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]

I have given up on M-Audio and Apple ever working this out in my lifetime. I tried out a brand new, not modified, Delta-44 configured for PCI or PCI-X 3.3 V signaling in my G5 1.8 DP. The results were terrible. Huge amounts of digital hash. It went back to the store within a couple of hours.

So I bit the bullet and purchased a new Edirol FA-101 Firewire 10/10 off a storefront in eBay for about $450 and I believe my troubles are over. I just installed it yesterday, so i'm still testing, but so far it is behaving flawlessly. I am now running under OS 10.3.7 which Apple just tweaked for the Edirol FA-101. My old Delta 44 will be up on eBay shortly. It works fine--just not in the G5 1.8 DP's.

Your results may vary, but I can't wait around.

Doug(zilla)

[justinstar77]

i was totally checking out that route (layla 3g).
i would recomend this. if your delta card works (which it should) setup your audio in "sounds" from the system prefs so that the system sounds come out or your internal audio. that way you don't get those naste interuptions (the glitch noise i was talking about earlier).

yeah. i went round and round with apple on the audio noise from the G5, but at the end i choose to deal with it.

let me ask you a question, dougzilla. when you use the finder do and you are using column view.
select a media file .mov, .aiff, or .aac. do you hear your G5 make a whining noise?

I don't know if this will help you but the g5's i use at work made an awful kind of whinning/hiss until i installed chud tools. Open system prefs and there's a new icon labeled processor select it and disable "nap mode"
hope it helps

[editbrain]

This was the same for me also. talking about the whine, but it only happened to me in preview mode. it was a problem with the power/cpu/and quicktime. apple replaced my computer. check to see if you have cpu ver. 2.2 in the apple profiler. that is what i had. this G5 has cpu ver 3.0 that i have now. it doesn't make the noise anymore.

[efflux]

I am actually a PC user but on reading this stuff about these problems here, I thought I'd add a comment. I have had problems with an M-Audio Delta 44 and 66 on a PC P4. The problems are related to groundloops, lots of low level buzzes, hums, clicks etc getting into the audio because M-Audios cards have a totally unsatisfactory design as far as dealing with this problem. I have Protools on another system with exactly the same hardware, no problems. In my opinion M-Audios Delta cards are useless on a modern fast computer in a studio environment which will always have ground loops. I have voiced my opinions to M-Audio about this. All the advice they give is to find the problem component by unplugging devices and lifting grounds but it is THEIR gear that is no good. Computers are a source of all kinds of ground dirt. There is no way around this. The soundcard manufacturers must accommodate it in their interface design.