Here's how I setup...
No USB Hub with the Snow. It won't work. You need to use native USB ports.
I had an ok USB soundcard which I had to ditch in favor of a firewire card seeign that between my controller (Remote 25 which also requires native power) and my Snow I was out of ports.
Here's how I'm setup...
Macbook 1.87 ghz two gigs of ram
Ableton Live 7
Accesss Virus Snow (latest OS)
Novation Remote 25 Compact SL (I think I may still have beta software! Need to upgrade)
Mackie Onyx satellite soundcard
KRK monitors
Both the Novation controller and Access Snow are plugged directly into the macbook via USB. The Snow requires its own external power source (sadly) so that adaptor is plugged in too. The Mackie satellite is in via firewire. (At this point I am out of native USB and firewire ports.) KRK monitors are hooked in directly to the Mackies outs on the back side.
Once I power my system on, I turn my midi controller on and it lights up and is all set and ready to go. After, I cursor over to the left (where my dock is) and select Ableton Live 7. Once that boots up I go into Lives preferences and select "output source" as Mackie Satellite Onyx. This disables the macbooks crappy internal speakers and I have my decent KRK's as my main output. At this point auto map "automaps" the settings of Live 7 to the best of its abilites to the actual lcd of the Novation controller. Select any audio loop into a audio track and drop in a "filter vst effect" from Live. The Novation controller will change its settings and you can tweak knobs in real time and the filer goes from high to low pass. Sweep to your hearts desire.
From there, I go over to VST Instruments tab to the left of the Live 7 GUI. I select Snow Ti VST from the drop down and the Snow automatically appears in a midi track to the right of all of my audio tracks. (Make sure the Snow is powered up and not sleeping first!) The Snow then "initializes" and you will start off with the INIT pattern. From there, go into the browser of the Virus Control and select which ever patch you desire. The name of the patch magically jumps fromt he browser of the Virus Control onto the lovely Snow display. Play a chord on your midi controller and hear those luch Access Pads.
My problems with the Snow came about when I de-selected the Snow from its midi track. I could not re-start or re-selct the Snow without it freezing up halfway through the "initializing" screen. I would have to power off (not just reset) my macbook and redo every single step i mentioned above. i also experienced frequent hung or stuck feedback inducing midi notes which in itself would ruin a live set entirely. I could never just quit the Snow and restart it without having to power down.
The new OS fixes all of this. This setup is strictly for using the Access Virus Snow in ti mode within a software host. I purchased an external power supply for my Novation Controller which allows me to use my Snow in multi mode! Really cool way to work. I'm hoping a future update allows the following:
Use of Snow in multi-mode within a software host (like Live 7)
Snow able to be powered directly via usb. No need for the external power supply. (I doubt that will happen though...)
That's about it. I love my Snow!!
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