Plz, need advices before buying a Pulsar II...

seb · Post by **seb** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 12:57 am

Hi,

I intend to buy a Pulsar II in January or February 2002, and I d'like to have your opinion on my actual setup, that I'd prefer not change or upgrade ;

Could these components make conflicts with a Pulsar ?

I'd like to have comments, reviews (advantages, inconveniences, performance...) of users who have similar setup...

here it is :

- Motherboard Asus CUV4X-D
- 2 x CPU PIII 1 Ghz
- 512 Mo SDRAM 133
- Ultra2 SCSI Controller DC-390U2W
- HD SCSI IBM 10000 rpm 18 Go
- HD SCSI Seagate 10000 rpm 9 Go
- Matrox G400 DH 32Mo with 2 monitors
- Pinnacle DV500+
- Windows 2000 Pro (I'd like to upgrade to Xp Pro while keeping this hardware..)

thank you for your help

Sebastien
...and forget my english

Funktastico · Post by **Funktastico** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 3:59 am

Double CPU and SCSI can cause problems.

Toni L.
http://www.mp3.com/NativeAlien

seb · Post by **seb** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 10:23 am

"bad vibes !!!!!!!"

I mean... this is not a little problem !..
cause DualCPU and SCSI is the heart of my setup (essentially for graphic apps)..

This commonly cause problems during installation but it can be solved or this is a highly avoidable setup ?

I didn't plan to change my whole computer for the next 1 or 2 years, so bad news...

I've read that IRQ parameters could be source of problems sometimes, I guess that with my cards (pinnacle, scsi, matrox..), I'm seriously exposed to conflicts with Pulsar ?...

my dream's disintegrate !!

ronaldmeij · Post by **ronaldmeij** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 10:43 am

i use a adaptec 2940 uw controller pci and a cheetah 10 rpm disc

i have no problems with scsi so.......

Even under winXP !!

algorhythm · Post by **algorhythm** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 10:48 am

i've had no probs w/scsi either, but I have heard that there are some major issues with creamware cards and dual cpu setups

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 10:57 am

Well at least with VIA chipsets

seb · Post by **seb** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 1:07 pm

mmh !

Multiprocessor solutions are more and more common, because of their descreasing price.
Graphic applications proved the reliability of multithreading, and there are also more audio wich turn that way (the whole range of steinberg products, Sonar, Logic 5.0 soon...)..

even if multithread real usage isn't planned for the next update (3.x) of Pulsar (because of it's own dsp), It would be cool that this could be at least well supported...

.. I feel better concerning SCSI, but I'm going to search topics about dual CPU - I suppose it must have been covered in previous posts..

thank you guys.

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 1:11 pm

- Motherboard Asus CUV4X-D = Via? NO GOOD
- 2 x CPU PIII 1 Ghz = Very good
- 512 Mo SDRAM 133 = Is it CAS222? Good anyway
- Ultra2 SCSI Controller DC-390U2W = Better than adaptec imho
- HD SCSI IBM 10000 rpm 18 Go = very good
- HD SCSI Seagate 10000 rpm 9 Go = very good
- Matrox G400 DH 32Mo with 2 monitors = very good
- Pinnacle DV500+ = problematic, you won't be able to use DV500 with Pulsar running... PCI bandwidth of DV500 is as much as pulsar, and on a VIA chipset? FORGET IT!
- Windows 2000 Pro (I'd like to upgrade to Xp Pro while keeping this hardware..) Very good, both of them... Prefer XP myself, but it's only my opinions...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: marcuspocus on 2001-11-16 13:12 ]</font>

seb · Post by **seb** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 1:24 pm

- Motherboard Asus CUV4X-D = Via? NO GOOD

damn ! it's quite a good board however...

So which (non-VIA) motherboard would you recommend ?

...but dual of course !

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 7:27 pm

I have the Acorp 6A815EPD. Dual pci bus, slots and ATA100 are on separate pci BUS! This is fast, no more waits!
I do get some CopyProtectionViolations Errors, when I run the machine in multiCPU mode. I get no errors when running 'Standard PC", but then I loose 1 1GHz PIII which makes Cubase look silly

This is a stabile system, running very high PCI data transfers. A pitty of the CopyProtection errors, but restarting Pulsar usually solves the problem. And once it's loaded, it stays on cool

I'm planning to get some CAS2 SDRAM, maybe some CAS3 166MHz SDRAM could run 133MHz CAS2. Might get the speed and stability up.

Currrent setup:
- Acorp 6A815EPD (intermedite with 6A815EPD1 model, mine is with RAID but no onboard A/V)
- 2 x CPU PIII 1 Ghz
- 512 Mo SDRAM 133
- HD ATA100 IBM 10000 rpm 30 Gb
- Matrox G450me DH with 2 monitors, 2*1024*768
- Windows 2000 Pro (considering to get upgrade to Xp Pro because of faster latency, maybe some Errors clearing...)

a+

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 7:43 pm

On 2001-11-16 10:48, algorhythm wrote:
i've had no probs w/scsi either, but I have heard that there are some major issues with creamware cards and dual cpu setups

Only that I get these annoying CopyProtectionViolation Errors

just restart Pulsar then for another guess. works fine 60% of project openings.

I had a VIA mobo (MSI 694D Pro, also intermetiate version, with higher CPU and FSB tolerances like Pro2) too before this one, and that one gave PCI Master OverFlow errors when RAM eating devices were loaded (ie. Reverb, Delay, Chorus). But again, it was a speed's dream when I avoided those devices. I had good VST fx too, but VIA cuts options for sure.

Need more info? I've ran dual since 3 month's or so, on both VIA694X(Apollo133A) and Intel815EP chipsets.

The VIA caused PCI overflow errors, the 815 has Copy protection errors.

The 815 chipset's problem I hope is software related, cos if it's hardware based, Creamware will get way behind on DigitalAudioWorkstations.

alf · Post by **alf** » Sun Nov 18, 2001 10:20 am

Pulsar does not work in Dual Mode(MPS).
I have the same Mobo and Pulsar only works in Standard PC Mode (one CPU).
Also the VIA-Chipset is no good choice (PCI-
Bandwith is too small)
Now i use a RME 96/52 on this Mobo and my
Pulsar on a Asus CUSL2.

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Mon Nov 19, 2001 6:53 am

On 2001-11-18 10:20, alf wrote:
Pulsar does not work in Dual Mode(MPS).
I have the same Mobo and Pulsar only works in Standard PC Mode (one CPU).
Also the VIA-Chipset is no good choice (PCI-
Bandwith is too small)
Now i use a RME 96/52 on this Mobo and my
Pulsar on a Asus CUSL2.

Indeed, that's a good by-pass: Get a Hammerfall on the dual cpu machine. Then put the Pulsar in a cheap cos old BX machine full of SDRAM (most 133MHz CAS3 can do 100MHz CAS2

) and do all via remote control, BX could be host for Pulsar only.
That will leave you w the ADAT and midi channels between both pc's. Forget about XTC mode then though...

seb · Post by **seb** » Fri Dec 07, 2001 12:32 am

I've read some posts about the pros and cons of having SCSI drive, opinions are contrasted but solutions seem to exist... another question about it :

- Do the number of DSP used increase the need of PCI bandwith ?

for example, on a good computer (mobo TUSL2-C, PIII 1Ghz...), if Pulsar II "can" work fine with SCSI HDD, do the PowerPulsar can cause more problems than Pulsar on the same computer, because of high usage of DSPs ?

Another question or rather, an estimation query about DSP usage :
depending on the track I'm making, I sometimes need a lot of polyphony (synths or even sampler in multi-mode), and avoid the audio processing during composition..

- to be concrete, can I hope be able to use in XTC mode : the modular (2 voices of a complex patch) + the STS 3000 (minimum 12 voices), and maybe 2 little effects (not the masterverb) on inserts, with a single Pulsar II ? or must I forget this ?

last question about the video card (pinnacle DV500+), conflicts can occure if Pulsar and DV500+ are both active, but if the driver of the DV500+ is set inactive or removed in a specific hardware profile of w98, problems remain possible ?

Micha · Post by **Micha** » Fri Dec 07, 2001 4:36 am

- Do the number of DSP used increase the need of PCI bandwith ?
not necessarily. depends on the device you are using. Samplers and reverbs use PCI bandwidth, so in these cases yes; synth's and others do not, so in these cases no.

- to be concrete, can I hope be able to use in XTC mode : the modular (2 voices of a complex patch) + the STS 3000 (minimum 12 voices), and maybe 2 little effects (not the masterverb) on inserts, with a single Pulsar II ?
Should do.
But: you can build a modular that uses all 6 DSP's for one voice. Ok, this thing will be VERY complex. With my Pulsar 1 (4 DSP) I have projects like this. With 32 voices in STS.
Happy pulsaring
Micha

Ben Walker · Post by **Ben Walker** » Fri Dec 07, 2001 7:45 am

On 2001-12-07 04:36, Micha wrote:
- to be concrete, can I hope be able to use in XTC mode : the modular (2 voices of a complex patch)....

I don't think itss possible to use the Mod 2 in XTC mode is it? Or the STS for that matter? Or did that last patch fix that?

Ben

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Fri Dec 07, 2001 4:12 pm

Modular cannot be used in XTC mode. Neither can mixer devices, midi routers,...

XTC has synths & samplers & fx. Sould do.

Post by **garyb** » Sat Dec 08, 2001 8:27 pm

why would you want to use modular in xtc mode when pulsar mode is zero latency? record the sounds in pulsar mode and do the mixdown with effects in xtc mode.having all the sounds generated by the same engine (all prerecorded and i'm speaking virtually) sounds better anyway.or i don't get what you're(my problem) up to...........