posted 01 May 2009 08:37            

However I'm using a Macbook Pro for my Kyma setup, and still a little confused about the firewire setup. I'm pretty sure these issues apply to any firewire interface. The thorny issue is there doesn't appear to be a way to set up the Pacarana in an optimal way with the new (unibody) Macbook Pro, because the MBP only has one firwire port (800).

If you plug the Pacarana into the MBP firewire 800 part, there are no spare ports, so you have to plug the Konnekt into the other 800 port on the Pacarana itself. The Twiki advises against this "in the current software version", and although it worked when I tried it, I've experienced bugs, e.g. the ADAT seems to sound fine, but it's saying it's locked in the DSP Status window (it defaults back to "internal" when I try to lock it to the ADAT of Logic's Konnekt), and the Pacarana seems to connect and disconnect from the host computer more times than it should when it's first powered up. Having said this, if the configuration is supported in the future it would be MUCH more convenient and ergonomic than the other options, especially for MBP users. Is this something that is likely to be possible, if so in the near future??

I am experimenting with options involving an express/34 firewire card in the MBP... The first thing I tried was connecting the Pacarana to the normal 800 port on the MBP, and using a Sonnet express card with 2 firewire 400 ports, and hooking up the Konnekt to one of these 400 ports. This did NOT work, I couldn't work out why but contacted SSC and they explained it was because they Pacarana and Konnekt need to be on the same bus, so the Kyma software loads up fine, but doesn't recognise the Konnekt.

I am currently using the same FW express card, but with both the FW 400 ports, so the Pacarana is hooked up to one (with an 800-400 cable), and the Konnekt with a standard 400 cable to the other port. This seems to work fine, sounds good and the Pacarana connects easily to host computer on startup. Also the ADAT locks normally. So I'm quite happy with the setup...

BUT, on the Twiki it says the optimal way to hook it up is with the Pacarana to an 800 port on the host computer, and the Konnekt to a 400 port. The only way I can see to do this with the MBP, is to get a FW 800 express card, either with two FW 800 ports (and the appropriate cables), or one FW 400 and one FW 800 port. However, I'm not 100% sure on this, but I believe that the express card goes down to 400 speed if two devices are connected, one being 400 and the other 800. Can anybody confirm this?? So it would be pointless for me to buy another FW 800 express card, because both ports would still run at 400, so I'm in exactly the same situation as with my current FW 400 express card...

How do other people have their systems hooked up? I guess with computers which have both 400 and 800 ports? In this situation, if the Pacarana and interface have to be ports on the same bus (in order for the interface to be recognised), doesn't the computer slow the 800 device down to 400 anyway?? Thus making the ideal setup mentioned on the Twiki impossible? I'm not sure about this... This isn't an option for me anyway, because the MBP is my Kyma machine for the forseeable future, I'm just curious as to how people are achieving the "optimal" setup.

When it comes down to it, the setup with express card and two firwire 400 ports appears to work fine at the moment, so perhaps I'm worrying too much? I'm still only learning Kyma, so there might be issues which only become apparent later on, once I start building bigger sounds or timelines? What exactly is the performance difference only using 400 ports as opposed to 800/400 anyway?? Latency/overall processing power, or what?

However, even if the performance is not an issue, I really don't like using the express card at all, because they are not very rugged in my opinion and can be knocked or pulled out easily, especially on the road. So it would be ideal for me if I can just put the Pacarana in the MBP 800 port, then hook up the konnekt straight to the Pacarana...

posted 01 May 2009 11:02            

quote:

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If you plug the Pacarana into the MBP firewire 800 part, there are no spare ports, so you have to plug the Konnekt into the other 800 port on the Pacarana itself.

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posted 01 May 2009 11:24            

The only things I noticed with this setup were (as mentioned in previous post) the samplerate didn't appear to be locking when I select "ADAT" as the source in the DSP Setup window in Kyma. When you select ADAT it thinks for a few seconds, then goes back to "internal". I found this strange, because I would normally expect "pops and clicks" from an ADAT if it wasn't locked to the source or to wordclock. However the audio appeared to be fine.

The other thing was the powering up of the Pacarana, it flicks between "host computer connected" and "host computer disconnected" several times before it starts up. It doesn't take long though, and it never actually fails or loses the connection so I guess it's fine.

Neither of these things occur with the Pacarana/Konnekt in separate FW 400 ports, but on the other hand the "bugs" don't seem to affect performance at the moment so it should be fine. I'll report back if I notice any other glitches or problems with this setup, thanks!

posted 01 May 2009 13:15            

quote:

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The other thing was the powering up of the Pacarana, it flicks between "host computer connected" and "host computer disconnected" several times before it starts up.

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This is normal. Think of it as an indication of an epic struggle between your Mac and your Pacarana for dominance over the FireWire bus. (It's normal to see this message 3 or 4 times during startup when the computer is issuing bus resets).

posted 02 May 2009 15:13            

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