garageCube

Hi.

First of all can i say version 2.6 is awesome, love the blend modes and stills folder feature.
My main reason for purchase tho is the 4 live inputs, perfect for the band work i do.

My question is about the practicalities of getting 4 live feeds into a Macbook Pro...

Sockets/interface - My MBP only has 3 usb sockets, and usually only 1 or 2 are free as a USB midi controller takes one slot, and a memory stick with client data sometimes takes another.
Firewire - FW800 socket is taken by clips drive, FW400 could take a dv camcorder.
If i added 4 firewire sockets via an expresscard can modul 8 use them?

Expresscard - I can get a 4 x usb-expresscard34 which would seem to be the perfect solution to me but would 4 x usb streaming 640x480 live video feeds be too much for the expresscard interface to handle without crashing the machine.

Also does adding 4 extra usb sockets create any conflict issues with the internal usb sockets? And can the MBP handle all this usb & firewire data flow at the same time.

I'd rather not lug a mac pro tower around but if the MBP isn't up to the job guess i'll have to.

The addition of DMX is also of great interest to me too as i currently have to use a pc laptop with Daslight.
I'd love to have control of lights & visuals with just one machine.
This means i will have to buy the Enttec Pro box to give it a try out....you mention a discount voucher for 2.6 upgrade customers, when will this be issued?

Col

Hello Col,

VJnutcracker wrote:The addition of DMX is also of great interest to me too as i currently have to use a pc laptop with Daslight.
I'd love to have control of lights & visuals with just one machine.
This means i will have to buy the Enttec Pro box to give it a try out....you mention a discount voucher for 2.6 upgrade customers, when will this be issued?

Go to http://www.garagecube.com/modul8/yourspace using your serial.
There, you will have infos about your serial, and the ENTTEC coupon.

The device Modul8 supports is : ENTTEC DMX USB Pro

Regards.

Thank you, found it.

I think the biggest issue with your plan for multiple inputs is two things -
Will Modul8 support multiple VideoGlide based inputs? I'm not sure, hopefully a Garagecube person can say.
The other thing is if the USB bus can handle 4 inputs all at the same time. USB is particularly slow with lots of things using it.

You can add more ports via usb or firewire hubs but by using an express card, you get the bonus of offloading some of the overhead that is on your onboard USB/Firewire chips (called a Buses). each bus has limited bandwidth, so the more things you add the sooner it clogs up.
Adding an express card gives you option to spread the capture devices over both USB buses (the onboard one and the express card).