Hi there,
I plan to move my MacPro into separate room to reduce noise in the home studio. Do you guys have any experience with KVM/Audio/Video extenders? Or: can I just use loooong cables (about 5 meters)? What problems/latency/artifacts should I expect?
Thanks for your input!
All the best
TQ
Computer in separate room / KVM + video/audio extenders
-
- KVRAF
- 2070 posts since 5 Oct, 2005
Yes and none.tq wrote: can I just use loooong cables (about 5 meters)? What problems/latency/artifacts should I expect?
Biggest problem is having to go into the other room to power up or insert discs when your feeling a bit lazy.
-
- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 1074 posts since 23 Apr, 2003
Acid Mitch wrote:
Yes and none.
Biggest problem is having to go into the other room to power up or insert discs when your feeling a bit lazy.
Well, I heard it's healthy to stretch one's legs once in a while....
Thanks for the input so far.
-
- Pick Me Pick me!
- 10242 posts since 12 Mar, 2002 from a state of confusion
Outside of recording with microphones.. what would be the advantage?
Does the whirl of your cpu fan really make a difference in mixing or even mastering? (real question)
Does the whirl of your cpu fan really make a difference in mixing or even mastering? (real question)
-
- KVRAF
- 1895 posts since 13 Oct, 2002
The quiet is a definite advantage. Yes about the fan whirling! Any noise not meant to be there will affect what you're hearing. You could easily be trying EQ something out of your audio and not realize it's not in your audio. Plus you don't have to spend any money on any cooling paraphernalia and the computers can run with their fans full on and remain cool and comfortable.VitaminD wrote:Outside of recording with microphones.. what would be the advantage?
Does the whirl of your cpu fan really make a difference in mixing or even mastering? (real question)
@tq:
I used long 25' heavily shielded cables because I needed DVI-DL for 2560x1600 connections. That's actually out of spec (max is technically 16') but because these cables are so well shielded it worked for me. Today you can get HDMI cables that are a lot longer and easier to manage, and use DVI adapters. HDMI wasn't as cheap and popular when I set this up and the 4k-rated cables I would need didn't exist back then. Don't skimp on the cables: poorly shielded cables will result in visual artifacts on your screen like shimmering or pixelation. I don't know about Display Port, if that's what you need.
As for the KVM, my monitor has 3 DVI inputs that can be switched from the front panel. And for mouse and keyboard I use Synergy which is free and compatible to Mac, PC and Linux. You set up one of the computers to be the server for mouse and keyboard and the others as clients. You can operate it different ways. I use the mouse to "travel" from one computer to the other (the screens are positioned virtually whichever way you want them) and then use scroll-lock to keep it on the one I want to work on. These two make up my KVM solution and I've been using this set up for many years.
I run all my other connections through the wall. My converters are on the workspace side, so all my audio connections are in the workspace. I have a USB hub on my desk for the keyboard, mouse, memory cards, and whatever else I need to connect.
The one thing that can be awkward is if you need to troubleshoot something. I got a cheap 2nd hand 17" LCD that I keep in the computer room for that purpose.
It was a little troublesome to set up but I don't think I could ever go back to having my computers in my workspace.
-
- KVRAF
- 2236 posts since 25 Dec, 2005
i have my comp in another room.
using two 5 meter monitor (in this case vga and dvi) extension cables without problems.
i have one powered usb hub for my midi controllers and two 5 meter usb repeater cables for the keyboard/mouse and other usb stuff, (using them for the powered hub as well).
without the repeater some usb devices are maybe not "well recognized" if i can say it like that.
using two 5 meter monitor (in this case vga and dvi) extension cables without problems.
i have one powered usb hub for my midi controllers and two 5 meter usb repeater cables for the keyboard/mouse and other usb stuff, (using them for the powered hub as well).
without the repeater some usb devices are maybe not "well recognized" if i can say it like that.
-
- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 1074 posts since 23 Apr, 2003
Thanks for the additional input!
To the ones that doubt the necessity of having an inaudible setup: Well, perceptions of noise are different, and the project room is really quiet, so you hear really everything, even if it's not that loud. In addition to this, I have Tinnitus (for 15 years now), and the fan noises are really getting on my nerves in a literal sense, as they interact with my ear noises (similar frequency, but not masking the Tinnitus). I am pretty sure that other people won't perceive the noise emission of my machine the same way I do, but I have to live with my own pair of ears - it's the only one I have
.
Btw, there is already an SSD in my Mac, but I have two additional HDs in there for samples and recordings. They cannot be replaced by a SSD, at least for the time being, as they are much too big (2 x 2 TB). Fans in the MacPro are already supposed to be silent, and I heard stories of people who replaced the original fans with so-called 'silent' fans - with the results of an even louder system. I actually gave up on the idea of silencing the machine itself, and I also gave up experimenting with iso boxes (built a passive one years ago, but the system ran really hot; and if you add fans to the iso box, you end up with noise emission again... and professional boxes with heat pipes are really expensive/hard to build in a proper way).
I also had a different thread here on KvR, asking about silent alternatives to the MacPro, and the feedback wasn't really reassuring... So I guess moving the computer to a different room is an attractive alternative, as it will solve my problems, and it seems to be a comparably low-cost solution (at least when judging from the feedback here).
All the best
TQ
To the ones that doubt the necessity of having an inaudible setup: Well, perceptions of noise are different, and the project room is really quiet, so you hear really everything, even if it's not that loud. In addition to this, I have Tinnitus (for 15 years now), and the fan noises are really getting on my nerves in a literal sense, as they interact with my ear noises (similar frequency, but not masking the Tinnitus). I am pretty sure that other people won't perceive the noise emission of my machine the same way I do, but I have to live with my own pair of ears - it's the only one I have
. Btw, there is already an SSD in my Mac, but I have two additional HDs in there for samples and recordings. They cannot be replaced by a SSD, at least for the time being, as they are much too big (2 x 2 TB). Fans in the MacPro are already supposed to be silent, and I heard stories of people who replaced the original fans with so-called 'silent' fans - with the results of an even louder system. I actually gave up on the idea of silencing the machine itself, and I also gave up experimenting with iso boxes (built a passive one years ago, but the system ran really hot; and if you add fans to the iso box, you end up with noise emission again... and professional boxes with heat pipes are really expensive/hard to build in a proper way).
I also had a different thread here on KvR, asking about silent alternatives to the MacPro, and the feedback wasn't really reassuring... So I guess moving the computer to a different room is an attractive alternative, as it will solve my problems, and it seems to be a comparably low-cost solution (at least when judging from the feedback here).
All the best
TQ