#SunRize AD1012/HardDrive
21 messages in this thread
Hello there,
I've just received my SunRize AD1012 board and I realise I'm going to have
to get a BIG hard drive to go with it. Any recommendations for a fast SCSI
interface and drive from a fellow AD1012 user would be welcome. I'm running
a 2000 with an Commodore 020 board and 7Meg of mixed RAM (2Meg 32 bit and
5Meg 16 bit.)
Thanks,
John
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Hi John, No suggestions here, just a request to keep us posted on your
progress with the AD1012. ..thanks
Howard
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Hi Howard,
Software upgrade to Beta .7 arrived this morning with many improvements: dB
scale on all gain controls, better mixer and transport controls, all SMPTE
frame rates supported, etc., but actual editing facilities are still a bit
crude; e.g. no cross fade times available between cuts, no rock and roll
(scrub edit) available, and the prog still has the look and feel of a toy
system, which is a pity, because it's actually very powerful. I hope that
SunRize keep developing the software to the stage where it will be able to
compete with SoundTools on the Mac. BTW Studio 16 (the software)
multitasks, so an AD1012, a multi-tasking video-editor/effects generator
and Studio 16 would combine to make a good little video post production
system.
John
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John,
My recommendation for a fast SCSI interface is the GrandSlam board from
IVS. That board includes a Trumpcard professional, 8-Meg RAM expander, and
an extra parallel port. If you don't want all that, you can just get the
TrumpCard Pro. I upgraded from a CBM 2091 and 40-Meg Quantum to the
GrandSlam and 210-Meg Quantum. The GS really flies. It's faster than the
GVP 33-MHz combo board, which I also have. The GVP board is a 68030
accelerator, SCSI controller, and 16-MEG RAM expander. I'm using it with
8-Megs of 32-bit RAM. Despite that, it's still not as fast as the GrandSlam
board. The GVP board is DMA and slows down when it vies for CPU contention.
DMA boards are supposed to be faster than non-DMA boards. The GrandSlam is
non-DMA, so it doesn't have problems with CPU conflicts, however, it's even
faster than any of the DMA boards I have seen.
I highly recommend the GrandSlam Board or TrumpCard Pro from IVS. They're
really fast.
I've been using Quantum drives because the price is right, but I
understand they are not the fastest hard drives. I've heard that the
Seagate drives are faster. However, I'm not that familiar with the speeds
of different hard drives, just the controllers.
Good luck.
Dom Fontana
Dom,
Thanks for the recommendation. I've had the Trumpcard Pro in mind for a
while now, but they are hard to find in the U.K. I'll get one mail order
from Briwall or Creative Computers. I like the idea of the extra paralell
port, I've got too much stuff hung off mine at the moment! (printer,
plotter, scanner & digitizer!) I'll let you know how I get on.
John
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John,
Good luck.
Dom Fontana
I've been using my AD1012 with a Supra Wodsync SCSI hst adapter, and it
works quite well. I've had no problems. I have a Quantum Q80 for my main
drive and a Q105 for audio files. It works for me!
..Bill 😉
Thanks Bill, the SUPRA cards are easier to come by over here, but I think I
might try for the IVS card first. Are you using Beta 0.7 software? Some
very odd changes, especially to the cue list, not documented in the read.me
file. Add button gone, update button gone. Weird.
John.
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Actually, I think that 0.7 is much easier to use than 0.52. It is
different, but sinde I've only been using 0.52 for a little over a month it
isn't that difficult to change.
Of course there is a lot of functionality I'd like to see added, but I
guess we need to give them time.
As for the SCSI Host Adapter question, is the IVS a DMA type or processor
controlled?? I would think that a processor controlled card would be better
for a digital audio application. That is why I stuck with the Supra
Wordsync. Just my two cents!
..Bill 😉
Bill,
The IVS GrandSlam is a non-DMA controller. I had recommended it to John
and I'm going to get a London distributor for him so he can get one. That
board really flies.
Dom Fontana
OK, I wasn't sure how IVS did it, and since I haven't needed to go shopping
I haven't been keeping track!
It is a bit curious, I suppose, and I can't really explain it completely,
but a processor controlled SCSI host does seem to make more sense for
digital audio than a DMS SCSI host. It is a gut instinct really, as I
haven't the time to do exhaustive tests.
I did try the Microbotics Hardframe ( borrowed from a friend ) for a brief
period, and it just seemed to be a bit sluggish in starting to play a wave
or whatever. This is purely my reaction to aural and visual cues from
watching the screen.
My setup, if you are curious, is a 2620, with 2 Meg of memory, and 4 meg of
memory on a Supra Memory card, a 1 Meg agnus, and the Wordsync SCSI Host.
If I had to guess, I would suspect that it has to do with Commodore's
implementation of cycle-stealing between the CPU and the custom chips.
..Bill 😉
Bill,
I'm glad you finally got your A2620. What did you pay for it?
Dom Fontana
I got one with 2 Meg of memory for $200.00.
I am quite pleased with the performance, though I was a bit surprised at
the relative performance of a 2620, a 2630, and the Adspeed.
Except for very mathematically intense operations they are all about the
same. Very surprising!
For the AD1012 the 2620 definately displays an improvement over the
Adspeed, but it isn't as dramatic as I expected. The difference between the
2620 and the 2630 was even smaller!!
..Bill 😉
Bill,
That's funny you didn't notice much of a difference between the A2620 and
A2630. I used to have an A2620 and upgraded to a GVP 33-MHz Combo Board.
The difference between the two is TREMENDOUS! The GVP is much, much faster
than the A2620, even for non-math intensive operations.
Then again, you were comparing the two CBM accelerators.
Dom Fontana
Yes, I believe that the GVP accellerators are probably a lot quicker than
their CBM counterparts. They are designed much differently. The combo
boards will exhibit the largest increase since they have direct access to
the SCSI controller et.al., while the CBM accellerators must traverse the 7
MHz buss quite a bit.
None-the-less I am quite pleased with the performace, it suits my purposes!
..Bill 😉
Bill,
That's good. Good luck with the A2620.
Dom Fontana
Just a quick question on the AD1012. Can you frequency modulate two samples
together? Sunrize says it's possible but I can't see it given that the
AD1012 is mono. Is Pitch shifting possible. Can a sampled be slowed down an
Ocatave or two (%100-%200 slow down)?
Well I havent tried the frequency modulation trick, but it certainly is
possible I suppose, while the card is mono in and mono out, you have four
mono tracks to play with, so you could, for example, mix music, sfx, and
voice-over together to create a mono spot. I am not sure how you would use
one sample to modulate a second, unless it is through the effects toy that
is includded, and I have spent very little time with that.
Pitch shifting is possible, just by slowing down the playback sample rate.
I think there is also a gadget to do that, but I'll have to go look. The
effect of pitch shifting on the AD1012 is the same as pitch shifting on any
sampler. In other words, some samples sound really bad when they are played
far from where they were sampled!
Hope this helps!
..Bill 😉
Curious as to what your using your AD1012 for. Industrial, Broadcast or
music? Two feature badly needed are Drop Frame time code (they're working
on that) and the ability to Compress or expand a track (that's critical for
getting a piece of music to fit a video segment). They said they weren't
working on that but I stressed it's importance if they are to compete in
the professional market. Are you using Bars & Pipes with it? I prefer
Dr.T's myself but last I heard they're not haveing much success with
integrating it with their MPE enviornment. Most important have you found
any bugs or problems with the hardware. I suspect the software may be
problematic since that's still a very early version. I'm curious as to how
their doing on that end though. BTW by late spring or early summer there
may be a competing product from a company with good Amiga support but I'll
say no more on that.
Hmm, I'll work with the system a little longer before I make a report to
SunRize. My documentation didn't mention the change in the cue-list, and it
took me a while to find out how to add a new sample. If this is wrong,
please let me know: it seems that you have to duplicate a cue-list entry,
get it to the edit line, type in the name of the new entry, new time-code
value and comments, and then hit return. This seems to me to be a very
long-winded way of going about what should be a simple task. Have I missed
something? Your set-up seems almost identical to mine, except my 4Meg is on
a Microbotics 8-Up. I experienced problems with screen re-draw after
exiting Studiio 16, have you had any similar problems?
John
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Hi John,
Yes, I am afraid the docs are a bit weak! Actually they are just plain bad!
But we have been promised a full users manual with V1.0.
On the cue list: There used to be an 'add'gadget in V0.5, but they got rid
of it, I have no idea why! I liked the add idea better, but it worked the
same as duplicate, so I guess the decided not to fix the add function.
I have not experienced any problems with screen re-draw with V0.7, though I
had problems with V0.5 where the program simply would not quit!
While Studio 16 is not perfect, I do have strong hopes that it will be
close, and if Blue Ribbon and dissidents can support it with their programs
I think it will be a very good working environment.
I guess that is one of the benefits of a multi-tasking platform!
..Bill 😉