Z-Link Question

explody pup · Post by **explody pup** » Mon Dec 30, 2002 4:26 pm

Someone pointed out a pretty cool product to me earlier this week... http://www.magma.com makes PCI to CardBus expansions so I can use PCI cards with my PowerBook (YAY!). In the next couple of months I plan on saving my pennies to get a Scope/SP system with an SRB (overkill!) to put in one of these. I also plan on getting rid of my MOTU 828 and getting an A16 Ultra so I can record 16 channels of 24/96 through Z-Link. My question is, will this work? The PCI expander I want only has 2 PCI slots (plus a third for an SCSI something-or-other, I plan on using the bracket for a firewire drive I'm going to install), and from what I understand from the Creamware site, the Z-Link interface is located on a daughterboard instead of the Scope card itself... is this correct? If so, then I'll have to figure something else out. If not, then I'll be in DSP heaven in a few months. Is anyone here running a system like this?

Thanks!

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Mon Dec 30, 2002 6:04 pm

I use a magma CB2-S (the same model you describe) with 2 Pulsar1's with a Dell laptop.. it works very nicely. The thing with the 3rd slot is that the bracket is slightly tapered off at the base, for space reasons. Hence, the bracket for any card must be modified slightly in order to fit. I am not sure exactly how the Scope daughterboard system works, as the website seems a bit skimpy on specific details like this.

Your best bet is probably to email creamware for info on exactly how the daughterboard is implemented, or perhaps someone here knows? Maybe you could consider a Luna card with built-in z-link instead of a Pulsar2/SRB in the 2nd slot?

In any case, I'd highly recommend the Magma chassis, it's a solid piece of kit.

peace

borg · Post by **borg** » Mon Dec 30, 2002 7:12 pm

take note: the scope board is quite big, make sure it fits in the magma chassis.

dArKr3zIn, where did you get your magma, and how much did you pay for it, if i may ask...
i'm still not sure whether to get a magma, a rme, or m-audio quattro.

jupiter8 · Post by **jupiter8** » Tue Dec 31, 2002 5:43 am

You could of course connect the A16 Ultra via the ADAT connectors.
You don't have to use Z-Link.

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Tue Dec 31, 2002 9:08 am

Hi b0rg,

The magma CB2-S is rather large too, it should take any PCI card. But of course, it would be a good idea to check.

I got my magma 2nd hand (actually an ex-demo unit from a pro-audio firm, which used it to demo pro tools TDM systems), for £400 here in the UK... it was one of those "impossible to refuse" opportunities, I had actually already bought myself an RME Multiface (which I also highly recommend, although it's obviously nowhere near as fun as Pulsar). I have also just replaced the SCSI card with the IDE/UDMA card which magma sells on their website (most IDE cards will not work over a PCI bridge link which the magma uses) and have 2x 20gb (for now) drives in it. It's just about the most astounding thing I ever bought (apart from Pulsar), truly a dream machine for portable use. It works as well as my CUSL2 did (although no mad reverb test done yet... I don't have the patience for such things anymore), haven't seen a PCI overload for months and months (think I only saw it happen once, while changing voices on a synth while a song was playing, with a couple of reverbs loaded).

peace

explody pup · Post by **explody pup** » Tue Jan 07, 2003 7:16 pm

kinda off topic from my initial post, but does anyone here have any specs on the CardBus (X MB/s)??? i've been searching and can't find the information i'm looking for. reason i ask is, IF i do end up getting those two cards (Scope and SRB), will i even be able to use them to their full potential with the data going through a single CardBus? i smell a potential bottleneck.

and thanks for the replies! i'm glad to see someone else has a system like this running smoothly.

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Wed Jan 08, 2003 12:04 pm

Well, PCI is 133MB/s, and I think Pulsar tries to make use of that bandwidth as much as possible, so I think CardBus must be at least that fast if they want to claim full PCI compatibility. FireWire is only 50MB/s (400Mb/s), which I don't think would be fast enough to handle the PCI bus, so CardBus must be faster than FireWire.

Shayne