Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics) — Pro Tools|HD Requirements

For Pro Tools|HD 1, HD 2 Accel, and HD 3 Accel Systems

With Pro Tools 6.6 with Avid Mojo for Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther)

Compatible Power Mac G4 Computers:

Dual Processors Only

Dual 1.25 GHz Power Mac G4 MDD

MDD = "Mirrored Drive Doors" models from 2002 & 2003, dual-boot capable OS 9 and OS X, not the FW800 model (FireWire 800)

For all Pro Tools|HD Cards, testing on the Apple Power Mac G4 MDD models was performed with the HD Core card in the lowest numbered PCI slot. This requires re-bending the TDM cable. This was adopted as the supported configuration as it follows the established conventional PCI slot order for Digidesign cards: HD Core card in the lowest number PCI slot, HD Accel, then HD Process cards in higher slot numbers.

When using Avid Mojo, these computers are qualified to provide 48 tracks of 48 kHz audio and one stream of uncompressed video. Your performance may vary based on number of audio tracks, edit density, automation, and plug-in usage. Dual Processors are required for Avid Mojo with all models. Other G4 AGP models may be able to provide satisfactory performance with Pro Tools 6.6 and Avid Mojo, however, they cannot be guaranteed to do so. Your performance and track count may vary depending on the processor count and speed.

Additional Information

See also: Pro Tools 6 documents in the Support > Tech Support > Technical Document Library and included with new systems and Pro Tools 6 upgrade CDs.

Additional Requirements

System Software

Supported Expansion Chassis

Storage Requirements

SCSI Accelerator Cards

For maximum track count, Pro Tools|HD systems require the use of a qualified SCSI HBA card. The following SCSI HBA cards are qualified with the PowerMac G4 models listed at the top of this page.

MIDI Interface — USB Only

Dual Monitor AGP Graphics Cards

All dual monitor cards which ship as standard equipment with qualified Apple Power Mac G4 models at the top of this page are supported with Pro Tools 6.6.

Known Issues:

Pro Tools 6.6 is Not Compatible with AVoption|XL

  • AVoption|XL is not supported in Pro Tools 6.6. Do Not Install Pro Tools 6.6 on an AVoption|XL system.
  • AVoption|XL users on Mac OS X 10.3 must use Pro Tools 6.2.3
  • AVoption|V10 is only compatible on Windows XP. AVoption|V10 is not compatible with Mac OS X.

Additional Known Compatibility Issues

  • Auto Delay Compensation requires a substantial amount of system resources, especially in large sessions. If audio record and playback are failing due to DAE error -9073 when Auto Delay Compensation is enabled, try turning Auto Delay Compensation off for better audio record and playback performance
  • Looping playback on a very large session containing lots of automation, plug ins and sends may cause -9073 errors if Delay Compensation is on. (Item #46815)
  • A regular GUI counter pause when playing back a large number of tracks while using Delay Compensation. (Item #47070)
  • In an 88.2/ 96kHz or 176.4/192kHz session, the number of mixer channels available per non-Accel card DSP will decrease by 50% when using Delay Compensation (Item #47265)
  • Using the long Delay Compensation engine may increase the time that surround routing changes will take (Item #47351)
  • The Movie Offset feature affects both the QT Movie output to DV and the Onscreen movie
  • If users want to use Japanese fonts in their sessions, they will not be able to use HFS (standard) drives – only HFS+
  • Use of "Continuous Scroll with Playhead" with LCD monitors may result in a flickering gray area located to the left of the session start point
  • Sometimes when opening a session that was based on a PT 3.2 format session, the following error may occur when Restoring IO paths: Time type mismatch occurred in "Time_Typed.cpp" line 370. A reboot may be necessary if this occurs
  • System instabilities and performance issues can occur when using MIDI control surfaces in conjunction with Pro Tools 6 and 3rd party MIDI interfaces. For best multiport MIDI performance, we recommend using Digidesign's MIDI I/O.
  • The JSK synchronizer is not compatible with Pro Tools using Remote Mode (Item #43046)
  • When playing DV video out the FireWire port to a Canopus ADV-100, if the Canopus is connected to a Firewire drive containing a bridge chip made by Initio it may drop frames (flash black) during playback. To correct this, connect the Canopus directly to the CPU's Firewire port. (Item #46806)
  • D-Control requires dual processor G5 model, not supported with G4 models

MachineControl & PowerMac G4 "FW800" Models

When using a Power Mac "FW800", MachineControl requires a third party USB Card for use with Keyspan USB serial adaptors. With this configuration, the Keyboard/Mouse should also be connected to the third-party USB card. The following USB PCI cards are qualified for use with the Keyspan USB-to-serial adapter* and MachineControl on Power Mac "FW800" computers:

  • SIIG 2 port USB card
  • D-Link DU 520 (5 ports-4 external 1 internal)
  • Keyspan USB 1 card (UPCI-2)

For more information, see MachineControl 2.0 with Pro Tools 6

* Requires Keyspan USB Serial Adapter X Software Version 1.8 for Mac OS X compatibility. This device is only qualified by Digidesign for use with MachineControl 2.0 software. Neither USB-to-serial or modem-to-serial adapters are supported for MIDI devices with Pro Tools 6.0 and higher on Mac OS X.

Other Digidesign PCI cards are not compatible with Pro Tools|HD Systems

Previous Digidesign PCI cards are incompatible with Pro Tools|HD systems. You cannot combine Pro Tools|HD and these PCI cards, either in the CPU or an expansion chassis. Doing so will cause crashes, or the CPU will simply fail to boot. The following Digidesign cards are not compatible with Pro Tools|HD systems for Mac OS X:

  • MIX Core card
  • MIX Farm card
  • MIX I/O card
  • d24 card (Pro Tools|24 core card)
  • DSP Farm card (Pro Tools III/Pro Tools|24)
  • Digi 001
  • Audiomedia III
  • Pro Tools III Disk I/O
  • Pro Tools Project card
  • Project II card
  • SampleCell II cards

The following Digidesign hardware is also not compatible with Pro Tools|HD systems:

  • Universal Slave Driver
  • Video Slave Driver
  • SMPTE Slave Driver
  • SampleCell II TDM Module
  • 882 I/O
  • 888 I/O

Additional Information:

Digidesign Compatibility Documents Index