Quiet build for Universal Audio Apollo Thunderbolt: i7-4790K - Asus Z97-A - HD4600

[SIDU20]

What are the bias setting to get to the Yosemite installer .

 

[davearrow]

Wow, thanks all for your comments and suggestions. Last time I looked at the post there were no responses, and i don't think I'm getting notifications (must sort that out).

I'll answer individual queries when I get half an hour

 

[davearrow]

Hi Dave, thanks for the great info! I am running an Apollo through a MacbookPro right now and I would like to replicate your build for thunderbolt compatibility. Are you able to hot-swap the Apollo or do you need to turn the Apollo on before booting the system every time? Do you think a second Thunderbolt card would work as well?

Hi, sorry for the delay...
1. No hot-swapping, you have to remember to turn on the Apollo before booting.
2. I'm pretty sure a second TB card won't work, as the one I have plugs into a single header on the motherboard. I should reiterate that the only supported card for this MoBo isn't easy to get hold of.
Good luck with your build (if it's not finished already )

 

[davearrow]

http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/fix-for-slow-boot-on-thunderbolt-2-0-motherboards.128748/

Superb, thank you, I will try this and update when I have.

 

[davearrow]

Why the mac pro def? Surely Imac 14.2 is what everyone is using? Very similar build to mine anyway. I even got USB 3 working.

Hi, to answer your question, I think my ignorance is probably the reason... although I note that in Finder my Hack thinks it's an iMac while About my mac is MacPro. I might be tempted to tinker at some point, but as nearly everything seems to be working fine, I'm a bit tentative. Is there a benefit with iMac 14.2? (I'm quite new to this so may have missed something!)

Ah yes, USB3... I have a Bluetooth dongle that works with USB3 but I have a backup drive that only seems to mount with USB2. I haven't yet tried to address this, but there will come a time when it's necessary!

Thanks

 

[davearrow]

Interesting setup...
A friend of mine just told me that evening, that he also uses an Apollo Audio Interface on his Asus Z97-Deluxe with Asus ThunderboltEX Dual PCI Card.
He had to adjust some settings in his Bios to make the TB card work:
Securtiy: no security
Thunderbolt Cache Line Size: 128
and the card PCI Express Slot had to be set to x4 Mode.

For me, the "no security" setting was necessary, but not the others.

Fun part is now, that his Onboard Audio Outputs (Internal/Headphones) are not working anymore...
Inputs via Headset Micro or Line In is still working...

Any suggestions?

Well, I have this problem too, but, well it's not really a problem for me, so I haven't looked into it, sorry. Good luck!

 

[davearrow]

Great setup. I also have this Fractal Case, in my recording space, and found the stock fans to be perfectly acceptable. I have them and my Corsair H60 liquid cooler, as well as radiator fan, hooked up to an NXZT Sentry fan controller (one of the few without a frivolous multicolored LCD interface). By doing this, I can get my computer to near-dead silent when I actually have a need for maximum dynamic range when recording. (Though one WD HDD that I have installed makes enough noise to be slightly audible - even when not seeking). The pump on the liquid cooler goes completely silent at about 70%. Also, I have a Sapphire Radeon 6670 that is fanless, and works fine in Yosemite and El Cap, though with the latter I haven't figured out the no-video-on-wake issue, so I don't let it go to sleep.

Thanks for the info. After a couple of months' recording I'm really happy with the lack of noise from my fans, and it's all SSD, so no HD noise. It's not silent as some might claim, but it doesn't affect the quietest things I've recorded so far (spoken voice or delicate acoustic guitar) and doesn't affect mixing. If it ever becomes a problem or I need more cooling, I'll look at some of the options you have. Thanks again

 

[davearrow]

My Z170X built is really silent too, I can easily record quiet acoustic guitar in the same room.
Noctua D15 CPU cooler, Fractal Design R5 case with stock fans on slow, just SSD´s, using builtin HD530 GPU for now.

Oh, and the Corsair RM750X PSU, picked for near silence in normal operation.

Yeah, I was amazed the first time I powered up the stock fan, let alone the Noctuas. My MBP by comparison sounds like a vacuum cleaner

 

[iceissocool]

Hi what OS did you use with your build? I am currently using a Gigabyte z87-D3H and considering buying the mobo and PCIe card you bought for your build cuz I am having the same probelm with you in Logic Pro X and and I cant stand it anymore ) The songs my clients make me mix have too much stuff in it and cant stand the last 5 years of torment Ive been having with logic pro anymore )
I ended up purchasing a Focusrite Clarett 8preX that needs Thunderbolt 1. I hope you could help me out on what you did to make it work when i stumble upon problems haha. Thank you so much!

 

[davearrow]

Hi what OS did you use with your build? I am currently using a Gigabyte z87-D3H and considering buying the mobo and PCIe card you bought for your build cuz I am having the same probelm with you in Logic Pro X and and I cant stand it anymore ) The songs my clients make me mix have too much stuff in it and cant stand the last 5 years of torment Ive been having with logic pro anymore )
I ended up purchasing a Focusrite Clarett 8preX that needs Thunderbolt 1. I hope you could help me out on what you did to make it work when i stumble upon problems haha. Thank you so much!

Hi - I'm using El Capitan, the most recent one at the moment (I've done one upgrade since the install, but I'll probably stick with that as everything seems stable. Although I'm not great at resisting upgrades . Backup, backup, backup!)

I should say I still have the occasional "unable to process audio" message, even at large buffer settings. But they're certainly far less regular than they used to be and (I think) only when inserting a big UAD-2 plugin while multi-track audio is playing. There's also an annoying bug in Logic Pro X which displays this message when using certain plugins on a summing folder. Easy enough to work around though.

Happy to help with the Thunderbolt if I can - but remember this is my first and only build to date!!

Good luck.