Realtime Sound Effects on the Mac?

[quicksilver]

I know basically nothing about music and sound on the Mac. I also admit to having next to no musical talent. I am however interested in possibly doing some real time processing and effects on live voice and maybe some other sounds.

Up until fairly recently I've seen Nubus Digidesign hardware go for what look like insane prices when you compare the price of most common Nubus hardware.

Not that I need to restrict myself to the older Macs (though come on we know that's more fun) but this is just something to toy with.

Can something like this be done? Can someone give me a crash course on Mac audio and all those Digidesign toys I see when the urge is on me and I still type "nubus" into ebay?

I know my old Mac video hardware pretty well, but not sound.

 

[Bunsen]

For realtime FX processing on a Nubus machine, I would suggest picking up a Digidesign Audiomedia II. Good quality stereo ins and outs, S/PDIF digital I/O, and an onboard 56MHz DSP. They also don't tend to sell at such extreme prices as the ProTools gear.

There's a realtime modular patch software synthesiser called TurboSound (or TurboSynth), although I haven't had much luck keeping it up and running (could be an OS/app mismatch). There are also some realtime FX programs around for processing an input straight out to an output. Deck II is a multi-track audio recording and editing suite which includes realtime FX on ins and outs if you have an AMII.

Best of luck. If you have trouble finding any of the software, pester me by PM in about a month when I should have my main machine (and bookmarks) back up.

 

[quicksilver]

That sounds good. I was thinking of an Audiomedia II for Nubus or probably more reasonable, a III for my B&W. I just had no idea what the available software could do. I'll take a look at the programs you mentioned. Thanks!

 

[TylerEss]

on a PowerMac, check out SonixWorx PowerBundle. That's got tons of realtime effects, from mundane to insane, and it's honestly free.

You can run 2 or 3 Waves filters in realtime on a 68k with an AMII card.