I turned my Open Labs Miko into a "supercomputer"

N

ninogigi

New member
I own a Open Labs Miko TSE, I do audio and video for a living so I wanted to build a monster and that is what I did:

Bought UAD Duo Quad (All the Neve's) Waves Platinum and API&SSL. SSL Duende (Both Firewire and PCIe). Over 1,000,000 sounds on keyboard.

On the unit I only have 1TB storage (2 stock 500MB drives) But attached I have a 10TB "software based" RAID. I just finished putting in another hardware RAID that is 50TB of storage (video takes up a lot of space)

Via Nvidea CUDA technology I am running some of my graphics programs at 4 teraflop speeds! The public may not see that type of speed for 5-10 years.

So the way my Miko is set up

PCI slot-Wifi wirless card (getting rid of and will connect a USB Wifi)
PCIe 4x slot- The Raid connection card (software based raid)
PCIe 4x slot- UAD Quad Duo (Neve's)
PCIe 16x Slot-Expansion Chassis (Nvidia 4 Teraflop CUDA system, another 50TB raid/hardware based)

Have a firewire SSL Duende connected also (and I own a PCIe Duende)

This runs like a beast...:bat:

So if anybody tells you "it's just a computer and controller with freeware plugs" they have no clue of what they are talking about.


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I know you said that as a joke but my system has the specs to do DNA sequencing! No Joke.
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Did you upgrade the CPU on the Miko? Or are you still running the Core 2 Duo that it came with? Also, what kind (amount and speed) of RAM you working with? SOunds like a pimpin' system for sure?

Did you have any issues doing any of the upgrades? Because of the layout of the board, MOBO, etc...? I would appreciate it if you would let us know of any specific issues or things you ran into that may limit "Futureproofing" or upgrading Open Labs stuff?

The reason I am asking is because I am seriously considering getting a DBeat for a mobile based system? I am getting more and more people asking me to do things on the go, commercials, recordings at certain places, etc.... I have a system now that I use but I admit it would be extra dope to have the Miko or DBeat and a Mic and be done with it! That would be so sweet. I would have two sets of cables, so I could do sort of a quick disconnect and then have extra power cables, USB Cables, etc... in the mobile bag with a USB Mic (already have the Blue Snowball and love it) and bring a high end mic for vocals when needed (which is not that often).

The only reservation I have is: I am a Mac guy through and through! I know that Open Labs uses a system where Windows is optimized for Audio & Video Production, but I still am a little leery because if the cost and if I hate it I will loose a ton of $ (Used market sucks right now!).

Currently I have: Home Studio System: Mac Pro Octo-Core- 2 - 2.66GHz Quad Core Xeon Nehalem Processors with 16GB of 1066MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM with 1.64 TB Hard Disk Space - 1 - 640GB Main Drive and 1 - 1TB Storage Drive and I run a 500GB External Firewire 800 Hard Drive as Backup for my Music, Pictures and main info.

Mobile Rig: MacBook Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13 GHz with 4GB or DDR2 800MHZ RAM and 250GB Hard Drive running at 7200RPM. Both units are running Mac OSX 10.5.8 and I use Logic Studio 8 and Ableton Live 8 as my main DAW's. Mostly I use Ableton, Logic I am still learning, so I would be cool with just Ableton on the DBeat or MIKO if I got one.

Sorry for rambling on, I just wanted to know how you think the Open Labs unit would run compared to what I am using now (Mainly my mobile rig), and get you input on the upgrade stuff?

Thanks Bruh!

ONE
 
kcsherrell@mac.com said:
Did you upgrade the CPU on the Miko? Or are you still running the Core 2 Duo that it came with? Also, what kind (amount and speed) of RAM you working with? SOunds like a pimpin' system for sure?

Did you have any issues doing any of the upgrades? Because of the layout of the board, MOBO, etc...? I would appreciate it if you would let us know of any specific issues or things you ran into that may limit "Futureproofing" or upgrading Open Labs stuff?

The reason I am asking is because I am seriously considering getting a DBeat for a mobile based system? I am getting more and more people asking me to do things on the go, commercials, recordings at certain places, etc.... I have a system now that I use but I admit it would be extra dope to have the Miko or DBeat and a Mic and be done with it! That would be so sweet. I would have two sets of cables, so I could do sort of a quick disconnect and then have extra power cables, USB Cables, etc... in the mobile bag with a USB Mic (already have the Blue Snowball and love it) and bring a high end mic for vocals when needed (which is not that often).

The only reservation I have is: I am a Mac guy through and through! I know that Open Labs uses a system where Windows is optimized for Audio & Video Production, but I still am a little leery because if the cost and if I hate it I will loose a ton of $ (Used market sucks right now!).

Currently I have: Home Studio System: Mac Pro Octo-Core- 2 - 2.66GHz Quad Core Xeon Nehalem Processors with 16GB of 1066MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM with 1.64 TB Hard Disk Space - 1 - 640GB Main Drive and 1 - 1TB Storage Drive and I run a 500GB External Firewire 800 Hard Drive as Backup for my Music, Pictures and main info.

Mobile Rig: MacBook Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13 GHz with 4GB or DDR2 800MHZ RAM and 250GB Hard Drive running at 7200RPM. Both units are running Mac OSX 10.5.8 and I use Logic Studio 8 and Ableton Live 8 as my main DAW's. Mostly I use Ableton, Logic I am still learning, so I would be cool with just Ableton on the DBeat or MIKO if I got one.

Sorry for rambling on, I just wanted to know how you think the Open Labs unit would run compared to what I am using now (Mainly my mobile rig), and get you input on the upgrade stuff?

Thanks Bruh!

ONE
Click to expand...

It's more of an upgrade than a total rebuild. My i7 rackmount I also own is my pure speed demon but overall the Miko kicks its butt and brings me home my money daily. So I kind of left the core of the system stock on purpose. My i7 sits around all like a jealous woman until I get off the Miko and give it (i7 Rack) a little video rendering task or some B.S. so it won't feel lonely.

If you look at my upgrades I am more or less "bringing" things to the Miko system than taking away. I can't say enough about what the OL people did on the programming side.

If some of you guys know your synth history, I look at the Miko/Neko lines as a modern version of the SYNCLAVIER.

Dbeat is dope too, but you have to look at it as a long term investment. That is a very tough call based on what you are telling me Dbeat or Miko (your size/transport needs determine that). I would say go with Miko just for the "wow" advantage, plus I play keys so Dbeat can't work for me at least...I hate when people say "wow" don't enter equation with clients, to me it most certainly does. The Miko is not tiny, but it is AN ENTIRE STUDIO, so in that context it is not bad at all to move. I took the cheap route on the case for a minute had a company in NY build me a case for $150 bucks, but hey its ATA certified and my Miko has been around the world. But soon as I get a minute I do need to get one of those $700 cases.

When I bought mine I was thinking this is it for me for big ticket stuff for 5-7 years (minus any factory updates I might do). If a person wants to buy this thinking about selling it I would tell them not to buy it at all. This is an investment in your future.

Now the systems you have now sound hot to death but this is what happened to me when I got the Miko...I ended up selling almost everything else (music wise) I had.

I could afford to keep but it all just sat there, as I get older I HATE clutter. I sold consoles, tons of hardware synths, left my studio lease in NYC.

On the real, I really need to sell all my computer gear and just keep maybe a laptop and one of my little netbooks to tote around. I spend 90% of my computing time right on my Miko.

Word to the wise, MAKE SURE WHATEVER YOU HAVE GET IT INSURED!


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ninogigi said:
It's more of an upgrade than a total rebuild. My i7 rackmount I also own is my pure speed demon but overall the Miko kicks its butt and brings me home my money daily. So I kind of left the core of the system stock on purpose. My i7 sits around all like a jealous woman until I get off the Miko and give it (i7 Rack) a little video rendering task or some B.S. so it won't feel lonely.

If you look at my upgrades I am more or less "bringing" things to the Miko system than taking away. I can't say enough about what the OL people did on the programming side.

If some of you guys know your synth history, I look at the Miko/Neko lines as a modern version of the SYNCLAVIER.

Dbeat is dope too, but you have to look at it as a long term investment. That is a very tough call based on what you are telling me Dbeat or Miko (your size/transport needs determine that). I would say go with Miko just for the "wow" advantage, plus I play keys so Dbeat can't work for me at least...I hate when people say "wow" don't enter equation with clients, to me it most certainly does. The Miko is not tiny, but it is AN ENTIRE STUDIO, so in that context it is not bad at all to move. I took the cheap route on the case for a minute had a company in NY build me a case for $150 bucks, but hey its ATA certified and my Miko has been around the world. But soon as I get a minute I do need to get one of those $700 cases.

When I bought mine I was thinking this is it for me for big ticket stuff for 5-7 years (minus any factory updates I might do). If a person wants to buy this thinking about selling it I would tell them not to buy it at all. This is an investment in your future.

Now the systems you have now sound hot to death but this is what happened to me when I got the Miko...I ended up selling almost everything else (music wise) I had.

I could afford to keep but it all just sat there, as I get older I HATE clutter. I sold consoles, tons of hardware synths, left my studio lease in NYC.

On the real, I really need to sell all my computer gear and just keep maybe a laptop and one of my little netbooks to tote around. I spend 90% of my computing time right on my Miko.

Word to the wise, MAKE SURE WHATEVER YOU HAVE GET IT INSURED!


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Click to expand...

I appreciate the feedback! So, you really didn't upgrade the processor or anything like that? From what you did, do you think Processor and MOBO upgrades are doable in the MIKO? If so, its a wrap! I mean, if they are upgradable than the cost doesn't bother me as much, its just thinking that in 2 years, a Core 2 Duo will be like a Pentium 4 now? I look at it long term too and that's why I am wondering about upgradability?

Thanks!
 
ummm... hate to rain on your parade... but a) you dont have a "super" computer... supercomputers are quote Any computer that has a far greater processing power than others of its day; typically they use more than 1 core and are housed in large clean rooms with high air flow to permit cooling. Typical uses are weather forecasting, nuclear simulations and animations... yours does not... you just have a regular computer with a s#it load of storage... which is good... but do you have the power supply necessary to run all those SATA RAIDs without them failing and you losing all your data in one fail swoop??? I saw all this othe stuff upgraded... except a power supply... you have to remember that more is not always better, and the more electronics you add the more wattage you need to run them... so lets see 3 PCIe slots all in use... thats gonna cost ya... then the PCI slot, and the extra storage... all im saying is you need to up ur power supply as well while you're adding all these bells and whistles to you "supercomputer"... or youll end up with 50G's worth of paper weights... and thats so not cool :^)
 
TracAssassinLokk said:
ummm... hate to rain on your parade... but a) you dont have a "super" computer... supercomputers are quote Any computer that has a far greater processing power than others of its day; typically they use more than 1 core and are housed in large clean rooms with high air flow to permit cooling. Typical uses are weather forecasting, nuclear simulations and animations... yours does not... you just have a regular computer with a s#it load of storage... which is good... but do you have the power supply necessary to run all those SATA RAIDs without them failing and you losing all your data in one fail swoop??? I saw all this othe stuff upgraded... except a power supply... you have to remember that more is not always better, and the more electronics you add the more wattage you need to run them... so lets see 3 PCIe slots all in use... thats gonna cost ya... then the PCI slot, and the extra storage... all im saying is you need to up ur power supply as well while you're adding all these bells and whistles to you "supercomputer"... or youll end up with 50G's worth of paper weights... and thats so not cool :^)
Click to expand...

No offense but you don't know what you're talking about, the NVidia CUDA Tesla upgrade I added runs at 4 teraflops processing speed utilizing 240 parallel GPU processors...Those are the SAME supercomputing systems currently being used for Nuclear Weapon Simulations (In Clustered environments) by a number of nations and universities. I was inducted in Who's Who of Information technology a decade ago (at time the only black person that year). I owned a custom computer "whitebox"/building company years back that was sold to a Middle East company (Bahrain) for serious money. I have two bachelor degrees and graduate studies in multiple fields. Do your research. Just because I love Hip Hop and music production does not mean I am on FP joking around. I want to show people the awesome potential of the stuff we sometimes mistake for toys.

P.S.
PCI slots are upgraded or expanded everyday via expansion chassis', you could probably go on ebay now and buy one. The footnote there is that there is a buss bottleneck problem (i7's are a little better in this area)...in other words these consumer motherboards can't run at the speeds I am upgrading to, but I don't care I just want the meanest media machine possible.

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I want to also mention that I am not a OL "shill" or "plant" they have not paid or given me crap, and I just love what they have. A little FYI on the shill game is that it is over for anybody who comes on blogs and talk about how great something is without disclosure...this just came out:





Bloggers Must Disclose Payments for Reviews

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 5, 2009
Filed at 10:33 a.m. ET

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The Federal Trade Commission will require bloggers to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products.

It is the first time since 1980 that the commission has revised its guidelines on endorsements and testimonials, and the first time the rules have covered bloggers.

But the commission stopped short Monday of specifying how bloggers must disclose any conflicts of interest.

The FTC said its commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the final guidelines, which had been expected. Penalties include up to $11,000 in fines per violation.

The rules take effect Dec. 1.

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MimikOctopus said:
What on Earth are you doing that you need a tesla graphics setup?
Click to expand...


Mainly video encoding and rendering. I do stuff for a few studios a lot quicker than if they use the Silicon Graphics stuff. I also us it a lot for the new Adobe product suites (they now have native support for CUDA) for my personal stuff it saves me hours of time worth every penny.

On the music side, you will see slowly companies enable CUDA....the incredible Nebula Plug has support but I have yet to use is for that application.
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ninogigi said:
No offense but you don't know what you're talking about, the NVidia CUDA Tesla upgrade I added runs at 4 teraflops processing speed utilizing 240 parallel GPU processors...Those are the SAME supercomputing systems currently being used for Nuclear Weapon Simulations (In Clustered environments) by a number of nations and universities. I was inducted in Who's Who of Information technology a decade ago (at time the only black person that year). I owned a custom computer "whitebox"/building company years back that was sold to a Middle East company (Bahrain) for serious money. I have two bachelor degrees and graduate studies in multiple fields. Do your research. Just because I love Hip Hop and music production does not mean I am on FP joking around. I want to show people the awesome potential of the stuff we sometimes mistake for toys.

P.S.
PCI slots are upgraded or expanded everyday via expansion chassis', you could probably go on ebay now and buy one. The footnote there is that there is a buss bottleneck problem (i7's are a little better in this area)...in other words these consumer motherboards can't run at the speeds I am upgrading to, but I don't care I just want the meanest media machine possible.

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So wait adding a suped-up GPU makes your entire system a super-computer??? and i really dont care about your degrees... sorry i just dont... you still havent addressed the power issue... you completely ignored that part... are you insinuating that you wont need more power for the super GPU... or did I miss something???

Also whats this hidden code in your msg that I just quoted???

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minus the greater than and less than signs...
 
TracAssassinLokk said:
So wait adding a suped-up GPU makes your entire system a super-computer??? and i really dont care about your degrees... sorry i just dont... you still havent addressed the power issue... you completely ignored that part... are you insinuating that you wont need more power for the super GPU... or did I miss something???

Also whats this hidden code in your msg that I just quoted???

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minus the greater than and less than signs...
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I have my Hewlett Packard Scientific Calculator ready, thick glasses ready, and my trusty pocket pen protector! You just started a nerd war!

My studio runs fully conditioned direct line power (I bypass regular breaker box to be sure to eliminate ground lifts, spikes and the dreaded 60hz hum) So I run "direct" more or less, with no other appliances to muck up my power. I am actually working on some cloud based remote power management schemes to have full control of the electricity in my studio. Bluebolt stuff coming out next by furman was my template but I am using something entirely different. But yes it's IP control based.

So short story is that I left my Miko largely intact did not up any power supplies or do crazy overclocking stuff, which as you hinted would be forcing me to swap out the Open labs power supply for something with more balls.

If you look at the way I am getting my computer to that self proclaimed "supercomputer" status you are very right the Tesla is the key. It is a "softer" approach than rebuilding the whole machine from the ground up. The Miko is the "interface" to supercomputing levels. You are letting one of my secrets out by accident which is that I am trying to acquire a Miko Chassis and play around for my part Two of creating a monster media machine....dont have time for that crap right now.

The code you quoted is java script code (no fault of my own) that seems to be a problem with Firefox 3.0 browsers, it occurs when a person is on a forum and deletes a particular section and then for what ever reason (non malicious intent) the browser re-interjects that scrip call. It is a problem that the open source community of Mozilla is aware of and should have fixed in new few revisions of browser. Seems to occur more in the richtext editing functions of particular forums more than anything.

I could help them de-bug it but I stopped programming on any serious level years ago I did delete a link in my post about the author of the announcement of the folks pulling in on being paid to hustle gear on forums. Future Producer forums does not let new users (which I am) include any outside links for new users which is kind of smart.

But just to make you feel better (or less paranoid) I will send Mozilla my feelings on it which I think is not tied to the browser code itself but perhaps so of the add-ons that are incorporated. It could a auto-fill feature or something as simple a web-page highlighter. Then the rich text editor gets tied into the mess.

What Mozilla (and I) needs to do is delete some of my add-ons and strip the core by starting firefox in safe mode then do a rebuild from there, test the glitch I described as above then "force" the browser to show bug and then once you isolate it then rebuild the browser back up.

So you statement "So wait adding a suped-up GPU makes your entire system a super-computer???" in one way is true, but in a very logical way is not. For example does your CPU make what you have "your" computer or is it the hard drive(s) or in a fundemental way is it the power supply? So in that context, and in line of what makes a computer a computer; it is the perfect union of the parts working in synch in my humble view.

So if you look at what I have done from a philosophical rather than technical perspective, I am just showing the path...it is for those who choose to follow.

Now lets make some hit records.

You're up>>>:cheers:

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I think the easiest way to explain it is that GPUs have become insanely powerful. CUDA is a way of using a GPU to do general CPU computations , CUDA accelerated software is written to take advantage of all the cores, and the tesla systems are what 240 cores per processor? GPUs are pretty programmable.

Anyway, yeah it's basically a desktop supercomputer capable of crunching huge data sets. At least I think I know what I'm talking about. And yes, for rendering and stuff every few seconds per frame really adds up. I remember how vital it was in college (computer animation) to shave a few seconds off per frame to get stuff done in a reasonable timeframe (we didn't have render farms, it was all done locally). 1000s of frames out of Maya on a 1.8ghz Athalon. Them's were the days.
 
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MimikOctopus said:
I think the easiest way to explain it is that GPUs have become insanely powerful. CUDA is a way of using a GPU to do general CPU computations , CUDA accelerated software is written to take advantage of all the cores, and the tesla systems are what 240 cores per processor? GPUs are pretty programmable.

Anyway, yeah it's basically a desktop supercomputer capable of crunching huge data sets. At least I think I know what I'm talking about. And yes, for rendering and stuff every few seconds per frame really adds up. I remember how vital it was in college (computer animation) to shave a few seconds off per frame to get stuff done in a reasonable timeframe (we didn't have render farms, it was all done locally). 1000s of frames out of Maya on a 1.8ghz Athalon. Them's were the days.
Click to expand...


RIGHT ON!

That is a very clear way at looking at it...So to sum up so everybody can get something positive from my whole thread:


  • Some mind blowing products are on the market (Not Just Open Labs)

  • Supercomputing has hit desktops (Albeit still kind of expensive)
  • The philosophical question of "what really makes a computer?" Which part?
  • By bringing the topic of power of GPU processing to the "masses", maybe we can force manufacturers to adopt it faster (Enable it in our software and code)
  • I am at the extreme end of GPU enhancement in a desktop but if one were to research the topic, almost anyone can have it. (But applications are still limited)
P.S.
Thanks to every single person who participated in reading or posting in this thread, you guys are great!
:sing:




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