Magma - Any Others?

[Steve Oxford]

I am familiar with the Avid Magma brand of PCI Expansion Chassis' but I know of no other brands? What are they if any?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[winnie_pooh]

I am familiar with the Avid Magma brand of PCI Expansion Chassis' but I know of no other brands? What are they if any?

Yes i.e. DIGIDESIGN PROTOOLS MH413 13-SLOT PCI EXPANSION which contains an original Magma 13-slot PCI chassis. Works like a charm together with the Asus A8V Deluxe, 4xUAD-1, 2xRME HDSP, 1xRME Fireface+FW800 PCI card, 1xSB5.1 live! Got this one through ebay almost brand new.

 

[Steve Oxford]

Is that Pro Tools/Digi exclusive though? I'm running Cubase SX on XP. IS it still compatible?

Thanks Winnie -

Steve

 

[winnie_pooh]

Is that Pro Tools/Digi exclusive though? I'm running Cubase SX on XP. IS it still compatible?

In fact it is a Digidesign/PRO TOOLS EXPANSION CHASSIS branded original PCI 13-slot Magma chassis inside. That is most important thing IMHO. There are others available containing SBS chassis which are not recommended by others due to compatibility issues using SBS chassis.

After placing the bit on ebay I got almost crazy because I realised that there are also Digidesign/PRO TOOLS EXPANSION CHASSIS with 13-slot SBS chassis inside available and it was not advertised neither as Magma nor as SBS!?!

I have been advised that the PCI type of chassis are end of life at Digidesign and no longer available. They will be replaced through new ones.

Some research on the internet brought some Digidesign documentation in German to light that their chassis contain the following:
1. Digidesign/PRO TOOLS EXPANSION CHASSIS with S-NR. NB06000C1 or higher have a Magma chassis like PCI-13R.
2. Digidesign/PRO TOOLS EXPANSION CHASSIS with S-NR. 198487 or higher or S-NR. 198486 or lower have a SBS 13-slot chassis with varying slot numbering.

The compatibility with WinXP seems to be awesome. I just plugged the PCI host card into PCI slot 4 of the Asus A8V Deluxe which is a non shared PCI slot, made some analysis of the IRQ allocation of all 13 slots and put the PCI expansion cards in one after the other. Magma seems to have a fine PCI bridging technology within their product which may be superior compared to the one which is implemented on most mobos. For WinXP no drivers are required for installation.

The only drawback was that I had to replace the two 120mm fans through silent Pabst fans with temp control and the 80mm PSU fan through a Pabst fan to make the casing silent.

Due to the fact that it was a new one I’m now a registered Digidesign/PRO TOOLS EXPANSION CHASSIS user for warranty reasons only of course. :wink:

 

[cAPSLOCK]

Rarely you will also see OEM boxes with magma backplanes in them. I have one.

 

[Commodor]

FWIW.... I have a Pro Tools branded SBS expansion chassis.. 7-slot, with 2 X UAD-1 and 2 X Poco. It's been working fine for me with constant use.

When I first got it I couldn't get it to be recognized at boot up. I replaced the psu in it for a bigger, better, quiter one and it's worked fine ever since. I also took out the two small front fans along with their mounting assembly and replaced it with one larger and much quiter fan. I've been quite happy with the whole package... your milage may vary of course.

Best of luck!

 

[bob humid]

I am familiar with the Avid Magma brand of PCI Expansion Chassis' but I know of no other brands? What are they if any?

Thanks,
Steve

GOOGLE just said:

"IBP offers a wide range off different PCI-Expansions with interfaces for PCCard-Bus, PCI-Bus and CompactPCI-Bus

1 to 13 slots
Four Host Interfaces to choose from:
PCCard - PCI - CompactPCI
Version with rechargeable battery
3.3 Volt PCI bus signaling versions
Full PCI bus bandwith
Full PCI busmastering capable

For mobile applications we offer systems for 12 V DC power supply as well with integrated rechargeable battery.

Typical applications are measuring and automation as well audio tasks for which mobility and compactness are of primary importance when operating PCI boards."

http://www.ibpmt.com/bus_expansion_e/PC ... rview.shtm

don´t know if it works with UAD-1 ...

robert

 

[Steve Oxford]

Cool! Thanks Bob.. Though I already scored a 7 slot Magma your find will be here for future searchers!! Thanks again, man!

SO