Hi there, I’ve been interested in Ardour for a while but have been so used to (entrenched in) PT that I’ve never really had much of an opportunity to explore it.
My system consists of:
MacPro 2x Dual Core 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM etc. (still running Tiger I’m afraid)
Digi003R with PT LE7.3
+lots of outboard and other software etc.
I’ve recently obtained a MOTU PCIe-424 core audio system with MOTU 24 I/O interface and Mackie 24ch 8-bus desk very cheaply, too good to turn down.
Obviously I can’t use these with PT (very irritating) but would like to make the most of the DSP provided by the MOTU PCI card so am looking at software that’s as good as 'tools (or better if Ardour lives up to it’s rep…) that will run with the MOTU rig. I don’t like Logic, I find it illogical and have used Cubase/Nuendo etc. etc. in the past and nothing has really worked for me as well as PT.
I’ve read that Ardour has problems with MOTU hardware but from what I understand this is only on Linux systems, is that right?
I’m pretty sure I’ve read that Ardour on Mac OSX will work with any Mac compatible hardware (which would surely include MOTU) but I just wanted to check this is the case before installing the PCI card and Ardour.
Can anyone confirm this for me?
Also, I assume Ardour would run with my Digidesign hardware too?
I've read that Ardour has problems with MOTU hardware but from what I understand this is only on Linux systems, is that right?
Correct. To be more correct, it isn’t Ardour that has issues with it, it is Linux that has issues with it;)
I'm pretty sure I've read that Ardour on Mac OSX will work with any Mac compatible hardware (which would surely include MOTU) but I just wanted to check this is the case before installing the PCI card and Ardour.
So long as the hardware provides CoreAudio drivers(ALMOST everything that runs on Mac does) then yes you are correct.
Also, I assume Ardour would run with my Digidesign hardware too?
Remember how I said ALMOST above? Yea Digi doesn’t like to play well with others. Getting their hardware working is not something I would count on, we have had many people have issues with it, that don’t have issues with any other audio hardware on Mac.
I’m surprised the Digi hardware wouldn’t work though, of course PT won’t run on anything else but in the past I’ve been able to get pretty much any software to work through the 003R.
I just had another thought that you might be able to help with: if I install the MOTU PCIe card in to my MacPro, is this likely to affect the useability of my PT rig?
My PT interface is firewire so in theory it should work as normal but it uses the Digi Core Audio driver so I’m a bit concerned that the presence of the MOTU system might mess with the Digi system despite my not attempting to use them together, any thoughts?
All this would be so much simpler if everyone would just play together
