interface s for new Mac Pro?

charlie

charlie

Logician
Hello All,

I am inching closer to pulling the trigger on purchasing a shiny new Mac Pro
Nephalem and have a bit of a noob question concerning audio interfaces...
The Mac Pros have an optical in & out. -Why?
What does the forum recommend by way of interface?
My needs are simple; I have a bunch of MIDI external synths and sound modules that (right now,) sum thru a Mackie analog board.
I guess I would just need a "small" interface to take the summed channels from the Mackie to get to the Mac Pro.
I do not wish to spend an arm & a leg here... Is Firewire the way to go or are these optical ports actually something I can use?

I'm a PowerBook g4 user who had a FW400 interface so, I'm definitely coming out of the (relative) dark ages here... 🙂
Any recommendations are appreciated.

Thanks!
Charlie
 
Hey Charlie,
If you are keeping your other hardware from your Powerbook just use that, no sense in buying more/different gear if what you have is working.
The optical I/O on the Mac Pro is basic, at best. You can get an interface that spits out optical SPDI/F, and connect it to the MP's optical audio ports, but thats only 2 channels. You might get more milage with a FW or USB interface, if some day you want to plug all your external synths to their own interface inputs and sum them that way perhaps.
Good Luck
Ciao
Gio
 
Gio said:
Hey Charlie,
If you are keeping your other hardware from your Powerbook just use that, no sense in buying more/different gear if what you have is working.
The optical I/O on the Mac Pro is basic, at best. You can get an interface that spits out optical SPDI/F, and connect it to the MP's optical audio ports, but thats only 2 channels. You might get more milage with a FW or USB interface, if some day you want to plug all your external synths to their own interface inputs and sum them that way perhaps.
Good Luck
Ciao
Gio
Click to expand...

Hey Thanks Gio!
I am wondering if there's any disadvantage to using a FW400-800 adapter cable for my old FW400 interface or does it just make sense to purchase a new FW800 interface?
Thanks for the skinny on the Optical Ports, too! :thmbup:

Charlie
 
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