new information re: Gina 20bit PCI & Powermac g3/g4 hardware incompatibility

[supernova777]

***NEWLY CONFIRMED!!****
new information regarding the compatibility of the ECHO GINA 20 BIT PCI

the card is 100% compatible with the B&W G3 powermac!!

ive just installed it and it sounds incredibly clear + sweet..
i had tried it previously in a G4 450mhz Sawtooth(2000), and it was totally
not compatible with that mac... i should have read the writing in the
driver installer itself, it says explictly, that theres problems with *G4* powermacs
i had assumed this meant it would not work with absolutely any of the "new world" powermacs with usb.. g3 or g4
and that the card would only work with beige power macintosh computers from 1997-1998
but apparently this is not true for the 199 B&W series G3s!!!!!!

this is a great sounding card.. if u have a B&W series G3 I reccommend u check one out if the chance comes up!
the card can also be set up in multiple configurations, via SPDIF Sync...
it has the same pinout as the delta 410 but with reversed db25 gender.. and superior sound quality (imo)
(so this means u can also swap interchangably with a gender changer the breakout cable from a m-audio 410 (rca) + the event echo breakout box which features 1/4" sockets and acts as a patchbay on your desktop)

i will have to test further now to discover if its compatible with the quicksilvers or MDDs aswell..
one thing is for certain it is definately not compatible with the graphite series sawtooth..

[arjen_1]

Cool!
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/dec97/eventgina.html

PS: I am getting the RME 98/6 PST...can't wait.

[supernova777]

for confirmation i have just tested this inside a 933mhz quicksilver.. and it seems to be incompatible in that machine aswell
i suspected as much, but was hoping for a miracle

i think the rule of thumb for incompatibility is probably that it doesnt work with any AGP/ADC powermacs..
i think it would work on the g4 yikes PCI for example..
when i got the mac that my gina 20bit was inside. the guy who sold it to me said that the card didnt work...
but it worked for his friend.. who had "the same mac" (graphite g4) his friend probably had the yikes g4 PCI
which is why it worked for him and not on the AGP sawtooth!! so the hardware incompatibility was probably
introduced not by Echo... but by apples re-engineering of the electrical on the motherboard, related to empowering
the ADC power... which also would explain why the cards are compatible with older biege powermacs because they are all
PCI graphics.. non-adc aswell.

im surprised echo didnt lay this down so clearly + simply in its own explanation of the incompatibilty..

the following is how they worded the information:

WARNING: Not all Darla 20, Gina 20, Layla 20, and Darla24 cards are compatible with Power Macs. Unfortunately, this is a hardware incompatibility; as such, it cannot be worked around in software.

i guess they themselves didnt even figure out the real cause!

[Jakl]

I had a darla24 and it worked flawlessly with my B/W G3.
I remember these incompatibilities but I think they had a
range of numbers that were incompatible, some onboard chip
number, so apart from those incompatible chip numbers the
rest were okay.
Not long after the 20bit Echo-gals(darla20, gina20, layla20,
darla24) the 24bit PCI ones were released and they were all
compatible.

[supernova777]

safe to say that if the gina is compatible with the B&W g3 that it also would be compatible with the YIKES G4
and that the incompatibility was introduced with the AGP Sawtooth motherboard + continued through to the Digital Audio/Quicksilvers

[supernova777]

Not long after the 20bit Echo-gals(darla20, gina20, layla20,
darla24) the 24bit PCI ones were released and they were all
compatible.

ive just realized that these 24bit Ginas also support 8channel adat in + out.
that is a pretty big improvement!!!!!!
http://www.pcrecording.com/gina24.htm


which means u can directly connect it to other adat equipment, like the digi 001! or RME 96/8 or Motu 2408
this requires the pci card is installed of course
i had seen this port previously and thought it was only optical spdif


wow this is mind blowing, i was unaware of this! i thought this card was only L/R record (2 channel)
now i find out it supports 10 channels of simultaneous inputs (2analog + 8adat) and u can also use the adat outs
at the same time as the analog outs??  INSANE! 16 outputs from this one card..  and u can have multiple gina 24s in a g4!!!!!
multitrack output heaven.. pretty respectable

actually now that i think about this.. this card is a perfect match for the digi 001..

Gina24: 8 analog out / 2 analog in  8 digital out / 8 digital in
Digi 001: 8 analog in / 8 analog out  8 digital out / 8 digital in

i mean u could feed the 8 digital out frm the gina24, as well as the 8 analog out
into the digi 001 straight into pro tools.. and record the 16 channels put out by the gina24
into pro tools 5.1

i think u can also stack a gina 24 with a gina 20  that would give u 24 outputs.. damn. let me go wrap my head around this some more
wait.. i think u need to lock both cards via spdif and u cant use spdif + adat simultaneously with the gina 24..
so with that gina 20 + gina 24 combo u would sacrifice the digital ins which would suck.. reducing the cards inputs to only 2 so not realy worth it.. using multiple gina24 carsd tho would work because i think u can use these sync cables while having the adats active..
ill have to research this

[supernova777]

amazingly i just found out that this 20 bit card has had someone develop a driver for snow leopard intel (hackintosh)
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxlY2hvZHJpdmVyb3N4fGd4OjU2Y2E5ZGYzOGQ5YmU1MmQ

the developer had tested in logic pro 9 and said it sounds fantastic!
not bad for a card from 1997! amazing!
this driver was only possible because in 2007 echo audio made some C++ code available for 3rd parties to develop their own drivers..
if only all companies would be this cool to release c++ code for their old hardware they no longer wish to support!
amazing!

big +1 for echo audio.. respect to them!

i wonder if this driver would work on ppc.. or lower intel version of leopard/tiger

[Protools5LEGuy]

Yeah, Chris, all companies that left behind hardware should be forced by law to release its code.
But then we could see they lie to us. They always say it is too many resources to keep testing old hardware on new oses, and that is not true.
Kudos to ECHO

[supernova777]

one more note.. dont try to use this card in mac os x..
maybe its my specific card.. but im getting lock ups in mac os x panther right now
trying to test if it can be compatible or not..

meanwhile the card works fine under 8.6-9.22 with the asio driver...
i guess core audio doesnt agree with it

so verdict on the gina 20.. use it in a pc with win98/XP
or mac os 9 with a pci graphics g3/g4 using asio..
or dont use it at all;)

then again i havent tested this osx intel 3rd party driver!
but i doubt it will be as good as with its proper supported drivers?

[Irisman]

I tested my gina 20 with both 7600 and 9600 and it works on both computers.

[supernova777]

I tested my gina 20 with both 7600 and 9600 and it works on both computers.

yeah they were actually designed for those types of pci graphics macs
any pre-g3 pci mac will work with it - probably in osx too.
but on my g3 B&W it locks up in osx (The cursor.. 5-7 sec freezeups)
but it works fine on os9.