Time to upgrade my Mac

[TheOaks]

Hello all, just wanted to get some thoughts and opinions on ways to go on this.

It has come to that time where I need to start thinking about a new Mac to pair with my DM4800 in the studio. I have a 2012 cheese grater Mac Pro running High Sierra and all is fine but on other projects and external things I have noticed the M1 Macs are doing really well in terms of running audio software/plugins etc. nowadays making the 2012 machine feel a bit long in the tooth in terms of loading/saving etc.

I really don't want to have to replace the DM4800 (best/most flexible studio desk I have ever had in my studio IMO) or I don't want to just have to use it as a control surface with a different interface unless I really have to go that way.

Been looking into Dante Virtual Sound Card and Via and wonder if there is a networking solution there where i feed the DM4800 over firewire to the 2012 Mac Pro and setup a Virtual connection to a newer mac? - to be honest, I have not been recording/mixing professionally for the last 10 years or so and I can't seem to find out straight info about how Dante works between computers in terms of clocking etc.

I'm not really multi tracking, just overdubs and virtual instruments etc. when it comes to the recording side of things. Mixing/Mastering etc. could be done just using the control surface if I had to.

I suppose I need to consider the output side of I/O too. I have a couple of monitor sets connected to the separate outputs on the DM4800 and use all the insert points to my patch bays and rack gear pre's/eq's/re-amping etc. too so want to keep the flexibility there.

Happy to discuss any ideas anyone has, there are loads of ports on the back of the desk, maybe I am missing a simpler option??

Thanks to anyone who replies,

Cheers, Dan

 

[-mjk-]

Via is meant to be a bridge between USB and other computer interfaces to the Dante Audio Network and it will work in your proposed application. Its limited to 16 channels however, and the latency is pretty bad. You couldn't use it for a live mic, for example. Latency-dependent recording is an issue with Via, but if you wanted to pipe sound in the garage with Ethernet, Via works great.

DVS also has its own latency issues but for mixing that doesn't really matter. The base latency is 5ms with up to 64x64 channels. DAW setup affects Dante latency also. Please note that you cannot run DVS and Via on the same machine at the same time.

Its really too bad that there isn't a native Dante solution with the DM series. There are other solutions but perhaps a DM would be more appropriate place to discuss them.

 

[mixerizer]

i’ve been doing a lot w the DM4800 in a more modern networked audio context - in my case, AVB using MOTU.

And to be honest, ive been having exceptional success. System works at 48 or 96k (w only 2 fewer input channel pairs in 96k since i use four AES-EBU cards). These days its fully stable (after lots of tedious clock sync testing and home-made cable creation), for the moment anyway. I have an era-appropriate Mac mini to run the TM Companion, Rockum’s DMotecontrol 4800 and Logic software for the board.

the mixer has a MOTU interface (112D) as the primary aggregator and it networks w a bunch of newer Macs that are hosts for the various MOTU interfaces in the studio (synths, effects, mastering, drums, guitar). the racks for these functions/seats all have their own station w a networked MOTU unit in each rack, which aggregate and route via AVB all the monitoring/headphone amps, processors, devices, sound modules and instruments that serve the board’s inputs and outputs. primary recording is to an x48, w the board’s Logic mac serving in parallel over Thunderbolt, not FW, as DAW when its needed.

whether u use Dante, AVB, etc., its a certainty that based on what cards u have installed in the DM, u can find the right i/o to match (AES, ADAT, TDIF, etc.). I removed the FW card from slot 1 in favor of 8 more channels of hardware i/o, and rather than FW, i use the direct outs and channel ins for tracking to logic and/or the x-48 recorder. MTR playback invert routing can be done on the DM using source invert or elsewhere - DAW based routing or hardware matrix routing a la the RME ADI-648.

Most of all, have fun exploring the options - if u wanna keep your DM4800 and analog patching setup, you can keep it!

 

[Arjan P]

My simple observation is that a lot of twisting and turning is being done to keep working on Apple products with the DM-mixers. None of that is needed when using a Windows with firewire solution - also with current hardware.

 

[mixerizer]

indeed. windows has been way more consistent - however I am absolutely glad i ditched firewire and stuck w mac rather than the reverse. I use windows for a number of things but prefer to make music using Macs, as I have for nearly forty years

its not necessary for Mac DM users to switch OS just to keep our boards, we just have to keep an older Mac, move past firewire, or conjure some open source community driver solution somehow