Revival of Creamware Scope/SP from 2001 (15 DSP PCI)
Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 2:12 am
Greetings Planet Z community! This is my first post in this forum. I already read a few topics regarding what I am trying to learn/achieve but I could not find up to date information. So my apologies in advance if my questions have been asked already by other users or if I chose the wrong section for addressing what follows.
I have a Creamware Scope/SP from 2001 (15 DSP) conventional PCI connection, which I have been using for so many years with great performance, including ULLI supporting 3ms (if memory serves me well).
In the last few years I did not use it that much, because I was traveling and because the Apple G4 (running Mac OS9) where the audio card is mounted in has become extremely noisy and bothersome to work with (I believe most of the noise or all the noise comes from the fan).
But that Scope card, as we all know, is just brilliant and sounds like nothing else if compared to other similar equipment. A jewel to me. I want it back in my studio arsenal, so I have been considering two options:
1) To build a new PC around it, running W10 or W7 on 32 bit, but after hours and hours of reading around this forum, I still did not get to a final conclusion regarding what latest generation of MoBos is fully compatible with Scope's conventional PCI. The most recent info I found concerns Z97 MoBos based on Socket LGA 1050, 1051 and 1056 (excluding the 1055), but Z97 is already a pretty much outdated option = not new enough.
- So if someone would be so kind to let me know which latest generation of MoBo is fully compatible without performance drop, maybe Chipset Z370 on Socket 1051?
- And what about AMD?
(AM1, AM2, AM3, FM1, FM2 I am totally confused about those).
- And how to understand if a new generation MoBo with a PCI slot, runs "conventional" or "legacy" PCI?
(for what I understood "Legacy" is not fully compatible with the Scope card, because apparently it is an emulation of PCI running in a PCI-e lane, but please do not take this info as reliable, I am not an expert in informatics)
I will surely build a brand new PC around the PCI Scope card, but the absence of STS sampler support in the latest Scope 7 software update (apparently for both 64 and 32 bit), totally turns me off, as I use plenty of STS samplers, simply because they sound great and I need to open my old projects which contain them. This leads me, for now, to option 2:
2) To revive my old G4 running Mac OS9 and Scope Fusion Platform 3.1c. Maybe some of you are already laughing at this jurassic option, but believe me, that system is like a tank, it never let me down and SFP 3.1c performs at best for my needs (I can be happy for a little longer to stick to 3.1c and Mac OS 9, also because I have other machines and software running at the same time, which means I have plenty of room for creating anything I want anyway). But when Sonic Core will offer support for STS sampler, my option 1 will come into play.
----> Do any of you know if it is possible to use or adapt new generation fans in such an old machine (Power Mac G4)?
Any recommendation regarding this option 2 or other things I should keep in mind?
Greetings to all members and many thanks in advance to whoever will answer to this post. And happy new year also in advance
I have a Creamware Scope/SP from 2001 (15 DSP) conventional PCI connection, which I have been using for so many years with great performance, including ULLI supporting 3ms (if memory serves me well).
In the last few years I did not use it that much, because I was traveling and because the Apple G4 (running Mac OS9) where the audio card is mounted in has become extremely noisy and bothersome to work with (I believe most of the noise or all the noise comes from the fan).
But that Scope card, as we all know, is just brilliant and sounds like nothing else if compared to other similar equipment. A jewel to me. I want it back in my studio arsenal, so I have been considering two options:
1) To build a new PC around it, running W10 or W7 on 32 bit, but after hours and hours of reading around this forum, I still did not get to a final conclusion regarding what latest generation of MoBos is fully compatible with Scope's conventional PCI. The most recent info I found concerns Z97 MoBos based on Socket LGA 1050, 1051 and 1056 (excluding the 1055), but Z97 is already a pretty much outdated option = not new enough.
- So if someone would be so kind to let me know which latest generation of MoBo is fully compatible without performance drop, maybe Chipset Z370 on Socket 1051?
- And what about AMD?
(AM1, AM2, AM3, FM1, FM2 I am totally confused about those).
- And how to understand if a new generation MoBo with a PCI slot, runs "conventional" or "legacy" PCI?
(for what I understood "Legacy" is not fully compatible with the Scope card, because apparently it is an emulation of PCI running in a PCI-e lane, but please do not take this info as reliable, I am not an expert in informatics)
I will surely build a brand new PC around the PCI Scope card, but the absence of STS sampler support in the latest Scope 7 software update (apparently for both 64 and 32 bit), totally turns me off, as I use plenty of STS samplers, simply because they sound great and I need to open my old projects which contain them. This leads me, for now, to option 2:
2) To revive my old G4 running Mac OS9 and Scope Fusion Platform 3.1c. Maybe some of you are already laughing at this jurassic option, but believe me, that system is like a tank, it never let me down and SFP 3.1c performs at best for my needs (I can be happy for a little longer to stick to 3.1c and Mac OS 9, also because I have other machines and software running at the same time, which means I have plenty of room for creating anything I want anyway). But when Sonic Core will offer support for STS sampler, my option 1 will come into play.
----> Do any of you know if it is possible to use or adapt new generation fans in such an old machine (Power Mac G4)?
Any recommendation regarding this option 2 or other things I should keep in mind?
Greetings to all members and many thanks in advance to whoever will answer to this post. And happy new year also in advance