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ok gents! frustrations abound here...
EP is done, and needs to go out to master tomorrow. finished the final tweaks for the last song that we ended up mixing in Pro Tools and not on the console like the others. we'll, ive pissed my Powerbook off to the point where it cant even bounce the song down without crashing. I've hit the DUC and they gave some pointers...none of which have worked. Now, I dont want to diable plugs and sacrifice sound just to get a print of the song (so i can check in the car, on the stereo, in the walkman, etc)...
So I'm thinkin of picking up a Masterlink today, since I will eventually need one anyway, to run the stereo master channel from pro tools to that, then printing it there. I can play the song back in PT, just cant bounce it. too much strain on the Mac, and upgrading the Mac is not an option right now.
is picking up a Masterlink a good idea? or is there a better short and long term solution?
I know i could get a cheap DAT machine and bounce it to that, then run the wav back into the Mac to burn. But i also know Masterlink is one of those "must have" studio pieces. is this a good time/justification to buy?

thanks people!

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anonymous Mon, 06/20/2005 - 14:04

my setup is:
002r
powerbook 1 ghz, 768 ram
dedicated pro tools user account

i do all recording from a 120 GB external FW HD, so that's that.

I could bring it over to a friend's house to do the dump to his Masterlink...
my thought's:
I will be doing extensively more recording, and upgrading to a dual G5 is a farther stretch than getting a nice master deck/burner like the Masterlink, which I can get for $400 used in mint shape. relying on my bud's studio is a no-no, even thougt we are great friends...
also, wouldnt sound quality be superior going right from the master fader to the Masterlink HD? I KNOW the Bounce to Disk function in Pro Tools does "something" to to the sound. I will often do a loop recording in pro tools to avoid the Bounce to Disk....but I cant even do that this time either...

ARGH!

anonymous Mon, 06/20/2005 - 15:53

Hiya. I'm not sure what your "loop record" reference was as it pertains to your final 2 track BUT if you DON'T mean that recording to a new stereo track is failing, i would suggest that as an option : )
Route all your tracks that go to the Master stereo pair (outs 1 and 2 usually) to go to a new bus- say 31-32. Then record the mix to a new stereo audio track with bus 31-32 as the input. You could then create a new session and import the new track into and bounce from there for any dither, interleaving, etc. needed. If you've already tried this, sorry for my redundant suggestion!

Also you could raise the harware buffer size to a higher number.

Also you could consolidate regions on some of your tracks with lots of edits (drum loops, etc.).

You could also do a "save session copy in" command and save it to another cleaner, defragged, faster, emptier, different color, better smelling drive and try to bounce in the new session making sure that in your Disk Allocation options, the audio is coming from the NEW drive.

You could also create a duplicate playlist on specific tracks and process the audio on the tracks with insert plugs by copying and pasting the TDM or RTAS settings to the Audiosuite version of the same plug. Then process all the audio on the track by selecting it all (triple click) and hitting "process." This will free up some juice.
Sorry if you've tried all these. I don't know your OS, PT rig version, or your level of PT experience so I have to try throwing out many options. I hope one of these does it for ya. If not let me know, I have other options : ) Have a beautiful day!

mckay

anonymous Mon, 06/20/2005 - 15:59

Sorry, I'm a dummy. I just saw your system specs! Anyways, if you're using the internal drive of your Powerbook, it most likely has a 4500 RPM (or 5400) drive which is very slow for audio. It maxes out on tracks quickly and will burp in no time. If you have an external firewire drive (7200 rpm-ish), do the copy command above and try to bounce or record to another track from there. The machine will be much more able to access audio from a faster spinning drive.

mckay

anonymous Tue, 06/21/2005 - 11:59

haha..no worries man. yea, i tried all your suggestions actually. just wont budge. im almost thinkin something was just odd with this session, since i had to bounce another session with ALMOST as many plugs, AND MORE TRACKS, and it breezed. weird...

anyway..i did go with the Masterlink. got a good deal used from a friend from GC. its a killer piece of gear actually. ill be using it, and doing some mastering myself, so it's worth it. made finishing the project last night MUCH more pleasant.

I guess Ill get a dual G5 sometime down the road still, tho...