PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Hi fellow scopers,


I finally bit the bullet and bought the Express card for Xite and anxiously waiting...

I must admit, I've never installed Windows, ever!
atOm gladly installed my Xite machine, and it has been running without a hickup ever since (only Scope, Ableton and some legit plugs, never on the net...). I'm gonna try this first on my 2008 MBP, and will eventually switch to a MacMini Server later this year.

If time permits, I'm going to partition and install bootcamp one of these days.

So, for basic Scope and Ableton usage (I don't use the extensive sample libraries, which are on the other partition anyway), what would be a good size?
Any special OS requirements? tips? tricks? pitfalls?


Thanks!

Theres a few basic tips here under the Mac Bootcamp tab, or you could email Jeroen info@musadition.com

http://www.hitfoundry.com/issue_12/mus_mast.htm

Others here use it, hopefully they will post.

And when u got it done, post the steps and hints back here & Ill add em to ScopeRise as well.

Ok, so here are some random thoughts:

- It depends on your Mac what Windows version can be installed. See this link for details:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5634

- You have read-only access to the Bootcamp partition from within OS X and vice versa.
So, if your samples are on the OS X partition you should be able to access them from within Windows right out of the box. But you can't change them there.
Having said that, there are third-party tools that enable also write access.
Instead of buying and installing such tools, I have a FAT-formatted SD card in my Mac Mini that serves as a two-way file exchange disk. A NAS would be another solution.

- Since there are some things that don't work properly in Scope for Win 64-bit, yet, I'd suggest to install Win 32-bit (that is, if you can't live without the things that don't work).
Keep this in mind when you buy a Mac Mini (or any other Mac), since the newer ones only allow to install the 64-bit versions of Windows (see the fore-mentioned link).

- Buy a Windows license that is valid for both 32-bit and 64-bit. I bought a license key for Win7 Professional at ebay and downloaded an ISO image for the installation.

- Check your needs before buying the Mac Mini. Do you need USB3? Do you want to attach a second display? Current Mac Mini models only have one Thunderbolt port that is needed for the Xite-1. I don't know if it's possible to connect the Xite-1 and a second display to the same Thunderbolt port. Well, I think it is possible somehow with an external Thunderbolt dock, but I don't know if it's a good idea. Maybe someone else can shed some light on this.
Let's see, if the new models will come with two Thunderbolt ports...
You can also get an external graphic card for USB3 to connect a second display. Don't know if this also works with USB2.

- To connect the Xite-1 via Thunderbolt to the Mac, you'll need the Sonnet Thunderbolt ExpressCard Adapter.

- Before installing Windows, disconnect all external drives. IIRC I had an external drive connected when I installed it and thus the reboot failed. Windows likes to be rebooted as you may know...

- Select the correct language at installation time. This is not only the language used for the Windows installation but also the language for the Windows GUI later on. I did the mistake to think it's just the installation language so I ended up with a german version, although I prefer an english GUI. AFAIK, in Windows 7 Ultimate you can easily switch languages on the fly, though. It's a little bit more complicated in the Professional version.

- After windows installation (and activation), turn off the internet connection if you don't want it to be online. (I've also assigned a static IP that I block in my internet router.)

- You can set up the Bootcamp partition as default start volume in the OS X system settings.
To boot into OS X, press ALT immediately after turning on the computer and select the OS X partition.

thanks for the replies, gents! much appreciated.

Mailing Jeroen might be a good option linguistically, thanks Dante!

Sunmachine, thanks a lot for the detailed information! I just checked the apple shop again, and apparantely they have oven fresh models! last week, they still had the server model, that has now dissappeared. And yes, they have two thunderbolt ports, four USB3 ports, HDMI,... looks great.

The Express card from Sonic Core just arrived and am eager to try, but no luck so far. The Bootcamp Assistant reports the correct Windows support softwareisn't available. I just downloaded ver. 4 manually, but first get some sleep and a Windows 7 version. Are the versions on ebay legit (the key and download ones)? It's only 1/4 the price you pay normally... Must look further into this.

Anyway, I plan to only use Scope, Ableton Live, and a small selection of native plugins (Alchemy, D16 classic boxes, Eventide Ultrareverb, Valhalla... All which have 64 bit support).

Not a lot of time these days, though.
cheers

Please keep us updated on your adventure into Scope-apple dualboot land.

I'd love to move on from my "manly" selfbuild windows computer, which works flawlessly, but attracts unwanted attention from my female counterparts

sunmachine wrote:Ok, so here are some random thoughts:

Awesome. Bout time we had a comprehensive XITE on Mac guide:

http://www.hitfoundry.com/issue_26/bootcamp.htm

Any more content let me know.

Some pic of your Mac running XITE would be nice Borg - or anyone else w/ similar setup.

dante wrote:Some pic of your Mac running XITE would be nice Borg - or anyone else w/ similar setup.

This is my Mac Mini in a 1U Sonnet Rackmac Mini with the Sonnet Thunderbolt ExpressCard Adapter housing the Sonic Core ExpressCard:

And this is the rack: I use the two USB ports at the front of the Rackmac Mini to connect the keyboard/mouse to the Mac (and a USB stick or an iLok for example). There are even more USB ports in the rack panel above the Xite. Some of these are connected to the Mac Mini and the other ones to a USB hub that is attached to the iConnectMIDI 4+ (for MIDI controllers). There are also some Ethernet ports in the panel. Both, the USB and Ethernet ports are actually just Neutrik feed-through connectors:

Awesome - Ill put some of those pics in.

That rack USB unit - I need one of those !

dante wrote:That rack USB unit - I need one of those !

Yes, these are great! Search for rack panels for the Neutrik D-Series Connectors.

Wow sunmachine, that's a beautiful setup...

Borg, I'm currently running Xite on Windows 7 64 on a Mac Pro, and it works very well. I think Sunmachine already mentioned most things... There is no BIOS to tweak, and there's the problem of compatibility between hard drive formats ( I use a 3rd party utility to allow for read / write access between OSX and Windows), but everything should work easily.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

Taking shape now sunmachine..... http://www.hitfoundry.com/issue_26/mac_mast.htm

Thanks for putting this up, dante!

Apple has already updated the compatibility table and added the new Mac Mini model that came out last week.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5634 (same link as above)
BCA refers to Boot Camp Assistant and 5 and 4 are the Boot Camp versions to be used.

Interestingly the Late 2012 models now also support Windows 7, 32-bit.... hmmm, I wonder if they changed this with an update or if the old table was just wrong? Or is the new table wrong? I guess, I'll have to try to install all again with Win 7 32-bit then...

Apparently the RAM modules are soldered on the motherboard in the new Mac mini, so that you can't put more RAM into it later.
Also it looks like that there's only one hard drive bay, when there were two in the previous models.

https://mobile.twitter.com/brianstucki/ ... 6686963712

Keep that in mind if you're into buying one! That is, buy a model with "enough" RAM and disk space.
Getting a second hand Late 2012 model might be the better choice. But then again, check how to connect a second display if needed.

ok! up and running!

Let me begin by saying that it is just a breeze... if you got everything sorted out, that is.
So, the most important thing, as always, is to be properly prepared:

read the apple pages concerned on what model/OS you will be using (see some posts above), and what you need.
make sure you have all your install disks/files, keys,... you are gonna need. (my scope PC is on another location, and forgot about my scope keys... Thanx Gary! ).

For the rest, just follow the bootcamp instructions, and .

I must say, I never had such a snappy Scope Computer. OS and programs start up really fast, it looks great, and performs really well so far!
For the moment, I just have Scope and Ableton Live as main apps, RME Totalmix (just to route analogue in/outs of the Fireface to ADAT > Xite), but I don't need more... Just need to find out a comfortable file sharing system with OSX.
Haven't bothered with a Masterverb test, or optimizing, so far.
I'll look into stuff that can be deleted/changed as I go along.

Really glad I can play with Prodissey, RMX160 and wavelength stuff again at home!


Again, thanks to all who chimed in!


Late 2008 MacBook Pro, Xite-1D, RME Fireface 800 (as ADAT convertor/preamps), Ableton Live.
pics later...

There's currently a deal going on for a bundle of tools over here:
http://deals.macupdate.com/deal/16581/p ... ini-bundle

These applications are included in the bundle for $29.95 (instead of $79.80):
NTFS for Mac 12 - Paragon NTFS for Mac allows you to create, delete, and modify files in NTFS-formatted drives in just minutes. The first solution to support OS X 10.10 Yosemite!


HFS+ for Windows - This utility addresses a similar problem that PCs have, enabling Windows to completely access HFS-formatted Mac volumes.


Camptune X - Resize your Boot Camp partition in minutes without the complex steps required by OS X.


ExtFS for Mac - Bridges file system incompatibility between Linux and Mac by providing full read and write access to Ext2/3/4 volumes.