New Digital Audio Workstation hardware help.....

[cezcurdia]

I really would like to setup a machine that could work as a DAW for OSX, XP and Linux and would very much appreciate some help in setting this up. I currently already own some decent audio interface gear: a couple of RME Hamerfall HSDP 9652 (48 ch i/o - NOT PCI Express) and M-Audio Firewire 1814 (only using 16ch) for mobile stuff. At present, there seems to be no support for the firewire in Linux, but I can live without them in a studio configuration.

 

From reading the forums and looking at configurations from respectable DAW retailers such as adkproaudio and sweetwater, I have come up with a preliminary configuration fro the OSX 86 machine for the following reasons.

 

1. MOBO - Asus P5WD2-E - I have read that this board has good overclocking and will accept future updates with Conroe. However I also read that with OS X only one PCI is recognized. I know that there have been issues regaridng PCI in general, but does anyone know if this is still so? This is the piece that concerns me the most as I have the two RME's to install. I also read somewhere that the network had a woking patch. I’m not sure whether RME’s drivers actually work with intel macs yet (however, an unrecognizable port would kill all my chances at this or any other cad).

 

2. Pentium D 930 - Although I generally use AMD, however reading about the screen stutter problem and only one processor working to prevent this gave me the shivers. Other than that, it is simply a cost issue.

 

3. Saphire ATI X700 Pro- Just read somewhere in the forums that this was card Ok. I would really like dual monitors and this card has the standard vga and digital so I’m hoping it will do the trick. Is it possible with this?

 

4. 2 to 4 Gig DDR2 667

 

My ideal situation would be to be able to run Parallels Desktop to have access to all 3 OS's at the same time. I have yet to try their beta, so I really dont know if it will work (though their intended 5%-10% native speed is something I should be able deal with).

 

Although Conroe compatibility would be nice, other boards (Asus just seems to be the standard used by most DAW retailers and therefore got my preference) that do not have this, but do have at least 2 PCI’s recognized would work great.

 

Well, 3 DAW in one machine….am I asking to much? I appreciate everyones help with this and look forward to reading your comments and suggestions.

[dr.funk]

I have tried to do the same..kinda. A functional daw with osx. I use XP x64 as my main app as it is solid and dependable.

 

This isx looks okay, but Im having too many issues to give you a thumbs up.

 

PCI is a bad issue, I wouldnt bother with PCI cards, and if someone here says they work, what board? What Bios? What osx install? Details!!

 

USB and firewire seem to be okay, well in ym case I saw some storage devices but NOT one of my usb midi devices showed up..I installed UB drivers for said devices and they ARE class compliant.

 

Reality Check. I have tried this on 4 daws. 2 amd. 2 intel. I may try one more but this is still too incompatible to use as a main daw app. Especially if you make money with your music.

 

But before I sound like some bitchy complainy guy.... try it. Use Intel stuff. I prefer AMD but for this go intel. Use a firewire audio device with UB drivers. Also get your self a couple different iso's to use 10.4.3/10.4.4/10.4.6..etc...

 

Sorry to sound so poopy.

[bofors]

3. Saphire ATI X700 Pro- Just read somewhere in the forums that this was card Ok. I would really like dual monitors and this card has the standard vga and digital so I’m hoping it will do the trick. Is it possible with this?

 

No, I believe the way to run an extended desktop is still with an onboard Intel GMA and an ADD2 card. I would also consider some ATI x1600 too, now that the "Boris" method has them basicallly working.

 

The other thing is that Woodcrest is coming out in a few weeks and the new Mac Pro thereafter, I think there will be a lot of serious 2 x 2 "workstation" interest here then:

 

http://forum.osx86project.org/index.php?sh...996&hl=high+end

[cezcurdia]

Thank you both!.

 

It looks like this is not the right board for dual monitors then. This would leave me with 16 in / 12 out on OSX using the firewire interface which really isn't too bad. I guess anything on Parallel's would forcefully have to be limited to this as well. I'd have to do a dual boot to get all channels on the PCI which really not that bad.

 

It seems like to get proven PCI support I should just hold the decision until after the new Apple Desktops hit the market. Unfortunately I need to put a new machine together within the next two weeks.

 

Do you have any thoughts on the Mobo itself is there something better outhere I should consider?

 

What if OSX was run as a VM under Linux or XP with Parallel's. I know OSX is not officialy supported but it seems to me that this was not supported in VMWare either. Has anyone done OSX in Parallels or Xen maybe?

 

Thanks!

[bofors]

Do you have any thoughts on the Mobo itself is there something better outhere I should consider?

 

It is a little expensive but you should get Conroe support, so it seems like a decent choice.

 

What if OSX was run as a VM under Linux or XP with Parallel's. I know OSX is not officialy supported but it seems to me that this was not supported in VMWare either. Has anyone done OSX in Parallels or Xen maybe?

 

Lot's of people started running OS X under VMWare, it works but it is a little slow.