G5 iMac, FW400, solutions for audio...

martianmartian
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Hello there,

Thinking about getting one of these new iMac G5s, mainly for audio work, the only problem is there is no firewire 800 port, what a bloody stupid idea that was! Does anyone know of any solution to this? Is it possible to get one put in when ordering it, or maybe a pci slot so you can use a converter instead? Will apple eventually put FW800 in these iMacs in the next release? And does anyone know when that will be?

Any advice is much appreciated.



Dan Hutchings

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    inertiablueinertiablue Posts: 4member
    Dan,



    I think you'll find most, if not all FireWire audio devices currently sold by the major audio manufacturers are FW400, not 800.



    I would personally recommend the Metric Halo DSP FireWire interface, or the Motu 896-HD. The Motu 828-MkII is also a great interface.



    I too am considering moving from my 17" PowerBook to a 20" iMac G5, and am looking seriously at the Metric Halo.





    Adam
  • Reply 2 of 5
    martianmartian Posts: 4member
    Hi Adam,

    Funny you should mention Metric Halo, as that is what i am planning to buy eventually, their Mobile IO 2882. Is that only FW400 then? I was under the impression that you can plug any firewire device into any firewire port, regardless of speed. Will i be able to record 8 tracks of audio at once, at high resolution and sample rate through a FW400 connection? That's basically my main concern.



    Cheers for help,



    Dan
  • Reply 3 of 5
    inertiablueinertiablue Posts: 4member
    Dan,



    The Metric Halo will definitely be able to do everything you want, and more.



    I think FW-800 is backwards compatible with FW-400, the the connector is different on the computer. All the FireWire interfaces support FW-400, so don't let the iMac specs concern you too much. The only really annoying thing for audio (which is putting me off), is that you can't connect a seperate monitor in "dual-head" mode... it only replicates what's on the main screen.





    Adam
  • Reply 4 of 5
    martianmartian Posts: 4member
    Hey, thanks Adam.

    I think you might want to look at this:

    http://rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/foru...opic.php?t=296



    You can get a patch for the G5 iMac that allows you to do screen spanning. Go buy! Thanks for your help.



    Dan Hutchings
  • Reply 5 of 5
    benroethigbenroethig Posts: 2,782member
    All the current audio interfaces are firewire 400 save one from a little-known French company. As for the firewire 800 port, nobody ever accused Apple of thinking practically when it comes to hardware.
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