• Welcome to the General Discussion forum for UAD users!

    Please note that this forum is user-run, although we're thrilled to have so much contribution from Drew, Will, and other UA folks!

    Feel free to discuss both UAD and non-UAD related subjects!

    1) Please do not post technical issues here. Please use our UAD Support Forums instead.

    2) Please do not post complaints here. Use the Unrest Forum instead. They have no place in the the General Discussion forum.

    Threads posted in the wrong forum will be moved, so if you don't see your thread here anymore, please look in the correct forum.

    Lastly, please be respectful.

Apple/Magma Success Story

Classik Rawk

New Member
Just wanted to share my config for those that are looking at Magma Chassis with the new Dual 2.0 Ghz G5...

Dual 2.0 Ghz (April 2005 build)
2.5 G RAM
160 GB HD Internal (OS and App's)
250 GB HD Internal (Samples, VSTi's, etc)
(2) 74 GB Raptors Raid 0 in a Wiebetech Traydock Extreme external firewire 800 box (Audio)
250 GB HD External firewire (Backup)
Cubase SX 3.02
PCI-7RX 7 slot Magma (Connected to PCI slot 3)
4 x UAD-1 3.9 whatever...
2 X Powercore PCI 1.9.5 whatever...
PCI-6RD 6 Slot Magma (Connected to PCI slot 4)
3 X Lynx 2B w/ LS-AES and LS-ADAT
Atmosphere, Trilogy, BFD w/XFL, Ivory, and Battery

Hope this helps those that are considering Magma's. I would definitely recommend the new Dual 2.0...Not a hitch loading everything up. No pops, clicks, of freezes so far....

Mark
 

Trace

Active Member
VERY nice rig man. Glad to see you have it all working. I think there are more and more of us out there with G5 + Magma setups. I've been very happy with mine and haven't had any problems either.

TRACE :)
 

Classik Rawk

New Member
I am fortunate to have access to a great forum where folks like yourself share ideas and working systems...The Apple support folks at UA are actually the ones who convinced me that the new Dual G5 would be a good choice. I was just about to throw down similar money for a Dual Xeon 3.2, but in reading the forums, it appeared like the PC guys probably did more forum time tweaking and tinkering than actual creative shtuff...No offense, that's just not something I want to do. Do the Opteron and Xeon machines have more horsepower? Probably so, especially when the dual core cpu's get going good. But for me my Dual 2.0 G5 will be plenty...I am not joking when I say that this installation was totally painless...

Installed host interface cards, plugged in PCI chassis, powered up chassis, then powered up the computer. Loaded drivers and it all magically appeared on the PCI bus....
 

MPC

Active Member
Hey Rawk, cool setup. I've got a magma running 3 UAD and 1 PoCo. I thought running any audio cards in a magma, not to mention a second magma would be a problem. Cool that it isn't for you, any more thoughts and comments on how the Lynx cards are running on the Magma?
 

Classik Rawk

New Member
As things progress, I will post info on minimums/maximums on plugs, etc. With the Lynx cards, I have 8 analog in/16 analog out which works great for me. I am using a Dangerous 2-Bus LT for OTB summing...Latency set at 256....I would consider this as a burn in period. So far, everything is working great. The only issue I'm working now is trying to get my Radikal Sac-2.2 working....I might end up switching to the Tascam controller......
On the Magma issue, I was thrilled that both came up and worked without a hitch...Magma support told me it wouldn't work with the old chassis, so they were surprised when I called with a successful install. The firmware update and driver load for the Lynx went very smooth. Don't hesitate to ask questions

Mark
 

MPC

Active Member
Cool....I've got the Dangerous as well, it's really great. Also, I used to have the SAC2 and now I've got the Tascam US 2400, which was a step up, but I kind of miss the scribble strips.....

What model magma do you use for the audio cards? I looked up the one you mentioned and could find it with a google search?
 

Classik Rawk

New Member
That chassis must be kind of an odd bird...It has the Magma branding on it but it's different than anything else I've seen. The board is mounted vertically inside the 3 RU chassis, so the cards are mounted horizontally. Unlike the other chassis that have a PCI controller card plugged into the board, this one has the pci controller integrated onto the board. Therre are 6 open slots for mounting, so I have the 3 Lynx 2 cards plus I take up two additional slots for the LS-AES and LS-ADAT that work off of the L Stream connect on the Lynx 2...The aggregation device settings in Midi/Audio editor of OSX made it really easy to combine the cards to make them appear as one big interface in Cubase....
I did get the Sac flashed and usb drivers loaded last night, but I can't find an emulation I really like. I've tried Mackie controller, Slave (with Radikal SAC 2K chosen in Cubase), and Houston. The only one that seems to work decent is the Houston emulation....How is the Tascam controller integrating with your host app? Everythiing working good? I may 'Bay the Radikal and get the Tascam...


Mark in Texas
 

MPC

Active Member
Thanks. I like the tascam. It's missing some things that Radikal has. Scribble strips, counter. It's working well with Nuendo and DP so far, I've got it in Mackie mode. No real bugginess so far.
 

Marsrock

Active Member
Hey Rawk,

It has been reported by TC Electronic that the Powercore PCI has problems in systems with more than one additional DSP card installed. Specifically, the Powercore will not initialize. They say it is a hardware compatibility issue with the newer dual 2.0 ghz and older 1.8 dual ghz.

I noticed your setup included a newer dual 2 ghz. It seems that you don't don't experience this problem with the Magma chassis. Can you confirm this for me ? I am considering switching to that model to gain more performance from my 3 UADs in my Magma chassis.

Thanks,

Mark.
 

MPC

Active Member
I'm using 3 UAD 1 and a TC PoCo with no problems in a Magma chassis as well, it may not answer your question because I'm using it with a Dual 2.5
 

Marsrock

Active Member
MPC,

Thanks for the response. I'm actually using the PCI-X dual 2.0 with a Magma chassis now. I also have a Powercore and 3 UADs. Everything is running fine except for the AMD problem with the UADs. I had gotten so used to the performance on my PC that moving to the G5 was a little dissapointing. I just wanna be able to use the full power of the UADs without compromise. This is the main reason I am considering the newer PCI only dual 2.0. I have a friend who has just purchased one and is willing to trade with me. I just wanna know if the Powercore will still work in the Magma chassis with the new 2.0 model. If so, it's a done deal on the trade.

Mark.
 

Classik Rawk

New Member
Sorry for the delay in getting back...To the questions in regards to Powercore and UAD-1's, I have the UAD's and POCO's in the 7 slot chassis, with the UAD's in slots 4-7, and the POCO's in slots 2-3. System profiler sees all cards; Powercore software shows both cards; UAD-1 meter shows all four cards. I have the powercore's in advanced mode set up for performance optimized, so every time I load a plug, it goes to the next available DSP. Plugs load and distribute accordingly between the two available cards. No problems. BTW, same for UAD's...No problems. I have my 3 Lynx cards plus LS-ADAT (to Kurzweil KSP8) and LS-AES (used as AES patch bay between Crane Song Hedd 192, UA2192, and Masterlink) in the 6 slot chassis. Everybody is happy. I'm running the latest driver releases for all plus Cubase SX 3...I don't know why it all works, but I am thrilled that it does....
When I bought my machine, I chose the new Dual 2.0 based on the UAD Mac guys glowing recommendation. I can't thank them enough for the great support. The Lynx guys were just as great in helping me configure my I/O stuff.
My next task is to quiet down those Magma's. The stock fans are outrageously loud...Any ideas?
Please ask more questions if you have them. I am happy to help..
 

Marsrock

Active Member
Thanks for the reply Rawk. That answers all my questions so far. I have the 7 slot Magma also. The fan in the power supply sounded like a jet when I got it. I replaced the internal fans with low speed PC case fans from CompUsa. I also replaced the power supply with an old PC power supply I had laying around. This reduced the noise significantly but it is still louder than my G5 or PC. Still looking into possible solutions for eliminating the noise. I'm investigating a silent power supply called SilentX. It's pretty pricy but it may be just the ticket. It doesn't have any fans at all. my only concern at the moment is how much heat it dissipates. Not sure if that will be a problem with all the cards. The UADs get pretty hot. Will post results if I decide to go that route.

Mark.
 

MPC

Active Member
Another user on this forum, I think Giles117, has that fanless power supp. from SilenX in a Magma, the Luxurae?, if I recall correctly. I got some fans for my Magma from them and they worked well, quiteting things down a bit. There were 3 fans in the magma, I took out the center one, running with 2 cooling fans seems to cause no ill effects.
 

Giles117 DP

Active Member
Well I am late late late to this one but Yeah My Magma is silent.

Also, I just upgraded to a DP 2.0 w/ PCI-X slots and have been able to run my UAD's up to 95% with no problems.
 

paulstone

Member
Hi i'm new here , i life in Italy , hello to all .

i have one technic question to ask :

with Magma chassis i can resolved the problem PCI-X with more UAD card ?

i want more DSP for my uad plugin and no want change my G5 PCI-X

someone can please info me better ; if this resolved the problem ?

thanks

Paul
 

Trace

Active Member
paulstone said:
Hi i'm new here , i life in Italy , hello to all .

i have one technic question to ask :

with Magma chassis i can resolved the problem PCI-X with more UAD card ?

i want more DSP for my uad plugin and no want change my G5 PCI-X

someone can please info me better ; if this resolved the problem ?

thanks

Paul
NO Paul it doesn't solve the problem, it does make it a bit easier to deal with. I think its all about how you use your UAD-1. If you are going to be using mostly the more DSP hungry plugs, then you should be able to get a LOT of use out of them even using a PCI-X + Magma setup. IF you want to run a LOT of instances of lower DSP plugs, then you'll be disappointed. I've been happy cuz I use mostly high end UA plugs and I'm able to be pretty much full use out of the available DSP. I only plan to keep this machine for a little while longer. I'm waiting to see what the new G5's are like. Until then I like this rig. In fact i'm glad I was forced to get the Magma, cuz I like using it. You get all the extra PCI slots, you can also turn off your UAD cards when you don't need them. I just start the G5 with the power off on the Magma. The heat they generate doesn't effect my G5 and cause the fans to kick up higher. If you get the PCMCIA cable you can connect to a Laptop. You can also move the system to different computers if you get another Magma PCI controller card.

TRACE :)
 

paulstone

Member
Thx Trace for your replay , UNFORTUNATELY i've understand !!

saluti

Paul
 
UAD Bundle Month
Top