Anyone build a hackintosh for music related stuff?
Anyone build a hackintosh for music related stuff? Posted on: 29.01.2012 by Romelia Stankard I was debating building a new desktop since mine is older and meomory/cpu go through the roof if I have too many VSTs open or kits loaded into maschine and it doesn't even really make sense to dump any money into this thing.I have no experience with building hackintoshes and it seems like they can be a pain in the ass but promising with good planning and buying the right parts there may not be any issues. Windows is also really starting to annoy me so the prospect of building a $5000 mac pro for $1000 is very appealing. I just wonder would there be any particular issues with building a hackintosh for music related stuff? I mean I believe the hardware restrictions would only apply to system components right? Once all the drivers work on the desktop could there be any unforseen issues with software, soundcards, midi controllers, and other basic studio devices? | |
| Romelia Stankard 28.04.2012 | Apparently it is via Lacie kexts |
| Jenae Hensarling 28.04.2012 | USB 3.0 is not supported by apple and I doubt it will be due to thunderbolt. At best you can get them to function as USB 2.0 controllers. |
| Romelia Stankard 28.04.2012 | I highly recommend it, it's really awesome having a properly powerful OSX desktop and I could never justify the price of apple desktop hardware or getting something immensely undercooked. I wonder if I can get USB 3.0 to work properly on this thing next. I'm also keeping an eye out for new LCD monitors, I may just suck it up and go with 1080p resolution 24" despite my distaste for the format. I just want two matching 24" LCDs I can eventually mount on a single bracket/dual arm. I also want to figure out a better way to run dual monitors. not sure if it is just a crappy displayport to dvi adapter or if they are all like that but I have unplug and replug that adapter every time I restart or the screen will be glitchy then it is fine. I wonder if HDMI is better or will work. I know I can get both DVI ports to work on the card which is fine. |
| Branden Wentler 28.04.2012 | I'm watching this thread with envy. Graz on the build and thanks for keeping us all updated. I'll be doing something similar in the coming months...was going to wait until I got stateside bUt that may be a while. |
| Ira Alsadi 28.04.2012 | Ive been following along. I've been interested in something like this since building my last PC. It seems I should be able to handle this once I'm ready to build another machine, so I am interested in the set up and any ongoing issues machines like this face. Mine would be dedicated to graphics and 3d rendering not music but I believe my workflow would benifit greatly. |
| Romelia Stankard 29.04.2012 | Not sure if anyone is reading this anymore but I'm just going to post updates here anyway.. I got scared for a minute last evening after installing maschine and it was crashing, but I just hadn't upgraded it from 1.5 to 1.7 and it was just a 1.5/lion issue not a hackintosh issue. Set up the Virus Ti just now with total integration. The Ti is notorious for having USB bandwidth issues and doesn't like being on hubs and when I plugged it into any USB port on the back of the mobo it had crackles/issues and it was giving me warning it was connected to a hub since it looks like all 4 usb 2.0 ports on the back are part of one internal hub. I mapped the USB ports in OSX and it looks like there are two main hubs, one which is the 4 red ports on the back, and then a second hub which nothing was connected to which is the internal USB 2.0 headers on the mobo itself. I was able to use an adapter to adapt my case's top usb 3.0 ports to usb 2.0 and once i plugged the virus into that it is running perfectly fine. Since I don't want to keep it plugged into the top I just ordered one of these for $5 which should do the trick USB map now |
| Romelia Stankard 27.04.2012 | Updated bios to F12, still had the same issue. It just doesn't like 4 sticks of ram, I'm up and running with 12gb right now which is more than enough but I would still like to get all 4 running or get different ram. I might get two g.skill sticks of 8gb just because this will irritate me. I got ethernet up and running, I needed to install an additional package since it wasn't showing up. This thing is fast as hell, so nice to be on an OSX desktop. I'll have to get some benchmarks, I'm installing live and all my plugins and stuff now. I'm going to want to get some new LCDs, not having matching size/type LCDs is going to start to bother me. Not sure whether to go for 24" or 27". The 27" LCDs all still look to be 1080p and I might have trouble fitting them in a dual lcd mount/arm. |
| Romelia Stankard 27.04.2012 | Not sure, will check when I get home. |
| Jenae Hensarling 27.04.2012 | What bios revision are you running? F9/10? |
| Romelia Stankard 27.04.2012 | Yeah this thing looks pretty sick and the SSD is pretty fast. Can't wait to mess with it this weekend, hopefully I can get it stable with the ram or I'll order some other ram. As far as tutorials, there is like a page of directions on the kakewalk site but no programming. As far as building computers go, it's just something you pick up reading and these days there is tons of info. edit: apparently the boot loop thing is a bios issue and known, I'm going to try flashing it later |
| Dorie Scelzo 27.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by Liambo
As for building computers…there are tutorials online. Basically, it's like putting together legos…you just put things in the right places. It gets harder if you have to troubleshoot issues, though. I really don't have a clue how someone goes about learning…it's just one of those things I kinda picked up…and I doubt too many people who do it are all that different. There might be some beginner information on hardocp.com if you're interested…or some gaming community s. I'm sure there are books somewhere. @xone: that looks awesome. I'm sure it'll be better than what you had even if OS X ends up having issues. Please follow up with your experiences using it for music…I'm very interested in doing something like this at some point. |
| Rochel Gleese 27.04.2012 | Get that computer off the carpet man |
| Palma Hanslip 27.04.2012 | What kind of tutorials did you go through to do this? I'v been considering building one but i have basically no knowledge of programming etc and limited knowledge of building computers.. |
| Romelia Stankard 26.04.2012 | So far so good and relatively straightforward. Ran into some issues with getting it to post and it kept going in a loop where it would power on then shut off after 3 seconds. I believe it is picky about the ram I have it stable with 8gb in two slots and installed fine. Kakewalk is easy, easier/faster than installing windows and everything works fine. No kext files or anything to deal with it creates a bootable usb from a lion app store download (which I already had so didn't even need to buy it again since you can install it on all your personal macs, it's not like windows with license limits). You choose your mobo from the list when created the usb drive and it does everything else for you. I have no idea why anyone builds a hackintosh any other way these days. Got dual monitors via an active displayport adapter. |
| Romelia Stankard 26.04.2012 | All built. Installing OSX now. |
| Romelia Stankard 26.04.2012 | Sweet, last two parts just got delivered- can't wait to get started. I wish I didn't have somewhere to be toevening . |
| Dorie Scelzo 26.04.2012 | CRTs were prettier, though a lot harder to fit on a desk. It's a tradeoff. I just wish the dot pitch on big screens could even be close to that of my iPhone……it looks like I'm looking at everything through wire mesh on my MBP and worse on every other laptop I've tried. Hell…IMHO, that's about 60% of the argument for an 11" air. About the same linear resolution as my 13" MBP but 2" smaller……it looks a little better. |
| Romelia Stankard 25.04.2012 | I can't say I miss 4:3 or CRTs but I definitely prefer 16:10 to all this 16:9 stuff. |
| Dorie Scelzo 25.04.2012 | Yep…that's what I meant. 1080p is about the same as 2 MP. 1600x1200 (just barely under 2MP) was where half-decent CRTs started in 1999. It's really weird to believe that in the last 13 years, we've gone from single gore 600 MHz chips and 128 MB in general-use home desktops being somewhere between standard and impressive to 3+ GHz quad-core CPUs and 8GB ram as somewhere b/t standard and impressive for laptops. In the same time…monitors switched from 4:3 at 2MP to 16:9 at 2MP………seriously, wtf?! I'm pretty sure my first real laptop bigger than 12" did 1920x1440. An impressive monitor back in 1999 would do something like 3200x2400 (I forget the exact values). Nothing made in the last 5 years or so comes even close. HD video/screens look great when they're iPad sized. Anything bigger……and they look like pixelated shit. Seriously…most people wank over Apple's displays……I honestly believe my Dell from 1999 made prettier pictures. I miss CRTs. In addition to being higher resolution, they could also make greys that were closer to true black instead of this like 6% shit we have to deal with today. Basically…I'm pissed off that everything about computers has gotten better while they're all getting if not uglier than staying the same. It's not fucking fair. I'm also pissed off about the 16:9 aspect ratio. I believe it's ugly compared to 4:3. Having black bars at the top and bottom of your movies doesn't matter if your horizontal resolution doesn't suck. That's all I was saying. Also, all this talk has me wanting to build a computer again. I'd probably do a Hackintosh if I did, but part of me wants a linux box first. But then I'd need to upgrade my internet at home to get any use out of it (as a server). Ugh. Fuckin' toys. There are always more of them. GL with your build, xone. ps, sorry for being such a bitch…in the middle of a coding project that is not going well. |
| Romelia Stankard 25.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by JDFS
It was just rant about 1080p marketing and how "Full HD" is not that great relatively. 1080p (1920x1080) is actually lower resolution than what was standard for similar sized monitors years ago before 1080p became a thing and now it has gone backwards, so really "HD" resolution is not such a good thing or impressive when talking about computer monitors when we had higher resolution displays of the same size years ago, so "Full HD" is just marketing and doesn't mean a whole lot. Anyway more parts came in, just waiting on the Lian Li case and OWC drive which should be here tomorrow. |
| Basil Forshee 26.04.2012 | I meant to my 1920*1080 monitor for Ableton, Traktor etc. at home. It's much easier with so much more on screen... Or what were you meaning? For me it was more to have a Hackintosh at home and not only Mac OS X on a laptop for the screen resolution and less hassle with audio stuff, since I do need Windows for a couple of purposes (school work). Or didn't I get your point... Or you didn't get my point haha |
| Dorie Scelzo 25.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by Xonetacular
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| Jenae Hensarling 25.04.2012 | This wikkipedia page may help you out too.... http://www.tonymacx86.com/wiki/index...egory:Hardware It is a hardware database. |
| Romelia Stankard 25.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by mostapha
It is annoying to no end that if I want a second 24" monitor almost everything on the market now is lower resolution than the 1920x1200 24" LCDs I had and have from 6 years ago. |
| Dorie Scelzo 25.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by JDFS
And, uhh……why would you want to use an HD monitor? 1920x1080 is lower resolution than the CRT and video card in my 1999 Dell would do. Sorry…not aimed at you. It just pisses me off when people talk about HD video like it's not just a marketing excuse to delay development and in some cases take a huge step backwards. |
| Romelia Stankard 24.04.2012 | it's a start the rest will be here by thursday except for the ssd. I need to find out the deal and if they were able to cancel my order since I will order the same drive direct from OWC with overevening shipping and still save. |
| Basil Forshee 24.04.2012 | Hmm, at the moment, I believe I'll just hook up my MBP to my Full HD monitor and upgrade from 4 to 8 gb. In the future, I'll consider the purchase of a desktop Mac - if they shouldn't be discontinued. It's just too much hassle... |
| Jenae Hensarling 24.04.2012 | Ive built 3 Hacks in the past months, good luck with your build. I've never seen "kakewalk" before but it seems pretty straight forward. All of my builds used Unibeast/Mulitbeast with a DSDT file. Things to remember. USB 3.0 will never function as intended. Wireless internet is a PITA to get working. I built a hacked airport card out of a Apple broadcom chip. There are guides on the net. Fairly easy and cheap. ~ 30$. I highly recommend you build and buy parts of ebay if you're going wireless. Blue Tooth can be a serious pain too. Check Wikipedia for guides on which BT dongles work and function, som may not support magic mouse/trackpad. I gave up on that pipe dream, just use a regular mouse/keyboard. Sleep functions can be tricky to get functioning too. Maybe this is irrelevant with a Gigabyte board, not sure. To enable trim or not to enable trim with a SSD? Are you installing Lion? If so, the only way to get a fresh "semi" legal copy is to install SL first then launch app store and buy the 30$ upgrade to Lion. Maybe "kake" has a different way of getting you to install Lion but this is the only method I'm aware of. That is all I can believe of right now. Enjoy your build and expect to run into problems. You will at some point have to trouble shoot and figure out what is causing problems. |
| Romelia Stankard 24.04.2012 | I made the mistake of ordering the OWC drive through some small seller on amazon with the rest of my amazon stuff and it still hasn't shipped, I'm trying to cancel it since I found the same driver for cheaper with next day air shipping from OWC. If you're going to be an online seller you really need to ship same or next day and anything else is unacceptable. |
| Romelia Stankard 23.04.2012 | Yeah, I can't wait this is overdue. So most of this stuff is getting delivered here tomorrow except for the case which got shipped from newegg out of new jersey and will be here weds. Can't wait to start building, hopefully kakewalk is painless. I grabbed a wired apple keyboard yesterday and am holding off on picking up a magic mouse or anything since I hear some USB bluetooth adapters have problems and the only one with full compatibility is discontinued and sells for like $40 secondhand, but some people don't have any issues with any adapters. I don't even know if a magic mouse is worth grabbing, they look cool and it's a neat idea but the ergonomics kind of suck. |
| Dorie Scelzo 23.04.2012 | Yeah…I might have to do this at some point. $1200 for a quad-core i7 that runs lion would be really hard to say no to. The only thing that would hold me back–when I'm in the market–would be the fact that if something goes wrong…I'd be stuck with a computer that would end up running Linux and wouldn't be anything like the Linux machine I would build. If/when I run into issues, I believe I'll probably just shove 16GB of ram in my laptop and hope for the best. |
| Romelia Stankard 22.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by Patch
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| Kandra Fagler 22.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by CionniAsDj
im believeing of building a crazy ultra fast desktop pc (as i described in the other thread here but use windows 7 64 bit on it, i will really miss logic but i will still have my imac / macbook pro to run logic, i can still run my Cubase 6.5 / Ableton on the windows pc |
| Somer Vanstraten 22.04.2012 | After using a hackintosh for over a year, I ended up buying a Mac. No more random kernel panic error or handwritten fixed kext after an upgrade. If you can clone a Mac pro hardware would be perfect |
| Brunilda Kora 22.04.2012 | Just checked out the Kakewalk site - DAMN! Their Pro (Hackintosh capable) machine looks fookin' awesome! I could see myself going this route at some point, and having a dual-boot Win7/Lion machine... |
| Branden Wentler 22.04.2012 | Hey Xone there's a thread on the ars technica community s' Macintosh area regarding hackintosh you may want to check out if you hit any bumps in the road setting up your build. I've been on the community s there for about ten years and they have a good bit of technical know-how pooled over the years--a pretty consistent lot. |
| Romelia Stankard 21.04.2012 | I just priced out a similar mac pro from apple and it would be $4000 and still not as good specs |
| Basil Forshee 21.04.2012 | Great! I'm thrilled to hear about it . Today I've just found out that all the components of my custom made PC (Intel Core i5 760, Gigabyte P55A-UD3, MSI GTX 460 Hawk) are compatible with MultiBeast! So tomorrow I'm gonna try and make the Hackintosh thing work. If it will work, I am planning to write a thread about it. |
| Romelia Stankard 21.04.2012 | ordered. came to like $1250, can't wait. hopefully the hackintosh install isn't too bad I plan on using Kakewalk which is apparently as simple as it gets and all the kexts are preloaded so you don't have to mess with any of that stuff. |
| Romelia Stankard 21.04.2012 | So I've got my final build cost down to $1200 shipped then $50 in mail in rebates (which I will probably forget to use) not including $30 for lion plus whatever for an apple keyboard/mouse I'm about to pull the trigger on it soon |
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