I am new here, so forgive me if this has already been answered somewhere, and I'm too dumb or lazy to have found it..
I have been using my Scope Pulsar II in a PC with Cubase and am about to switch to the latest Mac Pro and Logic - I have heard that the card won't work with the latest Mac OS.
Has anyone tried it? Any problems? Any possibility of me not having to sell the A16 Ultra and the Pulsar and being forced to by a new sound card?
to answer your question:
Scope cards are 'classic' PCI, new macs (Intel or not) do offer only PCI-e.
You'd need a hammer to get them in those slots...
OSX isn't supported at all, so you have to stick with OS9, or you have to setup a two mac system with Midi and ADAT connections between the two.
Like I did, Cubase runs on OSX, Scope on OS9.
Works perfect (via a RME Midi-adat interface), but it wasn't my first choice...
Don't count on new PCI-e Scope cards and OSX support before 2009, or later
(better try to use the tech or problem forum for this one ).
Look at it.
External gear is popular again.
I use the Virus and the Elektron machines.
My OS9 mac is just another external box.
Like hardware it never crashes (only Scope is running), the adat connection is totally parallel to the ADDA connections for the mentioned other devices, Scope doesn't matter, etc.
The only disadvantage is you need a KVM switch (keybourd mice and monitor).
I won't leave the platform for the sake of VSTi
Good points! Thanks heaps for the help. I will discuss it with my computer dude when he comes back to work on Monday. It sounds like it could well be a great solution!
I really don't want to get rid of it - it cost me so much money!! I could probably pick up a very cheap old mac to do the job and problem solved!
One of my friends has a 3 computer setup : 2 macs (laptop+G5) + a PC with scope stuff. Second hand computers are very cheap nowadays and it is true that it is sometimes a better idea to use several computers. As I have almost all the scope plugins I would not be ready to drop this platform too, like you. If I need more power I will buy a second computer (a PC as I have chosen Samplitude 10 ). Should Soniccore launch new hardware (late 2008) and my PC is ready to welcome it too
Thanks for the post. It sounds like a plan - I've found some really cheap PowerMacs on ebay that look promising.
I'm more a musician than a computer guy, so this is probably a really dumb question - how do you route all the audio channels into the main computer running your recording software, from the one running scope?
Cyrius if you already have a working Scope pc there's no reason to move all the cards into an older Mac, just keep the existing PC alongside the new Mac/Logic setup. Midi, ADAT, spdif/aesebu and analog audio connections don't need an OS9 box to communicate with the new Mac, although the new Mac will of course require a dedicated audio interface as well.
Invest in a copy of Bidule or another decent VST host and use the Scope PC for both Scope and hosting orchestral plugins or a massive software sampler set etc.
or use reaper along with you pulsar card.. This way you can use both of the cpu's power and dsp's as well! ( well ok there might be some problems going between mac and pc.. dont know.)
I have Cubase 4, and I do have it working now, but have downloaded the awesome 50 USD Reaper, and have used Bidule, and another VSTi host called Forte for the last year.
My idea of a fast and CPU friendly live host is Bidule, and this little reaper works really well, and uses very little CPU cycles. Why can this new unknown guy make something so cool, while Cubase continues to fuck everything up it releases? Who cares anymore. Reapor for recording, and Bidule for live. Both love Scope, and so do I.
BTW 19thbear, the AES / EBU operation was flawless. Thanks again for a great transaction.
Cyrius, this is a bump for the scope stand-alone idea. Since I built a machine for scope only, my productivity has increased many times. It cost me no more than €200 to build one, it's perfectly spec'd for Scope, and my "old" DAW has found a new life doing everything but scope.
I had trouble with MIDI stability on the cope DAW, but it went away after I installed Reaper and made it use Scope ASIO drivers. In fact, using Reaper I was even able to sync my main DAW with Live to VDAT, thus enabling me to multitrack on the Scope DAW and free up even more resources on the main PC.
The only problem for me is the added noise of a 2nd machine in the mixing room, but since work has been going so well, it's not too big of a problem, as I now have more time to cross-reference mixes in other rooms and systems. Besides, maybe with macs you won't have such a bother.
Scope is very powerful, and has great quality but it's a bit behind the times when it relates to state of the art computers and software. It's my opinion that, for something more than playing a couple of synths, or mixing more than say 8 tracks of audio, it is best to treat Scope as a standalone system to which and from which audio can be routed and processed. Give it the best machine it was meant to work with (check out the Tech talk for ideas on waht that might be), and then, for audio tracking and VSTs you can have anything you like - be it a laptop, desktop, standalone recorder, or the actual musicians.
Reaper is coming on very nicely. v2.020 has ASIO Positioning Protocol and MTC slave capability. ReaInsert allows Scope FX to be returned to Reaper. Routing is very cool for Scope. Rock stable, it would appear.
