BoomBoom

Recomendations For Dsp/sound Card For New G4 Pbook

Hi,

What would be a good choice of hardware to buy to give me at least 2 - 4 stereo mic inputs (preferably balanced XLR) into a G4 867mghz Powerbook? Would a PCMIA card be worthwhile or would I be better going down the USB / Firewire audio interface route?

On the PCMIA side the options I've seen are the Digigram VX Pocket V2, or the Hammerfall DSP PCMCIA Cardbus Interface which looks quite intersting (but uses a firewire port on the laptop). Anyone using any of these?

As for USB interfaces, I've only heard bad things. Is that generally still true?

Firewire looks like the best option, but pricey. Is there a cheap-ish firewire device that would meet my requirements for this Powerbook?

Any comments gratefully recieved

 

Jaguar Audio Issues Workaround

After waiting for months for Apple/M-Audio to fix the audio degradation issues introduced by Jaguar (their only advice was to reinstall 10.1.3 !!!!) we finally have a kinda solution:

http://homepage.mac.com/anthonyvu/

You will be installing an older AppleOnboardAudio.kext file from Mac OS X 10.1.3 and i can report that not only did the workaround install ok, but it seems to have fixed my problems. In effect, i have followed M-Audio's advice of reinstalling 10.1.3 but without sacrificing Quartz Extreme and other Jag goodies.

happy xmas, no thanx apple/m-audio

M-audio/jaguar Bug

i thought i would post this in case anyone else is experiencing the same woeful state of affairs.
this is from an email i sent m-audio about problems with my brand new midiman audiophile 2496 card:

computer: Apple
model: G4 533 MP
chipset:
cpu type: PPC
cpu speed: 533 x 2
ram: 1.5 Ghz
gfx card: Radeon 8500 Mac edition
os: Mac OS 10.2.1 server
service:

Midiman products used: Audiophile 2496
When did it start? soon after installation
Services or Updgrades? no
The Problem:from time to time, the sound starts to deteriorate and rapidly gets worse. as soon as i stop the audio (in this case iTunes 3.0.1) and restart, its ok.

The reply i got today:

"We are working with Apple to pinpoint exactly what the issue is with the degradation of audio in Jaguar. This is apparently a problem several audio vendors are experiencing. Once we can get to the bottom, we will post a fix on our site. In the meantime, I would strongly recommend using OS 10.1.5 or OS 9.2 until there is a fix."

hmmmm....uninstall jag. great...

Midiman (M-Audio) Soundcards

1. On the Midiman site they boast 'zero latency monitoring'. Does that mean I can record, say guitar, into the hard drive,  apply vst effects and monitor it all without latency?

Similarly, would i be able to play virtual instruments without latency? (btw I am using a G4 533MP)

2. They also state, rather vaguely, that the card will 'Maximiz(e) performance of soft synths and samplers such as GigaStudio and Reason'
Is there any hardware acceleration going on here?

3. When deciding between this and the Audiophile card, the main difference (apart from different in-out config) is that with the Audiophile card the inputs are unbalanced.

How important is this? Would it be impossible to get professional results with unbalanced inputs?

Thanks in advance for any pearls of wisdom.