I did some research today and found out that there is a concept to use pcie cards via thunderbolt connection.
So it seems it is possible to add 1 or 2 or maybe 3 Expansion Card Slot(s) to any computer with a Thunderbolt Port.
This opens up another can of worms. Rednet to your MacBookPro, MacMini? Sounds wonderful.
I asked Sweetwater if they have any information about it. The sales person told me that he will ask this question as soon as he sees focusrite people.
(update: sweetwater talked to focusrite and they confirmed it works with expension chassis, waiting on Apple to approve the drivers.)
I found 3 solutions so far. I emailed Sonnet about it.
[:0](update received:”No plans at this time to test any Focusrite products.”)
[?](another update from the same company: “Hello Burak, I would like to add that we would be happy to support Focusrite to be compatible with our chassis. We have written their support department a message to let them know. “
Sonnet has a pretty big card compatibility list on their website:
Sonnet: https://www.sonnettech.com/product/echoexpressse.html
mLogic: https://www.mlogic.com/products/mlink
Helios: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Thunderbolt/PCIe_Chassis/Mercury_Helios
Should we get excited?
When I check the latency, I see 13ms with DVS in my setup. Like many people stated, it is good only for verbs and delays… Not good for channelstrip operations.
Here is my setup:
IDR32 w/ dante card
MBpro(i7) with MultiRack native & DVS
All gigabit network.
DVS latency set to 4ms, MultiRack buffer is 64(smaller value causes spikes).
DVS network latency 0.25ms
When I do the math: 0.25+4+1.3+4+0.25=9.8ms
But if I record the direct source and Multirack’ed version(w/o any plugin), I see 13ms difference.
I remember people in this forum achiving less than 13ms. How did you accomplish?
I like to hear your thoughts about this thunderbolt expension solution. I wish focusrite produced a direct thunderbolt to ethernet rednet/dante adapter.
IDR32
Motion Computing LE1700
MBP/Logic Pro9
idontPad1&3&mini
M-Dante
