Does anyone know of any serial cards either PCI or USB that work in both OS9 & OSX for MIDI? I saw that Keyspan announced a driver for OSX but my understanding is it doesn't handle MIDI, I'm wondering if any of the USB ones do.
The other workaround I'm wondering, say if using an Opcode Studio 5LX, could one use two Macs, one in OS9 & the other in OSX and either using pass thru or synchronizing both computers, run the MIDI from the OSX computer while the OS9 one handles routing & maybe static librarian preset changes?
My basic setup is a G4 Quicksilver DP running Opcode SVP & Galaxy using a MOTU 2408MK3, while I want to experiment with MOTU DP 5 in Leopard on my 2008 MBP, and possibly at other times the MBP will be in Mavericks using current software.
The Studio 5LX seems ideal for running MIDI but then there's the challenge when working from the laptop in some relatively current OS.
Would a practical solution be a modern USB MIDI interface that would also work in OS9 and with Opcode SVP? My head is spinning a bit following this subject in several forums, maybe there's issues for SVP & Galaxy using current USB interfaces? I also notice Opcode had some MIDIport USB interfaces likely for USB 1 so would this work in modern Macs? Considering extension/driver issues it might be too much to expect a MIDI interface that could function across OS9 to Mavericks.
The snail workaround is simply re-patch all the MIDI cables with two dedicated interfaces while I suppose one could rig up a complex matrix to get around this but too many boxes with in/outs might start lagging. I must be getting lazy because I only have about a half dozen MIDI pieces at present.
Seeing that there's some success with the Keyspan in the MDD gives me reassurance this would be good for my Quicksilver, I'm thinking of upgrading to the MDD but have seen other Opcode users claim older computers are more stable, while I went with the Quicksilver thinking it was closer to the G3s, I also have my original G4 Yikes! that is essentially a G3 with G4 processor so that could be an alternative if there's any stability issues. They were referring to Vision/SVP re stability so maybe that's not an issue with MOTU or Pro Tools setups, but I did some basic cassette transfers into SVP on this Quicksilver & everything seemed to function OK.
My "fetish" area is seeing how maxed out a G4 could go running Opcode SVP, I currently use a Seritek PCI E-SATA card and it screams with an external SATA drive, also allows quick reboots to OSX partitions for using Leopard for Internet downloads, etc..
I also wonder if newer USB interfaces have better timing than serial versions? I don't need a lot of MIDI in/outs at present but could use for future expansion.