Topic: 68k macs (Read 11849 times)

supernova777 · « **on:** August 25, 2015, 11:30:24 AM »

MacTron · « **Reply #1 on:** August 25, 2015, 12:21:29 PM »

The 840av was an astonishing machine. It included an onboard DSP (like the Commodore Amiga) that provide real time audio and video effects.
I'll never forget the face of my friends, when I showed them a rotating cube (QuickDraw 3D) with a live TV show mapped into one or several cube faces... Everything fast, in real time!

supernova777 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 25, 2015, 12:23:44 PM »

yes probably the best computer of 93/94!

so these systems ive bolded - seem to be the only computers suitable for pro tools nubus / cubase audio systems (which were powered by digidesign hardware)

im not sure if logic used the original nubus pro tools hardware in the same way that cubase did?

Knezzen · « **Reply #3 on:** August 25, 2015, 02:12:05 PM »

Quote from: MacTron on August 25, 2015, 12:21:29 PM

The 840av was an astonishing machine. It included an onboard DSP (like the Commodore Amiga) that provide real time audio and video effects.

You're thinking of the Atari Falcon. The Amigas never had an on board DSP, only by add-on cards.

Protools5LEGuy · « **Reply #4 on:** August 25, 2015, 03:30:28 PM »

Quote from: Knezzen on August 25, 2015, 02:12:05 PM

You're thinking of the Atari Falcon. The Amigas never had an on board DSP, only by add-on cards.

Paula were a CoProcessor, IIRC. Some could consider that a DSP...

Amiga had 2 or 3 coprocessors. Paula for sound. Can't remember the name of the graphics copro.

Knezzen · « **Reply #5 on:** August 25, 2015, 11:37:33 PM »

Quote from: Protools5LEGuy on August 25, 2015, 03:30:28 PM

Paula were a CoProcessor, IIRC. Some could consider that a DSP...

Consider and being is two different things. Paula handled sound, floppy access, serial and joysticks, so nothing near what a DSP does at all.
The Falcon had a real 56k Motorola DSP onboard, the same processor family as the DSP's found on the Pro Tools cards in the TDM era.

The Amigas chipset: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_Chip_Set
Nothing near a DSP in there. Just wanted to make it clear

geforceg4 · « **Reply #6 on:** September 01, 2016, 04:40:15 PM »

Quote from: Knezzen on August 25, 2015, 02:12:05 PM

Quote from: MacTron on August 25, 2015, 12:21:29 PM
The 840av was an astonishing machine. It included an onboard DSP (like the Commodore Amiga) that provide real time audio and video effects.

You're thinking of the Atari Falcon. The Amigas never had an on board DSP, only by add-on cards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Quadra_840AV

Quote

At the time of introduction, its 40 MHz Motorola 68040 CPU and interleaved RAM made it the fastest Macintosh available, topping both the nominally higher-end Quadra 950 and the Quadra 800 by 7 MHz. It remains both the fastest Quadra and the fastest 68k Macintosh of all time, since all later high-end Macintoshes were PowerPC-based Power Macintoshes. The 840AV is also the only Mac to use the 40 MHz-clocked 68040. It also sports a faster 66.7 MHz AT&T DSP 3210 Digital Signal Processor chip, compared with the 55 MHz variant in the 660AV. The on-board DSP was primarily intended to speed up audio/video processing, although few Mac programs made use of this due to the complexity of programming it.

id love to get a chance to use one someday!

here is a FAQ document written by someone from Harvard university!!!
http://www.ralentz.com/old/mac/faqs/source/av-dsp.html

Quote

1. Are modem/fax software and the GeoPort telecom adapter included?
2. Does audio output from the CD have an extra stage of A/D & D/A?
3. Is there an included utility which allows digital recording of
part of an audio CD to an AIFF file?
4. Is there an included utility which will allow me to play/record
16-bit, 44.1KHz stereo AIFF files?
5. Is there any digital audio software available for the 660AV?
6. Is there any digital audio interfacing hardware available?
(AES/EBU <--> DAV or AES/EBU <--> GeoPort)
7. What is needed to do DSP programming?
8. Where can I get example code for programs that use the AV's DSP?
9. Where can I get information about the DSP chip?
10. BugLite only supports 32-bit floating point data. Do I really
want to use this data type?
11. Can I use Think C to write the Macintosh part of DSP
applications?
12. What happens to DSP modules I have written when the hardware
platform changes (to PowerPC, for instance)?

MacTron · « **Reply #7 on:** September 02, 2016, 06:13:43 AM »

Quote from: geforceg4 on September 01, 2016, 04:40:15 PM

id love to get a chance to use one someday!

I have one, It was one of the Macs I had that most impressed me - by far -. But I haven't started it for years, I don't know for sure If still works ...
BTW I had overclocked it to 46/98 Mhz at its time

I had happily used it for years. I did not liked none PPC machine until the PM8500 was born.

coachla · « **Reply #8 on:** September 02, 2016, 06:14:52 AM »

Quote from: MacTron on August 25, 2015, 12:21:29 PM

The 840av was an astonishing machine. It included an onboard DSP (like the Commodore Amiga) that provide real time audio and video effects.
I'll never forget the face of my friends, when I showed them a rotating cube (QuickDraw 3D) with a live TV show mapped into one or several cube faces... Everything fast, in real time!

Wonderful machine....I get 8 tracks of audio with Logic 2.5. I have a Maclip accelerator on it for a few mhz bump. Yes....about 46mhz, Mactron... Runs 8.1with a 7.6.1 Finder...

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Author Topic: 68k macs (Read 11849 times)

supernova777

68k macs

MacTron

Re: 68k macs

supernova777

Re: 68k macs

Knezzen

Re: 68k macs

Protools5LEGuy

Re: 68k macs

Knezzen

Re: 68k macs

geforceg4

Re: 68k macs

MacTron

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coachla

Re: 68k macs

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