


--------------------
Without shit, we wouldn't be here ;)
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
damann
posté mer. 25 sept. 2002, 00:18
Message #13


Advanced Member
*****

Groupe : Members
Messages : 393
Inscrit : 11 juin 02
Lieu : London - UK
Membre no 5,044




hi rickenbacker,
just trying to be polite. i've been bashed too much to simply state my opinion! laugh.gif
i appreciate the after sales service that glyph apparently provide, always good to hear.
the price however, sounds unjustifiable, this drive costs almost as much as the mbox itself. unsure.gif
i use an 80gb "icewarrior" or "icecube" as it's called (from box clever), on my powerbook setup. it cost less than 200 quid, contains a seagate barracuda, the defacto pro standard hard drive, has no fan, looks incredible (it's pictured in my avatar), AND the build quality is exemplary. i recommend you check it out at www.macandmore.com. wink.gif
the main issue for me with firewire drives is the fact that new drives are being released soon that double the throughput speed! as i've said, it's only an ide drive being addressed by a firewire to ide bus. the bus is the real issue! peace, good luck, later...


--------------------
one for all and all for one...
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Presto
posté mer. 25 sept. 2002, 10:01
Message #14


Maniac Member
******

Groupe : Members
Messages : 799
Inscrit : 24 mars 02
Lieu : Entre-Deux-Mers - FR
Membre no 3,984




I've been thinking. I'm a bit slow but here's my reasoning.

With the 80Gb disk, according to zzounds, you can record 280 minutes of 24-track, 24-bit audio at 48kHz. This means you can record 56 hours with the 2-track Mbox, or 14 hours with an 8-track Motu 828 - all in one go.

(The 80Gb M Project Plus from Glyph has a 4-port FW hub, so if you have three 828s, you can do 24-track recording. But then, you're not worried about Glyph prices, are you?)

Now, let's say you've got 10 Gb free on the internal drive. With that, you can go out without your external drive and record 7 hours of 2-track, or nearly 2 hours of 8-track. You can then come back and put it on your external and go out and start again.

My conclusion is that for recording with an Mbox or 828, your external drive needs to be neither portable nor silent, as you don't need to use it for live recording.

I therefore opt for a not as portable, noisier, not matching, but much cheaper, other-than-Glyph drive.

Is there a flaw?


--------------------
Without shit, we wouldn't be here ;)
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
beezkneez
posté mer. 25 sept. 2002, 11:42
Message #15


Newbie


Groupe : Members
Messages : 4
Inscrit : 25 sept. 02
Lieu : Dobbs Ferry - US
Membre no 7,930




i don't know whether the glyph is better but as far as firewire drives go I have a La Cie 80 gig and it's pretty reliable (I even dropped it pretty hard by mistake). The Que is much slimmer and more portable though. My friend had one and I was pretty jealous.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
rickenbacker
posté mer. 25 sept. 2002, 15:39
Message #16


Maniac Member
******

Groupe : Members
Messages : 645
Inscrit : 17 mai 02
Lieu : Broughton
Membre no 4,705




Hey Damann,

Thanks for the tip. I've seen the "Icewarrior" advertised in the pages of MacUser before and they have caught my eye. Maybe that could be the answer.

You say you use one - how's the noise? And the reliability? Do you track a mix of audio and midi or more one than the other? And you don't have to build an enclosure for this drive? I'll check it out on the web anyway. Like your avatar, btw.

Also, you mention the new Firewire drives which will double the throughput speed: have you got any more info on that? Are they coming soon? Basically, should I stop this cash burning a hole in my pocket and hang on for a month or two, or are we talking next year?

And I can't argue with that fact that buying a Glyph doubles the cost of your Mbox setup! I know they use a special composite metal with a kind of neoprene insulating/acoustic dampening material sandwiched between it to keep the drive ultra-quiet and cool in performance (the fan hardly ever comes on) and there's only one other company in the world using this special metal, blah blah blah biggrin.gif
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
damann
posté jeu. 26 sept. 2002, 00:59
Message #17


Advanced Member
*****

Groupe : Members
Messages : 393
Inscrit : 11 juin 02
Lieu : London - UK
Membre no 5,044




hi rickenbacker,
the noise is, as with the glyph, almost never audible, and when the fan (if there is one) IS on, only superman would be bothered by it!
the build and design are pretty faultless, i did however, specify that i wanted a barracuda inside (an extra 10 quid) !
i've used it on some heavy sessions, transferring large protools sessions to it and working with these in logic on a tibook 800 using the icebox as my audio drive with no problems at all. laugh.gif
from what i've read, the new firewire bus is due VERY soon, hold onto that cash! wink.gif


--------------------
one for all and all for one...
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
lepetitmartien
posté jeu. 26 sept. 2002, 05:01
Message #18


Moderator In Chief (MIC)
Icône de groupe

Groupe : Editors
Messages : 15,189
Inscrit : 23 déc. 01
Lieu : Paris - FR
Membre no 2,758




We had already a thread on this…

If you really want to pay to mostly have a HD matched to your DAW hardware and with express replacement, it's ok for me.

Personnally I prefer spend my money in some other serious gear, and eventually go buy a new HD if need arises…

The fine tuning you can make it yourself in HDT, but a good little raid made at home is at reach of everybody. cool.gif


--------------------
Our Classifeds • Nos petites annoncesTerms Of Service / Conditions d'UtilisationForum Rules / Règles des ForumsMacMusic.Org & SETI@Home
BOING BUMM TSCHAK PENG! Are you musician enough to write in our Wiki?
BOING BUMM TSCHAK ZZZZZZZZZZZOING! Êtes-vous assez musicien pour écrire dans le Wiki?
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
rickenbacker
posté jeu. 26 sept. 2002, 10:37
Message #19


Maniac Member
******

Groupe : Members
Messages : 645
Inscrit : 17 mai 02
Lieu : Broughton
Membre no 4,705




Thanks, Damann - I'll wait for the new Firewire bus to come along.

I also e-mailed the Ice Warrior people last night to ask about the tech spec (and they replied within minutes - this was after 8pm!). It looks good - Oxford chipset, 7,200 rpm drive etc. Er, sounds just like a certain other drive we've been talking about! laugh.gif
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
truthfind
posté jeu. 26 sept. 2002, 17:04
Message #20


Newbie


Groupe : Members
Messages : 2
Inscrit : 26 sept. 02
Lieu : Lindale - US
Membre no 7,973




Just a note to all about an experience that I have had with a particular manufacturer. I have a Que M3 firewire drive that completely failed on me and sent it in with a Que firewire CDRW burner that also never worked from day one. I consider myself more than a power user, but not to the point of abusing any of my equipment by any means. That said, I returned said drives and went on a month long business trip and fully (and rightfully ) expected to see my drives waiting for me when I got back. But alas, they had not been returned and I had to spend two weeks trying to get them to return my drives that they said they would take care of. I was hung up on, ignored, put on hold and argued with at every turn and messages completely ignored from the customer service rep on up to the VP. They had the drives sitting in shipping waiting for approval to get shipped back out, but they were sitting on them for some unknown reason, which pretyy much means they didn't have their stuff together- at all. I finally got ahold of the shipping manager and politely aprised him of my situation and asked him to send the drives out ASAP. I had them in two days.

To have two drives from the same company fail is scary. To have received such horrible customer service is reprehensible. To have a new drive that still doesn't work as well as it could says that I should warn all to stay away from Que drives, even for simple backup. That was all I was using it for and it just stunk.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Synthetic
posté jeu. 26 sept. 2002, 19:52
Message #21


Maniac Member
******

Groupe : Members
Messages : 821
Inscrit : 25 juin 01
Lieu : Springfield - US
Membre no 1,082




QUOTE
Now, let's say you've got 10 Gb free on the internal drive. With that, you can go out without your external drive and record 7 hours of 2-track, or nearly 2 hours of 8-track. You can then come back and put it on your external and go out and start again.


Presto... i think you are missing the point here... the point is to avoid using the internal HD for recording purposes if at all possible because it's not really best suited for A/V work and its best not to use the same drive for recording that also is running your system and software. Yes it will work and you can do exactly what you described but for best results... an external drive (like the ones mentioned in the many numerous previous posts) will provide longer life and better quality overall.

My example... even though I have room on my Tibook HD to record... i avoid this and rely on using my Glyph Project X firewire drive for recording. If I must travel... its not big deal to bring it along since its not that big (bigger than the Mbox companion maybe) and its great being able to share it with my G3 desktop model at home. Before the Glyph, I relied on a SCSI card and a Lacie Tsunami 9gig drive for my recordings until it developed a bad sector and went to trash. I had tried recording on the internal 6gig drive that was in G3 when I first got the Digi001 and noticed that some recordings seemed to have minor skips or "hicups" in the some tracks especially if I tried to record 24bit. sad.gif


--------------------
----------------------------------------
<span style='font-size:18pt;line-height:100%'>Synthetic Tone</span>
Click above for totally original electronic music, art, & photos.
Click below to become an active member of the MacMusic.org site..

<span style='font-size:15pt;line-height:100%'>Become An Active Member</span>

G4 550mhz Tibook & Brand Spankin New Dual G5 2Ghz Power Mac with Tiger.
So long old OS9 apps :(
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
damann
posté ven. 27 sept. 2002, 02:53
Message #22


Advanced Member
*****

Groupe : Members
Messages : 393
Inscrit : 11 juin 02
Lieu : London - UK
Membre no 5,044




regarding that last quote.
don't use your internal hd for audio recording/playback if it is the drive you boot your daw from!
try to keep one third of the available space on your boot drive available. wink.gif
regularly optimize a regularly USED audio drive.
backup regularly... rolleyes.gif


--------------------
one for all and all for one...
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Presto
posté ven. 27 sept. 2002, 15:44
Message #23


Maniac Member
******

Groupe : Members
Messages : 799
Inscrit : 24 mars 02
Lieu : Entre-Deux-Mers - FR
Membre no 3,984




"...noticed that some recordings seemed to have minor skips or "hicups" in some tracks"

Thanks Synthetic. I've often heard not to use the internal drive for audio, but never been told why. I haven't therefore taken the warnings seriously. Haven't noticed the hiccup/skip problem yet, but then I've not much experience either. For the moment I just trash what I don't like.

"don't use your internal hd for audio recording/playback if it is the drive you boot your daw from! try to keep one third of the available space on your boot drive available. wink.gif
regularly optimize a regularly USED audio drive
backup regularly... 8-)"

Thanks for advice Damann too. I may follow it ;-) Any more info on why? Perhaps 1 or 2 track recording doesn't lead to the problems encountered with 8-tracks.

Concerning 800Mb/sec FW, I wonder how many Mb/sec small projects really need.


--------------------
Without shit, we wouldn't be here ;)
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Synthetic
posté ven. 27 sept. 2002, 17:07
Message #24


Maniac Member
******

Groupe : Members
Messages : 821
Inscrit : 25 juin 01
Lieu : Springfield - US
Membre no 1,082




sometimes its hard to just look at some stats to determine performance of a system because often there are many variables that are not accounted for and hard to forsee unless you are an electronic engineer... so sometimes you just have to rely on the old trial-and-error method. wink.gif

a good example is the use of USB for audio recording which many claimed was worthless for multitrack recording especially at high bit rates but most of the tests I have read about the new USB audio interfaces like the emagic models and tascam claim good recording quality even on internal drives so you never know. When it comes down to it... it just depends on how important quality is and what price you are willing to pay for it. Heck, I remember reading article about an older Eurythmics album that was a big hit and it was recorded on 8 track analog without big studio. Maybe sometimes the material itself is more important than how it was recorded huh.gif


--------------------
----------------------------------------
<span style='font-size:18pt;line-height:100%'>Synthetic Tone</span>
Click above for totally original electronic music, art, & photos.
Click below to become an active member of the MacMusic.org site..

<span style='font-size:15pt;line-height:100%'>Become An Active Member</span>

G4 550mhz Tibook & Brand Spankin New Dual G5 2Ghz Power Mac with Tiger.
So long old OS9 apps :(
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
rickenbacker
posté sam. 28 sept. 2002, 11:14
Message #25


Maniac Member
******

Groupe : Members
Messages : 645
Inscrit : 17 mai 02
Lieu : Broughton
Membre no 4,705




Synthetic has got it exactly right - home recordists can produce some excellent work. It's probably not going to compete with a Shania Twain or Jamiroquai album, even if they are using the same software (I know Jay Kay used Logic Platinum to record his last album), but it's still going to sound pretty good. A lot of the early house records - and I'm talking massive global hits, here - were recorded on 4-track machines and mastered from cassette. This was the early '90s, too - not the '70s! So anything you can do on a modern Mac has the potential to sound fantastic.

I've tried quite a few of the new USB interfaces (Mbox, both Tascam 428 and 224, Edirol UA-5 and UA-700, Swissonic Studio-D) and - in my opinion, for what it's worth - they're all fine for audio work. As Joe Meek said, if it sounds right, it IS right. And he was recording vocals on the staircase of his flat on the Holloway Road in London.

As for the new high-speed FireWire, talking to a friend who works on a Mac magazine here in the UK, he's not heard about any new products featuring 1394b due for release in the next few months. So if you need a FireWire drive now, you might as well get one rather than hang about waiting. Current FireWire speeds are still pretty nippy. biggrin.gif
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
fromage
posté lun. 2 déc. 2002, 12:31
Message #26


Newbie


Groupe : Members
Messages : 1
Inscrit : 02 déc. 02
Lieu : Boise - US
Membre no 9,753




Pardon the warming-up of leftovers from the back of the fridge, fellas -- looks like this topic's been dormant for a couple months. I thought it might be nice, though, in my first post here to share some (hopefully) useful information I've found, and possibly get an answer to my question. I couldn't find any recent updated thorough info on this as of last week, so I did a little digging myself.

Of the pros I spoke with who are currently either using or building their Mac-based digital home studios, most are saying the same things, which are as follows.

First off, FireWire external drives are the most popular choice. They're easy to implement, cheap, fast, and reliable.

Two main components are to be considered in the process of shopping for an external FireWire drive: The IDE drive itself, and the "box" within which it resides.

The drive's size is somewhat important-- those that have a 40GB or smaller all say they wish they'd paid the extra cash for an 80GB; those with 80GB or higher are happy.
The drive's SPEED is more important-- all recommend 7200rpm drives. Also, if you can get it already formatted for Mac, that's even better, as the formatting process can be a bit weird over FireWire...? I don't know enough about this. More digging for another future post, perhaps.

Now for the box-- the most important features (in order) are the chipset, case material, and items inside the case other than the chipset and drive. Consistently the Oxford 911 chipset was recommended. Aluminum is the case material of choice because of its heat-dissipating qualities. And fans, even "quiet" ones, are generally avoided (and not really needed with aluminum cases anyway). Also, if you can get a case with an external power supply, this reduces the heat in the case even more (though it might add another "wall wart" AC Power Adaptor to your setup-- blechh!!).

With that in mind... You can buy an ideal drive (80GB, 7200RPM) for well under $100 US dollars, and a good case (Oxford 911 chipset, aluminum case, no fan, external power supply) for around $50 through the right auction.

One thing I didn't even think to ask of the people I spoke to (and they didn't mention it, so maybe it's not a big deal?) was the cache size -- 2MB is common, 8MB is possible but not as readily available. ANYONE, do you know if this is a concern?

FYI www.eshop.macsales.com has a pretty decent deal going right now-- one of their setups is for a 100GB drive with the 8MB cache and all the other good things mentioned above, plus a 2yr warranty, for around $275. Still think dropping $400 on a comparable Glyph drive is worth it?

Cheers, all -- and if you find out about that whole cache conundrum, fill me in, k?
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Presto
posté lun. 2 déc. 2002, 17:36
Message #27


Maniac Member
******

Groupe : Members
Messages : 799
Inscrit : 24 mars 02
Lieu : Entre-Deux-Mers - FR
Membre no 3,984




I've just got an 80Gb MacWay FW Icebox. It's got 512Kb of Flash memory but I don't know what that means.

My local dealer has had to order a memory chip for my old imac 233 which I'll be using for non musical apps. So later this week I'll probably be able to let you know if PTLE/Mbox works alright with it.

I was hoping I wouldn't have to hide it somewhere, as it has no fan. Hum!! It makes a hell of a noise compared to my ibook.


--------------------
Without shit, we wouldn't be here ;)
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Levon River
posté mar. 3 déc. 2002, 01:22
Message #28


Senior Member
****

Groupe : Members
Messages : 296
Inscrit : 10 août 02
Lieu : Rimghobb - UA
Membre no 6,734




If I've posted this before, it bears repeating. biggrin.gif

My experience with the OWC Mercury Elite series has been excellent, and I recommend that anyone shopping for an external firewire drive at least take a look at these in yer comparison shopping:

http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Page.cfm...e=FW&Template=1

The Elite cases are pretty handsome, too, housed in clear plastic, ala G4s, with a smart blue power light that can double as a nightlight. biggrin.gif

The pictures on the page don't do it justice. It's also quiet.

OWC sells the parts for rolling your own external firewire drive if you prefer to go that route, but with the Elites, they've done the work. Worth a look.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Presto
posté mar. 3 déc. 2002, 12:15
Message #29


Maniac Member
******

Groupe : Members
Messages : 799
Inscrit : 24 mars 02
Lieu : Entre-Deux-Mers - FR
Membre no 3,984




Had a look - as far as I can see and read its the same as the Ice including the nice blue light (it is nice)


--------------------
Without shit, we wouldn't be here ;)
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Teiwaz
posté mer. 4 déc. 2002, 17:26
Message #30


Junior Member
***

Groupe : Members
Messages : 103
Inscrit : 30 oct. 02
Lieu : Los Angeles - US
Membre no 8,882




Hmmm...I know this is an old thread, but I must say it does tickle me to read that some mac musicians had been wondering why they had problems recording/playing back audio when they had been using their internal BOOT drive as their AUDIO drive....

The mac is continuously accessing the system drive for system related read/write to/from memory instructions, and I feel that it ought to be common knowledge that it is definitely not the place to be recording/playing back audio from/to!! It's no wonder users get 'interruptions' in their recordings...the system drive is already busy dealing with the...er...SYSTEM! blink.gif

I have always had a separate drive for audio...even back in 1996 when drives were not that fast (the problems even more obvious back then.)

I can see it now...the audio drive is completely "free from traffic" on it's I/O ribbon cable, whereas there is always a stream of data moving up & down the system drive's I/O ribbon cable..er...ho hum huh.gif


--------------------
Nobody can take from you what you give freely.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post

3 Pages V   1 2 3 >
Reply to this topicStart new topic
1 utilisateur(s) sur ce sujet (1 invité(s) et 0 utilisateur(s) anonyme(s))
0 membre(s) :

 

Version bas débit - dimanche 6 juil. 2025, 22:45
- © 440 Forums 2011