[Guide] MUSIC PRODUCTION Skylake Build: 10.11.6, Z170X-Designare, 6700K, HD530, TB3, 960 EVO M.2

[romainky]

I'm also not able to get my Radeon HD5450 to a resolution other than 1024x768, which is a huge pain, so I think a video card upgrade might be on the cards.

Hi,
You may find your solution in this thread that helped me get a HD6850 working perfectly for dual screen, on el capitan.

Give it a chance!

 

[Orks]

Hey @QkY!

Awesome news that you have a stable system up and running!

I'm moving over from mac systems and being a complete newbie to this I figured a recommended system would be the way to go especially since some of the hardware in your build is now quite hard to come by. tonymac's CustomacPro seems appealing as it's probably super stable through trial and error. One outstanding question I do have is about Thunderbolt in his configuration. I, like you, use 3 pieces of UAD Hardware - an Apollo twin, a quad satellite and an Apollo 16 MKII. These are the centerpiece of my setup and having these bug out or be intermittent is just not an option in my workflow. Would there be any potential caveats to using his configuration for audio production needs?

Another question, to relate to the "buyers guide" nature of the post - are the any upgrades to tonymacs current template that would give me substantial gains for audio work? I compose for film and TV in Logic and ProTools so multiple cores with multithreading are the name of the game. Also topping out on RAM is a lifesaver for bigger sessions.

Your advice and pointers are so appreciated - especially as I enter into this uncharted territory!

 

[JCFR]

Hello,
My recent Hackinstosh build working great GA-z170x ultra gaming with usb-c ->TB3-TB2 (apple) -> thunderbolt Apogee TWIN.
For the thunderbolt 3 setup :

- upgrade bios to F22 (windows 10) -> problem : the apogee Twin working in macOS Sierra but you must boot in Windows before,
- disable support for internal audio card in clover config : solve the problem, you dont have to boot in windows

 

[jiffyslot]

How's it holding up after almost a month? I'm looking to do my first build, but Thunderbolt/Apollo and Gb ethernet for VSL is a must. Please and thank you.

 

[JCFR]

I use this build every day, the Apollo working very good as basic sound card. For music production, my minimalist tests working too.
I very happy with this configuration, specially since I fix the problem of card's detection.

 

[andresnol]

I use this build every day, the Apollo working very good as basic sound card. For music production, my minimalist tests working too.
I very happy with this configuration, specially since I fix the problem of card's detection.

Can you specify how you fixed the card's detection issue?
My hardware is exactly the same and MacOS does not always recognize the card no matter when I turn it on or plug it in (before booting up, in clover boot screen etc). In fact the card is recognized in MacOS on first boot only like 25% of the time (depends also if I had shut down the PC in Windows or MacOS side).
This is usually fixed by booting into Windows 10 and then reboot back to MacOS and then card is recognized. Windows 10 recognizes the card 95% time on first boot.

My BIOS is F22 and I have updated the Thunderbolt Firmware on Windows. MacOS 10.12.5
Gigabyte Z170X-Ultra Gaming, Apple Thunderbolt 3->2 adapter, Apollo Twin Duo

 

[JCFR]

Can you specify how you fixed the card's detection issue?

hi,
I remove this entry in clover :

<key>Devices</key>
<dict>
<key>Audio</key>
<dict>
<key>Inject</key>
<integer>1</integer>
</dict>

The downside : you lost the internal sound card support in macOS.
The apollo have to turn on before booting up.

 

[mrkite]

Hi! First post here.

I have a similar setup to the OP. Designare board, 6700k, 32Gb 2400 RAM, 2xEVO840 SSD, GeForce GTX950. Running an UA Apollo8 and a Satellite Quad, all thru the same TB port via a Startech TB3-TB2 adapter. I was using W10 on this computer and decided to give this a try after seeing your post, so thank you very much!

Installation went smooth and it seems to be working so far. I had to look how to make the 950 work and found out I needed to add a couple kexts to EFI because I'm using iMac17,2 definition (thought it was the most similar Mac to the setup I'm using). I'm currently having problems with a LaCie TB drive that doesn't work well when connected at the end of the TB chain, but it's no big deal for now because I can use via USB.

Let's see how it behaves these days.

 

[spyderfyre]

hi,
I remove this entry in clover :

<key>Devices</key>
<dict>
<key>Audio</key>
<dict>
<key>Inject</key>
<integer>1</integer>
</dict>

The downside : you lost the internal sound card support in macOS.
The apollo have to turn on before booting up.

Does the Apollo work after sleep?

 

[JCFR]

No the Apollo not work after full sleep, same problem as hot detection I think.