Setting up a new machine for cubase using Os9

[damo-blak]

Well I've wanted to get round to getting an old school mac setup for running Cubase for ages,
so ordered a grey/silver G4 1.25 system off the bay,I have loads of old sound cards around not sure what would be
the best one to use.I have a yamaha DS2416 also echo MIA and an RME Hdsp 9632.

So my plan is to stick some extra DDR memory in it first as its only 768 m/b,upgrade the HD etc.
its coming with leopard on it i think so i can install os9 from that i hope.

Any advice on setting it up/upgrading?,im hoping to use Cubase 4 and cubase se maybe,
i have a midex 8 for midi input/output,i've had osx systems for years so it will
be interesting to test midi out on Os9 to see if it performs well for my samplers
and sound modules.

I was using PC's when these Os9 machines came out,
always saw the old g4/G5 boxes back in the the day.

[chrisNova777]

great idea + let us know how it goes 

[damo-blak]

The MDD G4 machine has arrived in the post,its crashing like mad,im going to swap memory first as it says it has failed on a recent test,will strip cards out and clean the machine,got a lot of troubleshooting to get on with:),will report back later.Will try a PR ram reset too.

[chrisNova777]

yea i had to replace memory in my mdd aswell back in the day
memory def causes lots of crashes if its gone bad or oxidation etc

[G40]

Did you get anywhere with this? Have just bought a Digital Audio G4 and would like to get Cubase up and running, as well as a few other apps.

Similarly I used PCs in this era as I couldn't afford a modern macintosh - mainly Cakewalk/Sonar - a Mac always seemed to be what you needed for a stable Cubase VST setup, never had much luck getting it to run on my PC although I enjoyed Cubase Audio XT in a MIDI only role (am still using it now!)

At the time the word on the street was that MIDI timing was better on a Mac. Would be super interesting to compare MIDI performance over the various OSs...

[chrisNova777]

alot of things are better on a mac
windows is a pain in the ass

i have a few G4's + G3's

Would be super interesting to compare MIDI performance over the various OSs...

well i guess your in the right place for that

[G40]

alot of things are better on a mac
windows is a pain in the ass

i have a few G4's + G3's

Would be super interesting to compare MIDI performance over the various OSs...

well i guess your in the right place for that

Yes. Back in the day for me the choice to use a PC was inspired mainly by cheaper hardware and easier access to (cracked) software. I also found that there was nothing I liked more than Sound Forge for editing samples - Bias Peak never clicked for me. Otherwise I always aspired to a mac setup. I did buy a used G3 powerbook but it didn't last mainly due to the expense/inconvenience of finding suitable software and audio/midi interfaces.

My current sequencing setup is an ancient P4 running Windows 98SE and Cubase 2.8 / Cubase Audio XT. This setup does what I need it to without overcomplicating the process. It's occurred to me recently though that a vintage mac might be a better option and the cost is no longer prohibitive. But I'm still asking myself the same question I did when I briefly had a G3 laptop back in the day - where am I going to find software?

What are the options these days? Do I need to find a used original copy and dongle or is there (cracked) abandonware floating around?

[chrisNova777]

i suggest you check out macos9lives.com
youll find all your mac os 9 related answers to your questions there

[G40]

Thanks, will have a look.

[G40]

Thanks, will have a look.

Wow - goldmine! Thanks for the tip. Looking forward to playing with Studio Vision Pro!