Anyone using a Powerbook w/a magma chassis & uad-1 card?

Rahlo · Post by **Rahlo** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:32 am

Magma has a 2 space expansion chassis that works via the pcmcia slot. You can add 2 pci cards and 2 hard drives to a powerbook setup. Since live is still not optimized for dual processors, I've been giving some thought to selling my g5 and picking up this magma chassis option. I could then have all of my samples with me everywhere I go, AND an extra drive to record live shows to, AND the dope fx that come with the uad-1 card.

Before hooking all this up though, I'd like to know what I can expect performance wise. I know there are issues with the uad-1 and tiger right now, but a fix is imminent i think. In my mind, the new freeze function would make it possible for me to just use the powerbook from now on. That would be dope beyond belief. I think.

Any advice/insight/warnings?

majestic · Post by **majestic** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 9:55 am

Hmmm, interesting, hadn't heard of that Magma chassis before. I need more power but I really don't want to go to a desktop unless it's absolutely necessary. The issues with UAD are not so much with Tiger I don't think; rather, the UAD doesn't work with PCI-X slots a la the newer G5 desktops (old G5s are fine though).

Hey rahlo, remember the Powercore's also back on the radar now that v5 lets you select the plugin buffer size (i.e. it no longer eats all the CPU just to run it). The PoCo Compact still requires a power adapter but it's very portable...

Mbazzy · Post by **Mbazzy** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:27 am

Don't forget basic Magma is in the 1500$ range if i remember well ...

Rahlo · Post by **Rahlo** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 2:33 pm

majestic wrote:Hmmm, interesting, hadn't heard of that Magma chassis before. I need more power but I really don't want to go to a desktop unless it's absolutely necessary. The issues with UAD are not so much with Tiger I don't think; rather, the UAD doesn't work with PCI-X slots a la the newer G5 desktops (old G5s are fine though).

Hey rahlo, remember the Powercore's also back on the radar now that v5 lets you select the plugin buffer size (i.e. it no longer eats all the CPU just to run it). The PoCo Compact still requires a power adapter but it's very portable...

The uad works with pci-x slots, but just not as well. In other words, you don't get as many instances of plugs. Instead of 20 LA2A plugs, you may only get 13 or so. Universal Audio is giving away the LA2A for free to anyone who buys the project pak before the end of June, so I've been looking into it a little.

Have you heard the Powercore? I wonder how it sounds compared to the UAD-1? Is the performance of the Powercore decent now that it doesn't kill the cpu so bad? How many instances of plugs?

Rahlo · Post by **Rahlo** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 2:56 pm

Mbazzy wrote:Don't forget basic Magma is in the 1500$ range if i remember well ...

I know dude, they're crazy expensive--which is why I'd sell my g5 to cop it. But if it's what I hope it is, it may be worth it. 2 hard drives (3 total w/ the pb internal drive) and 2 pci slots would give me a sweet set up. With freeze tracks in Live 5, having the latest and most powerful machine isn't that necessary anymore.

Actually, it wasn't before either, as you could always bounce stuff down to free up cpu. It's just easier now with L5.

grantmoney · Post by **grantmoney** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:21 pm

i have a magma chassis and a 15" powerbook (1.5ghz), and i hate to tell you but they don't work together. apparently there is a pcmcia bug with the powerbook, which basically causes the powerbook to freeze when you try to use a pci audio card (i have a hammerfall). i don't know if they've since fixed it, but apple seem oblivious to the problem, rme blame apple, and mamga act like they know nothing about it. i'd check to see that it works properly first before spending the money on the magma. there's very little information anywhere (there's a bit on the rme site), so it's hard to know what the problem actually is, and if it can be fixed (the later hammerfalls have a flashable update to fix it, but mine is one of the older ones). check on the uad forums if anyone is using a similar setup, or if there are problems, if they ever got resolved.

MarkH · Post by **MarkH** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 4:25 pm

I'd like to add a couple of things.

1) The Magma Chassis with regular 32-bit PCI slots sells on ebay for dirt cheap. Sometimes less than $200 although the PCMCIA one is rare as compared to the desktop version.

2) The PCI-X issue is related to Apple's use of a buggy AMD chip on the G5 motherboard. However, any G5 that doesn't have 100mhz/133mhz PCI-X slots the "bug" doesn't exist and UAD-1 work fine.

3) Contact James at Universal Audio as he's done some testing with the AluBook, UAD-1, and Magma, and I thought he figured out some work arounds. [email protected]

borg · Post by **borg** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 5:04 pm

all i can add is that the magma's are very picky about the machines they work with.
i had one and it didn't work on my toshiba laptop, but it did on a friend's toshiba, only one year older, same pcmcia controller though.

anyway, performance wise you loose some. at least, that was the case with the creamware cards, meaning you weren't able to load as many pci intensive plugs as on a regular pci system (talking especially about reverbs, samplers, delays, asio channels). don't know about the uad's and poco's. do they have ram on the cards?

Sales Dude McBoob · Post by **Sales Dude McBoob** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 5:07 pm

I'm right on the cusp of buying the UAD-1 card for my G5.

I spoke to some of the guys at Universal because there seemed to be some confusion about how well the UAD1 worked with Ableton and how compatable they are with G5s. There were also rumors on the ABleton forum about an new UAD1 coming out that was supposed to be better for G5s.

Well, there is no new UAD1 coming out. The ones you can buy now work pretty well with G5s. The people who own them and use them with G5s all seem very happy with their purchase.

That said, Universal did tell me that Live's real-time functionality did present some limitations, namely, it is better used as a mix down tool rather than something you want to bring on stage.

But, I'm about to cough up the change and go for it. I need a mix down tool, and I like juicy juicy sound...

Rahlo · Post by **Rahlo** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 9:11 pm

Hey, thanks for the info fellas. I've written the cats over at Universal Audio to inquire--maybe I'll call too. I'll report back once I hear something.

It'd be a shame if this combo couldn't work together properly.

Rahlo · Post by **Rahlo** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 9:44 pm

Aight mang. I just heard from the cats at Universal Audio, and without directly quoting the email I got (if they give me permission, I'll post it here) a mac product specialist said not only does the UAD-1 card work great with the magma chassis and a powerbook, but it has been extensively tested and many of the guys at UA use that very combo.

Interesting.

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 11:55 pm

now if only those Magma chassis cards didnt cost so dang much hehehe
though you can find the 2 slot chassis on eBay lately for around $650 which aint bad at all.

makes me wish my 12" pb had a pcmcia card

Rahlo · Post by **Rahlo** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 3:51 am

AdamJay wrote:now if only those Magma chassis cards didnt cost so dang much hehehe
though you can find the 2 slot chassis on eBay lately for around $650 which aint bad at all.

makes me wish my 12" pb had a pcmcia card

there's an older one on there now that I think I'm about to pick up. then, it's on to the uad joint!

rsagevik · Post by **rsagevik** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 7:02 pm

There are other options than Magma.. and cheaper.
Try IBP Instruments. These guys also reply when asked questions by e-mail.
I`ve sent inquiries several times regarding my hardware setup, and always gotten quick feedback.
I`ve written to magma a couple of times as well.. never heard anything..

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 7:14 pm

are the IBP chassis compatible with OSX though?
i see their mac compatibility listed as "MacOS 9.x" seeming to mean any version of OS9

much better prices though indeed.