PCI Expansion Chassis Requirements

With Pro Tools|HD and Pro Tools|HD Accel Systems with Pro Tools HD 7.0/7.1 for Mac OS X

The following Expansion Chassis are officially qualified for use with Pro Tools|HD and Pro Tools|HD Accel PCI card systems with Pro Tools HD 7 for Mac OS X 10.4.

Up to 7 HD PCI cards can be used in a single ProTools|HD system

  • 1 HD Core card, any combination of HD Accel and/or HD Process PCI cards
    • For proper operation, card order MUST be: HD Core card, all HD Accel cards, then remaining HD Process cards
    • DigiTest will NOT reflect the actual card order. System Usage window in Pro Tools will reflect the proper card order.
  • Although 7 cards may be installed, only 4 HD cards are addressable when using 176 or 192 kHz sample rates, regardless of whether an expansion chassis is used or not
  • HD PCIe (PCI Express) cards cannot be used in an expansion chassis

Expanded Systems Guide

For more information about expansion chassis setup and requirements, please see the Expanded Systems Guide.pdf installed on your hard drive during Pro Tools installation. Also available in the Technical Document Library of the Support/Tech Support section of the website.

  • Expanded Systems Guide (571 k, v7.1 for HD Systems)
  • Slot orders in the chassis run from left (closest to the power supply) to right

Compatibility Summary
Click on links for additional details, system requirements,model serial number required and performance guides.

Digidesign Expansion|HD 6 Slot Expansion Chassis

Product information and Specifications

The Digidesign Expansion|HD package includes the following components:

  • Digidesign Expansion|HD chassis: 4U, 19-inch rackmount enclosure
  • Expansion|HD cable: 5-meter cable to connect the host card to the Expansion|HD chassis
  • AC power cable

The following must be purchased separately from Digidesign:

  • PCI or PCIe Host Card: Dedicated card that is installed in the host computer and provides the connection to the chassis

System Requirements

  • Digidesign-approved Windows or Macintosh dual-processor computer with PCI or PCIe slots
  • Pro Tools|HD or Pro Tools|HD Accel system
  • At least 1 GB RAM in the host computer
  • Pro Tools 7.1 software or higher

The Digidesign Expansion|HD is for Pro Tools|HD (for PCI) cards only. It does not support Pro Tools|HD (for PCIe) cards, SCSI HBA cards, video cards, FireWire cards, or other special-purpose cards.

Performance Notes

Due to buffering requirements in Expansion|HD, which increase efficiency between the host and chassis, some aspects of system performance are affected in the following ways:

  • There is a slight decrease in the number of instances of certain RTAS plug-ins.
  • There is an increase in the monitoring latency of RTAS virtual instruments. This is most apparent when playing instruments in real time and is compensated for upon playback. The hardware buffer size preference can be used to adjust the amount of latency, but the minimum amount is 256 samples (achieved by a setting of 128 in Hardware Buffer size).

Logic Pro with Expansion|HD Chassis

Logic Pro 7.2 DAE is supported with the Digidesign Expansion|HD 6 slot expansion chassis when used with the files included with the installation of Pro Tools HD 7.1cs4 or higher. However, the ESB and EXS24 features are not supported with the Expansion|HD chassis.

Please Note: Logic Pro 7.2 is available from the Apple website (www.apple.com/logicpro). Although Logic Pro 7.2 is a universal version that runs natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Mac systems, Digidesign hardware and Pro Tools software are not yet compatible with Intel-based Mac systems. Pro Tools|HD hardware currently requires a PowerPC-based Mac system or a Windows XP system. Customers using Pro Tools HD 6.9.x and earlier software must use Logic Pro 7.1 or earlier.

Digidesign/Magma 7 Slot, 64-Bit Chassis

  • Digidesign 7 Slot 64-bit 33MHz Expansion Chassis
  • Magma 7 Slot 64-bit 33MHz Expansion Chassis — model P7R464 (current), P7R464-D1 (discontinued), P7R464C1.5-D1 (discontinued)

Product information and Specifications

For further information about this expansion chassis, please contact Magma at www.magma.com

Special offers from MAGMA for owners of Magma and Digidesign/Magma expansion chassis:

There have been some customer reports of -6042 errors when using the Digidesign/Magma Expansion Chassis (7 slot, 64-bit). These errors can occur with very high voiced track counts @ 48kHz or 44.1kHz sample rates when the tracks are all assigned to surround mixers. We recommend taking the following steps to reduce these errors:

  • Limit QuickTime or Avid Video Playback to the qualified 64 audio track level
  • If you are automating ReVibe with Pro Tools HD 7, please be sure you have updated to Pro Tools 7.1cs7 or higher, which contain a newer version of the ReVibe plug-in.
  • If you are using the TDM version of TL Space, please set the PCI ramping setting to 66%, or use the RTAS version.
  • Try reducing your voiced track counts to 160 either manually, or by using the 5 DSP/160 voice engine.

Please refer to these compatibility documents for future updates.

Maximum Qualified Track Counts with HD Accel Systems with Mac OS X 10.4 and Pro Tools HD 7:

Sample Rate (kHz)
48
96
192
Track/Voice Count (with G4 Dual 1.25 GHz*)
192
96
36
Track/Voice Count (with G5)
192
96
24

Note: Set DAE buffer size to 4 for 192 tracks@48kHz sample rate

*Slower G4 models may have lower track/voice counts

7 Slot, 32-Bit Chassis

  • Digidesign Pro Tools Expansion Chassis, 7 Slot 32-bit model (discontinued)
  • SBS (Bit3) 7 Slot Expansion Chassis — model DD007-R

Maximum Qualified Track Counts with HD Accel Card Systems:

7 Slot, 32-Bit Chassis with Power Mac G5 1.6 GHz Model

Sample Rate (kHz)
48
96
192
Track/Voice Count
112
56
16

7 Slot, 32-Bit Chassis with all other Power Mac G5 Models Qualified with Pro Tools HD 7.0/7.1

Sample Rate (kHz)
48
96
192
Track/Voice Count
128
64
16

7 Slot, 32-Bit Chassis with Power Mac G4 Dual 1.25 GHz Model**

Sample Rate (kHz)
48
96
192
Track/Voice Count
128
64
16

**Slower G4 models may have lower track/voice counts

13 Slot, 32-Bit Chassis

  • Digidesign Pro Tools Expansion Chassis, 13 Slot
    Compatible models: S/N begins with NB0600100C or higher
    Incompatible models: S/N = NB055300B1 or lower
  • Magma 13 Slot Expansion Chassis — model P13R-D1 and P13RC1.5-D1

Note: 13 Slot Chassis support a total of up to 10 Digidesign cards. A maximum of 7 HD cards (HD Core, HD Accel, or HD Process) can be used in single ProTools|HD system.

Maximum Qualified Track Counts with HD Accel Card Systems:

Sample Rate (kHz)
48
96
192
Track/Voice Count
128
64
16

 

CardBus PCI Expansion Chassis

  • Magma 4-slot CB4DRQ (current), CB4DRQ-D1 (previous model number)
  • Magma 2-Slot CB264 (64-bit/33Mhz 2 Slot CardBus to PCI expansion)
  • Magma 2-Slot CB232-D1 (32-bit/33Mhz 2 Slot CardBus to PCI expansion)

Not Tested

  • Magma 2-Slot CB2 (discontinued)
  • Magma 2-Slot CB2S (SCSI model, discontinued)
  • Magma 1-Slot CB1H & CB1F

Magma Technical Bulletin - March 21, 2005

Release of PLX CardBus for Pro Tools Users. NOTICE: The Magma Engineering and Compatibility Test Group has determined that some Pro Tools users with Magma CardBus card (PN: 01-04551-02) and the current PCI bridge on the expansion chassis, may experience computer lock-up or clicks and pops in audio when using Playback Engine sizes of 2 or more DSPs. The Magma Engineering and Compatibility Test Group has also determined these issues may be alleviated by swapping out the original Magma CardBus card (PN: 01-04551-02) with a different version of the Magma CardBus card (PN: 01-04551-03).  Click here to download the Technical Bulletin (46 K).

Not Supported With Mac OS X

AVoption|V10

AVoption|V10 is only compatible with Windows XP

AVoption|XL

Pro Tools 6.4 and higher for Mac OS X is Not Compatible with AVoption|XL

  • AVoption|XL is not supported in Pro Tools 6.4 and higher. Do Not Install Pro Tools 6.4 or higher on an AVoption|XL system.
  • AVoption|XL users on Mac OS X 10.3 must use Pro Tools 6.2.3
Digidesign Compatibility Documents Index