Help with a G4 Wallstreet & Audio Devices

[eBear]

Hi all

So I am resurrecting old gear in order to take advantage of cost savings and frankly just to have fun.  I have quite a setup with my G4 and my collection of old hardware samplers.  Now I have an issue with my Powerbook. 

I have a Wallstreet that has been upgraded with a Sonnet G4 to 500mhz with max ram of 500mb.  It is running OS 9.2.2 smoothly.  It does not have USB, only SCSI, ADB, Serial, and 2 PCMCIA slots.  I want to set this little guy up as portable softsynth, possibly some light DAW work, and work with my samplers. 

I can find plenty of OMS MIDI devices that work with the Serial port.  So that is checked off.  I have an older Opcode that works great.  I have the appropriate SCSI adapter and have successfully set up MESA for Mac for my Akai s2000.  So that is also checked off. 

Now we come to an audio input/output device.  I have checked the list of supported devices and naturally they are USB.  Can I use a PCMCIA USB card and run some of these devices?  Can I use something like the Oxygen 8 or the U122 since they have external power supplies for the devices?  Would a bus powered simple Edirol UA work as well?  How will the latency be?  Are there any other solutions for input and output of audio on this series of Powerbooks? 

Thanks for the help    

[pacatos]

I'm pretty much on the same situation of yours, though I'll probably just stick to USB. It seems there should not be differences between USB 1.0 and 2.0 latency-wise, check here:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/m/tm.aspx?m=2508047&p=1

I would still suggest to wait for the feedback from the more experienced guys at this board as they know it better.

[DieHard]

OK you have a lot of choices here, the built in audio of the wallstreet is actually quite good... I now a guy that had a independent label deal that did a 5 song album with just the internal audio... of course you are limited to 16Bit 44K...

Now some other choices... if you get with a PCMCIA USB you can then use an M-Audio transit... awesome little guy... has OS 9 drivers and can do 24 Bit files... The more expensive choice would be RME Box with PCMCIA... I also found this page with many direct PCMCIA choices, but you have to research with have OS 9 support (bet these guys will be super cheap on ebay)

http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=30840
(Although many of these appear to be 16 bit 44K like the internal Wallstreet)

[eBear]

Thanks for replying Diehard. 

I started searching for USB PCMCIA cards.  They have to be OHCI compliant only, and I scooped up an older Adaptec AUA-1420.  It is cardbus complaint and while it is USB 2.0, it will work with USB 1.1 as well.  There are also drivers still available on Adaptec's site for OS 8.6 and 9.x.  So for $10.00 that was a steal.

That link looks awesome though almost exclusively devoted to Windows PCMCIA devices.  I do have an old T-22 with Windows 98 so I might snag one if found cheap on eBay. 

I did not realize the audio ins were that good on the Wallstreet.  In many instances for me 16bit is not a problem.  I have samplers ranging from 8 to 16 to 24 to 32 bit and up so I work with many different bit levels as it is.   My main unit in the G4 is a Layla 20 bit, and it is pristine for the mostly electronic music I compose and remixes I do as a DJ. 

I really like the looks of that Transit.  With the added digital in/out that could turn this Wallstreet into a sweet sample making machine - go digital from a CD to the Transit and then use an older version of DSPQuattro or even Audacity to convert to aiff for use in my TX16W or on my Samplecell.  I am going to look for one of those.   

[lokki]

definitely go with an rme pcmica card, multiface for example. (hdsp system) it is a professional grade card and you can find it sometimes for 100 $ or less on ebay. great card, 8 analog in/out adat in/out and spdif in/out for a total of 18 in/outs...

[DieHard]

I did make a post about the Adaptec card previously... it is solid under OS9... but

DO NOT connect any USB devices that draw a lot of power (ex. older external HD, more that 1 device... etc), this load is too much for the Wallstreet MB, use a powered USB hub if you need a bunch of devices; the M-audio Transit will be fine as far as power and is also rock solid with ASIO.  The Adaptec fireconnect is aslo a great PCMCIA device.

[eBear]

@lokki  I looked at the RME's.  They were still almost twice what the Transit is.  I also don't need that level of input/outputs for what I will be using the Wallstreet for.  Now if I get a Powerbook G4 for a more mobile & complete DAW setup, then for sure!

@Diehard

Yeah, I only plan to run the Transit alone through it.  I have a fairly sizable hard drive in there right now for my purposes.  I just found and purchased an M-Audio Transit on eBay.  It was modded with an Audiophile Elna Silmic II Capacitor to improve the sound stage and it included a mini toslink adapter & a gold plated USB Monster cable for less than $70.00 shipped.  That was too good of a deal to pass up, and I can also use this device with other systems when I want to. 

Thanks for that suggestion.  This is a great forum.  I am glad I found you guys.  Look forward to more conversations.