Hi!
i guess this is the place for answers!!
we have a SSL9000 in the studio, working with Avid I/O , Etc hooked up into a Mac Tower.
I use cubase 7 in my mac book pro, and i have my sessions. I want to mix using cubase 7, but they wont let me install it on the Mac tower, soooooo, is there any way to hook up my MBP in target disk mode and boot that HD in the Mac tower? plug the elicenser on the mac tower and install the Avid Core drivers?
have this been done before?
thanks for the advice!
It seems theoretically possible to boot the tower from the MBP in Target Disk Mode. If that were the case, you’d have to install the Avid Core drivers onto the MBP before the Target Disk boot. The dongle would most likely remain in the MPB. However, there have been issues with Avid Core drivers…and this plan may result in failure…simply because the drivers are not actually tied to the machine that is driving the ProTools I/O feeding the SSL. I dunno. Seem dicey at best.
That said, if it were me, I wouldn’t even bother with Cubase in this situation. I’d render (meaning: export them using the same overall song-length L/R markers) the tracks (with FX Inserts where applicable) to .WAV files and just bring them into the studio’s ProTools system and enjoy mixing through a fabulous sounding automated analog console and what that always brings to the final mix.
In any event, I would prepare all the Cubase tracks as rendered files before I went in to mix, just in case Plan A fails miserably. Studio time is quite expensive. Anything you can do to save time will keep you from killing your budget.
What has the studio suggested?
Oh wow. Good luck with that!!!
I think you’re ultimately going to be exporting stems, but it might work. However, your MBPro needs to have the driers it needs to boot the tower. If your laptop is not on the most current point release of OSX, search Apple’s website for the 10.8.2 Combo Updater, and install it, which will include those driers. Then install whatever AVID drivers you need onto the MBPro, put the MBPro into Target Disk mode, connect with firewire, hold down option when you boot the tower, and select the MBPro. The dongle will be connected to the tower.
Interesting thread; please keep updating progress/results when you can Said Saba…!
I have another sneaky idea! get a cheap sata drive, install system, cubase and extensions using your Macbook “have it in a case”, in the studio, take the drive out of the case and plug it inside the Mac Pro , it should boot and work if you have the latest software and OS.
once i was working in a studio with a massive protools setup running with an HP workstation, the thing kept crashing with the blue screen and they had a Mac Pro tower for word processing! i did a silent swap overnight, with a freshly prepared mac drive at home, "to avoid conflicts with the engineering department…"everything worked on the first boot and they happily lived ever after… 
Thanks for all the inputs!!
it will take a long time to test this… i am just having an idea of what to do when i get there!
the idea of having an exclusive drive with the os seems the best to do! that way i dont need the MBP at all!
BUT! i have 2 drives in my MBP, one SSD for os and apps and other for audio, so target disk mode will boot from the SSD (super fast on the mac tower) and the Audio drive will show there too…
anyway, ill try the stated before when i get to the studio, just wanted to know if what i dreamed, was possible!
thanks guys!
well… i finally got the chance to try this out…
since the Mac pro in the studio is a 1,1 , it can only run up to 10.7.5 OSX, so i had to make a partition on my external hard drive, and install a version of lion there, with cubase, avid core drivers, etc…
so it boot, everything was okay… BUT, cubase only recognized 1 of the 3 HD192 interfaces…
and still, only 8 in and 8 out where available…
i was reading about this and they say thats the limitation, avid core audio driver recognizes the 3 interfaces, and 16 in out for each of them, but not cubase… so i had to do stem mixing, which kind of sucks…
if anyone have a solution, i will appreciate it!
thanks
Kool thread.
I’ll be watching.
Never thought ‘Target Disc Mode’ designed was for anything other
than quickly moving files/apps from one
'puter to another.
Nice usage guys.
{’-’}