Snow Leopard experience

[jon]

I use trim the fat as it's free but not yet checked if it's SL compatible. Do you know if there is anything to be gained sonically from using 64 bit ? The processor in the core duo is one of the few that isn't soldered and hence upgradable.

 

[Tog]

Running SL on an Imac, old and new mbp and I think there is a definite improvement in sound .. subjective perhaps but ther nonetheless to these small fluffy ears.

 

More importantly Max is back 0.9.2 .. SL bugs fixed pronto by the guys at sbooth!

 

yours, mightily impressed, tog

 

[cfmsp]

 

"Do you know if there is anything to be gained sonically from using 64 bit ?"

 

That's the $64,000 question.

 

There is conjecture - started by the lead developer of Amarra - that the extra precision(**) available within Amarra at least partially accounts for it's improvement in sound (as compared to iTunes). Theoretically, if/when iTunes is upgraded to 64 bit app, there may be sonic gains that will reduce the gap between iTunes and Amarra.

Amarra has also claimed latency as a potential source of the sound improvements, and 64-bit 'throughput' might also provide decreased latency.

 

We'll know more when iTunes is available as 64-bit I think.

 

clay

 

** (for more info on double precision floating point,

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_precision_floating-point_format )

 

 

[jon]

Has anyone tried playing audio back through qt as this is now 64 bit? Any improvements on iTunes?

 

[cfmsp]

 

 

I haven't tried QT, hopefully someone else has/will?

 

The real question is whether the Core Audio framework/components (which sit underneath QT) have been updated to 64-bit. QT is considered more as a video engine by Apple at this point, and I'm fairly sure that it is now 64 bit due to advantages gained from rewriting the video processing frameworks/functions in 64-bit. Who knows about the Audio functions.

 

Interestingly, there is a new 'Info' feature in Audio Midi Setup - in preferences - which lists all the version numbers for the CoreAudio frameworks and components. Without a basis for comparison (i.e. this feature didn't exist before SL), it's hard to tell what has been updated this time, but if you write down the versions and compare to when the next version of iTunes comes out, perhaps this would be useful information.

 

Clay

 

 

 

 

[indirstr8s]

what is headless macbook pro...

 

[cfmsp]

 

 

Sanjay,

 

My macbook Pro is headless due to incurring a display problem that I couldn't fix (and for which Apple recommended a motherboard replacement).

 

I went for broke in a valiant attempt to fix it - completely disassembling the entire display - but ultimately I couldn't fix it, and the prospect of trying to put 'humpty' back together again was not pleasant....so, I didn't include the display / laptop cover when I put it back together, thus avoiding approx 25 tiny screws and fasteners.

 

Actually I just ordered a Mini with 4Gb from the Apple Education store for $684 to replace the 'headless' macbook Pro. There's a refurbished Mini model in stock now as well, but it's the older style with the slower front-side bus, and the 2Gb RAM limit. I almost didn't buy a Mini due to its 4 Gb RAM limit.

 

Too much information, probably, but that's the story.

 

clay

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wavelength]

Gang,

 

There are not enough 64 bit apps to really make a difference right now. So going there today is kind of a waste of time.

 

The good news is they provided a road map for developers who have already realized that using a 32 bit environment for audio is not going to cut it when we go to 32 bit devices.

 

Thanks

Gordon

 

[cfmsp]

 

 

"The good news is they provided a road map for developers who have already realized that using a 32 bit environment for audio is not going to cut it when we go to 32 bit devices."

 

Presumably the need for greater than 32 bit is due to the mathematical precision needed for algorithms and whatnot.

 

Is there anything else that 64bit offers? Is reduced latency really that much of an impact?

 

thanks

Clay