Topic: JB3 on a Mac using Virtual PC.

[bluegrass_brad]

Curious if anyone has tried this yet?  I emailed Creative and they got back and said that they thought it "should" work, but had never tried it.  So now Im curious.  I REALLY REALLY want to get rid of my DAT, and the ease of transfer cant be beat. Im going to be recording all the YMSB shows now on my laptop, but there I have the conveniance of having plenty of space, no drunks (except myself and the band), and AC at my Monitor desk. For taping shows Im not working I would really like something small, that will fit in my sonicase that I could integrate ionto my existing Pre and AD system. I like running FOB so laptops really wont do for my hobby taping.  I have an older PC (Dell 400mhz Celeron) which I still use as my DAT > FLAC machine. It only has USB 1, no Firewire or USB 2. And all my PCI slots are being used. So My PC wont really do it.  all the rest of my computing is done on either a Powerbook G4 or a G4 dual processor desktop. I recently got Virtual PC with Windows 2000. So...Anyone tried this, I cant have been the first to think of it, Im way too dumb.
Brad

[ChrisV]

Anyway to grab a card on Ebay that has dual USB 2.0/Firewire to replace the USB 1.1?   They can be had for pretty cheap...I have a Dell 450 Mhz w/ Win 98SE and that is what I did.   That'd probably be the way to go if by chance the Virtual PC doesn't work out.

[bluegrass_brad]

The USB 1.1 is onboard.  my PCI slots are taken up by a modem, A digi soundcard (Zoltrix with digi daughterboard.  Takes up two spaces so renders one PCI slot unusable).  I guess I could ditch the modem since I dont use it too much anymore.  But Im still very curious about whether that would work with Virtual PC on a Mac.

[keepongoin]

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work and be bit-perfect.  I can try it out on a friend's G4 powerbook and see how it goes if you want.

[bluegrass_brad]

Thanks Andrew.  If you feel like giving it a try that would be great.  I'll probably give it a try with Kaufmann's Nomad as well.  Gotta find something to occupy the time on tour bus beside PS2! He only has a JB1 with USB 1.1, but at least I might be able to try it out on my Powerbook. I'm sure I'll see ya at least once here on the next tour, seems like I always do!

[keepongoin]

i'll be seeing you in north plains, oregon for a few days in just a few weeks.  I'll have my ADK-A51 TLs flying either blumlien or space omni, depending on if I can get a baffle constructed.

another thing is - the USB port on the JB3 is USB 1.1, so you could do the transfer to the old desktop without upgrading.  I know a bunch of guys who tape with the JB3 and just transfer it via USB 1.1, and their recordings sound fine.  The transfer takes a bit longer, but it still saves time over transfering DATs.

Also - if you have a backlog of DATs, I have a Tascam DA-20mkII and a Zoltrix card, so I can help in transferring some of them if you need or want the help.  

[John Kelly]

More than likely it wont work.  Virtual PC does not have direct access to the USB/Firewire bus.  

I may try this out, though.  Just to verify.

[Riley]

YES!

It does work.  This is what I do because I only have a Mac G4.  HOWEVER, there are some issues.  For one, it's slow, as it should be since it's emulated.  
Follow these steps and you'll be OK:

1) install all necessary creative software (drivers, etc) on the emulated PC
2) restart the emulated PC
3) Turn on the JB3 and plug it into a USB port
4) goto VPC edit menu -> settings (cmd + T)
5) under USB section, click the checkbox next to Nomad (it should show up in the list)
6) click OK

After that it should recognize it and start the software.  Next big issue:  For some reason it will only recognize it the first time the the JB3 is turned on.  After it sits for awhile (10-15 min or so), it starts differently showing a creative screen and then a EAX screen.  VPC will only recognize it if it starts with these screens.  If you turn it off and then back on, it goes directly to the menu rather than showing the startup screens.  If it does this, VPC will not see it.  You can poke a paperclip in the reset hole on the back of the JB3 to reset it.  It will show the screens then, and VPC will see it again.

ALSO, when transferring files, transfer them to your emulated C: drive and then drag and drop them from the windows screen to the mac desktop to copy them rather than copying them in windows to a shared mac drive.  It's a lot faster, and mine reboots on me when I try it in windows.  You have to do this because the creative software can't transfer to a shared drive.

GOOD LUCK, and let me know if you have any problems

Riley

[Riley]

After reading this thread I got inspired to do a little hunting for a mac driver.  I FOUND ONE!!  No need for virtual PC anymore.  See this link

http://www.taperssection.com/yabbse/index.php?board=11;action=display;threadid=19984

Enjoy,

Riley

[Chris K]

there is a jb3 driver for mac osx at the yahoo group: njb3tapers

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/njb3tapers/

it is in the files section

not sure if this is the same driver....you may want to check.

it is no longer supported by creative.....good luck

[John Kelly]

YES!

It does work.  This is what I do because I only have a Mac G4.  HOWEVER, there are some issues.  For one, it's slow, as it should be since it's emulated.  
Follow these steps and you'll be OK:

1) install all necessary creative software (drivers, etc) on the emulated PC
2) restart the emulated PC
3) Turn on the JB3 and plug it into a USB port
4) goto VPC edit menu -> settings (cmd + T)
5) under USB section, click the checkbox next to Nomad (it should show up in the list)
6) click OK

After that it should recognize it and start the software.  Next big issue:  For some reason it will only recognize it the first time the the JB3 is turned on.  After it sits for awhile (10-15 min or so), it starts differently showing a creative screen and then a EAX screen.  VPC will only recognize it if it starts with these screens.  If you turn it off and then back on, it goes directly to the menu rather than showing the startup screens.  If it does this, VPC will not see it.  You can poke a paperclip in the reset hole on the back of the JB3 to reset it.  It will show the screens then, and VPC will see it again.

ALSO, when transferring files, transfer them to your emulated C: drive and then drag and drop them from the windows screen to the mac desktop to copy them rather than copying them in windows to a shared mac drive.  It's a lot faster, and mine reboots on me when I try it in windows.  You have to do this because the creative software can't transfer to a shared drive.

GOOD LUCK, and let me know if you have any problems

Riley

First, emulation shouldn't matter as it's just writing files to disc.  It may have a small impact on transfer speed, but I doubt it would be too noticeable.

My guess is because you're using USB.  Since the JB3 uses USB1.1, it takes forever to transfer a show.  Have you tried using Firewire?  I was planning on installing WinXP tomorrow to try it out.  

[Riley]

I don't think Virtual PC has firewire support.  Looks like we're stuck with usb 1.1 through either Virtual PC or with the iTunes plugin.  But personally, I'd rather use the plugin than mess around with transferring files from a virtual machine to my mac.

Riley

[John Kelly]

I don't think Virtual PC has firewire support.

You're right.  Oh well, USB1.1 on my Mac is better than Firewire on my PC.