- Joined
- Mar 31, 2016
- Messages
- 117
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK
- CPU
- i5-4690K
- Graphics
- RX 580
- Mac
I'm shopping for a new set of converters for my studio workstation. I have an Antelope Orion 32 HD (Gen2) on loan from my local music store. I'll be posting my experiences with it here on the following setups:
System A: (Home Workstation):
Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK
i5-4690K
24GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB
UAD2 Quad Satellite (Firewire)
macOS High Sierra v. 10.13.6
Pro Tools 2019.6
Ableton Live 10.1
Connected via USB 3.0
System B: (Studio Workstation)
ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-F Gaming
i7 8700K
EVGA 1050 SC 4GB
32GB 2400 MHz DDR4
Avid HD Native PCIe
UAD2 Quad Satellite (Firewire)
macOS High Sierra v. 10.13.6
Pro Tools 2019.6
Ableton Live 10.1
Connected via USB3.0 and DigiLink (Avid HD)
Additionally, I'll be upgrading my System B with the following components and testing compatibility:
Gigabyte Z390 Designare
Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB
A little more info about my use-case:
I'm a freelance studio engineer working in music, voice-over and occasionally game-audio. At home I do lots of editing, music production and sound design. I go to a studio to record and mix. In both settings I'm using Hackintosh workstations assembled and maintained myself, with the helpful guidance of other users here on tonymacx86. I used to use a 2011 Mac Pro but performance was starting to get disappointing during insert-heavy mixes and the chassis wasn't sufficiently expandable. The value proposition of the 2013 Mac Pro was just not acceptable, and neither was the limited expandability.
At the studio I've been working on an older Digidesign 96 i/o converter set at the studio,Connected via DigiLink to an HD Native PCIe card. Stability in Pro Tools has been excellent (save for the dreaded Error -9173). Unfortunately, trying to run Ableton with the Avid Core Audio driver has been a serious pain in the ass. I don't think this issue is specific to my Hackintosh setup as I've seen lots of users report the same problem over at the Avid DUC. One reason for trialing the Orion is to see whether a more modern interface might address this. I suspect the problem has more to do with the HD platform/driver but as the Orion also promises to connect via USB3 that should be good enough for sequencing/producing in Live.
Furthermore, the old Digidesign converters just don't sound that good and I'm due for an upgrade.
System A: (Home Workstation):
Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK
i5-4690K
24GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB
UAD2 Quad Satellite (Firewire)
macOS High Sierra v. 10.13.6
Pro Tools 2019.6
Ableton Live 10.1
Connected via USB 3.0
System B: (Studio Workstation)
ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-F Gaming
i7 8700K
EVGA 1050 SC 4GB
32GB 2400 MHz DDR4
Avid HD Native PCIe
UAD2 Quad Satellite (Firewire)
macOS High Sierra v. 10.13.6
Pro Tools 2019.6
Ableton Live 10.1
Connected via USB3.0 and DigiLink (Avid HD)
Additionally, I'll be upgrading my System B with the following components and testing compatibility:
Gigabyte Z390 Designare
Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB
A little more info about my use-case:
I'm a freelance studio engineer working in music, voice-over and occasionally game-audio. At home I do lots of editing, music production and sound design. I go to a studio to record and mix. In both settings I'm using Hackintosh workstations assembled and maintained myself, with the helpful guidance of other users here on tonymacx86. I used to use a 2011 Mac Pro but performance was starting to get disappointing during insert-heavy mixes and the chassis wasn't sufficiently expandable. The value proposition of the 2013 Mac Pro was just not acceptable, and neither was the limited expandability.
At the studio I've been working on an older Digidesign 96 i/o converter set at the studio,Connected via DigiLink to an HD Native PCIe card. Stability in Pro Tools has been excellent (save for the dreaded Error -9173). Unfortunately, trying to run Ableton with the Avid Core Audio driver has been a serious pain in the ass. I don't think this issue is specific to my Hackintosh setup as I've seen lots of users report the same problem over at the Avid DUC. One reason for trialing the Orion is to see whether a more modern interface might address this. I suspect the problem has more to do with the HD platform/driver but as the Orion also promises to connect via USB3 that should be good enough for sequencing/producing in Live.
Furthermore, the old Digidesign converters just don't sound that good and I'm due for an upgrade.
Last edited: