Magma chassis
Magma chassis
whats the pros and cons of Magma chassis?
Re: Magma chassis
I've not used one, so take this with a grain of salt. They do look well built, and Sweetwater sells them, so I'm guessing they will work ok. But they are really expensive, in the $2000 range, give or take. So it would seem to me that you would be better off buying an Xite-1 and selling your PCI cards.
Re: Magma chassis
agreed.
the magmas work well, but the pci bandwidth is nowhere near as good using the magma as when the cards are actually in the pci slots.
the magmas work well, but the pci bandwidth is nowhere near as good using the magma as when the cards are actually in the pci slots.
Re: Magma chassis
Firubbi,
I have two of them, 2 slot + 4 slot, and I've also used a 1/2 length 1 slot. All have the 68-pin interconnect, which is what you'll want
Not sure what you know so far, but here goes...
Pros: Stable, very much so ime. Makes it possible to use 3 PCI Scope cards with one PCI host slot, or with a CardBus-enabled laptop. Also possible to use the PCI cards in PCI-E system. Can easily switch your Scope farm from system to system. Can connect/disconnect Scope farm without powering down host. Good for synths - that's how I use mine anyhow.
Cons: If using the CardBus adapter, they are sensitive to the type of CardBus chip - TI is the best. PCI bandwidth is limited as pointed out above. More crap to go wrong. Usually takes up more physical space than putting them in a full-blown host computer - but you can then go with a small build, 1U rackmount system etc.
Used pricing: I picked up a 2-slot chassis/cable/CardBus adapter for $250. PCI-E adapters have been hard to find used; new are approx. $300. I've seen the CardBus adapters go for $50 to $100 used. 68-pin silver ended interconnect cable $50 typically ($100 new). I wouldn't pay more than $150 for a single slot solution - that's with cable & adapter. PCI host adapter $50 used.
Random notes: If you are hooking it up to a PCI-E host adapter, the Magma box should have a Pericom chipset. I don't have the part numbers handy, but both my Magmas have the Pericom chips - PM me for details. PCI-E adapters include host-based (x1) card, EC34 & EC54 for laptops. The usual PCI IRQ issues still apply & they significantly limit my personal setup's bandwidth... Silver-colored metal ended cables are better quality, and a bit easier to attach/detach. There are at least two models of CardBus adapters, one with a volcano logo (earlier/first version), the other has a black label. Both have performed identically here. No driver problems here either. This is a mature product imo.
I have used both of my units with a CardBus card, and plan on trying a cheap PCI-E-to-CardBus converter, when I upgrade to a newer system. Current system is a ThinkPad with TI chipset.
PM me with any questions!
-cap
I have two of them, 2 slot + 4 slot, and I've also used a 1/2 length 1 slot. All have the 68-pin interconnect, which is what you'll want
Not sure what you know so far, but here goes...Pros: Stable, very much so ime. Makes it possible to use 3 PCI Scope cards with one PCI host slot, or with a CardBus-enabled laptop. Also possible to use the PCI cards in PCI-E system. Can easily switch your Scope farm from system to system. Can connect/disconnect Scope farm without powering down host. Good for synths - that's how I use mine anyhow.
Cons: If using the CardBus adapter, they are sensitive to the type of CardBus chip - TI is the best. PCI bandwidth is limited as pointed out above. More crap to go wrong. Usually takes up more physical space than putting them in a full-blown host computer - but you can then go with a small build, 1U rackmount system etc.
Used pricing: I picked up a 2-slot chassis/cable/CardBus adapter for $250. PCI-E adapters have been hard to find used; new are approx. $300. I've seen the CardBus adapters go for $50 to $100 used. 68-pin silver ended interconnect cable $50 typically ($100 new). I wouldn't pay more than $150 for a single slot solution - that's with cable & adapter. PCI host adapter $50 used.
Random notes: If you are hooking it up to a PCI-E host adapter, the Magma box should have a Pericom chipset. I don't have the part numbers handy, but both my Magmas have the Pericom chips - PM me for details. PCI-E adapters include host-based (x1) card, EC34 & EC54 for laptops. The usual PCI IRQ issues still apply & they significantly limit my personal setup's bandwidth... Silver-colored metal ended cables are better quality, and a bit easier to attach/detach. There are at least two models of CardBus adapters, one with a volcano logo (earlier/first version), the other has a black label. Both have performed identically here. No driver problems here either. This is a mature product imo.
I have used both of my units with a CardBus card, and plan on trying a cheap PCI-E-to-CardBus converter, when I upgrade to a newer system. Current system is a ThinkPad with TI chipset.
PM me with any questions!
-cap
Re: Magma chassis
Hey Firubbi,
[edit: I just see cap has posted above, great to see Magma has PCI-e adapter cards for their boxes nowadays too, those theoretically (I never used one) increase the bandwidth big time:]
I had one for some time (a 2slot, 1HD model borrowed from borg), the box was a relatively OK host for 10DSP, Pulsar2+Pulsar1. IO and synths worked well, but reverbs IIRC were causing PCI errors. I was lucky my laptop had a Texas Instruments PCMCIA controller - other controllers were known to be more problematic even without reverbs. Do not expect the PCI performance and stability from real PCI slots, do not expect to run any of the newer reverbs, do not expect to run <13ms latency.
If you can borrow a Magma, or at least try it out before you buy, you'll have a good idea how it works with your laptop. If not, make sure you find someone with your exact laptop (or at least motherboard and PCMCIA controller) that has a working setup before throwing your money at it. So post your laptop's specs, search this forum for Magma setups, etc.!
Also, I think 2000$ is way overrated, you can find them much cheaper nowadays (secondhand of course), like around 400eu.
That said, if I were to build a mobile setup, I'd look for the smallest case and motherboard that can hold the cards, stick an LCD monitor to it and drag along keyboard, mouse, and MIDI controller(s). Cos, honestly, when producing on location, there's already quite some things to transport, and a laptop + magma isn't all that lighter than the setup I proposed nicely built-in to a custom/DIY transport case... Major benefit would be avoiding to compromise on (PCI) stability for that route.
Another option I read above is Xite. But I toyed with an Xite some time ago, and tbh. I wasn't convinced. I'd much rather stick to my trusted PCI cards than having to reload real big projects every 10 minutes. But admittedly, maybe the owner's motherboard wasn't well selected, and I read reports from pulsarians here that are very happy with it. But this poster isn't gonna bet 2000eu on that any time soon.
at0m.
[edit: I just see cap has posted above, great to see Magma has PCI-e adapter cards for their boxes nowadays too, those theoretically (I never used one) increase the bandwidth big time:]
I had one for some time (a 2slot, 1HD model borrowed from borg), the box was a relatively OK host for 10DSP, Pulsar2+Pulsar1. IO and synths worked well, but reverbs IIRC were causing PCI errors. I was lucky my laptop had a Texas Instruments PCMCIA controller - other controllers were known to be more problematic even without reverbs. Do not expect the PCI performance and stability from real PCI slots, do not expect to run any of the newer reverbs, do not expect to run <13ms latency.
If you can borrow a Magma, or at least try it out before you buy, you'll have a good idea how it works with your laptop. If not, make sure you find someone with your exact laptop (or at least motherboard and PCMCIA controller) that has a working setup before throwing your money at it. So post your laptop's specs, search this forum for Magma setups, etc.!
Also, I think 2000$ is way overrated, you can find them much cheaper nowadays (secondhand of course), like around 400eu.
That said, if I were to build a mobile setup, I'd look for the smallest case and motherboard that can hold the cards, stick an LCD monitor to it and drag along keyboard, mouse, and MIDI controller(s). Cos, honestly, when producing on location, there's already quite some things to transport, and a laptop + magma isn't all that lighter than the setup I proposed nicely built-in to a custom/DIY transport case... Major benefit would be avoiding to compromise on (PCI) stability for that route.
Another option I read above is Xite. But I toyed with an Xite some time ago, and tbh. I wasn't convinced. I'd much rather stick to my trusted PCI cards than having to reload real big projects every 10 minutes. But admittedly, maybe the owner's motherboard wasn't well selected, and I read reports from pulsarians here that are very happy with it. But this poster isn't gonna bet 2000eu on that any time soon.
at0m.
more has been done with less
https://soundcloud.com/at0m-studio
https://soundcloud.com/at0m-studio
Re: Magma chassis
13ms latency is quite big but the idea is awesome... you can hook different types of cards from different companies. btw who use magma besides pc/mac musicians? hope Magma come up with new features and less latency.
thanks all for the info
thanks all for the info